5/25/2023
So I followed the City Steading Brews recipe for this one.  Here it is.
3.02 lbs Meijer clover honey
2 Containers Tazo Classic Chai Latte Concentrate, 32 oz each
1.5 grams Fermaid O
1 package Mangrove Jacks MO5 mead yeast
S.G. = 1.144 (yes 1.144)  If it goes dry that would be about 18%

I shook the “bejesus” out of it to airate it.  Pitched the yeast at about 73 degrees.  I have an extra airlock ready cause I kind of filled this one a little full.

6/7/23
There’s still a lot of activity in the airlock.  I have degassed this almost every day.  Just give it a little swirl.  I cannot wait to try this.

6/14/23 (22 days since make)
First time opening.  S.G. = 1.030 15.4 ABV if it doesn’t go any further. I racked it into a clean gallon carboy and added 10 cloves and 1 tsp Allspice.  Gonna drop a cinnamon stick in today too.  Will have to rack off the cloves and cinnamon Friday or Saturday.

6/24/23 (32 days since make)
I racked off the cloves and allspice and cinnamon.  Gonna let it set another couple of weeks.  S.G. = 1.030 so it’s very sweet.  The cloves came through nicely but it’s still a little “hot” when tasting.  I can’t back sweeten any more because it didn’t go all the way to 1.000 and it’s already sweet.  Time will tell with this one.

7/6/23 (Thursday)
Stabilizing today.  Will bottle on Sunday.  No S.G. today.  Will take on Sunday.
1/2 tsp Potassium Sorbate
1/4 tsp Potassium Metabisulphite

7/9/23 (Sunday) 47 days
So I bottled this today.  It was very clear and beautiful.  It tasted amazing.  Very much like a Chai.  Very methoglyn like.  I can’t wait to do the 1 month and 6 month tastings to see how much it melds. No additives and F.G. = 1.030.  It is sweet but very flavorful.

S.G. 1.144
F.G. 1.030
ABV = 11.3 %

I’ve read this author before.  I started this book on 5/21/2023.  227 pages.  I finished this book on 5/30/2023.  Characters were very well written.  Chapters were short.  Nora (the protagonist) works for CPS and has a case she just can’t…  The perfect family isn’t always as perfect as they seem.  Andrea (the third foster child) the oldest foster child has issues.  She’s placed with a family who’s mother is an influencer.  Things take a turn when the Ipad Nora finds contains nanny cam videos of Andrea and her step father together.  Things start off south and go even further south.  I liked this book.  Giving it an 8/10.

5/12/23

2 lemons peeled
1/2 orange peeled
4 oz ginger (peeled and sliced)
4 cups water
2 bags Earl Grey
Boiled the peels for 10 minutes.  Steeped the tea bags for 10 minutes while cooling

1 Gallon Niagara Filtered Water (From Dollar tree)
1 Gallon tap water (using empty filtered bottle)
About 5 lbs honey (2 lbs Gleens and 3 1.8 lb Clover honey from Aldi)
1 1/2 tsp pectic Enzym
1 tsp Fermaid-O (reconstituted)
1 whole pack of Mangrove Jacks Mead Yeast (reconstituted)
100 raisins (not counted out but a lot)

I added the water and honey to the bucket and stirred.  I added the lemon ginger tea to the bucket and stirred. Added the raisins.
I added the other gallon of water (using it to shake ALL the honey out of the containers) and stirred.  I didn’t think I was going to get the flavor that I wanted so I added all the peels (lemon, orange and ginger) right to the bucket and stirred. I took a gravity reading: 1.090 starting gravity.
I added the yeast at 85 degrees to the bucket and put the lid on.  1 day since pitch.  It’s a FULL bucket.

5/30/23
Took Gravity reading: 1.002.  Initial taste: Amazing.  Lemon and ginger come through very nicely.  I might back sweeten slightly.  It doesn’t need much.
I’ll take another gravity reading on Friday.  Need to rack into secondary.
6/1/23
S.G. = 1.000
Racked and taste tested.  It’s got a strong lemon flavor.  In my testing adding more ginger is not the answer.  I sweetened it (the tasting only) and that cut the lemon a little.  I added vanilla and that seem to smooth it out nicely.  In the next week or two I’ll rack again and add sweetener and vanilla.  More notes later.

6/12/23
No gravity reading today but I stabilized with 1tsp Potassium Sorbate and 1/4 tsp Potassium Metabisulphite.  I tasted just a very small spoonful and was pleasantly surprised.  It’s starting to mellow and the ginger flavor is coming through nicely.  I will let it set for a few more days and rack it, backsweeten and bottle.

6/14/23

Racked, back sweetened and bottled today.  S.G.  was 1.090 with a final Gravity of 1.000 and back sweetened to 1.028.
35 days with an ABV of 11.9%

7/17/23
Tasted at 1 month and OMG!  It’s my best yet.  Mouthfeel is great, flavor is awesome.  The lemon hits at the front and the ginger kicks in at the end.  It’s sweet and perfect.  I will be making this one again.
7/29/23
I shared a bottle with Drew.  It’s still very tasty.  Ginger flavor up front, lemon on the back of the tongue.  Great mouthfeel and pleasant aroma.

Amazon First Read.  Started on 5/6/2023.  Chapters look short.  First time reading this author.
So this book is suppose to be “A Thriller”.  More like a “Boring, non interesting” piece of poop.
The chapters are short.  That’s it’s only saving grace.  She rambles on for pages and pages about non interesting stuff that has no bearing on the “thriller” part of the book.  It’s not until almost the very end does it even make sense why she is including all the stuff she does.  I didn’t like this book at all.  I’m giving it a 2/10 rating.  I finished on 5/20/2023.  It took me 15 days to get through this piece of crap.  I probably won’t ever read another book by her.

Amazon First Read.  I started this book on 4/29/23.  I’m about 7 chapters into the book.  Chapters are short and characters well defined. I finished on 5/6/23.  Great read.  Chapters are short (ish).  Characters were well defined and I felt like you could picture each one in your head.

Main character loses his wife in a car crash.  Then a year later his daughter gets kidnapped.  He has a hitman chasing him as he goes on the run from the FBI and local Austin police in search of getting his daughter back.  Lot’s of people die and the truth finally comes out!

I give this an 8/10.  I really liked it.

3/21/23

2 96 oz jugs of Great Value apple juice
2 cups brown sugar
8 cinnamon sticks
Red Star Monte-Blanc (.99 from Do It Best)

Added all ingredients to a 3 gallon Kilwin’s jug except for the yeast.  I have to let it come to room temp first.
SG = 1.070  Potentially 9.51 if going to 1.000

3/22/23

Pitched yeast at 5:08 p.m.

4/7/23
SG = 1.000 (it’s dry)
Racked off of yeast and cinnamon sticks into another bucket.
1 tsp Potassium Sorbate
1 tsp Potassium Metabisulphite
.75 oz Oak Chips
My goal is to let the oak chips set for a few weeks then back sweeten with brown sugar.  Flavor of cinnamon and brown sugar should pop.  I’ve got just under 2 gallons so bottling may be a challenge.

4/21/23
SG = .008 (still dry)
Added 1 tsp tannin.  I bought carbonation tablets that I will be using when bottling but I want to add brown sugar too.  Gonna try the brown sugar for back sweetening.  Hopefully the tannin will help with mouth feel. It’s been 31 days since yeast pitch.

4/28/23

I added 1/2 cup brown sugar for priming and 1 1/2 cups eurithrotol for sweetening.  Bottled in sanitized bottles.  I got 10 500ml bottles.
6 weeks from fermentation to bottling.  Looking at my notes though I stabilized this so it won’t bottle carbonate.

Ah, back like an old friend.  Book 9.  I started on 4/9/23.  Let’s see if Lucas can get his man this time…..

I finished the book on 4/28/23.  20 Days to read this one.  The rich are not unlikely to get away with murder when Lucas is on the case.  Him and Weather are still broken up.  A shooting in a deer stand killing the person who would become the bank president leads to the investigation that reveals many, many more killings in order to advance a career.  Except it isn’t a man this time and she goes after Lucas’s friends.  She firebombs Weathers house and beats up and nearly kills Sister Mary.  Lucas takes this very personally but in the end…..