RiceReport

2/16/24 (Day 1)
1 1/2 gallon recipe
1 Gallon G.V. Apple Juice
1/2 Gallon G.V. 100% Pure Pear
2 cinnamon sticks
1 lb of White Sugar
Lalvin 71B Yeast
Mixed in bucket, added yeast.  S.G. = 1.064 (8.4% ABV if goes dry)

2/17/24 (Day 2)
1/2 tsp DAP

2/19/24 (Day 3)
1/2 tsp DAP

2/23/24 (Day 7)
S.G. = 1.000 added 1 lb Blueberries.  It’s gonna be ready soon!

3/2/24 (Day 16)
Racked into keg (1 gallon) and stabilized.  Will open tomorrow to sweeten with apple juice.
1/2 gallon set to clear, stabilized and sweeten to bottle for Drew.

3/15/24
This, in the keg, is amazing.  Phenomenal flavor, the cinnamon is there but not over powering.  The blue berries are there but not over powering.  There’s still a weird “soapy” flavor in the keg.  I haven’t bottled the 1/2 gallon yet for Drew but I plan on doing that tonight.

3/29/24
Keg is gone.  It was good but still had a “soapy” flavor.  I’m hoping the beer I just keged isn’t soapy.  There’s still a half gallon in a glass carboy that needs bottled.

 

 

`1/5/24 (Day 1)
4 lbs fresh peaches from Rita Smith
1 tsp Fermaid-O
1/2 tsp Pectic Enzyme
1/2 tsp Tannin
3.16 lbs Trader Joe’s Mesquite Honey
More than a gallon of spring water
S.G. = 1.072

1/6/24 (Day 2)
2 tsp DAP Nutrient

1/8/24 (Day 4)
1 tsp Fermaid-O

1/11/24 (Day 7)
S.G. = 1.000 (It’s DONE!)
2 lbs thawed fresh peaches in bag
1 Campden tablet

1/19/24 (Day 15)
Stirred peaches.  I think it may need some stuff added to secondary and clearing.
1/24/24 (Day 20) Stabilized
1/2 tsp Metabisulphite
1 tsp Potassium Sorbate
Racked into new bucket off the peaches.  Gonna cold crash for a few days.  May need more tannin and back sweetened. 9.5% ABV
2/12/24 (Day 39)
Racked into bucket.  S.G. = 1.000.  Back sweetened to 1.020 and 1/4 tsp vanilla extract.  Tastes good.  Gonna bottle in a few days.

2/16/24 (Day 43)
Bottled today.  It’s NICE!  Peachy and sweet.

 

First Mead of 24!!!!

1/4/24 (Day 1)
2 lbs Golden Lake Honey
1.95 lbs Maple Syrup from farmers market (Left some for back sweetening)
1/2 tsp Tannin
1/2 tsp Fermaid O
Lalvin QA23 Yeast (rehydrated in spring water)
Spring water
S.G. = 1.100 (13.3% if it goes dry)

So I originally had this in a glass carboy but the S.G. was way to high.  I moved to a fermenting bucket to add more water.  I’ve got over a gallon of must.  I pitched the yeast.  No other ingredients today.

1/6/24 (Day 3)
2 tsp DAP yeast nutrient

1/8/24 (Day 5)
1 tsp Fermaid-O

1/11/24 (Day 8)
1 tsp Fermaid-O
1 campden tablet
S.G. = 1.030

1/19/24 (Day 15) Stabilized
Well I messed up.  I racked into clean carboy and stabilized.  I thought we were further along.  I didn’t even take a gravity reading.  Shoot.  Well I got a completely full gallon and then racked 1 more bottle into swing top.  (That swing top is NOT stabilized!!!)  Shoot!

2/12/24 (Day 39)
Racked into bucket.  S.G. = 1.000
Back sweetened to 1.020 with rest of maple syrup.
1/8 tsp Acid Blend
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 cup French oak chips to mellow for 3 days
Flavor is bitter, but somehow still sweet.  It reminds me of a whiskey.

2/16/24 (Day 43)
Bottled today!!!  Still a bit “hot” and has a slight burnt rubber taste.  Gonna let it age for a year and see how it tastes.

10/16/23
MRM ~ Tatum’s Black Currant Masterpiece #5
1 Gallon batch recipe:
28 oz Rebina Black Currant concentrate
1 tsp acid blend
1/2 tsp wine tannin
3 lbs plain white sugar
Lalvin RC212 yeast (16% tolerance)
Crystal Gyser water

Mixed all ingredients and topped to 1 gallon with water.  O.G. = 1.140 (potentially 18.8 if goes dry)
This is obviously NOT a mead.  It’s made with sugar instead of honey.  It’s technically a wine.  Just a nice experiment and we shall see how it turns out.
This is not the week we studied Art Tatum but we rated him pretty high so I wanted to do him some justice with this wine.

10/31/23 (16 days)
It’s fermenting nicely.  Not much activity in the airlock but a little.  Couple more weeks and I’ll open it up and taste it.  It’s clearing out OK though.

11/10/23 (26 days)

OMG I tasted this today and OMG!!!  It still has a lot of residual sugar but it feels good in the mouth and is sweet.  The black currant shines through nicely.  It’s not hot at all.  I didn’t take a gravity reading yet.

11/21/23 (37 days)
Um….I took a gravity reading today and it may have stalled.
I added:
1/2 packet 71B
1 tsp yeast nutrient.  S.G. = 1.108

12/1/23 (47 days)
It’s not fermenting at all.  I may try to add this to another gallon of mead or something to see if I can at least use it for something.  Still at 1.108 (yes 1.108)

12/22/23 (68 days)
I added more nutrient.  It’s still fermenting cause it’s down to 1.090.  This is just a very slow fermentation.  It may be June before I get to bottle this.

1/11/24 (a whole lotta days)
S.G. = 1.072
Sweet, good mouthfeel but not very tastey.
2/12/24 (Even more days)
Not good.  I actually dumped it.  There was NO saving this one.

12/1/23 (Day 1)
4 lbs Frozen Strawberries
1/2 tsp Pectic Enzyme
1/2 tsp Wine Tannin
1/2 tsp Acid Blend
10 grams Fermaid O
5 lbs Golden Lake Honey
2 tsp Bentonite clay
1 packet D47 yeast
O.G. = 1.080  10.6% ABV (possible if goes dry)
Mixed all ingredients.  It’s a little more than 2 gallons so that when racking I should get 2 full gallons.
(This is made BEFORE we listened to Schneider’s work, but I think she’s gonna be good and I think this mead is going to be good)

12/4/23 (Day 3)
I added 1 tsp Yeast energizer and stirred (with sanitized spoon).

12/28/23 (Day 27) Stabilized
1 oz oak chips
1 tsp Metabisulphite
1 tsp sorbate
1 campden tablet
Racked off strawberries
1 Tbsp Sparkolloid mixed with 1 cup boiling water and stirred
S.G. = 1.000

1/11/24 (Day 45)
Added 4 lbs thawed strawberries in a bag. Not much mouthfeel and not much strawberry flavor at all.  Hoping strawberries in secondary changes that.

1/19/24 (Day 53)
Stirred strawberries.  I think it’s read to rack and clear.
1/24/24 (Day 58)
Racked into new bucket.  Back sweetened to 1.030 with Lehua Honey.  Gonna cold crash outside for a couple of days.  10.6 ABV
Initial results: M: 8.5 K: 7
Labels created at work.  Will print at work.

1/27/24 (Day 61)
Labels printed and bottled today.  It’s really hazy and not even clearing in the bottle.  It’s sweet and tastes like a strawberry.