4/21/23

3 lbs Glenns Honey
3 lbs Classic Fruit Medley from Kroger
1 Gallon water (from tap)
1 tsp Fermaid O
1/2 tsp Pectic Enzyme
Juice of 1 lime
Peel of 1 lime (used peeler for just the peel)
100 raisins (for mouthfeel)

SG = 1.092

5-8-23

Took a reading.  SG = .009.  It’s done fermenting.  Tasted good.  Needs aged.

5-12-23
I racked the mead off the fruit into 1 gallon glass carboys.  There was more than 1 gallon.
I used some leftover mead to decrease headspace in the second gallon.  It wasn’t enough to fill but I think will work.  It will be a blended mead and bottled and labeled separately.  Of course I sanitized everything and used sanitized water in the airlocks.  It’s only been 3 weeks so this has a ways to sit in secondary.

21 days since started.  SG = .009 ABV = 13.4

5-20-23

I re-racked both the straight and the blended today.  There was a LOT of sediment due to the poor rack I got the first time.  Gonna let it set for another week before bottling.  Tasting both the straight still has a HOT alcohol taste but the berry flavor is there.  The blended is just straight mead flavor.  I think I may add the peach flavoring that I bought to that blended mead.  There is only about 1/2 gallon of the blended and a gallon of the straight.

5-25-23
Bottling day!!!!!  My favorite day!!!!

35 days since started.

Blended:  I added 2 Tblsp of Peach flavoring and 3 “glugs” of honey.  Got a bottling gravity of 1.039.  It’s gonna be sweet and delicious.

Straight:  I added 2 “glugs” of honey.  Got a bottling gravity of 1.020.  It’s not as sweet as the Blended…..But that’s OK.  It’s really good.

6/20/23 (61 days)
I have a bottle in the fridge now.  The Straight is spot on and may be my favorite mead I’ve made so far.

6/26/23
The one month testing came out very well.  The berry flavor is good but I get a bit of spoiled berry flavor right at the end.  It actually bottle conditioned to carbonate.  I wasn’t expecting that but looking at the notes I did NOT stabilize this.
The blended is weird.  The peach flavor gets lost but K & D said it feels “soft” on the tongue.

6/19/23

.20 Ounce Cascade hops boiled for 15 minutes (in purified water)
3 lbs Orange Blossom honey from Meijer
2 gallons purified water
EC-118 yeast rehydrated with 1Tblsp sugar and warm purified water
S.G. 1.046
Pitched yeast at 94 degrees

6/20/23
2 grams Wine Tannin
4 grams Fermaid – O
It’s starting to be active.  The airlock is bubbling even on the bucket.  Need to take another gravity reading on 6/27/23.  It shouldn’t take long for this one to ferment.  Then I will be adding the dry hops.

7/6/23 (18 days)
.45 oz of a combo of Citra, Calypso and Saaz hops added and stirred.  Will bottle on Sunday 7/9/23.  S.G. .998 so it’s gone dry.

7/9/23 (21 days)
Well it wasn’t clear but I bottled it anyway.  To the keg I added about 3 oz honey, 1/2 tsp Potassium sorbate, 1/4 tsp metabisulfite.
To the bottles I added 1 cup Eurithrotal for sweetening and 1 bottle carbonation tab (looks like a piece of candy) per bottle.  I can’t wait to chill and test this brew out.   21 days from start to bottling.  F.G. = .998 with an abv of 6%

6/24/23
2 Gallons Kroger 100% apple juice
2 lbs dark brown sugar
Lalvin D47 yeast
S.G. = 1.086 ~ 10%
2tsp yeast nutrient (Not fermaid)
2 cinnamon sticks

I will be step feeding this with more brown sugar and fermaid – O on 6/26.  I want to push this yeast to the very max.  D47 has a tolerance of 15%.  This batch may go to Travis for distilling.  We will see.

7/6/23
S.G. = .994 so it’s gone dry.  I’m going to back sweeten to taste and bottle it on 7/9/23.

7/18/23

Racked off yeast and cinnamon sticks into clean and sanitized bucket.
S.G. = .994.  Dry and pretty much tasteless.  I added 2 cups Erythritol and it’s still very dry and tasteless.  I tried (in a taster cup) to add peach flavoring.  YUK!  Then I tried some salted caramel flavoring and that was ok.  Will have to get some caramel from the store to add flavor.

7/24/23
I added 2/3 cup brown sugar for priming.  I stirred in 3 oz of sugar free salted caramel flavoring and bottled today.  Labels printed and affixed.

30 days since made into the bottle.  Not bad.

6/1/2023 Blueberry Cider.
2 96 oz Great Value apple juice
2 12 oz Frozen Old Orchard apple juice
2 lbs frozen blue berries
2 tsp Pectic Enzyme
2.5 grams Fermaid O
Lalvin 71B yeast
Mixed all ingredients and let it warm to 72 degrees.  Added yeast.  Blueberries are in a straining bag.
S.G. = 1.060  If it goes to 1.000 will be 8.04 ABV

6/12/2023
Added 1 1/2 oz of American Oak Chips.  Will take gravity on 6/14

6/14/2023
S.G. = 1.000  Needs back sweetened and I think it’s ready to go.

6/20/2023
I’m gonna “Jack” this batch.  I had almost a gallon and a half of cider.  Blueberry really came through and it was dry so before freezing I added 1 cup of brown sugar to the batch.  The first run is in the freezer right now and I’ll melt it tonight.  Then back in for a second run of freezing.

6/23/2023
I did 2 runs in the freezer and came out with a little over 1 quart of product.  It’s very sweet, alcoholic flavored.  The blueberry’s really shine on this.  I’m guessing that it’s about 60 proof.  With a starting ABV at 8.04 then the first jack would get it to 16% then second jack would get it to about 32% ABV.  Needs aging time in the bottle though and labels.

This is  a TikTok recommended author.  First time reading the author too.  I’m starting the book on 6/12/2023.  Will let you know.  Well the chapters were short.  The author is English and uses several terms that even I didn’t understand.  The characters were always forgetful to me.  There were a lot of characters in the story.  Joe (the older brother) Lydia Joe’s wife, Cathy the middle sister and Frannie the younger sister.  Frannie commits a murder and asks her siblings to cover for her.  It eats them alive and worse things happen.  Frannie finally comes forward with the full truth and Joe takes the blame.
I’m only giving this book a 6/10.  I didn’t really care for the story and was just getting a little bored with the book.  Finished on 6/27/2023.  16 days to finish.

First time reading this author.  I believe it is an Amazon First Read.  Started on 5/30/2023.  So far chapters seem short.  Don’t know about characters yet. 6/12/2023 and I finished the book today.  For me it was just OK.  I’ll give it a 6/10.  The story seemed to stretch a bit when the author added a hurricane to the mix.  Laurie, the main character and her husband David lost their baby to a still birth.  David’s father was in prison for 16 years for a crime he actually didn’t commit.  Frank (David’s father) comes back to Galveston and remembers he had a girlfriend in high school who was sick with a non curable disease.  Things get lost in to many characters and to many different story lines going at once. 14 days to finish

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.