The Mead is in the primary

Here is the results.
 
Total volume 6.5 gallons
21 Pounds of Wildflower Honey
Red Star - Premier Cuvee - Active Dry Wine Yeast
6 tsp Super Ferment 

I rapid boiled 5.5 gallons of water - That was my first mistake. Should have been more like 4.5.

I meant to have 5.5 gallons total, not 5.5 + almost 2 gallons of honey - argh!!!

Fortunately you can always add, but not take away. I still have 3 pounds left and will add it to the secondary. Otherwise, 21 pounds over 6.5 gallons would be 3.23 per gallon which would lean towards more of a dry mead. Adding the 3 in should push it up to 3.7 which is better. :)

My OG: 1.111

Mead got delayed

I have 24 pounds of Wildflower honey that I would like to use on a Mead and a Honey Porter.

Brewstop was closed on Sunday (lunar rendezvous???) and they are always closed on Monday. :(

At least I know now.

Good news: Wife's co-worker found me a possible lager fridge. I offered to pay with batch of beer. Supposed to be in great shape, but unknown if dimensions will allow carboy.

Will pick up the yeast related stuff tonight to create a starter for the Mead. The Honey Porter will need to wait a few weeks.

One more note: Coworker really enjoyed the IPA - as did I. First full boil was a success.

:) :) :)

I tasted the Raspberry Wheat on it's 5th day and it's geeeeeooooooood.

That IPA is really good too. I opened up a FAT tire (not flat tire) and that sucker is awesome.

Good evening for drinking beer. :)

Racked last weekend

Well, I've got my weekends staggered where I brew one weekend and rack/bottle the week after. At least I think I do.
 
This weekend I bottled my Raspberry Wheat which had a FG of 1.007. I loved the taste. Barb may have thought it was a bit sour, but bottle conditioning will hopefully take the edge off. Over all I am proud (so far) on my first All-Grain project.
 
I also transferred AG version of the Cream Ale Dad likes. It smells good and is every bit of 5 gallons, so I may have hit the target gravity better than the first batch. Of cource, that doesn't mean it will be better. I took no gravity reading. We'll see how it goes after 2 weeks.
 
After bottling my first Wine (Italian Merlot), I have decided to purchase (3) 3-gallon carboys and experiment making Mead. I have the recipe of a Sweet Raspberry Mead that looks good and only takes 8 months of fermentation/conditioning and another 6-12 months of bottle conditioning. If I start it this weekend, the first bottle would not be popped open until September 2005.
 
Here are some of the sites I visit:

• Here is the recipe - http://www.brewery.org/brewery/cm3/recs/10_54.html
• Here's a local Meadery that I can order from - http://www.labuenavida.com/
• Article on staggered nutrient and DAP additon - http://www.labuenavida.com/
• Mead Forum - http://forums.homebrew.com/index.php?s=&act=SF&f=8
• Honey Locator - http://www.honeylocator.com/
• Southeast Texas Honey Co. - http://www.texasdrone.com/

I will add more as I find them.

I have order 2 books on Mead:

• Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers: The Secrets of Ancient Fermentation
• The Compleat Meadmaker: Home Production of Honey Wine from Your First Batch to Award-Winning Fruit and Herb Variations

Their both highly recommended books with long names. :)

Bye for now

Marathon Day

I say that because I was spent by the time I was finished.

6 hour brewing day!

The Cream Ale appears to be bubbling ok. It was slow to start, but then it may have been a bit warm, when I added the yeast. I will ask Jan what she would like for me to make for her.

Maybe a PBR Clone :)

My Cream Ale recipe is going AG

I'm going to make another Cream Ale for my Dad. However, this time I will convert the recipe from Extract to AG.

Cream Ale recipe:

12 lbs Pale Malt
1 lb CaraPils
1/2 lb Crystal
1/2 ounce Willamette - 60 minutes
1/2 ounce Hallertauer - 60 minutes
1/3 ounce Cascade - 60 minutes
1/2 ounce Hallertauer - 2 minutes
1 tsp Irish Moss - 15 minutes
1 California Ale Yeast (WL001)
1 tsp gelatin (secondary)
3/4 cup bottling sugar

I just received my new 10 gallon Rubbermaid to replace the warped 5 gallon one. I probably should post a picture of all my current setup.

I will stop by the Brewstop today and pickup the ingredients.

Wow... This stuffs red!

I guess 6 pounds of raspberries is redder than than that of 8 pounds of strawberries. What a nice, deep color. If this stuff tastes anything like it looks, we're in for a treat.

I was also surprised to have close to 5 gallons. After 7 days of fermentation, it was bubbling once every 30-40 seconds. I kind of expected it to be aggresive little longer.

This brings up a good question: When going from extract to all grain, how would you determine the amount of grains needed to equal that of extract.

Ex: 5 lbs of Pale Extract = x lbs of Pale Malt

What is x?

Just bottled my IPA ...

... and it's goooooooooooooooooooooooooood.

I also grabbed 6 of my flat tires, popped them open and sprinkled some dry yeast in them to see of in the next few weeks it has more carbination.

My Raspberry wheat is bubbling about about 1 every 8 seconds.

Maybe I'll transfer it on Monday (July 5th) or this weekend.

Already thinking about my next batch.


- Barb wants more Fruit Ale
- Pappaw wants more Cream Ale


Well seeing that I sort of have a Fruit Ale (RW) and I still have some Cream Ale left, I might favor another Ale that uses Carapils. It adds a nice smooth flavor to Pale Ale and an awesome head.

We'll see