Best advice I can give...

"When in doubt....wait."

I'll explain.

I made 2 batches of mead (pure buckwheat honey and nothing else) about 6 months ago. I added yeast nutrient to both batches.

I learned later that yeast nutrient is not necessary nor recommended for buckwheat mead, but I didn't know that then.

I used 2 different strains of yeast (EC-1118 and 71B) and was planning on doing a side-by-side comparison (more on that in a bit).

About 2 months ago, I decided to have a barrel tasting with one of my friends. Both meads tasted like Elmer's glue, were cloudy as h*** and, were only worthy of the kitchen drain.

My friend advised me to dump both batches, as we surmised they may have been spoiled one way or another.

Well, I decided, that since I didn't need the carboys just yet, might as well wait a while.

2 months later (today) I tried both meads. To my surprise, they are both brilliantly clear, they both have a great honey nose, and taste wonderful. Needless to say, they are both a bit hot still from their young age.

So, there's my advice: *BE PATIENT*. I am glad I waited, otherwise I would have dumped $60 down the drain. Instead, I have 70 bottles of buckwheat mead to look forward too!

Now, for today's comparison tasting.

The EC-1118 is clean, crisp, and very, very clear. It is a bit hot on the pallette, but I know that will mellow with age. It would be a very good alternative wine with fatty foods.

The 71B is clean, crisp, fruity, and very round. Researching Lalvin's site,

71B is supposed to ferment up to 25% of malolactic acid, which it apparently has done. It is quite a bit less hot that the other, but very tasty. it's off dry, but still has the flavor of a dessert wine.

Other things in the works:

I just bottled 2 1/2 cases of mead made from Guajillo honey and a strong brew of green tea. The tannins in the tea really cleared this wine quickly, and I was not forced to use finings.

I have 5 gal of my "tree hugger mead" in the final. I am going to force carbonate to 4 volumes of CO2 and bottle in champagne glass. Made a strong brew of ginger root, coriander, cardamon, and sasafrass (hence the name). Tastes like hard root beer, which will be nice with the effervescence.

I am starting a raspberry-zinfandel wine this weekend. Right now, just assembling the requisite chemicals.

Next week, I am starting a blackberry-zinfandel with local wild-grown blackberries. Should be fun with all the mosquitos.

Toodles. Brian

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Brian
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Care to share your recipe? I've got a friend who's been itching to make something with sasafrass, but we'd like to do something tried and true for our first round with it.

Thanks! WB

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nospam

WB

My mistake...That should be "Sarsasparilla" not sassafrass.

Anyways, the recipe is:

Buy enough Grade A Dark Amber maple syrup from Sam's club (I forget how much, exactly...don't have my notes in front of me) Make a strong tea (Aprox 2 quarts and let steep for 1 hour) from:

4 oz Ginger root (fresh or dried) 4 oz Sarsasparilla root 2 oz cardamon 2 oz coriander 2 Tbsp Pure vanilla extract Nutrients

Aerate for 30 minutes, and pitch a 1000mL starter (I use EC-1118)

Add a 2-cup concoction of hot-mix sparkalloid and bentonite (2 Tbsp each) when fermentation ceases. Rack after 2 weeks. Rack into soda keg, and carbonate to 4 volumes of CO2. Chill bottles and keg to around 36 degrees...carefully fill champagne bottles, fit stopper, and afix wire hood.

It holds carbonation in an open glass for about 15 minutes, and it tastes awesome!

SG should be around 1.130 or so. Make sure you aerate!

Brian

Reply to
Brian

I answered you over in rec.crafts.winemaking....

Brian

Wassail!

Reply to
Brian

You know, I've been learning patience with this as well.

I mistakenly added extra nutrient to my first mead (berry melomel) and now it's coming along. The cyser took a month and two rackings to stock primary (I really thought it was done before...). They both tasted crappy earlier, and while not guest-ready they're making progress. Thank goodness for random straws around the house that let me keep the faith.

Phil

Reply to
Phil V.

Sweet! Thanks! I had a maple syrup mead going but the carboy broke, so now I've got two excuses to start a batch of this!

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nospam

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