Strawberry melome

Even though, I had no success with my last melome (wine of  fruit and honey) I gave it another go. I made this one entirely from strawberry, honey and sugar. I bottled them this weekend. At that time the color was very pleasing. Red, clear with a hint of brownish color. Very similar to what you would see in old red wines.

Before bottling it I added a tincture coriander and juniper berries (einebær). Only four bottles escaped this treatment, for comparison. I also wanted to experiement with fortifying the wine. I have never done this before so I have no experience to draw upon. I used four different spirits in order to learn what effect they have on the finished product. 60% spirits, dry gin, SO XO cognac, and finaly a tincture made by soaking oak chips in vodka for a month. All four were mixed with the melome to produce a wine of 18%.

The melome was rather promising before bottling, so i have high hopes for it. Maybe it will be ready for Christmas.

Melome v1.0

After making a few successful meads I wanted to expand to melome. Today I botteled my first melome. It is a clear red color with out using any artificial clearing. There is approximately 11,3% alcohole in the melome. It is extremely dry.

Recipe:

• 80g Saaz hops pelets, 60 min in 10l
• 30g Saaz hops pelets, 30 min in 10l
• 30g Saaz hops pelets, 15 min in 10l
• 3 sticks of cinamon
• 4ts ginger
• 4,2 kg Brazilian honey.
• 2,8 kg Swedish honey.
• 443g blue berry
• 737g blue grapes
• 668g plums
• 427g cherries
• Wyeast Mead Activator
• Total of 26l, OE 1.75

Mead v1.0

A decade ago I was really into making my own wine, beer and mead. I was never able to create a good wine, but I made good beer and mead. I quit the doing it a few years ago.
A few months back, when I was talking to my boss who is making mead, I was suddenly struck with the urge to try to make mead again. The first mead-must has fermented to completion as I write this. The must taste surprisingly good, prior to the fermentation, which gives me high hope for the end result. I'm not creating mead in the strictest version as I have added an assortment of spices and hops.

The recipe:

• 6kg honey
• 100g Saaz hops
• 2ts ginger-powder
• 3ts cinnamon-powder
• 0.5ts carnation-powder (nellik)
• lemon rind from two lemons

I added some water, hops, spice and honey to a kettle and boiled it for about 10 minutes. Then I strained the worth through a cloth to remove particles. After which I transferred the must to a fermentation tank and added water for a total volume of 25 liter. The oechsle weight was 1,060.I had problem getting the fermentation to start and had to use to packs of yeast. After three weeks of fermentation the weight was reduced to 1,000. Which results in (1,060 - 1,000) /8 = 7,5% of alcohol.

When racking the wine after three weeks of fermentation the wine was surprisingly clear. Even though I had bought win clearer I opted against using it. I moved the wine into a cooler room, where I left it for a week before bottling it. (The image on the right shows the mead after 5 weeks of bottle storage.)

The labels were printed on a regular laser printer, on regular printer-paper. For adherence I used a thin coating of milk. Which makes the label stick very good, but still easy to remove with water.

Now it's resting comfortably in the cellar. Where I expect it to stay between three and six months.

During this process I found this page very usefull:

• A nice faq for home-brew.

Mead v3.0

Mead v2.0 looked too dark and tasted too much of hops as must, therefore one week after v2.0 was made I made another one. It is mostly done the same way. Except that the hops is boiled less and I droped the anise. Because I did not have the same honey I had to use sweedish honey.

The recipe:

• 13kg honey from Brasil added in 7.7kg and 5kg batches.
  
• lemon rind from two lemons, 10 min in 10l
  
• 150g Saaz hops pelets, 15 min in 10l
• 4ts ginger-powder, 3 weeks
  
• One stick cinnamon, 3 weeks
  
• 32 carnation (nellik), 3 weeks
  

With the yeast I'm using I get aproximately a reduction of 1.010 OE a week.

Mead v2.0

Mead v1.0 looks promising, but unfortunately it tasted better as must than after the fermentation. I hope that storage will improve it. Inspired by the fact that the (1.040 oechsle) must tasted great I'm making a sweeter mead this time. I read a very interesting and well written book about Mead making called The Complete Meadmaker.

I used the no-heat method described in The Complete Meadmaker, in which the honey is not heated at all. According to the book this will preserve the flavor and aroma of the honey. Also instead of boiling spices with the hops I used whole spice (cinnamon, carnation, and anise + ground ginger) and only ground them lightly in the mortar. Then I left them in the must for three weeks.

I boiled 10l of water for one hour. I left 80g of Saaz hops in the water for the entire duration, 30g was added after 30 minutes, and another 30g after 45 minute. Lemon rind from two lemons were also left in the entire time. The resulting must was very dark. It was undrinkable sweet and had a overpowering taste of hops.

I only had Dry Mead yeast which in theory can survive unto 18% alcohol. So I added only 8kg honey, giving me a total volume of 25l with OE 1.100. Which in turn will give 13,75% alcohol. After the fermentation I will kill off the yeast by adding sulfate and moving the must to a cold room. After which I will added more honey to give me OE of 1.040 in the finished mead.

The recipe:

• 13kg honey from Brasil added in 8kg and 5kg batches.
  
• lemon rind from two lemons, 60 min in 10l
  
• 80g Saaz hops pelets, 60 min in 10l
• 30g Saaz hops pelets, 30 min in 10l
• 30g Saaz hops pelets, 15 min in 10l
  
• 4ts ginger-powder, 3 weeks
  
• One stick cinnamon, 3 weeks
  
• 32 carnation (nellik), 3 weeks
  
• 1ts anise