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Ok, I am in the final racking of the rockbitter meads. I'll have to admit I didn't think that it would take this long to clear. It is almost clear now, I racked it one final time. In 1 to 1 1/2 months I should be albe to bottle it and then wait the year. Ofcourse there is cheating when you take the gravity mesurements and taste a little of each. Here's the results so far. Oh, the oak is lightly toasted. I think that I would get greater results with a medium or heavy toast oak. Toasting is basically lightly burning the chips or browning them slightly to change some of the starches and bring out diffrent flavors. Sorry, I can tell you are waiting for the results of the cheat test.
Regular Rockbitter: A lot less antiseptic than first batch, very good. A little bit of bite in it still. Expected for a green mead. But I think that it is just a little less sweet than my first batch due to my toping off after the last racking.
Oaked Rockbitter: Still very suprising, it has a sweet taste, a little more watery than I wanted but the topping off process I would expect it. I think that I am still impressed. It tastes a lot cleaner with no bite. If anything, I would say that the oak "clarified" the taste a bit and took that charactistic bite of green mead out of the equation. Can't wait.
Over all, I would say that oaking it is a success. Will make it drinkable faster and may age better. I shall have to see the end results. I am sure I can find people to impartially judge this when it is finally done aging. Now, that said, not all meads in my future creation will be oaked. I can definitely use it as a style techique.
That's all for now.
Regular Rockbitter: A lot less antiseptic than first batch, very good. A little bit of bite in it still. Expected for a green mead. But I think that it is just a little less sweet than my first batch due to my toping off after the last racking.
Oaked Rockbitter: Still very suprising, it has a sweet taste, a little more watery than I wanted but the topping off process I would expect it. I think that I am still impressed. It tastes a lot cleaner with no bite. If anything, I would say that the oak "clarified" the taste a bit and took that charactistic bite of green mead out of the equation. Can't wait.
Over all, I would say that oaking it is a success. Will make it drinkable faster and may age better. I shall have to see the end results. I am sure I can find people to impartially judge this when it is finally done aging. Now, that said, not all meads in my future creation will be oaked. I can definitely use it as a style techique.
That's all for now.