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matrix4bPear Nutmeg
Ok, I finally got the Pear Nutmeg going after pureeing what I belive to be 12 pounds of pears and depulping them. I pealed, sliced, pureed, and then Strained out the pulp with a strainer. I then took the pulp and atempted to puree it again with some pectin acid to break up the cell walls and render out more juice. Strained what I could after letting it sit for 3 hours, then froze it and thawed it and was able to get about 1/2 a cup more juice. The pulp was still tasty and I regretted tossing it. I ended up from 24 pears with about 4 cups of pulp and almost a gallon of pear juice. Now that was amazing. I put it in the 6 gallon carboy that I have then racked the mead on top of it and tossed in a whole nutmeg crushed but not in terribly small peices. From here I wil rack it next week to get out the nut meg bits and then just rack it every month or every other month til it reasonably clears. It may need a clairifying agent.
Hagrid's Secret Stash
With this one I took out the bag of the pumpkin and strained it, then set it in my stock pot. I then racked it normally. Squshed out the bag as best as I could. The bottom was very squishy and I was able to render a lot less than I expected. I expected it to sop up the must in a large way. I expected to have about 1/2 the must and a Lot of pumpkin mush. Gladly I didn't. I also put the spices in a diffrent bag than the pumpkin but both of them in the must. In the spice bag I put 2 2 inch cinamon sticks, 1/2 a nutmeg, 1 vanilla bean split. Now the sprising thing is that I Found was 1/2 of the pumpkin must have disintegrated into the must. I was left in the bag with pumpkin in it about 1/2 to 2/3's pumpkin meat from when I started. Pumpkin does not have that much juice in it. The other thing that is puzzling is that the meat is very dense. The cell walls of the structure must be thick and to have about 1/2 of it disapear must say something about the nature of the alcohol's effect on it. Still, I am expecting a long age time on this one. At least to next Halloween. I think that this will be a good time to crack it and see. Bottling should happen in July or so as I feel that with the pumpkin disintegrating I may need to filter it to get it to clear. Of course I may not want it clear. I think that this is one that will be just fine with out it. I just don't want a lot of sediment in the bottom of a bottle of mead. The sediment would ruin the flavor over time, so I may end up racking this one every other month and then filtering it a couplie of times by wraping cheese cloth around the autosiphon. It is a bit of a balance I need to find between a clear mead and a flavorful mead as sometimes when you filter someting you loose some of the taste. I have been told it comes back over time.
Vanilla Almond
I have high hopes for this one. I may have used too much vanilla but I wanted a strong character to go with the almond. I have seen absolutly NO help on how much almond to use so I used about 2 pounds. Made an auful mess but the almonds did not sop up the mead. I am not sure how much flavor I got out of the almond being a nut. For Nuts I have not been able to find any help about How much to use for what type of flavor. Most people use an almond extract due to the oils in it possibly going bad but that isn't going to be the case as the alcohol preserves it. And the oil would float on top and be taken out at the next racking. This is another one that I feel will take a while to age properly.
Ideas for the future: Found what I want to do for my Peach. I didn't want the spice of Peach Ginger. Just didn't want to do it though it may turn out very good. So talking to a friend that knows a little about herbs and came up with Peach Spiriment. Spirament being the lightest taste of the mints. But I really like the Idea. Still havent gotten the 2 batches of rockbiter going that my wife wants. Ah well.
Ok, I finally got the Pear Nutmeg going after pureeing what I belive to be 12 pounds of pears and depulping them. I pealed, sliced, pureed, and then Strained out the pulp with a strainer. I then took the pulp and atempted to puree it again with some pectin acid to break up the cell walls and render out more juice. Strained what I could after letting it sit for 3 hours, then froze it and thawed it and was able to get about 1/2 a cup more juice. The pulp was still tasty and I regretted tossing it. I ended up from 24 pears with about 4 cups of pulp and almost a gallon of pear juice. Now that was amazing. I put it in the 6 gallon carboy that I have then racked the mead on top of it and tossed in a whole nutmeg crushed but not in terribly small peices. From here I wil rack it next week to get out the nut meg bits and then just rack it every month or every other month til it reasonably clears. It may need a clairifying agent.
Hagrid's Secret Stash
With this one I took out the bag of the pumpkin and strained it, then set it in my stock pot. I then racked it normally. Squshed out the bag as best as I could. The bottom was very squishy and I was able to render a lot less than I expected. I expected it to sop up the must in a large way. I expected to have about 1/2 the must and a Lot of pumpkin mush. Gladly I didn't. I also put the spices in a diffrent bag than the pumpkin but both of them in the must. In the spice bag I put 2 2 inch cinamon sticks, 1/2 a nutmeg, 1 vanilla bean split. Now the sprising thing is that I Found was 1/2 of the pumpkin must have disintegrated into the must. I was left in the bag with pumpkin in it about 1/2 to 2/3's pumpkin meat from when I started. Pumpkin does not have that much juice in it. The other thing that is puzzling is that the meat is very dense. The cell walls of the structure must be thick and to have about 1/2 of it disapear must say something about the nature of the alcohol's effect on it. Still, I am expecting a long age time on this one. At least to next Halloween. I think that this will be a good time to crack it and see. Bottling should happen in July or so as I feel that with the pumpkin disintegrating I may need to filter it to get it to clear. Of course I may not want it clear. I think that this is one that will be just fine with out it. I just don't want a lot of sediment in the bottom of a bottle of mead. The sediment would ruin the flavor over time, so I may end up racking this one every other month and then filtering it a couplie of times by wraping cheese cloth around the autosiphon. It is a bit of a balance I need to find between a clear mead and a flavorful mead as sometimes when you filter someting you loose some of the taste. I have been told it comes back over time.
Vanilla Almond
I have high hopes for this one. I may have used too much vanilla but I wanted a strong character to go with the almond. I have seen absolutly NO help on how much almond to use so I used about 2 pounds. Made an auful mess but the almonds did not sop up the mead. I am not sure how much flavor I got out of the almond being a nut. For Nuts I have not been able to find any help about How much to use for what type of flavor. Most people use an almond extract due to the oils in it possibly going bad but that isn't going to be the case as the alcohol preserves it. And the oil would float on top and be taken out at the next racking. This is another one that I feel will take a while to age properly.
Ideas for the future: Found what I want to do for my Peach. I didn't want the spice of Peach Ginger. Just didn't want to do it though it may turn out very good. So talking to a friend that knows a little about herbs and came up with Peach Spiriment. Spirament being the lightest taste of the mints. But I really like the Idea. Still havent gotten the 2 batches of rockbiter going that my wife wants. Ah well.