The Words written in my head

So we have racked all of the Meads in the carboy.

This required some cleaning and sanitizing.

I racked the Raspberry. It hasn't fully cleared yet but after I racked it I put in the lightly toasted oak chips. Those will be in for 2 weeks. I have procured some fresh thyme and that will go in tonight too. I didn't know that thyme actually comes in tiny leaves on a rather stiff branch, sorta like a bush. I plan on de-leafing the Thyme and brusing it up and then puting it in. Still undecided on how long, I am thinking 3 weeks should be fine and 2 weeks for the oak. Then let sit for a couple of weaks. Then rack again on some sparkloid to clear it a bit more. Right now it is a nice deep read color that had some proteans in it to make it slightly cloudy, but in a uniform manor. It could use the sparkloid, which is a wine refining agent, to become beautiful. I tasted it and it was very aromatic and tasted very sweet, almost too sweet. The Backsweetening worked well. Well that is why I am oaking it and bringing in Thyme into the equasion. I know from experience that oak does smooth things over a bit and make even harsh meads drinkable faster. The thyme should cut the sweetness too and bring things to a good balance. Thyme is a sweet herb but with a bit of a bite. It should do for the mead what hops does for beer, balance it a bit and bring the flavor to another level. I only want a little though. So of the thyme I bought, I will only be using about 12 stalks that are about 6 inches long. The leaves from that should be less than a teabag's worth. And I only plan on giving it 3 weeks so that the flavor gets integrated in but takse second fiddle to the raspberry. I know if I was carbonating it then that would take some of the sweetness away from the extra sugar eaten and the CO2 in the mix. This is a Still Mead so I am doing it with a complementary flavor. So, still on schedual to bottle late June. So this should be aged for next spring. I plan on passing it off to it's owner when it is bottled. I still don't have a label design. By all accounts this is looking to be a very good mead. It should be awesome when it is done aging.

Peach Spearmint: This one is light on the spearming but currently due to the subtle flavor of peach the mint is dominating. I am confident that this will change during aging. Some fruit flavors "Ripen" or start to come to the fore only in the aging process. The peach flavor is there but much lower than the mint. I sparkloided this one and it seriously cleared. Overnight almost. The instructions on the Sparkloid say to give it atleast 2 weeks. Good enough. I have yet to oak this one. That and bottling is all I need to do with this one. Very peased with the color and clairity.

Pumpkin Toasted Almond Spice: This one cleared up fairly well too. I don't need to do anything for clearing it. I may backsweeten it a bit and then sparkloid it. I already oaked this one with medium toasted oak. The problem here is that both pumpkin and almond are very subtle flavors and the spices are confusing the flavors. I am thinking of adding some almond extract to help boost the flavor, that and adding some molassas in the backsweetening process. This is to sweeten it up but give a more darker type of flavor. The flavors have not come out like I had liked on this one. We shall see, it is still young.

Lemon Lime: This one seems to be fine. The lemon and lime flavor tastes great. I opted for 3 cups of Lemon and 2 cups of lime and I plan on backsweetening it. I have it currently on the secondary in with the lemon and lime juice. Still in the early stages of this one.

Well, I got it back sweetened and racked again. I dosed the the honey water with some potasium Sorbate. That Should keep it from fermenting again. I tasted the mead and it was sweet and good. It should be maybe 1 to 2 rackings and then I can oak it and dose it with a little Thyme and then just start the process of aging. It should be very good.

Ok, So I racked off of the Pumpkin. Again about 1/2 of the pulp simply disintegrated into the solution. I expeceted it. I toasted the almonds at 350 degrees for about 8-10 min. They tasted yummy. Then racked the pumpkin on to it. I also put in the spice bag seperate: 1/2 to 3/4 a whole nutmeg freshly crushed, 2 vanilla beans sliced and cut into about 1 inch to 1 1/2 inch sections, 2 cinnamon sticks about 1 1/2 inch long. In yet a seperate bag I put some medium toasted oak. The reason for the seperate bags is that I can take out the oak after about 2 weeks to keep it from being over oaky. The medium toast should leave a more carmelly flavor and smooth it out. I plan on leaving the spice bag in for a month and the toasted sliced almonds for another month after that. I shall take out the sliced almonds and see if they are edible. They may be. and may be quite tasty. I tasted the mead just off of the pumpkin. It had a nice pumpkin, sweet flavor. When I am done with the bags I plan on racking to my 5 or 6 gallon glass carboy and possibly rack on to some clairifyer. Then it gets racked about ever 2 months. I don't feel that I will need to back sweeten this one. It should be a little dryer than my usual fare.

The Peach got racked again. When I racked it off of the peach puree it had a lot of sediment, I racked the sediment into a glass gallon container and filled up the gallon. I then let it settle. It turns out that 1/4 of the fluid was on top and it settled again. I also worked with the rest of it pouring it through a paper towel in a strainer. It turns out that a coffee filter was too fine. I needed to change the paper towel frequently but it did get a portion of the pulp out. I was left with about 1/2 gallon of slightly murky. This is not one that is going to clear easily. Sigh, I wish that I had a pump and a filter system for racking. I haven't put in the spearmint yet. I will need to put in very little otherwise it will be competing with the peach. I only want a little mint flavor.

The other one I have going is the Rasberry Thyme. No Thyme in it yet. I racked it off of the pulp once and I think that I have a gallon of white pulp in the bottom. I will need to be very careful on this. I may just rack the pulp into another container. This one at last taste had a great aroma and was a very dark red. It tasted A bit tart. I will be back sweetening this too. I am thinking about 3-4 pounds in a gallon of fluid to sweeten it up. I know that this one is very potent and the addition of honey and water will lower the alcohol volume a little and make it more palatable. So going to need to do Raspberry again. Some changes are going to be in order with the knowledge that I am going to loose a lot of volume to pulp. I may even do a raspberry lemon. Or Lime..Hmm. But I think that I found another standard.

Standards I plan on: Pumpkin type one in fall. Rockbiter oaked, went over very well. Also a Blueberry and a Raspberry. Lime was also suggested by my wife as it also was a big hit.

So:
1. Pumpkin
2. Raspberry
3. Blueberry
4. Lime
5. Rockbitter.

Room for 2 more. Shall we say 2 experimental batches.

Ok, So here's the plan for Hagrid's secret stash part 2. I got 3 small pumpkin pie pumpkins. Gonna split them crossways and cook them in the oven to carmelize and bring out the pumpkin flavor. Also this should soften up the pulp. Then Going to toast some sliced almonds. I was at one point in time going to use whole and crush them a bit but slices they are already have a lot of surface area and the toasting will bring out the flavor. I hope that flavor extracts well. Then I also plan on toasting the pumpkin seads and tossing them in too. So I should get some great flavors. Let's see, the spices. Went a little overboard with the cinnamon last time. Only 1 stick, 1/2 a nutmeg crushed up, one whole clove. That should do it.
Going to use 2 pounds of almonds. In the vanilla almond I used 1 pound of sliced almonds and didn't toast it. Didn't extract well and I also used a few drops of Almond extract. Very subtle flavor. So going to use 2 pounds of toasted almonds. I may end up saying them and drying them out and maybe candying them. If I can get the yeast off. Hmm.

Ok. I got the primary going:

4 gal of spring water
18-19 pounds of honey
1 tablespoon of yeast energizer
1 tablespoon of yeast nutrient
1 tablespoon of my clarifier Gympsm dust or stone dust.
2 packets of Lavin D-47 yeast.

This is looking very dark and wonderful. I tossed the yeast at 101 degrees. A little hot, hope I didn't kill the yeast. I realize that my process of heating up the honey water does put a lot of air in it that I don't really need to areate or use an oxygen stone. I tested the gravity when I was done tossing the yeast. A whopping 1.13. That's pretty big.

Here is the formula for aproximating the alcohol by volume: Starting gravity (that's the 1.130.) minus ending Gravity (probably be something like 1.02) times 1.31. That's it if there are no ohter additions. So if my ending gravity is 1.02 then heres the scoop: 1.13-1.02 = .11 and then .11 X 1.31= .1441 or 14.41% Aproxmately. That's prior to any additions or changes. I shall have to look up how the formula changes when I put in additions, like the fruit.

So currently it is that dark carmel color. It will lighten up with the yeast propigation, to be a nice very light brown color and then get sort of wateryly looking and have a visible yeast pack at the bottom. When the bubbles of the carbonation generation slow down to almost inperseptable levels, one bubble a min or less, then it is time to the secondary.

Addition to the secondary: Cooked puree pumpkin in nylon bag. In hops bag: 1 cinnamon stick about 1.5 inches, one whole clove, and 1/2 a whole nutmeg freashly crushed. The almonds are going to wait till the tetriary. Also in the teriatry I am going to put in 1 oz of lightly or medium toasted oak chips. This will smooth it out quickly.

So on the honey supply: I barely touched the second bucket so I figure that I have over 82 pounds left, that is at least 4 batches. I only have plans for 2: Blueberry Lemon, Lemon Lime Sweet basil. The lemon lime sweet basil will only have 12 pounds of honey to start because I want less alcohol content. Then it will be sulfating to kill the yeast and then backsweetening it to taste. Hopefully I will end up with around 10% and a higher volume too. My experimentation with lime went really well dispite not oaking it.

Also, After full thought and planing. I have decided to oak the Rockbitter from now on. I may add some sweetness to it, like say 2 pounds of honey when I am oaking it to compensate but it should be a very smooth batch. If I do another Binary test it will be light oak vs medium toasted oak. The extra carbon should bring the flavor down more earthy.

So, I have Pumpkin primary in and started. Need 2 more primaries to do the two more that I have planed. So what is next? Hmm, should be June by the time I am ready for it. Perhapse another fruit? Finally do the mango. Or chocolate. Hmm, descisions. Also there is the Bannana Nutmeg to consider. And there are other fruit in the summer to consider.

Well that's all for now.
Dave

Ok, I finally have the Orange Vanilla bottled. I must say that this turned out about as sweet as I wanted but I didn't quite get what I was looking for. I would call it more of an orange vanilla than a orange creamcyle. The orange flavor isn't nearly as strong as it should be and the creaminess is not quite there. Of course, I expect to get some more flavor after it ages. It does have SOME creamyness and the orange flavor is nice, the vanilla comes through. I think I can chalk this up to over oaking. I had it on the oak chips for a month and prob 2 weeks would be good enough. Of course, I can already tell that this one is going to be VERY smooth. The over oaking didn't add an "oakyness" or even too much of an earthy flavor but I think that it served to possibly temporarily dull down the flavors. Now if that is the case as much as I think it will be, the flavors are set to explode! That will make me happy. I am sure the vanilla does serve to tone down things a bit and not get a sharp acidic taste. I have very high hopes for this one. Even if it doesn't mature, It is entirely drinkable NOW. I couldn't help licking my lips and practically drooling when I was taking small sips of the shot glass that I use to test it, as I am bottling it or taking measurements. I think that this one is on the 12% side of the ABV as when I racked to secondary I think that the acidity of the orange juice concentrate, organic with no sulphides. I checked. So this should turn out fabulous. Again high hopes, I can't wait till it's done aging but I must wait for sake of getting the best out of the brew. Ach, it's hard though.

I expect that by summer next year I can drink it concious free. That should be about 6-7 months aging. So I managed to time things right. The two citrusy brews ready in summer for some cool summer sipping. I have 2 brews that I hope to get to Tomorrow and Sunday. Starting the primaries on that is. The temp in the house is cooling down so it should be a good one.

For those that are paying attention, the two brews I hope to start should be the Lemon/Lime (Basil?), and the Blueberry lemon. I am afraid that It wont be til October to put together the Primary for the Pumpkin Toasted Almond. Of Which I still need to learn how to toast both almonds and how long to cook the pumpkin to get some carmelized flavors going. This one I am thinking I will oak with medium toasted oak to help it along and to add more smoothness.

I noticed that on my pumpkin spice brew it needed something to smooth things a bit. One great comment I had said about it was “I like it, It tastes like Chistmas”

So I have one brew that tastes like fall and one like Christmas. So what flavors would “Taste Like Spring” or like summer or like winter? Hmm. That’s a thought. If I ever do get a brewpub going, I shall have to have seasonal and specials. There’s the Standards, the Seasonal and the Special event brews. So far I think that I have:

Standards:
Rockbitter (oaked)
Lime

Season:
Spring: Fig? Vanilla?
Summer: Strawberry, Blueberry, Lemon or some citrus
Fall: Pear nutmeg, Pumpkin Spice
Winter: Cranberry?.

So here are the different brews I made: Desert Rockbitter, Desert Oaked Rockbitter, Strawberry, Blueberry, Watermelon, Vanilla Almond, Pumpkin Spice, Pear Nutmeg, Orange Vanilla, Pineapple Lime Mint.

In the plans that I have materials: Raspberry Thyme, Lemon/Lime Basil, Peach Spearmint, Blueberry Lemon.

Need to get Almonds and pumpkin.

Ok, Stopped off at Costco for some supplies.

Got 8 pounds of Raspberries for the raspberry thyme mead. The consulting mead. I have frozen the berries as they are not needed until I am ready to have it racked to the secondary. Racking is the process of moving the mead from one vessel to another and leaving the dead yeast and sediment from the primary fermentation behind. The yeast and sediment is called lees.

For ease of use of the berries I recomend rendering the berries to juice and using some pectin enzyme to break down the cell walls to get more juice. It is also recomended to sanitze the juice via flash pasturizing or campden tablets. This is not always needed. I don't think that I will need to sanitize the juice. Basically the process that I use to render to juice is to freeze (which also helps to break down the cell walls, that's why frozen fruit get's mushy when you thaw it) and then run through a blender. Then pour through a fine screen. The screen should catch the very small seeds in the raspberries. Then the resulting pulp and the juice I plan on dosing with the pectin enzyme as mentioned. Then Let the pulp sit and the enzyme take effect, maybe blenderize once more and pour through the screen again. Also pour through the juice through the screen again. Once that is complete I should have some very fine pulp that comes out in lees and juice. The phrase "Rack onto the fruit" Is simply putting the juice/fruit in the new fermenter vessel and then transfering the must over to that. When I do so I will take two thyme leaves bruise them up and put it in too. The bruising is important to open up the leaf's juices and provide an avenue of escape for the essential oils and juices that will be extracted via the alcohol that was just created and incorporated in the flavor profile.

So, When the Primary Fermentation (that's the very active fermentation that happens at the start of it, the yeasties die and slow down a lot once it get's crowded for air space and for sugar and the like) So once the primary fermentation slows down to maybe a bubble every minute I will need to rack onto the juice and slip in the thyme (hee hee, I am adding time to it, ok bad pun is done) that officially starts the secondary fermentation. The secondary fermentation is typically slower. Basically there is less yeast, oxygen and resources for the yeast. But the introduction of the sugar via the fruit juice does make things speed up a little. The secondary fermentaion is nearly unnoticable by watching the air lock.

At this stage the thyme should only be left in for about 1 month, same if you are using whole fruit. This way you can get the flavor in and remove the particulate matter sooner. Some fruits are sponges and need squeezing. This is why I use fruit juice when possible.

After I remove the Thyme leaves, Jut rack when there is some sediment. About every 2 months. Some say it is important to top volume up when you rack, I don't find it neccessary but lately I have been getting too high of alcohol content so I think I may. The mead will become steadily more clear as the yeast die and drop down out of it and any pulp that was in the fruit juice fall out. Gravity does it's job. You rack every 2 months until you can read newspring through the carboy. This usually takes about 3-5 rackings and about 6-8 months. Once it is clear you can bottle or bulk age in the carboy just like it is. Many say that for most consistent flavor bulk aging is the best way. But I prefer to bottle age, so It is bottling/labeling and then age 6-9 months. Longer aging is not required but like wine it gets better with time. I have found a minimum of 1 year of aging is best. That's it.

Once I have new labels, I will post them.

But on to my shoping trip.

Got Raspberries, 5 flats of 36 oz total. 4 are needed for the raspberry mead. I may use it all though.

I got 10 pounds of frozen blueberries. going to do another bluberry mead, might just end up being a blueberry lemon mead.

I got 2- 5 pound bags of lemons for like $2.79 a bag.

I got 1- 5 pound bag of limes for Like $2.99 or so.

I am going to do a light lemon lime mead. I may end up putting 2 leaves of fresh basil in it too. Ziz told me that they have plenty of Fresh basil. And basil being a nice light flavor that might still be sweet but bring down the raw acidity of the lemon-lime. Plan on using the ratio of 2 lemon to 1 lime and thining down on the alcohol content with a more controled fermentation watch on the gravity. I want around 10-12% max and for the mouth feel to be lighter.

I also cut and packed away into the freezer the rest of the peaches. I have enough for a second batch and I may just do it in the spring when carboys open up again.

Things to buy yet: Pumpkin and Almonds for a toasted pumpkin/almond/spice mix. Mangos? I really want to do a Mango. I was also thinking for variety sake doing a Carmelized Mango and carmalizing 1/2 the mangos I use to do a unique flavor profile. For the life of me I can't think on what I would want to pair, spice-wise, with mango. Mango Ginsing? Ginsing being a anti-microbial doesn't help so it would have to be a late addition. Possibly at the oaking stage 1-2 rackings prior to bottling, just as it is nearly cleared out.

If I don't do Mango then I may do a chocolate mead to see how it comes out, this one I may split into 5 test batches to see a variety of tastes to see what I like to make a full 5 gal batch.

So, Carboy Plan: I have 7 carboys.

1. Raspberry Thyme (consult job)
2. Peach Spiriment
3. Lemon Lime Sage
4. Blueberry-Lemon
5. Toasted Pumpkin Almond
6. Carmelized Mango or Chocholate

Currently in Carboys:
1. Pineapple Lime Mint (almost due to Bottle)
2. Orange Creamcycle (almost due to bottle)
3. Primary 1
4. Primary 2

(labels to make: Rasberry Thyme, Oaked Rockbitter, Pinapple Lime Mint (need good name), and Orange Creamcycle)

Leaving the 7th carboy for racking purposes.
I know for the secondary I will need the bigest brew bucket I have for the pumpkin as I am going to see about 3 pumpkins and toast 2 of them, toast 2 pounds of almond too. I need the space for all that pumpkin meat in the nylon bag so I can strain it.

Wow, that's a log longer than I intended to post, sorry ya'll. Just explaning some terms too.



That's all for now,
Dave

Ok for having several people, I think 6 or so, do a taste test the results are inconclusive.

Many people liked both but It was a general consensus that the non-oaked is sweeter but many thought it had a bit of an alcoholic bite to it. Over all the Oaked was smoother at this green stage. I personally thought the oaked was thinner tasting but smoother, had more of a wine quality. The oaked has a bit more alcohol too. Gravity readings say that it is only a 1-2% diffrence, not much overall but at least one person could definitely taste the diffrence.

No one thought that the oak was too woody tasting and many thought that the non-oaked one was the oaked. I think that oaking will work with some mellower flavor profiles, like spiced batches but not so much with the high fruit flavor profiles.

I used lightly oaked chips for the oaked, 1 oz and put in for 2 weeks. I had someone mention that I should do a trinary batch of the 3 diffrent toast levels to see the diffrence. That being lightly toasted, medium toast, and heavy toast. Each is said to bring a diffrent flavor profile, according to my reading. Maybe next time I need to make more of my standard Show Mead, what I call my rockbitter, I will do a trinary batch. Hmm, I think that for cost reasons I might just do a 5 gal batch and split it up in single gal. Hmm, that would be a non-oaked, lightly oaked, meduim oak, heavy toast oak, and then for the 5th gal maybe try a cubes verses chips, like a Medium toasted oak cubes. I hear that even that is diffrent. It bears some thought.

Over all, I am pleased with both batches. I need to be patient to see the flavor profile in 6 months or another year of aging as once it is past it's "Green" stage and matured a bit I am sure that the non-oaked will loose some of the bite and the oaked will get much smoother. It bears some thought.

I give a thankyou to all my testers on my tuesday night card/board game night over at Annabelle's house.

And to think I haven't even got to the level of blended meads yet.

Overall, I enjoy sharing my mead, That is the best part of making it is sharing it. I also love experimenting with flavors. If that magical winning of the powerball jackpot happens, I would like to have a mead pub where we don't serve beer but mead. Also, would like it to be a sort of D&D style of pub/inn type thing. I even had an Idea to use coins of the realm for it. Get made up some coins, brass, copper silver, gold, and platinum colored coins professionally made to be purchased on entrance and used to buy stuff with once inside. Gimicky I know but fun. Also the coin value would stay, the coins themselves would cost less than the value of them in the pub.

Brass: $1 or $1.50 A tipping coin
Copper: $3-5 A standard coint
Silver: $10 or so
Gold: $20 or $25
Platinum: $50 or $100

Not sure of the values yet but you can regulate the value of the meals by the coin value and keep the same prices on the board. Raise prices once a year at most. But should they buy a coin and keep it and then buy stuff latter after the prices change, then the value of a copper is still a copper. Some people might want to buy coins just to have the momento. When it cost 50 cents to $1 for a coin bought in bulk then it is pure profit when you sell that coin for $20 and they keep the coin. I was thinking a custom print on it too like a dragoon on one side and the name of the in with a mug of mead on the frount. Cool Idea but I need to win the powerball jackpot first. Ah to dream.

I have divulged from the mead, sorry.

So thinking about the binary test, I think that I may oak more meads in the future and know I know what it does exactly I can use that to design the flavor of what I want in future batches. Mead Making for me is another form of art. Just one that is easier to share than my stone sculpture or other forms of art. Sorry for those that have hangovers from it and end up cursing the drink later but I do try to warn people of it's potency and the fact that the potency will hit harder due to the fact that the body loves honey. It is a friendlier sugar than beer or cane sugar based products so it has a more profound impact. This is also why I strive hard to remove the alcoholy taste from my meads and strive for taste over ABV%. But here I am babbling because it's late. Next mead post will prob be when I rack the Orange Vanilla and the Pineapple, Lime, Mint batches as I am lacking $$ for more honey and that is likely to continue until after summer. Ah, well.

Dave "The Mead Maker Dave" Hmm that doesn't sound bad. Or "The Meadier Dave" Naaa. Much like Norm, I am usually just "Dave" nick names rarely stick for me.

I thought I would post a list of personal epiphany. Some of them are still works in progress and I welcome comments and discussion on any of it. Some are core values of mine. Some are simple discoveries. Listed in no paticular order and also not numbered because any one is not more important than the other. Enjoy.

List of Epiphanies:
• Love and Sex are not the same thing.
• Love and Trust do not automatically go together, they should but do not.
• I love my Dad.
• My Mother is actually a smart person that hides it more than I hide my own intelligence from myself.
• Just because someone is family does not mean that you need to or have to love them or trust them. Because of blood or marriage is does not mean that they automatically are respected or loved.
• You can Hate someone and Love them at the same time.
• We (as in humans) are ALL judgmental. Even when we say it is not our place to judge we do form an opinion. Sometimes that opinion is based on very little facts and give “the full story” the opinion might not change. We are all hypocritical, prejudice, and Judgmental. For both good and bad reasons.
• I try to be Judgmental on both sides of an issue to understand it. Understanding both sides of the matter is key to forming your own opinion, or rather crafting your opinion that you already made with more depth even if that opinion is a complete reversal or change from what it was.
• You can’t demand Love. You can’t buy it. You can’t change it. It is an elemental force. How you deal with it is what matters.
• Your thoughts, opinions, AND actions define you. Not your birth or your “Physicality”.
• Your personality is the tools to charter your life through the ocean of time.
• I do not need to change myself to fit in. I sometimes forget this and need to either relearn or remember/be reminded of this one.
• I am prejudice against “Mexicans” or rather the “Latino” point of view and values. I fight it and try not to but the closer someone fits the mental “Mexican” Image the less I think of them. The “Mexican” Image is the type of Mexican/American that doesn’t learn English, doesn’t want to work or is the “Wetback” point of view, does not wish to educate themselves or be educated, does not mind welfare and even has a goal to be on it if they can, clings to their “Cultural Values” as a shield of anti-oppression or sympathy gathering device (conscious or not), and also has values that treat women as property, family as a gang, and hold anybody richer than themselves with contempt. As I said this is a Prejudice. I fight this as much as I can. Also, It must be said that not everyone that is “Hispanic” or “Latino” or “Mexican/American” fits this or are even thought of in this way, Much like “Blond” is no longer a hair color, “The Mexican Image” is no longer a matter of physical descent.
• I dislike begging because it inherently demeans the person begging and also in a holistic sense demeans every human being alive, including me. It is insulting on an elemental level to me. Asking for help is not begging, neither is asking for help with promise to pay back or in exchange for services.
• I am capable of creating beauty,
• I am capable of creating music.
• Every human alive is beautiful, in their own way. Sometimes it is obvious, sometimes it is not. The same goes for Uglyness, every human is ugly in their own way.
• There is so much beauty in the world that one bumps into it about every second. You only need to pay attention.
• Stealing is wrong.
• Lying is wrong, sometimes necessary but always wrong. Lying cheats yourself too.
• Children are generally more perceptive than we give them credit for. Sometimes they are not bold enough to say what the see and sometimes they are not sure of what they see. We should listen to them more often. Children often are riddles in their mannerisms and perceptions.
• Belief in oneself is a powerful thing. Putting that power to positive use is a key.
• Belief is changeable and another force of nature. Luckily we are In partial control of this force when it applies to ourselves.
• Things happen for a reason. Finding that reason or creating that reason is a challenge that is worthy of the endeavor. Always.
• You can love more than one person at a time and humans often do.
• Loving multiple people even intimately does not cancel out or invalidate ANY of the other loves.
• Time is a limiting factor in most cases of love.
• Quality AND Quantity are both important where love is conserned, as well as timing. Finding the balance is the hardest thing humans can do. Almost NEVER is the perfect balance found. This still does not invalidate ANY of the love for any of the Loved ones. Perception is the key and communication is the act of using that key. The door is simply a buffer or a barrier that we use to protect ourselves from harm.

Ok, So It has been a LOONNG time since I racked the meads. From what I read that shouldn't really hurt the end product. From what I experince it is true. Mead Making is really the lazyman's brewing. But hey, It is good once done.

Pineapple Lime Mint:

I racked this one first. I was initially really worried about this one because of the dark color it took on. I got it up on the counter and into the light and really it's color didn't look too bad. Kinda a medium tea color. I think that the darkness that it appeared was mostly a trick of the light and the sediment was grey. So got it racked, gingerly tasted it fearing the worst. And I come to find that the lime flavor has calmed down, the pineapple has become a subtle background and the mint is very slight. It all has jelled into something wonderful. I was afraid that the mint was to much, evidently 1/2 teaspoon of pure mint extract in 5 gal is not much to worry about, it makes it minty without overpowering it and the mint and the lime really blended together. Overall I say it is a success. It is still VERY sweet but that should be fine. You put it over ice and you got yourself a great drink. I am totally psyched as to when it will be done aging. By the looks of it it should be ready to bottle in a couple of months. YUM!! I think that this one is realitivly low in ABV% like maybe 10%. Which is good and makes it more drinkable.

Orange Creamcicle:

This one was next, I worried about this one being on the vanilla for so long. I think it was on the vanilla for several months, like 3 or 4. One month should have done it. But I got lazy. Hurray for lazyness. The orange and the vanilla jelled VERY well. The sweeting it up with 1 pound of Lactose has made it more creamy of a mouth feel but you notice it more in the taste. It does indeed taste like an orange cream soda. The flavors do need to mesh a little more but I am confident that this will happen in the aging process. I think that the ABV% is around 9-10% due to the fact that the acidity of the orange may have killed off the yeast premaurely. That and the fact that Lactose is non-fermentable is a plus that makes it sweet. after racking it I put 1 oz of lightly toasted oak chips in it. Should mellow and bring out the flavors even more. I am thinking only 2 weeks on the oak, don' want to over do it. So another success. I think that layering the flavors in helped too. This one is also looking almost clear enough to bottle.

Cyser Leftover:

This is the left over of the apple cider I made form a caroling party of a friends. The cider is non alcoholic. I put a little sugar in it when it started. I think that it fermented very dry. So I put about 1 cup of brown sugar into it (ended up with 2 galons) and some potasium sorbate to stop the yeast, I also put in some more apple juice that I had from yesterday. About 3 cups worth. I racked them into 2- 1 gallon containers. Not sure how this experiment will turn out. But I think that I might bring some of it, still unaged, to next caroling party. Who knows. I don't think I sweetened it up too much. Don't have gravity readings yet.

For the future, been on a bit of a financial crunch so I haven't been able to buy honey. Looking forward to getting some from taxes. Maybe I can get a bucket or two of honey with tax refund money. I am hoping. My wife wants me to do my chocolate experiment. I am seriously thinking on another strawberry or blueberry as that went over well and I am nearly out of it. Also was thinking on doning the bannana nutmeg batch too. If I get 2 buckets then I can do 4 new batches. The chocolate experiment will be 1 batch. Who knows. Dare to dream.

So I have been tinkering with a beloved card game that I own. Three Dragon Ante. In an effort to expand the number of cards to increase the number of players I have added the Neutral Dragons and a few mortals and a neutral Dragon card. After playtesting the cards I have modified 2 of the Neutral dragon suits and the Bard card. This was to preserve game balance. Things I noticed when we playtested these: Color Flights are more rare. Strength Flights are more common, Mortal flights are a bit more common but not enough to be noticalbe.

So here are the new Neutral Dragons after Modification:


Take 1 random card from strongest opponent pay weakest opponent 1 gold

The opponent with the strongest flight chooses to give you any dragon. If the dragon is stronger than this card than you pay 5 gold to the stakes, if the dragon is weaker than this card then the opponent gives 5 gold to the weakest player.

Take a random card from the opponent with the strongest flight, give a card to that opponent of your choice.

Pay 2 gold to the stakes for each card you wish to draw up to 3 and discard the same number of cards you draw up to 3 cards, if you do so then your opponents may pay 4 gold to draw a card and discard 1.

Discard this card, shuffle the discard pile and take a random card from it. That card's power activates normally, if it is a crystal dragon then take the top of the draw card to play instead, the power activates normally.


I hope those are readalbe. From those that helped the initial playtest, thanks. Here are the updated suits of dragons.

Here are the mortals:


Commoner: Take one gold from the stakes for every mortal in play.

Bard: Each opponent with a stronger flight than you chooses to give you a random card from their hand or 5 gold.

Pay 2 gold to the stakes, this card counts as a Gold, Silver, or Bronze dragon for the purposes of Strenght or Color flights or other custom flights.

And Lastly the Neurtral Dragon God is the Ruby Dragon: Sardior.



Discard any number of cards from your hand, draw that many cards from the draw pile.

Other Modifications to the game: Add 5 gold to each person's base hoard of 50 for each player beyond 6.

It has been mentioned to me that I should create a Balance flight, a flight of 1 good dragon, 1 neutral dragon and 1 evil dragon. Due to the commoness of this I have decided not to do so as it would be easy to do.

Also, I have been asked to create a Mortal flight. Now that mortals are a bit more common too I like the Idea. One House rule was that if you could do it then you could discard any number of cards and draw the same number of cards. Very powerful. I think something lesser should be in order. Not sure what.

So, I am looking for help on the internet here about creating variations of play. A new flight Idea or two. Suggestions on the cards I presented and suggested new playing methods.

One Idea I had was double ante. Each player plays 2 cards for the ante and the total is added up and put in the stakes. This is basically a "Let's end the game" type of alternate style.

Another Idea was to have team play for the pot. See the Idea is to play the game with more people than 6. You can team up with someone and play happens normally with 2 flights of 3 but the twist is you and your partner can mix the flights to get a special flight AND if you or your team mate win the pot you both split the pot evenly.

Any Ideas out there, or comments. All are welcome.

Dave