Grave Images Mead Journal

What follows is a record of every batch of mead that we have created. As you can see, none of our mead is ready for consumption and we are still operating on a very small scale and are producing only for our own consumption and our friends - though that could change - you never know.

Documentation of our earlier batches was a bit casual and as you will see.

If you are a meadmaker and would like to offer any feedback, we would love to hear from you.

First batch

Started 07/02/2006. Simmered at about 160 degrees for about 10-15 minutes. Added to starter: 3 tsp Tartaric acid ½ tsp tannon ¼ tsp citric acid ½ tsp yeast nutrient Used one gallon orange blossom honey from Abigails Honey in Calif Six gallon batch made – with water and honey. Used WYeast Labs Vintners Choice 4632 – 1346136 – Dry mead yeast I see in my notes that I wrote approx five gallons, but at this point I was so worried about doing everything right that I was blindly doing whatever anyone told me to do. One such suggestion was that I make sure there was no water at the top of the carboy – and so I added a bunch of regular rap water to make up the difference. The resulting mead is quite dry and quite light – I’m afraid a bit too much of both. I haven’t tossed this mead out, but it won’t clarify and is still misty even though I’ve added clarifying agents. I’ve racked it off once and there it has sat since I moved it out of the starter. I think another problem with it may be the way in which I did my initial racking. I didn’t raise the starter bucket high enough and didn’t have a siphon at that point. 02/10/07 this batch has been sitting in a six gallon carboy since July and today I sampled it again and found it to be delicate, with a nice aroma and very light in body. It is now settling and will be bottled within the week.

Second batch Started 07/27/06 Simmered at about 150 degrees for 10 minutes. Added to starter: 3 tsp Tartaric acid ½ tsp tannon ¼ tsp citric acid ½ tsp yeast nutrient Used one gallon orange blossom honey from Abigails Honey in Calif Made five gallon batch – used 4 gallons regular water. Used WYeast Labs Vintners Choice 3632 – Dry mead yeast The packets within the yeast envelope only half opened (one of two) so I also added some dry powder champagne yeast to the must once started to supplement the yeast production. This was bottled approximately 90 days later (09/29/06) and had a very clear and light amber hue and a very pleasant aroma. The character is quite dry, almost chardonnay dry.

Third Batch Started 10/25/06 Simmered at about 150 degrees for 10 minutes. Added to starter: 3 tsp Tartaric acid ½ tsp tannon ¼ tsp citric acid ½ tsp yeast nutrient Used one gallon orange blossom honey from Abigail’s Honey in Calif. This is a batch of Cyser – so instead of water, I used four gallons of apple cider which I got at Wilson farms – who informed me that the cider was actually from a farm in Haverhill, MA. Used White Labs sweet mead/wine yeast – WLP720. Exposed to approx one oz. of light toast oak chips for 8 days. Racked three or four times to remove as much sediments as possible. This made me a bit short on volume, so I made up the difference with leftover mead from my first batch, which is to say dry light mead (this is before that batch had been rediscovered and bottled). Bottled very nicely – very clear – nice apple like aroma and it seems to have quite a high alcohol content – gravity was at 1.020 – but I have no initial gravity with which to compare.

Started 02/05/07 – batch of medium show mead One gallon of honey from Abigail’s in CA. (orange blossom honey). Four gallons of tap water. Two tsp yeast nutrient Two tsp of yeast energizer Four campden tablets One (5g) packet of Lalvin d-47 (rehydrated in two cups of water for 15-20 minutes). Original gravity is approx 1.090 – seems a bit low – may add another pound or two of honey even though it will put me a bit over the five gallon mark. I’m already just slightly over the five gallon mark anyway. Did not heat the honey this time – that’s why I used the campden tablets Added two pounds of wildflower honey (grade A) which I got at the local Stop and Shop. Increased gravity to 1.100 I think I need to add more yeast – the recipe that I’m using calls for 20g of lalvin d-47 and I only put in 5g – done on 02/07/07. Moved from starter bucket to the five gallon carboy on 02/18/07. Gravity is at 1.030. This made slightly more than five gallons – so I put the overflow into a half gallon container – it only filled about 1/3rd of the container so I added just a bit more honey and filled it to the top with water. It is lighter in color than the five gallon carboy and it did not start bubbling right away the way the other one did. My hope was to have a separate small batch going, but it may be that this will only be used to fill up the larger container when volume is lost during future rackings. 02/19/07 – both carboys are now bubbling. 04/01/07 – checked gravity – now at 1.000 04/01/07 – added approx 1 ounce of light toast oak chips to the five gallon carboy – none for the half gallon carboy. These were prepared by boiling them in a small amount of water for about five minutes. I then let them sit in the water overnight and added them to the mead after racking the mead off its sediments. 04/15/07 – racked mead again – to remove from oak chips. Had a glass of this mead at this time and it seems to have a decent alcohol content.

05/08/07 – bottled the contents of the five gallon portion of this batch of mead – made almost exactly 25 bottles. Presoaked the corks in a half gallon of water with a few drops of glycerin and two campden tablets for about one hour before bottling. Left the half gallon container alone for the time being – not sure what I’m going to do with this as I think it may be too light to be worth bottling.

05/19/07 – Started new batch of mead. This will be a much smaller batch – one gallon or so. Mixed four pounds of honey (from Wilson Farms in Lexington) with a little less than one gallon of mostly filtered water (used tap water to get the right temperature – 75 F). Mixed in a quarter teaspoon of yeast energizer and a quarter teaspoon of yeast nutrient along with two campden tablets. Did not heat the honey. Rehydrated one 5g packet of Lalvin D-47 yeast into a couple of ounces of warm water and let sit for 15 minutes – then stirred until the yeast was evenly suspended into the water. Mixed into the must and then stirred vigorously for about five minutes to oxygenate the yeast. Gravity measured at 1.120.

My plan it so make this a melomel. I have not yet decided which kind of fruit that I’m going to add.

The honey for this batch is from Wilson Farms in Lexington, but they told me that they weren’t producing this honey on their farm. They were also unable to tell me what kind of flower it was predominantly made from or if it was Grade A or not. The honey did have a very nice aroma and was very clear and had a nice deep gold color.