Tommy's Biscuit Mead - Scaled Batch

So, now I think my methodology is coming together. I've experimented with a few different recipes and have had some successes, a failure, and a couple of speed bumps. From here on out, I think I will focus on making bigger batches (4-5 gallons) of Tommy's Biscuit Mead and then customizing my recipes after racking to the secondary (or tertiary). So everything will have TBM as a base, and then cinnamon, jalapeño, mint, etc... added later on. My intention on this batch was to make a 3 gallon batch, but a series of oversights (to be explained below) has made it closer to a four or five gallon batch.

Initial Recipe (later revised)

10 lbs of Rice's Lucky Clover Honey
3 Gallons of water (literally 3 gallons)
75 chopped raisins
3 large oranges
6-3/4 tsp of Red Star Bread Machine Yeast
1 tsp of Epsom Salts

4/14/2009 @ 8 PM

Made must, pitched yeast. Used a 5 gallon water bottle (the kind that goes on the dispenser).

4/15/2009 @ 6:30 AM

Fermentation started, but not audible -- probably because of the thickness of the bottle. However, the balloon was about ready to launch into orbit. Poked two more holes in it.

4/15/2009 @ 7:00 PM

I realize I made a mistake in my calculations. I based this recipe on of my initial 1 gallon batch of Tommy's Biscuit Mead, assuming that if I used 3 lbs of honey for a one gallon batch, I could use 9 lbs of honey for a three gallon batch. However, a 1 gallon batch does *not* have one gallon of water; it has less. But my three gallon batch had 3 gallons of water. This will make the 3 gallon batch more diluted, and dryer, than my 1 gallon batch. So, I need to make adjustments. I need to add 5 more lbs of honey and 3 more cups of water. At this point, this is looking like a 4+ gallon batch, maybe close to 5 gallons. My calculations are below:

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Conversions
1 Gallon = 231 cubic inches
1 Cup = 14.6 cubic inches

Water Density
128 ounces per 231 cubic inches
.55 ounces per cubic inch

Honey Density
11.3 lbs per gallon
181.3 ounces per 231 cubic inches
.78 ounces per cubic inch

Displacement
1 lb. (16oz) of honey displaces 20.5 cubic inches.
3 lb. (48 oz) of honey displaces 61.5 cubic inches.
5 lbs (80 oz) of honey displaces 102.5 cubic inches.
10 lbs (160 oz) of honey displaces 205 cubic inches.

Must Content (for Tommy's Biscuit Mead -- original 1 gallon batch)
...Total: 231 cubic inches) Honey - 61.5 cubic inches (3 lbs) Other Ingredients - 20 cubic inches (about a cup and a half) Water - 149.5 cubic inches (i.e. the remaining space) NOTE: So, not including "Other" ingredients, there is a 2.4/1 volume ratio between water and honey

Must Content (for scaled-up Batch of Tommy's Biscuit Mead -- scaled up, 3 gallon batch)
Honey - 205 cubic inches (10 lbs)
Water - 693 cubic inches (3 literal gallons)
Other Ingredients - 60 cubic inches
NOTE: Not including "Other" incredients, there is a 3.4 / 1 volume ration between water and honey (Too dry!)

FIX:
Water / Honey = 2.4 #Desired Ratio
693 / n = 2.4 #Water already added
693 = 2.4n
693/2.4 = n
n = 288.75 # cubic inches of honey needed with 3 gallons of water
288.75 - 205 (honey already added) = 83.74

If I add another 5lb bottle of honey (102.5 cubic inches), the water to honey ratio will become...
693 / (205 + 102.5) =
693/307 = 2.25 #2.25/1 ratio (a little high)

So, to get a 2.4 ratio...
n / 307 = 2.4
n = 2.4 x 307
n = 736 cubic inches of water
736 - 693 (water already added) = 43 cubic inches of water (about 3 cups)

Therefore, add 5 more pounds of honey and 3 more cups of water for a 2.4 / 1 water to honey ratio

So, here is my...

Revised Recipe

3 Gallons, 3 Cups of Water
15 lbs of honey
3 Large oranges
75 raisins
1 tsp of epsom salts (for magnesium)
6-3/4 tsp of yeast

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04/16/2009 @ 8PM

Added five more pounds of honey and three cups of water. Fermentation still seeps fairly aggressive. This batch is about all I can get in a 5 gallon jug, although it was only meant to be a 3-gallon batch. Now, to keep my hands off of it and let it brew.

FVI (3 holes) 1:19

4/19/2009 @ 9:09 PM

The yeast has consumed about 1 inch of honey in two days. Amazing how quickly they do their work. The fermentation is very vigorous. I'm enjoying it immensely. I'm aiming at racking it on the 28th, but I need to come up with another 5 gallon water jug.

4/26/2009 @ 9:32 PM

FVI (3 holes) 2:47

Fermentation is starting to wind down. All the honey is gone. It still sounds fairly vigorous with my ear pressed to the jug, but the FVI is 2:47. I should be racking it tomorrow or Tuesday (by date), but I may not score another 5 gallon water jug before payday (Friday or Saturday). At any rate, I've been very happy with the progress of this one. Can't wait to get a taste!

Here's what I'm thinking of doing with the secondary:

• 1-1/2 Gallon of Tommy's Biscuit Mead
• 1/2 Gallon of Habenero
• 1 Gallon of Cinnamon Mead
• 1 Gallon of Viking Maiden

I'm not sure yet, though, if I want to let it clarify for a while in a clean 5 gallon jug or go straight to breaking it down into gallon and half-gallon jugs.

04/30/2009 @ 6:06 PM

FVI (3 holes) 3:22

05/08/2009 @ 10 PM

FVI (3 holes) 4:50

05/10/2009 @ 11 PM

Racked into secondary carboy. It is pretty sweet. Not too shabby.

5/16/2009 @ 7 PM

I could resist, so I poured a glass to... um... sample. Yeah, that's the ticket... a sample! Tasted pretty good (considering it is nowhere near being clarified). But this stuff is stout. Nice alcohol content.

6/02/2009 @ 10 PM

Noticed some small foamy spots floating on the service. Seemed like merely floating sediment. Mead smelled a little suspicious, but not bad. I stirred it a little, and the spots disappeared. Drank a dixie cup of it. It is really tasting pretty good, and very potent.

Viking Maiden

This will be a peppermint/spearmint mead. The primary is almost identical to Tommy's Biscuit Mead, except the orange was peeled. Peppermint and spearmint tea bags will be added to the secondary.

Recipe:
3 lbs Rice's Lucky Clover Honey
1 large orange -- peeled
25 raisins
1 gal of distilled water
2-1/4 teaspoons Red Star Bread Machine Yeast

03/18/2009 @ 8:00PM

Made must and pitched yeast

03/21/2009 @7:30AM

I'm sure it was fermenting on the 19th, but I forgot to check. Today the balloon was full of junk and not bleeding off CO2 correctly. I changed it.

04/09/09 @ 8:15 PM

I believe the fermentation stalled, as there is very little lees in the bottom. I racked it to another container, and it was very sweet. Re-racking seems like it might have re-started the fermentation. The new balloon filled up overnight, and I could hear it fizzing this morning. I emptied the balloon to see if it would fill back up again and will check it when I get home. If it stalls again, I'll need to do some research on how to jump start fermentation after it fails.

04/11/2009 @ 5:15 PM

The fermentation is continuing. It is audible, but just barely. I added 2 dozen chopped raisins as a yeast nutrient, as well as a pinch of epsom salt.

04/16/2009 @ 6:30 AM

Fermentation is still slow and weak, but steady. I suspect the problem is the temperature. The closet gets pretty cold at night, and we have been trying to cut down on energy spending. There isn't a lot of lees in the bottom, so I'll probably just let it go until I see it start to clarify. Then I'll rack it to a new bottle and let it finish -- for better or worse. I think it'll be OK, though. Maybe a little sweet.

04/26/2009 @ 1:00 PM

I racked it into a clean jug today. It is really shaping up nicely. Tastes good, albeit a little sweeter than I had anticipated. However, I think it is going to make a really delicious mint mead. I added three Bigelow Mint Medley tea bags to it. The tea bags contain spearmint, peppermint, rose hips, lemon peel and hibiscus. They very quickly changed the color of the mead to a peachy, pinkish color. I didn't realize it, but I'm already almost a month and a half into this one. It should be ready in another month and a half to two months.

04/28/2009 @ 8:00 PM

Removed the tea bags. The tea is very peachy colored.

06/01/2009 @ 10:00 PM

It's starting to clear up now. I can see the wall through the mead. Should be ready for bottling in a couple more weeks.

Poncho Villa's Feminine Side: Jalapeno Mead

I've found a lot of mentions of jalapeño mead on the net, but I've only found one recipe for it. The recipe calls for six jalapeños, and the most sensible suggestions I've found for adding them is little by little in the secondary until the taste is just right. But that feels too much like making another batch of JAO, so I'm gonna get a little experimental with it. I'm putting two jalapeños in the primary. If that doesn't do it, I'll add more in the secondary. Hopefully it doesn't ruin the mead doing it this way.

Recipe:
3 lbs Clover Honey (Bargain brand from WalMart. Grade A. Probably Pasteurized.)
1 regular-sized orange (Peeled. Sectioned. Sections cut in half.)
25 raisins - diced
2 Jalapenos (Sliced. De-seeded. Sanitized in 150 degree water for 10 minutes.)
2-1/4 teaspoons of Red Star bread machine yeast
1 gal of distilled water

1/25/2009 @ 5:45 AM

Prepped ingredients. Prepared Must. Shook vigorously for five minutes. Pitched Yeast.

1/26/2009 @ 5:45 AM

Fermentation has started, but it's not audible yet. Evidently the foam obstructed the pin-hole in the balloon, as the balloon was as big as a softball. I replaced the balloon and poked two pin-holes in the second one. The whole closet smells like jalapeno!

1/26/2009 @ 6:00 PM

All looks good now. Fermentation still isn't audible, but I'm betting it will be by tomorrow morning. Stephen thinks it smells aweful. However, I find it kind of interesting (if not appealing).

1/26/2009 @ 6:00 AM

Fermentation is now audible.

1/29/2009 @ 8:40 PM

There is only about 1/4" of honey left in the bottom of the jug. And it smells very nice -- much better. Or, maybe I'm just getting use to it.

2/15/2009 @ 5:00 PM

Racked it today. The sample taste was really delicious. Linda congratulated me on making my first batch of true gut-rot. But, in my opinion, the taste of honey and jalapeño go quite nicely together. It even had just a little bit of heat going down the throat. I plan on adding another jalapeño or two into the secondary, once I go shopping.

3/12/2009 @ 8:15 PM

Re-racked it today into a new jug. It has a very deep jalapeño essence (smell and taste), but no heat at all. I sliced up two more fresh jalapeños today and dropped them in. This one might turn out really well. Linda doesn't like it -- but she's not a very big pepper fan. I'd like to perfect this recipe.

3/30/2009 @ 7:00 PM

Had two glasses of it tonight. This is without a doubt the most uniquely wonderful tasting stuff in the world. It has just a little bit of heat, and I'm gonna call it good for now. It's ready to bottle. I'll hold this stuff in reserve; it's not for everybody. In the next batch of it, I think I'll forgo the jalapeno's in the primary and add another in the secondary, just for a tad more heat. I'm definitely satisfied with the first batch, though.

4/10/2009 @ 8:00 PM

Bottled it.

Cinnamon Mead

This is basically a simple JOA with cinnamon sticks added. If it doesn't have enough cinnamon flavor after the primary fermentation, I can add more cinnamon sticks during the secondary.

Recipe:
3 lbs Rice's Lucky Clover Honey
1 regular-sized orange
30 raisins - diced
4 ea 2-3/4" cinnamon sticks
2-1/4 teaspoons of Red Star bread machine yeast
1 gal of distilled water

Estimated Bottling Date: 04/19/2009

01/04/2009 @ 4:30PM

Made must and pitched yeast.

01/05/2009 @ 6:30AM

Fermenting, but not so vigorously. Our bedroom is getting really cold at night. I think I may need to move it to a warmer part of the house.

01/06/2009 @ 6:30AM

I turned up the heat a little last night and put a thermometer in my closet. The temperature seemed to stay at about 68 degrees. I could hear the fermentation this morning, so it seems like things are back on track. Still, it seems less vigorous than previous batches. Hopefully nothing is amiss.

01/17/2009 @ 12:24PM

The honey is pretty much gonzo. Fermentation is still audible. I can't really smell the cinnamon, but I'll taste it next Sunday.

01/25/09 @ 5:30PM

Stephen and I racked it today, and had a taste. Stephen said he couldn't really taste the cinnamon, but both Linda and I could -- although it isn't as strong as I'd like. I added four more sticks to it. Maybe I'll taste it again in a couple of weeks to see if it is satisfactory. If it is, I'll rack it again.

3/11/09 @ 8:00PM

I racked it to a new jug today. It tastes really nice, and the cinnamon sticks definitely darkened the color. The cinnamon taste is quite prominent. Linda liked it and said it might make a good holiday drink. Let's see if it's still around for Christmas!

3/29/09 @7:00PM

Had two glasses of it tonight. WOW. Very good. I think next time I will use one less cinnamon stick. It's ready to bottle, drink and share.

4/04/2009 @ 7:00 PM

Bottled it. Unbelievably delicious. On my third glass!

Stevo's Cantaloupe Melomel

I could find no reference to cantaloupe mead on the Internet. Hopefully that's just because nobody had thought of it and not that it can't be done! My son, Stephen, came up with this idea, and I'll try to age some of it for his wedding or some other special occasion. Also, I'm only using 2 lbs of honey in this batch in hopes of making a drier mead that Linda and other dry wine lovers will enjoy.

Recipe:
2 lbs Rice's Lucky Clover Honey
1/2 of medium, peeled, un-ripe cantaloupe (diced and thrown into the must)
1/2 of a peeled tangerine, with sections cut in half
30 raisins
1 gal of distilled water
2-1/4 teaspoons of yeast

Estimated Bottling Date: 3/26/2009

12/14/2008 @ 8:00PM

Made must and pitched yeast

12/15/2008 @ 5:30AM

Fermenting... vigorously. Poked a second hole in the balloon.

12/16/2008 @ 7:00AM

The Cantaloupe Melomel doesn't smell as good as the Biscuit Mead. I'm wondering if it is going bad. Will Kalif said that he uses a campden tablet to kill anything in fruit that might take over. He said if I smell it every week or two it would be obvious if it is going bad. Of course, it may not smell as sweet as the Biscuit Mead because it has less honey in it and the cantaloupe was not ripe at all (and thus not sweet). I hope it all works out. Otherwise I'll have to convince my wife to let me spend more money for ingredients!

12/17/2008 @ 7:45AM

Well, it doesn't smell worse this morning; it is about the same -- not bad, just not sweet. So, hopefully, everything is OK. The fermentation is still very aggressive, and only the slightest brown residue is left on the bottom of the jug from the 2 lbs of honey. It's amazing how quickly the yeast devours the honey; by tomorrow, there will be none left. That's about three days less time than it took the Biscuit Mead, which is about right since I'm using a pound less honey in this batch.

I just learned two cool things from an online article: 1) Fruit contains micro-organisms that can cause an infection and spoil the mead. I'll be using campden tablets in my next batch of melomel -- whether or not this batch succeeds; 2) You can make a liquor by freezing a portion of your mead overnight and then removing and disposing of the frozen ice in the morning and re-bottling the unfrozen portion (which has a much higher alcohol content).

12/19/2008 @ 8:55PM

This stuff is really smelling good now. I think I slipped the noose on any infection.

01/01/2009 @ 4:45PM

I squeezed the air out of the balloon today for a sniff. It smelled great, but the balloon never recovered, so I decided it was time to rack it. My wife, Linda, helped me with it. She commented that it smelled good. We had a taste of it. It is definitely pretty dry, so that is going as planned. However, my wife also commented that she could not taste the cantaloupe.

I think it may have a cantaloupe essence, but I didn't really pay much attention to it. I lost very little of it while racking, so I can afford to drink a little more of it in a couple of weeks when I check on it again. I'll pay more attention then. The cantaloupe probably wasn't ripe enough on this batch. Live and learn, I suppose.

Linda said she would rate it as a 5 on a scale of 1 to 10. She clarified, though, that a wine she recently tasted -- and liked pretty well -- would have received a 7 out of 10 in her opinion. So, I guess that's not too bad. She said it didn't seem very strong -- "kind of watery". Hopefully it improves with age.

01/11/2009 @9:50PM

Tasted it today. It tastes like a slightly sweetened, watery, rubbing alcohol. There is no cantaloupe taste or essence, probably because the cantaloupe was un-ripe and bland. I've asked for help on the gotmead forums. Hopefully someone there will have a way to save it. Otherwise, it will be great for fueling a Bunsen burner.

01/17/2009 @ 1:00PM

I got a lot of good feedback on the forums, everything from letting it continue aging to racking it onto fresh cantaloupe. Haven't made up my mind yet, though; I've got plenty of time to figure it out.

01/25/2009 @ 5:30PM

I purchased a cantaloupe tonight. It isn't ripe, but there are no ripe ones to be had around here this time of year. I'll keep it in my closet in the dark for a while and hope it ripens. Then, I think I'll blend it (and possibly filter it) and put the juice into the mead. I *think* the fermentation is completely finished. Hopefully the yeast isn't just dormant. If fermentation fires up again after I put fruit in, it may just burn off the cantaloupe again.

02/03/2009 @ 6:00PM

Well, here is now *not* to do things. Tonight I put 3/4 of my VERY ripe (on the verge of being bad?) cantaloupe into the blender and pressed "liquefy." Then I poured a little of the mead out into a wine glass (to make room for the cantaloupe juice) and dumped the juice into the mead -- with a small prayer that the alcohol in the mead would counteract anything in the cantaloupe juice that might cause trouble.

The mead now has a bunch of pulp floating on top of it and is hazy. Hopefully it will clarify before too long. Hopefully it will not get an infection. Hopefully fermentation will not start back up.

Oh yeah, then I tasted the mead that I had poured into the wine glass. The taste had improved 100%. It tasted almost like a delicate, dry, white wine! Oh, no!!!!

02/04/2009 @ 8:30PM
Looks like fermentation has started back up. So, it will probably not get sweeter. But if it manages to maintain a cantaloupe essence, I'll be happy. Some of the pulp has gone to the bottom. Hopefully that is a tiding of good things to come.

02/06/2009 @ 6:00AM
About half of the pulp has sunk to the bottom. I'm happy about that, but I've got a think of a good way to strain that junk out and re-rack it soon. I've got to come up with a better way of making cantaloupe mead. This batch is nerve-racking.

03/01/2009 @ 4:00PM
Bottled it. Quite frankly, it isn't worth the bottles. It tasted *almost* acceptable with chicken and fried potato wedges.

Tommy's Biscuit Mead

I called it Tommy's Biscuit Mead because I used my wife's bread machine yeast for it. A friend laughed and said it would taste like sourdough bread. For a detailed tutorial on how to make this basic, but tasty mead, go here.

Special thanks to Will Kalif from StormTheCastle.com for helping me through the process and providing the recipe.

Recipe:
3 lbs Rice's Lucky Clover Honey
1 large orange
25 raisins
1 gal of distilled water
2-1/4 teaspoons Red Star Bread Machine Yeast

Estimated Bottling Date: 3/6/2009

11/23/2008 @ 9:15PM

Made must and pitched yeast

11/24/2008 @ 6:00AM

Fermentation started

11/30/2008 8:45PM

All of the honey has been consumed. I'm a little concerned about how quickly that went. How can the main fermentation process continue for another 1-1/2 to 2 weeks? The fizzing sound of the CO2 being released is still pretty active, though. It definitely smells very good, pretty much like mead. I'm also concerned about how to siphon out the liquid without sucking up the lees. I'm going to research racking canes to see if they have any sort of filtration built in. Also, I'm thinking that, when I rack it, I'm going to make a airlock out of clear plastic tubing. Since I don't have a 1-Gallon glass jug available (and I don't want to purchase one just yet), I'll probably just use a milk-jug-style plastic water jug for racking and then use some wine bottles for bottling. However, I need to research the ramifications of re-using corks.

12/10/2008 @ 9:25PM

If I empty the balloon, it is very slow to refill. I can still see that there are a fairly large amount of bubbles rising from the bottom, so I know the fermentation process is still going on. I'm four days shy of three weeks, and the tutorial ( http://www.stormthecastle.com/mead/fast-cheap-mead-making.htm ) says to rack it after 2-1/2 to 3 weeks. I may try to hold out until the weekend. I can't wait to get my first taste.

12/12/2008 @ 6:30PM

The balloon was sagging this morning, so I picked up a nice, clear water jug from the grocery store and a 10-foot length of tubing. Stephen helped me rack the mead. I had him hold the tube half way into the must jug while I started the siphoning. Then he held the tube to the bottom of the receiving jug while I took over the end in the must jug. Holding the tube to the bottom of the receiving jug helped prevent air from mixing with the mead. The tubing has a natural tendency to curve, so I was able to keep the opening flat against the side of the must jug and move it downward slowly as the water level decreased. Then I tilted the jug a little to get as much of the mead out as I could without sucking up the lees. So, filtration was unnecessary. Stephen and I took a small sample of the mead. It was deliciously sweet, and we could taste the alcohol in it. I then placed a new balloon and rubber band on top of the clear jug to let the mead clarify. Now to wait three months! Stephen had a great idea: Cantaloupe mead! Stevo's Cantaloupe Melomel.

12/13/2008 @ 8:00AM

There appears to be a fair amount of fermentation going on, as the balloon inflated rather quickly. There is also a lot of sediment/lees in the bottom of the new jug. I think next time I will arrange some filter for racking.

12/17/2008 @7:40AM

It appears that the fermentation is pretty much over. Quite a bit of lees had accumulated in the bottom of the jug. However, I'm not seeing any more white powder forming in the ridges of the jug (this is not a perfectly smooth jug). I'll watch it for the rest of this week. If no more fermentation takes place, I may rack it again into a clean jug so that the mead isn't sitting on lees. Interestingly, it no longer smells as sweet as it did during the fermentation process. Probably because it isn't producing as much gas. It will be interesting to see what it tastes like if/when I rack it again.

01/01/2009@4:45PM

It's coming along very nicely. I can just barely see through it now. So that's an improvement. It still smells really good. I'm thinking pretty hard about racking it again, maybe this weekend, using a filter. There is a fair amount of lees in the bottom again, and I definitely want to avoid any off-tastes if I can.

01/04/2009@4:30PM

I squeezed the air out of the balloon yesterday, and it never recovered. Linda helped me rack it this afternoon. I used a piece of a nylon stocking as a filter. This kept the floaties (probably fragments of the original orange) out. We tried to sample a little bit of it, but it was so good I ended up pouring about 1/3 of a wine glass of it! Linda actually liked it and said she thinks it has a higher alcohol content than the typical wine. It is good indeed. That should be the last time I have to rack it. I'm seriously thinking about racking 1/2 gallon of it into a glass jar I have and drinking the rest. I wonder if my patience will hold...

1/08/2009@6:30AM

It has made a leap in clarification. This morning I could see my hand through it. This wasn't possible two days ago.

2/08/2009 @ 6:30PM

Wend ahead and bottled it. It seemed really clear in the fermenting bottle, but I think it still has a VERY little bit left to go. No matter. It tastes GREAT. I bottled it in a 1/2 gallon fruit juice jug and a 1 quart Poweraid bottle. Decided to go the cheapest route since we're tightening up our budget somewhat and everybody needs to pitch in.

I had a little less than a pint left over, and Linda and I drank it. She says she really liked it and gave it an 8 out of 10.