Hoppy Brewing

This is my second attempt at mead. The last batch was wonderful, but left much to be desired as well. So this time I decided on a sweet raspberry melolmel (mead with the addition of fruit) to try and quench my unending thirst for an elixir fit for the gods.

Brew Date: Nov. 29, 2007
Volume: 2.5 Gallons
Adapted from Steve Mercer’s Sweet Raspberry Mead

Ingredients:

12 lbs. Raspberry Blossom Honey (Bought at Main Street Brewing (Hillsboro, Oregon)
60 oz. frozen raspberries (store-bought)
juice of 3 small lemons
juice of 3 small oranges
1/2 cup English breakfast tea (brewed strong)
1 Tbsp yeast nutrient
1 vial White Labs Sweet Mead Yeast

Process:

• Boiled 1 pint water and 1/4 cup DME (Dry Malt Extract, extra light) for 10 minutes. Pitched yeast into this (after letting it cool) to create a starter. Let it sit for 24 hours (until activity was seen).
• Boiled honey and water at 210° for 30 min, skimming top to remove meringue-like foam.
• Added raspberries (half thawed and sent through the Cuisinart) and covered for 15 min to pasteurize the fruit.
• Cooled in Ice bath.
• Yeast pitched at 69°.
• Placed in 3 gallon bucket for primary fermentation.
• OG: 1.167
• Determined racking schedule of 3 weeks, 2, 4 and 6 months. To be bottled at 8 months.

12/10/07

The yeast was thought to be stuck, so I added Champagne yeast again (as batch 001). Turns out my bucket just wasn’t sealing, so I racked it to the 2.8 gallon carboy and now I may have a very high percentage dry raspberry mead. only time will tell.

SG: 1.106

12/20/07

Racked mead off of yeast and raspberry pulp. The bubbles in this stuff are really white and almost look like mold. But I am fairly certain they are not mold.

SG: 1.088

01/20/08

Racked. SG: 1.078. I was surprised at the amount of sediment still in the bottom at this point.

03/03/08

I tasted this about a week ago and could not be more pleased. If anything, it is a bit too sweet and should perhaps be watered down, but I don’t plan on mucking about with it. I can’t wait for it to age and get even better! I heartily recommend you brew up a batch of this mead!

03/05/08

I picked up a few gallon jugs for my raspberry mead today. I did this because it was in the 2.8 gallon carboy and was only filling that about 1/2 way. So I racked the mead into the (2) gallon jugs and what space was left I decided to fill with water so there was no airspace to create oxidation. One was 1.5 cups added and the other was just a tad.