Strawberry Thunder Mead

It’s June, therefore it’s time for another strawberry mead! This year I wanted to have a stronger strawberry flavor, to be a bit drier than past years, and to simplify the herbal process.

I started with a decoction of chaga and a sumac drupe, cooled and strained back into the carboy:

1.5 or 2 gallons of chaga/sumac tea
1.5 or 2 gallons of chaga/sumac tea

Next, I used double the amount of strawberries relative to last year — 2 quarts, which weighed 3 pounds – that were lovingly (and knee-achingly) picked by my wife and daughter this morning:

2 quarts/3 pounds of freshly-picked strawberries
2 quarts/3 pounds of freshly-picked strawberries

Next, I juiced the strawberries in our juicer, which created about a quart and a half of strawberry juice:

1.5 quarts of fresh strawberry juice in the bottom of the stockpot
1.5 quarts of fresh strawberry juice in the bottom of the stockpot

Next, I added the chaga sumac tea, a bit more water, and enough honey to get me to a 15% initial alcohol potential:

15% initial alcohol potential
15% initial alcohol potential

Then I pitched the yeast into the carboy, poured the must in after it, and topped it off, to give me 3 gallons of strawberry thunder goodness:

3 gallons of Thunder Strawberry Goodness
3 gallons of Thunder Strawberry Goodness

I initially thought about calling this batch Strawberry Solstice Mead, but the Solstice was a few days ago, and right when I was making this batch a classic summer thunderhead blasted its way over our house. Strawberry Thunder it is! I expect this batch to be potent, and dry, and full of strawberry flavor. Time will tell!

UPDATE, 12 April 2014

This mead went for a very long time without clearing! It still isn’t clear which is somewhat of a rarity for me these days. I’m sure it’s because of the extra pectin from the abundance of strawberries I used. I finally racked it today and, while not clear, it is delicious, a bit sweet, and tastes strongly of strawberry, coming in at 12.5% alcohol, meaning there is 2.5% remaining alcohol potential, which is somewhere between semisweet and sweet. The strawberries add another layer of perceived sweetness so we’ll call this one a sweet mead.

Because it didn’t clear, I may end up not bottling it in the normal 750ml clear wine bottles, instead using smaller grolsch bottles or larger jugs, for use at fireside gatherings where it will be served in horns and the lack of clarity is not to be noticed. :-)

Midsummer Harvest

Well, I am officially behind on my meadmaking thus far in 2013. Only 4 batches have been started this year thus far (though a fifth will be forthcoming in the coming week or two).

That said, a bountiful midsummer harvest, consisting of the Black & Cran Cysers from last fall (one sweet, one dry), and the Chaibernation Spiced Mead from January. 30 beautiful, golden bottles of mead:

Black & Cran Sweet Cyser, Black & Cran Dry Cyser, and Chaibernation Spiced Mead
Black & Cran Sweet Cyser, Black & Cran Dry Cyser, and Chaibernation Spiced Mead

Gratitude!

Chaga Spruce Mead

I have done several batches in the past with spruce (and other evergreen trees). I maintain that they aren’t necessarily my favorite, but many people have loved them. I wanted to do another batch of spruce mead this year, with a few variations on the theme as I “dial in” a precise recipe.

This year, for the first time, I used chaga with my spruce. Some of the spruce meads haven’t cleared very quickly, so hopefully the chaga will assist with that. Also, I gathered the spruce tips a few weeks later than last time. Rather than beautiful tips, these are fully formed needle branches, though they are still a noticeably vibrant green compared to the old growth:

about a half gallon of fresh spruce tips, gathered a bit later in the year than the previous batch
about a half gallon of fresh spruce tips, gathered a bit later in the year than the previous batch

 

I began with a good chaga decoction, and then added the spruce needles at the end, letting them simmer for about a half hour:

spruce needles in with the chaga decoction
spruce needles in with the chaga decoction

 

When I got this far, I realized I had far more tea than I needed. Rather than discard any, I strained out the spruce needles, and then turned up the heat to reduce it to more manageable levels. When this was done, I cooled the tea in the sink, strained everything out of it, dissolved enough honey to get to a 17.5% initial alcohol potential, and pitched the yeast into the carboy:

 

Chaga Spruce Mead
Chaga Spruce Mead

 

Note that for this batch, I did NOT add any orange juice, black tea, sumac, or anything else to adjust the pH. I wanted to see what a good strong chaga decoction and the spruce tips would do.

UPDATE: 17 October

After 4 months of primary fermentation, this batch has already cleared beautifully, unlike the previous spruce meads. I could have racked it weeks ago, but for a variety of reasons I let it sit until tonight. It’s racked, and it is now 4.5% alcohol potential, therefore it is 13% ABV. It’s quite sweet, which suits the spruce flavor just fine. This one came out great, and should only improve with age!

UPDATE: 22 March 2014

Here’s the label:

Chaga Spruce Mead label
Chaga Spruce Mead label

Mad Trad D2

Well I’m very happy to say, after an all-too-long break I’m back to making mead. I finally picked up a bucket of honey and wanted to immediately get some mead going (all of my carboys were empty!)

Right off, I wanted to get a batch or two of traditional mead going. I really enjoyed The Mad Trad Trial more than I expected to, and committed to making at least a couple of traditional meads per year. Now’s the time.

Of the 4 batches I did in the Mad Trad Trial, they were very close but Mad Trad D was my favorite so I reproduced that recipe. It used chaga & sumac tea as a base, with honey and Montrachet Yeast. I did 2 batches of 3 gallons each, for 6 gallons total.

I started with a strong, 3 gallon chaga decoction that simmered in fresh spring water for about 15 hours. For the last 15 minutes of the decoction, I added 3 sumac drupes. I used more chaga and sumac than I usually do because I wanted the tea to be stronger than usual, since I would be watering it down and splitting it between 2 batches.

Mad Trad D2a had an initial alcohol percentage of 18%.

Mad Trad D2b had an initial alcohol percentage of 17.5%.

I did not take pictures throughout the process (Look back at previous batches on this site if you need help visualizing it), but the final product looks great!

Mad Trad D2, sitting amongst a lot of spring water.
Mad Trad D2, sitting amongst a lot of spring water.

As always, I look forward to enjoying this mead toward the end of 2013.

UPDATE: 18 Aug 2013

Both of these cleared in the carboys, so I racked them today. Both are 13%ABV, which means Mad Trad D2a is slightly sweeter at 5% remaining potential, with D2B at 4.5%. Both of these are, once again, scrumptious with a fantastic honey flavor profile left behind.

Interestingly, the original Mad Trad D ended up slightly stronger at 14%, and slightly less sweet. This means the yeast crapped out a bit earlier on this batch than the previous one for some reason. It was later in the year, and we had quite a heat wave followed by a month of seasonally cool temperatures in the 70s, so that could be a related factor.