Meading

I put togther the new mead last night, and I thought I'd get a post up about my procedure, just in case there are any mead people searching around the internet who come across Bros11. In fact, let me begin by just typing a few quick keywords, sort of as bait, if you will....

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Mead

Cyser

Peaches

Wyeast 1056

Honey

Cider

Japanese Schoolgirls

(Wait, how did that last one get in there??)

And now, off we go:

First, what we are making is technically a "Cyser" -which is a type of Melomel (a fruit mead) made with apple cider.

I started with 2 gallons of fresh Apple cider. It should be noted that all my ingredients (save the yeast) came from within about 30 miles of Boston, though this of course is not necessary. I started heating the cider gently on the stove. I then stirred in 10 pounds of wildflower honey and brought the mixture up to about 165-170 degrees F, and held it there for about 15-20 minutes to kill off whatever bugs or wild yeast may have been hanging out. I am hoping though that this temperature was not hot enough to "set" the pectin in the cider, which can cause a haze in the finished product. Next, I threw in the wort chiller and cooled the mixture (must?) down to about 80 degrees. I poured the mixture straight into a sanitized fermenter and blended in 2 gallons of bottled spring water and a big 1056 starter that I had prepared. Shit, I just realized, while typing this out, that I forgot to add any yeast nutrient last night. Oh well. Forget that. Then I pumped about 2 minutes of pure O2 into the beast and that was all she wrote. This morning it was working away nicely at a perfect 68 degrees F. In 2 or 3 weeks I'll transfer this into secondary on top of some local peaches and nectarines: Peach Cyser Baby!

MEAD ON

Here is a pic RyToy took of the Braggot I made last winter

-Wrence