Buckwheat Mead
Well this is definitely a divergent post as I write about a mead experience.
Anyway, I haven't started a new batch of mead in a long while. In part because my equipment was being tied up for a time by my last batch and also partly because I had thought my last batch was ruined crap that would never be worth drinking.
This is the tale of that mead, along with the surprising twist.
A number of years ago (3 or perhaps more) we were down at Kempenfest in Barrie. As we were walking past some of the vendors tents I noticed one with some honey from the Kawartha Lakes area. It was dark, sweet, boldly flavored buckwheat honey. I had some cash to blow so I picked up 2KG's worth of the stuff. Once I got it home I couldn't constrain myself and immediately started making my must. I only have 1 gallon carboys, so that is the size I always make.
I honestly don't remember the day clearly enough to say for sure... but I undoubtedly used WAY too much honey. I didn't pasteurize it or anything. The resultant must was thick, syrupy and the cloudiest must I'd ever seen. At the time I thought nothing of it. It resembled the honey it was made from very much. I'd never done a sack mead before, and I had never done one with buckwheat honey... and I had sure as hell never done one with so damn much honey.
I'm sure I thought I wanted a sweet mead at the time. Which probably explains the insanity behind the sheer volume of honey used. Anyway, that was mixed with a fresh pack of champagne yeast. EC-1118 which has an 18% alcohol tolerance... so I knew I would need a lot of honey to get it to that point. Needless to say I had no clue what I was doing. One of these days I'll really need to get a hydrometer and an understanding of what SG I should be starting and ending at.
Anyway... time went by. Primary fermentation had more or less stopped and the must was more or less completely opaque. I've had plenty of musts that were still cloudy after primary fermentation, so I thought nothing of it though I usually see them at least starting to clear up after 2-4 weeks even if they aren't clear yet. I checked on it daily for weeks. Plenty of sediment dropped out. I would rack it occasionally, it never got any clearer. After a while I started checking seldomly... like once every month or two. By this time I had swapped my airlock for a lid and was basically letting it bulk age... though I would still rack every so often since it was accumulating so much sediment.
At probably around the 8 month mark, when it was still cloudy as sin, I gave up. I moved it onto a shelf in the bedroom and it got hid behind stuff and was forgotten.
At probably the 1.5 year mark I went in and took look at it. And hey! I could see through it. Maybe all of the websites I had relied on hadn't failed me after all. It still wasn't ideally clear. But it was undoubtedly clearer. So I decided to try some. Worst thing I have ever tasted in my life. It was a crime against humanity. But it was a 1 gallon crime against humanity using some fairly expensive and delicious honey. So I put the lid back on and forgot it again for a while.
Around maybe the 2 year mark I check it out again. This time it was finally looked basically pristine. More sediment on the bottom, but since it had become clearer this was expected, so I took this as a good sign. I cracked it open and took a sip. Just as bad as before. Anyway, it looked pretty, so I racked it into a few bottle and decided I would eventually find someone who liked this particular breed of terrible-ness and pawn it off on them.
Around 2.5 years... more sediment. Still tastes like pure evil.
Today, looks identical to how it did at the 2.5 year mark, same amount of sediment and everything. But this time, it tasted incredible. Still, probably far sweeter than I was hoping for. But this is definitely tops the list of desert wines I've tried.
Couldn't believe it. I racked it out of the existing smaller bottles into 1 larger bottle and moved it to the basement. I'm going to let this age some more now. I simply can't get over the change. If you're a mead maker and you can spare the carboy, bottles, whatever... and you think you may have a ruined batch... just keep letting it go. It may take 2 years to clear up and 3 years to be drinkable, but the mead you thought ruin may turn out better than fine. Prior to this I couldn't stand to let me mead last even to the 1 year mark. I think this batch changed my mind on the benefits of aging mead.
I also went out and bought clarifying agents and chemicals to halt the fermentation for my current batch because I had been so pissed at my last batch. I think I've learned the error of my ways. I will now just let nature take its course. The longer it takes... just means the more I'm forced to let my mead age before I open it.
Anyway, I haven't started a new batch of mead in a long while. In part because my equipment was being tied up for a time by my last batch and also partly because I had thought my last batch was ruined crap that would never be worth drinking.
This is the tale of that mead, along with the surprising twist.
A number of years ago (3 or perhaps more) we were down at Kempenfest in Barrie. As we were walking past some of the vendors tents I noticed one with some honey from the Kawartha Lakes area. It was dark, sweet, boldly flavored buckwheat honey. I had some cash to blow so I picked up 2KG's worth of the stuff. Once I got it home I couldn't constrain myself and immediately started making my must. I only have 1 gallon carboys, so that is the size I always make.
I honestly don't remember the day clearly enough to say for sure... but I undoubtedly used WAY too much honey. I didn't pasteurize it or anything. The resultant must was thick, syrupy and the cloudiest must I'd ever seen. At the time I thought nothing of it. It resembled the honey it was made from very much. I'd never done a sack mead before, and I had never done one with buckwheat honey... and I had sure as hell never done one with so damn much honey.
I'm sure I thought I wanted a sweet mead at the time. Which probably explains the insanity behind the sheer volume of honey used. Anyway, that was mixed with a fresh pack of champagne yeast. EC-1118 which has an 18% alcohol tolerance... so I knew I would need a lot of honey to get it to that point. Needless to say I had no clue what I was doing. One of these days I'll really need to get a hydrometer and an understanding of what SG I should be starting and ending at.
Anyway... time went by. Primary fermentation had more or less stopped and the must was more or less completely opaque. I've had plenty of musts that were still cloudy after primary fermentation, so I thought nothing of it though I usually see them at least starting to clear up after 2-4 weeks even if they aren't clear yet. I checked on it daily for weeks. Plenty of sediment dropped out. I would rack it occasionally, it never got any clearer. After a while I started checking seldomly... like once every month or two. By this time I had swapped my airlock for a lid and was basically letting it bulk age... though I would still rack every so often since it was accumulating so much sediment.
At probably around the 8 month mark, when it was still cloudy as sin, I gave up. I moved it onto a shelf in the bedroom and it got hid behind stuff and was forgotten.
At probably the 1.5 year mark I went in and took look at it. And hey! I could see through it. Maybe all of the websites I had relied on hadn't failed me after all. It still wasn't ideally clear. But it was undoubtedly clearer. So I decided to try some. Worst thing I have ever tasted in my life. It was a crime against humanity. But it was a 1 gallon crime against humanity using some fairly expensive and delicious honey. So I put the lid back on and forgot it again for a while.
Around maybe the 2 year mark I check it out again. This time it was finally looked basically pristine. More sediment on the bottom, but since it had become clearer this was expected, so I took this as a good sign. I cracked it open and took a sip. Just as bad as before. Anyway, it looked pretty, so I racked it into a few bottle and decided I would eventually find someone who liked this particular breed of terrible-ness and pawn it off on them.
Around 2.5 years... more sediment. Still tastes like pure evil.
Today, looks identical to how it did at the 2.5 year mark, same amount of sediment and everything. But this time, it tasted incredible. Still, probably far sweeter than I was hoping for. But this is definitely tops the list of desert wines I've tried.
Couldn't believe it. I racked it out of the existing smaller bottles into 1 larger bottle and moved it to the basement. I'm going to let this age some more now. I simply can't get over the change. If you're a mead maker and you can spare the carboy, bottles, whatever... and you think you may have a ruined batch... just keep letting it go. It may take 2 years to clear up and 3 years to be drinkable, but the mead you thought ruin may turn out better than fine. Prior to this I couldn't stand to let me mead last even to the 1 year mark. I think this batch changed my mind on the benefits of aging mead.
I also went out and bought clarifying agents and chemicals to halt the fermentation for my current batch because I had been so pissed at my last batch. I think I've learned the error of my ways. I will now just let nature take its course. The longer it takes... just means the more I'm forced to let my mead age before I open it.
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