Braggot Fermentation again...

Just switched to a blow-off tube. Got tired of cleaning out the airlock every 10 minutes...

Braggot Status - Fermentation Start

I think I I will be leaving the next batches of brew until spring. It got too cold overnight, methinks, and the ale yeast didn't take hold, and I could tell some of the (santized) water in the airlock got sucked into the brew. *sigh*

Frustrated, I moved the carboy into my office which is usually much warmer than the rest of the house (must be the computers, eh?) and gave it some words of "encouragement" (not repeatable here). I then hydrated and pitched a pack of champagne yeast.

It's now bubbling along nicely, and by the looks of it, head retention is not going to be a problem.

Porter Braggot

I started a 1 gallon batch of Porter Braggot today. I used a the recipe for the Espresso Porter, without the espresso, and used 2 lbs of honey. The OG was very close to where I expected it, though the head on the must made it impossible to get an accurate reading. It's at or just above 1.140. I'm using a British Ale Yeast to start, but I may add a champagne yeast if it gets stuck.

Philosophy of Mead

BrewDude's Mead Philosophy

Mead is about the honey first.

• Mead should taste like honey. If you can't tell the difference between a dry mead and a dry wine, what is the point?
• The honey should be the primary element. Everything else is an enhancement. If you can't taste the honey, it's not mead. It's something else.

Mead cannot be rushed.

• The most important ingredient in mead, after honey, is time. Time and aging make mead what it is. The impact of time can not be synthesised or emulated.
  
• The most crucial characteristic of a meadmaker is patience. Sometimes this can be mistaken for laziness, but don't be fooled.

Nothing else is sacred.

• Outside of tasting like honey and time, there is no wrong way to flavor a mead. Mead should be made to be enjoyed. Just because you don't like the taste doesn't mean it's not a good mead. If it tastes good to someone, it's good mead to that person.
• One should not be afraid to try something new. Recipes are great, but until you make it and taste it, you won't know if you like it. Trying new, fun, weird, bold, and outrageous flavorings and methods is the essence of homebrewing. Experimentation is the only way to know for sure. Just don't disregard the above philosophies.
  

Oops! Update!

This post is very late. My apologies.

I got a batch of Holiday Red done, so now my kegerator has Root Beer, Brown Ale, Espresso Porter, Hefeweisen, Pale Ale and Red Ale on tap. Not too shabby.

The meads are coming along well. The only one I haven't tasted lately is the Braggot, but all the others are coming along very nicely. The Apple Butter Cyser is as large and complex as I had hoped. The Agave Nectar wine is very very sweet. The Alfalfa mead is very good but still a bit hot, though at this stage that's expected and should mellow with age. The flavor experiments are all coming along very nicely and I'm very anxious to see how they sit at one year's time. The only one that hasn't cleared well is the alfalfa, though I'll be racking everything this weekend which should help a bit.

Now I need to go get bottles...