This month photo for this regular discussion thread is from my summer trip, I visited few craft brewerys and tasted local beers.
As usual share whatever brewing related - questions, recipes, successes, bad batches…
I will be away for some time (~6 months) but should be reachable. I will travel through Europe (Spain, France, Portugal, Germany,…) when I post about this in relevant community I will link it here. Keep it chill here so I don’t have to worry on road.
My last few brews turned out amazing and I am glad that I will be away and they will have time to age. Otherwise I would have drink them in few months, someone told me that ciders are best after 1-2 years of aging so finally it may get the chance to survive that long.
Edit: If you want to ask me something about my plans I posted about it on [email protected]
I picked a bunch of violets and stuck em in a bunch of honey for almost a year and now that’s brewing in my basement. If it doesn’t taste enough like violets when it’s done I’m going to back sweeten it with violet syrup in the spring.
The off gassing of the primary ferment will blow off the aromatic top notes of the violets. I suspect you’ll want to back sweeten and/or ‘dry hop’ with violets in the secondary. I might have to try something like that. TY!
This is what I did - primary then mashed in blackberries and lavender in the secondary and let it sit a long while. Added potassium sorbate,added more honey and bottled. My first mead batch, it was pretty harsh but has mellowed some, I’m just gonna leave it for a few years.
Curious about “harsh”? Time has a way of making a decent product into a great product. Time + Dark + Cool (50-60F), that is.
Very dry and a little acidic. It isnt particularly cool here but is dark.
I see. You may not have ‘back sweetened’ enough to soften that harshness. Not bad for a first batch o’ mead. Brew On!
Yeah that’s what I figured too. I thought I’d let it mellow for a year or two then just add a dollop of sweetener to a bottle when serving if its still got a bang to it.