What's Happening in Brewland - Part Two

This is the second update of posts I have forgotten to post. There will be one more once I get the Hard Apple Cider recipe from Brian.


These are my notes from racking on 2/20/2013

5 Gallon JAO: has a spicier taste than previous brews, fruity, sweet, and bitey. Gravilty 1.33@75.3F

JAO2: Tastes like alcoholic water, may need to be back sweetened in the future. G 1.1@75.9F

JAO3: (Double Spice) Spicy alcoholic water, needs to be back sweetened. G 1.07@75.2

Ginger Capsimel: Woohoo! Sweet & Spicy, slightly less spicy than the first taste. We bottled this one and I look forward to sharing this winner with anyone brave enough to breathe sweet fire with me...okay its not that hot, but still yummy!

What's Happening in Brewland

I was looking over my notes and apparently forgot to update the last couple of times on our brewing activities, so, here are the goings on.

On 11/25/2012, we bought 5 organic apple juices since we needed more glass jugs, and it is cheaper to buy glass with something in it than going to the local brew shop for empties. Four were meant to become hard apple cider for Christmas, more on that in another post, I just need to get the recipe from Brian. For the last one we had the bright idea to try to make apple mead using the same idea for the JAO. Lastly we put together a 5 gallon batch of JAO in our new 6 gallon carboy so we can share our yummy brews with our friends.

5 Gallon JAO calibrated gravity 1.123 @ 101 degrees F

For the Apple Mead we made up our own recipe using these ingredients.

Apple Mead

2 quarts apple juice
1 teaspoon bread yeast
2.4 pounds honey
Enough water to fill to one gallon
1 cinnamon stick
1 tablespoon yeast nutrient
1 clove
1 smidgen nutmeg
1 smidgen allspice
30 raisins

Calibrated gravity 1.113 @ 91 degrees F

Bottling

We bottled our JAO the other day it was nice and sweet, no aging needed. We got three and a half-ish bottles out of it. The partial bottle is already gone, since we passed it around to our friends for a taste!

Now, be amazed at my gorgeous pictures! Thank you new camera!

The original hydrometer reading was 1.129, final was 1.048, and came out to 10.75% ABV.

Next we racked the other two batches of JAO and Ginger Capsimel. 

JAO from 9-15-12, was very orangy because of the giant orange we used in it. The hydrometer read 1.009, currently at 13.4% ABV, it makes your head swim! We think it will finish out a bit dry.

JAO 9-17-12 with double spice was spicy, surprise surprise, we liked it though. It's hydrometer reading was 1.005, 13.6% ABV, not nearly as bitey as the 9-15 batch though.

Then the final batch of Ginger Capsimel was an awesome surprise. It was spicy, peppery, and sweet. There was a little heat right before you swallow but not so much that you couldn't share with the average person. The hydrometer said 1.025, 10.72% ABV. I think this baby will be our favorite brew ever!

Notes: Next time we sanitize fill one jug with water and sanitizer, shake and transfer the mix from bottle to bottle to help sanitize the racking cane and tubing thoroughly.

Gurgle gurgle

The brews are still gurgling away, our first is obviously ready to be bottled, it is so clear. The other three are still burping every few minutes at about 3 weeks old. I can't wait to try the Ginger Capsimel! I wonder if it will be lacking heat like Scout's originally did? I've been taking pics of one of them each day so we can watch its progression from cloudy to clear when it's all over. I'll post a gif when it's ready. (;

Explosion

We had a mini explosion in the second batch of JAO.

Ginger Capsimel

This morning I made a third batch of JAO with doubled spices and 2 cloves. I weighed the orange this time, which was 6.7oz./190g. I stole one eighth of the orange peel for the next mead. OG: 1.104 Temp: 99.4

Then I made Ginger Capsimel that Scout tried a while back. I don't know if she ever bottled hers, but the last time I tasted it, it was just amazing, a little heat, and little sweet, just right. I believe it took about 2.5-3 years to get that way, but I am willing to wait.

I am following her recipe almost exactly. I also googled the original recipe since the link in her post was dead.

Neither recipe says how much yeast, I used 1 teaspoon and hope that works.

Ginger Capsimel

2.5 pounds clover honey
3 serrano peppers, split and seeded (.95oz/26g)
2 jalapeno peppers, split and seeded (1.31oz/37g)
1 inch of fresh ginger (.49oz/14g)
4 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
6 grams fresh orange peel (about 1/8th of a medium orange)
1 teaspoon Fleishmann's bread yeast

Set 1/2 Gallon water to boil, then chop the ginger. When the water is boiling add ginger. 

Then split seed and remove the ribs of the peppers.

(:10) After the ginger has boiled for 10 minutes add the peppers.

(:20)After 10 minutes of boiling remove the peppers, but leave the ginger.

(:30) After 10 more minutes remove the pot from the heat. Let cool to about 150*F and add orange peel.

(:45) After 15 more minutes, mix in the honey, and add 1/2 gallon more water and the lemon juice.

When cooled to room temp add yeast and swirl to combine.

OG: 1.105 Temp: 83.4*F

Racking, and 2nd batch of JAO

Today we made a second batch of JAO. A few notes for next time, we tried weighing our spices, but my scale wouldn't register the small amount of weight, so I guess we need the type of scale you get from High Times. We also learned that 4 cups of honey is 3.5 pounds. Brian wants to weigh the orange in the future so we get the most consistent flavor every time. The specific gravity was 1.110.

Next we racked our first JAO from July/12', which means we siphoned the mead from the bottle and left all the fermented fruit and junk. Then we checked the gravity, which came out to 1.049, the original gravity was 1.129, I used an app to figure out the alcohol by volume, and we are currently 10.62 % ABV. Then we had a little taste, it's a little bitey with alcohol, the cinnamon, orange, and honey are the most noticeable flavors. I can't wait for it to mellow out, but it is already delicious.

JAO - First Mead!

We started our first mead today, my husband Brian has already done this in the past, but this is my first time.

We used this recipe for Joe's Ancient Orange, found at gotmead.com. Here is the recipe in case the link disappears later.


Ingredients

3 1/2 lbs Clover or your choice honey or blend (will finish sweet) 
1 Large orange (later cut in eights or smaller rind and all) 
1 small handful of raisins (25 if you count but more or less ok) 
1 stick of cinnamon 
1 whole clove (or 2 if you like - these are potent critters) 
optional (a pinch of nutmeg and allspice)(very small) 
1 teaspoon of Fleismanns bread yeast (now don't get holy on me--- after all this
is an ancient mead and that's all we had back then)
Balance water to one gallon


Directions

Use a clean 1 gallon carboy (We used an empty one gallon glass apple juice jug)

Dissolve honey in some warm water and add to jug (I warmed about 2 quarts of water for this.)

Wash orange well to remove any pesticides and slice in small pieces,then add to jug, rinds included

Put in raisins, clove, cinnamon stick, nutmeg, and allspice, then fill to 3 inches from the top with cold water (need room for some foam -- you can top off with more water after the yeast activity dies down.)

Shake the heck out of the jug with top on, of course. This is your sophisticated aeration process.

When at room temperature in your kitchen. Put in 1 teaspoon of bread yeast. You can give it a gentle swirl if you like.

Install water airlock. Put in dark place. It will start working immediately or in an hour. After major foaming stops in a few days add some water and then keep your hands off of it. 

After 2 months it will slow down to a stop and clear all by itself. Then you can rack it. It does better in a kitchen in the dark. (like in a cabinet) likes a little heat (70-80).

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What we did:

We used an empty one gallon glass apple juice jug as our carboy. We sanitized all our equipment, bubblers, hydrometer, bottle, anything that was going to touch the ingredients.

Heated 1.5 quarts of water in the kettle then added about two cups of cool water making it about 150 degrees Fahrenheit, then put the honey and water in a large pot and stirred the honey around till it dissolved, then added it to the jug.

Next, I sliced the orange up into small pieces and put all that into the jug, along with 28 raisins, cinnamon stick, 1 clove, and the spices (we used about 1/16th of a teaspoon of each spice.)

Then we added water up to the one gallon line, shook it like crazy, added more water to 3 inches below the top and shook it up again.

After calibrating our hydrometer with reverse osmossis water to 1.000 our original gravity was 1.129.

Then it sat in the kitchen to cool to room temperature.

I planned to add my yeast around midnight at the latest, but my neighbor talked till nearly 4 AM, so I'm a little late. But the yeast is in! I filled the bubbler.

Now the waiting. See ya in a couple months.

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Notes: Next time we should use the scale to weigh the spices. Edit 09/15/12: We tried to weigh them this time around but my scale wouldn't register the weight, so I guess we need to get a scale from High Times. (;