Next weekend we’re moving house, so it’s time to get everything in bottles! This week I bottled my ginger mead and cranberry echinacea mead. You may be interested to follow those links and compare them to the pictures here.
I finally got some specialised winemaking stuff for this: potassium sorbate (‘stabiliser’) to knock out the remaining yeast, and ‘fining’ agents to clear any haze. Both were good investments! The stabiliser allowed me to sweeten the end product without the yeast eating up the extra sugar. I found this was absolutely necessary, because they had become very dry. Now they are nicely semi-sweet.
Now, anyone care for a traditional bowl of mead?
I am really pleased with both of these brews, and can’t wait for them to mature a bit. I’ll probably start cracking them open next spring. The really nice thing about these is that they are really easy to drink. Beer, for instance, is something that people either really like, or really don’t. And my kombucha… well, let’s not go there. But these meads are not at all challenging to the palate, nothing too complex or ‘out there’ for virgin taste buds. They’re also not too alcoholic, so you can enjoy them without getting too buzzed. In short, I bet my wife will like them, and I consider that an accomplishment 
The hardest part, as always, is deciding what to do next. I’m not feeling any particular inspiration at the moment. Yarrow? Ginko Biloba? Nettle? Any suggestions?
