Continuing Adventures in Fermentation
August 14, 2008 | permalink
I bottled the Buckwheat Mead on Sunday. It turned out to be, if I do say so myself, delicious. Actually, I don't need to just say so myself; I had some of my crew over the other night and served them some, and the feedback was extremely positive. Which is good, because there is a lot of it.
I intended to make bread tonight, but as I was wandering around the grocery store wondering what I was forgetting, I had a better idea. You see, Gentle Readers, it has been so long since the closet was void of something fermenting that it just didn't feel right. So I got a couple of gallons of cider and set about making some apple wine.
The process is even simpler than the mead; all you really have to do is add yeast to the cider and let it do it's thing. It took longer to sterilize the equipment than it did to get it going. Which is, you know, pretty awesome. Don't get me wrong; I really like the process of brewing, and making beer, even without drinking it, is something I find deeply satisfying. But I am getting a kick out of how easy mead and apple wine are to make. There is a lot of payoff for little effort.
Oh, I should clarify; I am not making a carbonated Woodchuck-like hard cider here, but a true apple wine. It will be flat, and according to my preliminary hydrometer readings, ought to end up at about 11 - 12% alcohol by volume. Not as strong as the last batch of mead, which ended up at about 15%, but a perfectly respectable beverage nonetheless. And, since it is starting with much less sugar in it than the Buckwheat Mead did, I expect it will also be a lot drier and also finish a little quicker; perhaps three weeks or so.
Rest assured that I will keep you updated...
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Very nice. I'm planning on brewing a Czech-like pilsner this weekend using a starter made from the Wyeast Budvar yeast.
Apple wine? Isn't that what Boone's farm is? To quote the old bearded guy in the baseball hat from Adam Sandler's "Big Daddy" movie: "Hell yeah!"