Push Button Paradise

It turns out that Silicon Valley is a great place for mead. There aren't too many meaderies in the US, but one is right down the road in Sunnyvale, Rabbit's Foot Meadery. I went there for a tour of their facility--they have 3 500 gallon and one 1000 gallon fermentation tanks. On the tour, I was surprised at the size of the place. Along one wall was the large fermentation tanks. Another wall was stacked to the ceiling with bottles ready to ship out to a Renaissance fair somewhere. Another wall was stacked with oak barrels, and the last wall had the high-speed bottling machine.

The highlight of the trip, of course, was the tasting. I had a dry mead with a nice flavor, a slightly sweet pear mead that was excellent, and a sweet mead that had a more honey-like flavor than any I've tasted. I wonder if they add more honey after fermentation? They also had a number of cysers (apple+honey) on tap. Yummy. I went home with the three bottles (dry, pear, and sweet).

The valley also has some good homebrew shops. I like Fermentation Frenzy off El Camino and San Antonio. Phil, the proprietor, is also a big mead fan. On an earlier visit, he let me taste some of his collection, including a 5-year-old mead. This trip, I returned the favor and brought two bottles. I wrote about these earlier--a nice spiced mead made from avocado flower honey, and a straight meead with the color and consistency of Squirt soda.

I wasn't happy with cloudiness of the spiced mead. The flavor, however, was wonderful and steadily improving. The straight mead was literally still fermenting. I poured off a few hundred ml when siphoning it to a fresh container. Even though I stuck the cork in only half way, it was still sealed up enough that it made quite a pop upon opening. The verdict: it's coming along well. It needs to age for a while, not to mention ferment out first, but it should be a great addition.

While there, I picked up some new equipment, so now I'm ready to start 3 gallon batches. That's enough to fill 15 normal-sized wine bottles, so it requires greater planning in the storage and aging department.

So, I think I'm doing all right. Every bottle I have on the rack is precious to me; I don't want to open any because they keep getting better with age. Pretty soon my first few batches will be hitting the six month mark. More good things to come.

To finish, a recipe. Here's what my 3-gallon setup is working on right now. Adapted from The Compleat Meadmaker by Ken Schramm.

• 2.4 gal pressed apple cider
• 2.4 lb wild flower honey
• 2.4 lb orange blossom honey
• 9.6 oz brown sugar
• 3 handfuls chopped dates
• 3 handfuls mixed raisins, half chopped
• 1 handful currants
• Fiji water to just over 3 gal
• 1 packet Lalvin D-47 Yeast
• 1 level tsp Yeast Nutrient
• 1 heaping tsp Yeast Energizer
• nutmeg, ginger, and mace

Starting gravity was 1.125. This yeast is supposed to give a 14% alcohol, so there should be a light sweetness left at the end. -m

posted at: 00:08 | under: 2006-01 | 0 comment(s)