Submitted 1 year ago by JDBowden@lemmy.world to homebrewing@sopuli.xyz
We seem to have some talented brewers here in the forum. Would be nice to see some final results from the community members in this forum! Perhaps it can also inspire some people who are curious about the hobby.
I can start: here is a sparkling mead along with my labeled bottles.
I made 5 gallons of country strawberry wine. Though the alcohol content is on the higher side at 16%, it absolutely delicious.
Beautiful color. How does it stand up to the 16%? Is there sufficient fruit or is it overpowered by the alcohol? I have some strawberry in the cellar, but I made it 11% off-dry.
The alcohol is not overpowering, the flavor is both complex and smooth with a perfect strawberries and sunshine aftertaste. I made 5 gallons with 25lbs of strawberries and 12 pounds of sugar so strawberry essence was really packed in there! I failed at a scuppernong wine before this so was ready for disappointment but I got an acid kit and think that lends a lot to final product. I also was a little OCD every step of the way but I think that’s part of why it actually turned out so well.
I brought some up a friend’s house in the North Carolina Appalachian mountains. His cousins who have been ‘home brewing’ for generations probably paid me the highest compliment when they had some and were like wow, that actually tastes like something you’d but at a store!
1 mead 3 ways, plain, ginger/lemon, and blackberry Here is 1 of the first meads I ever made, split 3 ways. 1 is a traditional, 2 has blackberry, and 3 has ginger/lemon. Very happy how this batch came out but alas it is long gone.
Westvleteren 12 Clone This is a Westvleteren 12 Clone I made with yeast harvested and propagated from the real Westvleteren 12. It’s been bottle conditioning for around 6 months now and it’s just starting to develop the complexity I’m looking for.
I do not know about other users, but I am unable to see the pictures on this specific post. They sound delicious though.
Out of interest, can you view the images when they aren’t embedded here? Mead 3 ways
Hmm. The pictures are hosted on catbox.moe and should just be embedded here. I’m still trying to find a better image hosting service because most Lemmy instances only allow images up to 100kb.
sarahcanary@lemmy.one 1 year ago
This looks fantastic! I’ve never seen a sparkling mead before. Mead is next on my list, or maybe a melomel.
JDBowden@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Thanks! Melomels are great. I have found they are perfect intro meads for those who do not “like the taste of mead” as there is additional fruit flavors… Have had good luck with blackberry, blueberry, and 50/50 black/blue blends.
sarahcanary@lemmy.one 1 year ago
Oh I love mead. Those bubbles in yours look extra fun. Blackberry is what I was interested in making, though I found a recipe for dandelion mead (is that a melomel?) and found that intriguing. Have you tried that?