On Sunday, I bottled the first batch of mead. It was the standard beginner’s mead, one known around the intarw3bz as Joe’s Ancient Orange. There was a little bit left that didn’t quite fit in the bottles, and it was delicious. It will be great after a little time in the bottles to age and mellow.
I also racked my second batch of cider into secondary fermentation, splitting it into two gallon jugs. I added half a can of apple juice concentrate to each, then topped one off with store-bought apple juice and the other with an apple-cherry-berry juice blend.
The first batch of cider is still hanging out in the bottles I put it in several weeks ago. I didn’t wait long enough for it to clear up on its own before bottling, so there’s sediment on the bottom of each of them. Because of that, I’m thinking about moving it around and re-bottling it. I suspect the same thing will be happening with the mead, that I sucked up some of the lees from the fermenter and it will deposit sediment on those bottles too.
Despite that, the first batch of cider is really starting to smell good. At first, there was a “hot” alcohol smell but it’s starting to mellow after a few weeks in the bottles. It should get very tasty after.
I’ve been officially bitten by the bug, and already thinking about the next batch of tasty goodness I want to put in the ferment bucket. I also find myself lamenting the lack of space to store as many different batches of things as I’d like. At least that’s saving me money since I can’t go out and buy all the stuff it would require.
I’m learning a lot throughout the whole process. It’s a fairly passive hobby but one that’s proving itself to be very rewarding. If nothing else, I’m able to officially check two things off my list!
