Comments for washingtonwinemaker.com Blog

Comment on Lord Rhys Chocolate Mead Recipe by Erroll

Erroll — Fri, 01 Nov 2024 19:31:14 +0000

In reply to Andrew W. Hi Andrew, Yes you're getting it right - first rack is at one year. This recipe is different in that way.

Comment on Lord Rhys Chocolate Mead Recipe by Andrew W

Andrew W — Fri, 01 Nov 2024 19:04:43 +0000

Is the first ever rack for this recipe supposed to be at the year mark? I’m new to mead brewing and have seen a lot of advice telling me to rack once after primary fermentation is done (at most 4 weeks). But it sounds like this recipe has the first rack much later. That is fine, I just want to make sure I’m getting this right.

Comment on Cranberry Wine From Frozen Concentrate? by Marvin

Marvin — Fri, 02 Aug 2024 23:40:46 +0000

9 years later…. Hi guys. I was poking around trying to figure out why this old orchard frozen cranberry juice that I bought was fermenting so fast. You shouldn’t have any problems fermenting it. I made some of this juice because it’s been on sale locally. Left it on the counter overnight and when I got home from work I noticed the bottle was bloated. I opened it up and it really blew the carbon dioxide. It even smells like there is already alcohol content. This is just an overnight 20 hours or so. I am simply surprised at my happy accidental find. These little cans of juice only cost about $3 and make about 30 ounces of juice. This could be a very reasonable alternative to buying even budget wine. Nothing to even add, just mix juice and water and leave on the counter

Comment on Shipping Homemade Wine: We did it! by William Harris

William Harris — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 01:28:03 +0000

The laws permitting shipping by wineries completely ignore home winemakers. You’re on your own, hence the don’t ask, don’t tell mantra. That said, if you don’t tell, it will ship of you take it to UPS or Fedex. Just pack it well. Their policy is for compliance purposes. They really don’t care.

Comment on Plum Wine Recipe: From Grocery Store Plums by Phillip

Phillip — Wed, 20 Sep 2023 20:07:57 +0000

I’m glad to see your recipe, and at the same time surprised at the dominance of country wine recipes for plums. I often have 50-100 pounds of plums left over from my tree, as do my neighbors. I’d rather use them up in this manner.

(Though I will probably still do a batch of country wine to turn into vinegar)

Comment on Chocolate Wine: How to make it by Ron

Ron — Thu, 19 Jan 2023 16:46:29 +0000

Hello. Just read through all the above comments
I’v been making wine for over 30 years and I have had pretty good luck fermenting a flavor till its done and then adding whatever after the first rack. The chocolate sounds interesting and I think I’ll try adding some to a red Raspberry that I’ll rack next month. But it’s a guess as to how much cocoa to add. And I’ll try to fi d that Dutched cocoa mentioned by someone above. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you

Comment on Lord Rhys Chocolate Mead Recipe by Brianna

Brianna — Wed, 02 Nov 2022 23:04:10 +0000

So, I am just getting into meadmaking and I love Melomels, but I was curious if this chocolate recipe could be mixed with melomel recipies? I love my raspberry mead recipe and I love raspberry with chocolate, has anyone tried this?

Comment on Lord Rhys Chocolate Mead Recipe by Brianna

Brianna — Thu, 22 Sep 2022 21:27:59 +0000

In reply to James C. If you read the comments and the recipe, the aging is not for the yeast, it is for the breakdown of the oils in the chocolate, adding nutrients would only speed the fermentation process and not the aging of the mead.

Comment on Lord Rhys Chocolate Mead Recipe by Brian Z.

Brian Z. — Sun, 17 Jul 2022 03:01:57 +0000

What is the mead supposed to taste like at the one year mark when you rack for the first time off the less/chocolate? I made a batch that just hit it’s first birthday. Basic mead – 5 gallon batch: honey/water/Fermaid, 1.082SG. I added 16oz of Ghirardelli baking cocoa that I mixed into a little hot water to make a thick slurry rather than leave it as a powder. Lalvin 71B yeast. Rapid, active fermentation that dropped to 1.001 within 4 weeks. I stirred it up at 6 weeks just to make sure the chocolate wasn’t caked solid at the bottom, the better to let the oils escape into the mead. The chocolate settled back out nicely. At 1 year, the liquid above the chocolate layer (now at 0.992) was very clear, and a darker yellow than a basic mead, but not brown or anything. The chocolate layer at the bottom had the consistency of latex paint, but it was a very clear boundary between the chocolate and the mead above it, no wispies. I racked it, added sorbate and metabisulfate to make sure the yeast didn’t restart, and backsweetened to 1.026. (I might add more honey later…you can always add more rather than have to correct the other way!) It tastes kind of like sweetened 6-week old mead, not year-old mead. It has a bite to it that reminds me of young mead. Like every other mead I’ve made, I’m assuming this will get better in another year as recommended. But I’m not tasting much chocolate. Should I? And the recipe mentions the 2-year-old mead for bottling as being “very dark.” It’s not very dark now, and it’s off the chocolate remnants. Is it supposed to get darker?

I love the information in the recipe, and I love all of the questions and comments that followed. But I’m curious what this is supposed to taste like at the one year mark to know if I’m tracking properly!

Comment on Lord Rhys Chocolate Mead Recipe by Lord Rhys

Lord Rhys — Fri, 11 Feb 2022 15:34:54 +0000

Hi all, thanks for sharing my recipe. I know it’s been on the internet for more then 20 years now.

I just wanted to note the link to a simple mead is not my simple mead recipe, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work just as well.

I hope you enjoy my mead recipe as much as I enjoyed coming up with it.