Bourbon Barrel aged mead

[Shine0n]

I've just came into a GREAT source of 5 gallon bourbon barrels and just recently tasted some traditional mead that's been aged in one and man that was some of if not the best mead I've had the privilege to taste.

I'm going to make a 5.5 gal traditional

15 lb clover honey or wildflower whicheveris on sale or cheapest for this.

I'm also in limbo on the yeast to use, it definitely will not be a wine yeast tho. I'm thinking somewhere on the line of an abv tolerance of 12% so I really need to get on the search for the yeast.

The barrel is very strong with wheat bourbon and it will add some serious characters to the mead.

I'll start it out in there for 1 month (30) days and taste and again if needed every 2 weeks thereafter.

After the mead I will then age a bold rum in there for 2 years.

I love finding cheap shit, I'll have barrels till they stop making likker I suppose. lol

[Twisted Brick]

I've just came into a GREAT source of 5 gallon bourbon barrels

I love finding cheap shit, I'll have barrels till they stop making likker I suppose. lol

Sounds like the perfect aging vessel for honey bear bourbon down the road! And single malt whisky, and rye, and wheated bourbon and ....

[butterpants]

Not all honey is created equal. It's not like going to the feed store and snagging 50# of dent corn. Source and quality matter.

If you don't want to use 71B/D47 like everyone else because of the 14% tolerance, then go with one of the Wyeast or White Labs sweet mead strains. They top out lower.

[Shine0n]

I would but they wouldn't care for that too much, if interested just pm me and we can talk.

[Shine0n]

I have one (traditional) that's should be ready in a week or so, it does have 71-B and it tastes really really good
It may go in there

I guess I shouldn't say I will not because I just may, 71-B is one I use on melomel and the same with D47 and I know they work well with them.

The apricots/blackberry will be on hold for now then as this tastes great.

I use high quality honeys not mix or blended honey, when I said on sale or cheap I ment from my source.

They have sales on whatever isn't selling, it's usually around 25 bucks for 5 lb and most of the time it's crystallized or beginning to be.

Oh man this is going to be good

[Shine0n]

I stopped fermentation at 1.010 tonight, stabilized it and degassing one last time before adding a fining agent.

Hopefully it will clear within the next week and into the barrel it goes.

I'll keep it in the barrel for an uncertain time, I'll taste it now and again but I'm hoping in a month or two its ready for the bottles.

keeping my fingers crossed on this one!

[RNaka]

I stopped fermentation at 1.010 tonight, stabilized it and degassing one last time before adding a fining agent.

Hopefully it will clear within the next week and into the barrel it goes.

I'll keep it in the barrel for an uncertain time, I'll taste it now and again but I'm hoping in a month or two its ready for the bottles.

keeping my fingers crossed on this one!

Sounds great!

What fining agent do you use?

Thanks

[Yonder]

That's a fine soundin idea for a good mead. I've gotta a batch of orangeblossom underway right now that might benefit from that treatment. Got 30 lbs of boysenberry juice just waitin for the weather to moderate some and then it'll magically turn into a fine melomel.

[Big Stogie]

any more barrels available I need a couple

[Shine0n]

These folks have plenty of barrels, I'm getting 4 more this week.

I used sparkolloid hot wine fining, almost looks like fermaid o in color and texture.

In future meads I will add bentonite to the primary and follow with either sparkolloid or bentonite in secondary.

Mmmm, boysenberry

[Shine0n]

Well folks... now I wait

Got it racked into the barrel yesterday and tucked away.

I'm going for 30 days and then check, I do have a little too much head space so I'm going to buy a shit ton of marbles and fill to close up the space.

Once I get my desired profile I'll rack again into 1 gal jugs to further age for who knows how long.

36 hours after adding the sparkolloid it dropped 90% clear and the taste was very good as a traditional so I have very high hopes for this.

I might filter straight from the barrel to bottle, we'll see!

After the mead I'll be using the barrel for a rum that will sit for 1 year, can't wait!!!

[Yonder]

Damn, shineon, ya got me droolin' here.

[rubber duck]

Mead isn't generally barrel aged where I come from. A mead done on a stripped out wine barrel would be an interesting thing to do. You got my gears grinding. Hmmm.

[Shine0n]

Damn, shineon, ya got me droolin' here.

Yea, me too lol
rubber duck
I've only had it from one place and maybe it's the bourbon barrel but this was simply the best mead I've ever in my life had.
The owner told me about the distillery and they sell the barrels for 50 bucks so I went and had a flight and bought a wheat bourbon barrel.
Now I'm the proud owner of 4
wheat
Rye
all corn
Traditional bourbon.

The best part is I can always break them down and re-char them or toast the staves Tpee way and use them as domino's.

Ohhh I have some plans!!!!

[Shine0n]

This has got me by the boo boo's
Couldn't resist the temptation so I grabbed a pint out of the barrel to sample, it's going to Pa. Next week for some insite from my peers.

[Big Stogie]

I need to find a place like that to get some barrels, I have some orange spice mead that might be really interesting in a rum barrel,

[Shine0n]

I can't decide whether to put the raspberry melomel in next or a rum.
I'm thinking the rum so the raspberry has a different profile.
Big Stogie, I lucked up with this no doubt and fortunately I'll have barrels for the foreseeable future.

Probably won't ever use domino's or cubes again

[Shine0n]

This mead went in pretty dry at .005 and now it's very sweet, I didn't expect that to this extent but it still tastes very fookn good.

I pulled a half gal to take to Pa this weekend and hope everyone enjoys it because I'm bringing a bunch of mead with me.

[Shine0n]

Well shite, this needs alot more time in the barrel.

I have 3/4 gal of traditional I'm topping it off with and let sit for MONTHS

[Yonder]

Yup. 1.00, looks like my Orange Special is ready to rack off for a few months storage. Back sweetening with same honey used in the original ferment, too.

[Shine0n]

Beautiful clarity

[DetroitDIY]

Hey ShineOn, sorry I missed you at the meeting. Your jar looks nice. Do you know what kind of residual sweetness you're meads are ending up with?

I put 15 gallons of a sweet mead into a bourbon barrel last year. Left it in 4.5 months... it took on honestly too much of the bourbon flavor. Put some on peaches and some on raspberries after drawing from the barrel. Those two were my best meads (until perhaps this winter ), but the straight from the barrel is just a bit too much. I thought it had stalled with fermenting at a SG of 1.012 when it went into the barrel. Measured 1.006 when I pulled it out. Not sure if it was still fermenting a bit or if that was some influence of the alcohol. It still tasted quite sweet.

I didn't use any fancy honey in those. I've since started getting more discriminating in my honeys. Picked mine up from DutchGoldHoney. The prices seem a bit better than the $25 / 5 lb you mention, but you would have to add in shipping. I did a bulk buy with some others and picked up (3) 60 lb buckets for about $480 after shipping (Buckwheat, Orange Blossom, Mesquite).

Just finished some other projects and am about to get a couple of batches fermenting. If I do the bourbon barrel again, I'll be checking much earlier as you did. I also have a soon to be empty rum barrel of some of my make that is pretty decent. Thought I might put some mead in that to compare it against the bourbon barrel mead.

[Shine0n]

When I put it in it was .005 and now is sweeter than that.

I'll get an sg today at some point and post it.

I think on my next one I'll do really dry now knowing that the barrel adds a good bit of sweetness to it.

Thanks for the compliment, it's good but there is something a little funky on the nose right as you open the jar and I pray it goes away with time.

It's definitely not as good as the one from the meadery but I'll get there! Better honey, better protocols etc. etc.

I'm just over a year into mead but loving every minute, wait no I'm not. lol
I'd like to sip it sooner

[DetroitDIY]

It's definitely not as good as the one from the meadery but I'll get there! Better honey, better protocols etc. etc.

Ditto for me. I've just invested and DIY-ed a number of upgrades to my fermenting game. Hoping that it pays off... looking to start a couple of batches this or next weekend. Going to try a new yeast that I came across by way of a friend: D21. I'm told that meadmakers love what it does for them, pretty much whatever style of mead they're making. I'll let you know what I find in 4-6 months.

[Shine0n]

Amazing what another week can do, it's crystal clear and no off tastes now.
I think I'll bottle this week.
Now it's on to the rum to fill the barrel then get a raspberry melomel in after.
I like the sound of the D21, I'll have to heck it out too

[DetroitDIY]

That's great ShineOn.

Regarding your last week and the off tastes, you should look up a Diacetyl rest (if you're not familiar with it). It essentially involves raising the temp of your ferment a bit (4-10 F) when you're about 30% away from your target FG, and letting it rest there for 5-ish days. Good for eating up most residual Diacetyl (butter flavor), and possibly some other funky things.

[Big Stogie]

One of my favorite meads, Joes ancient orange, uses bakers yeast which I try to avoid just due to my experience with yeast in beer brewing and the flavors we can get from them but it does work on that mead. Diacetyl rsst and other fermentation methods are standard procedure in the beer space. I do believe we can make better spirts using those lessons too.

[DetroitDIY]

I agree Big Stogie. It's funny what care we put into fermented beverages, but somehow often overlook when it comes to distilled beverages. I've see a few other threads talking about improving the fermentation process, and it's possible effects towards increasing the hearts cut. But I digress from ShineOn's mead trek... Just about ready to start fermenting 15 gallons of mead, in a nice 'proper yeast starter', 'well aerated start', 'temperature controlled', 'step nutrient' kind of way, which I plan to put into my rum barrel for the secondary... after draining the last goodness of rum for an upcoming gathering.

[Shine0n]

I'll try to avoid diacetyl in my meads but look heavily for it in one of my rums
I have a ferment pear trees to pick like now and I'll freeze them till I have enough for a proper brandy but I fully intend on using 20lb for a pear melomel!

Barrel aged?????

[Shine0n]

This mead needs nothing but a little time in the bottle, it's smoothed out far beyond my expectations and now everyone who's gotten a sample is wanting bottles which isn't going to happen.

In all honesty the next trad I do will be lower abv tho, most likely 12% as the sweetness from the char will do its thing and make it drinkable sooner than later.

I do however need to filter this one as it's still dropping sediment from the barrel, 3 days in the fridge drops it crystal clear.

On to the next one folks!

Boysenberry