Your brew sounds delicious ~winter!
This afternoon I'm bottling a bitter. Should clock in just over 4% ABV. Pale malt, bittered with Northdown and East Kent Goldings, dry hopped with Tettnanger.
Brewing is a hobby I took up around five years ago, something I'd always wanted to do. I love it. It makes beer cheap, gives a sense of pride in creation. I've never graduated from extract-with-steeped-grains to all grain, and I don't care. What I make tastes good. It makes me happy.
I've got everything gathered: bottles, long-arm capper, hydrometer, sanitizer. I'll pour myself a homebrew, clean and sanitize everything, fill my 40-50 bottles, cap them, and then, as always, wonder why I'm so tired. Sit down with a book. Have a cup of tea.
Turns out it was 4.73% ABV (1.048 OG, 1.012 FG). More ESB than ordinary bitter, for sure.
That reminds me. I have 64 pounds of honey waiting to be brewed. Weekend project!
How much mead does that make?
About 5 gallons at 3 lbs of honey per gallon of water.
Whew that's a lot of meade! Do you add and herbs or anything similar, or just the honey? And is it all for you? Do you end up giving some away?
Whoops, was a bit tired and did my math wrong. It's only 5 gallons :)
I've never added anything to mead before, this will be my first. I actually have 3 batches going right now. For two of my 1 gallon batches I want to try two different kinds of hops. For the 5 gallon batch of mead, not sure yet! And I usually end up sharing some with my friends. One of them got me into it, after all.