Orange Craisin Mead - Brew Day

Having just recently tried some mead that I made two years ago, Joe's Ancient Orange Mead (not the raspberry cranberry mead), and I found myself disappointed that I had not brewed more of it.  To fix this problem I have decided to brew some wonderful delicious mead at least once a year.  A few days ago I brewed, what I consider, an updated version of Joe's Ancient Orange.

Zest from 3 Cuties
Juice from said Cuties
Pulp from 1 Cutie
Handful of Craisins
1 cinnamon stick
3.5 lbs of Clover Honey
1 package of Lalvin 71b-1122 yeast

Procedure: I boiled 0.75 gallons of water.  At flame out I threw in the Craisins (to sanitize them a bit).  I then moved the water to a cold bath and added the honey.  While it was cooling I zested, juiced, and removed the pulp from the cuties; adding them to the primary along with the cinnamon stick.  When it came to temp I took my gravity, aerated, and pitched my yeast.  As per usual my gravity came in high.

Update: It took about four days but fermentation has finally taken off in full.  The only trick is keeping the fruit out of the airlock.

5/1/2013 - A month later the bubbles are still flowing.  The gas venting from the airlock smell wonderfully of oranges.

Raspberry Cranberry Mead - Tasting

Tonight I "brewed" my first mead in over 2 years. This is the last mead that I made. I can't recall the exact recipe, but I believe I used 2.5 lbs of clover honey, 1 lb of frozen raspberries, a handful of Craisins, and US - 05 ale yeast. I allowed it to ferment for 4 months in the primary, then another few months in secondary to clear.

I bottled it in late summer; two corked wine bottles, a bomber, and a few 12 oz bottles. Imagine my surprise when a month or so after bottling one of the corks blew off of a wine bottle, spraying mead all over my kitchen. I was planning on letting them aged, but I couldn't help but to try the blown bottle. Really hot from alcohol as I recall. That was around October of 2011. Here's what I'm getting today.

PS - this is the port bottle, a lot of dregs in the bottom.

Appearance

Light ruby. Pours effervescent with a quickly diminishing pink head. Perhaps I should put sound here too? It sounds like a champagne, hundreds of tiny bubbles constantly popping.

Aroma

Still smells like alcohol to me, but under that I am getting some sugary sweet raspberry.

Flavor

Hot with alcohol as soon as it hits the tongue. After the initial shock I'm getting a tart fruity burn on the back of the palate. The breath out of the nose gives the impression of a raspberry liquor.

Mouthfeel

Dry, fizzy, and tingley throughout the mouth.

Wish I had only made one mistake with this one. My first mead, which I was provide a tasting for in the future, ended up amazing. With this one I believe I should have added much more fruit, used an appropriate yeast, and not allowed it to dry out so much. Though I love dry wine, I do not believe I like dry mead.

I made my third mead tonight. Post to come in the near future. This is some strong mead.

Update - had another bottle, that was not the bottom of the barrel, with a friend tonight; thanks to Adam for hanging out with mead, beer, and a cigar.  Sadly the cigar made the tasting less accurate than the last, but I can tell you that this had significantly less alcohol heat.  Much more pleasant.