Kvasir

I just bottled a gallon of mead I started on October 12. It spent three weeks in the primary fermenter, then went into a "secondary" on November 22.

My first batch of mead was a little disappointing--- not bad by any means, but disappointing. It was a little too dry, and there was a yeastiness that never really went away. Of course, we drank all of it before it was six months old, so it might have gotten a little less yeasty had I let it age more. I wanted this second batch to be a little sweeter, and I wanted a little more fruit flavour.

I tried a couple variations this time:

• I kept the same honey-to-water ratio: three pounds of honey to one gallon of water.
• I boiled neither the water nor the honey; I heated the water to 145 F, removed it from heat, and stirred in the honey.
• I chopped two frozen strawberries and threw it in the must before I pitched yeast, just like last time.
• This time I used ale yeast, instead of champagne yeast. I figured it would leave a sweeter mead, and it looks like I was right.
• When I racked into the secondary, I put some pineapple cores I'd stored in the freezer. I suppose it was about one pineapple's worth of core.
• I primed it the same way: two tablespoons sugar boiled in a little less than half a cup of water.

I ended up with a half-filled bottle when all was said and done, so that's gone into a glass I've been sipping. It's incredible. I'm thinking this one will be called "Skald's Muse".