Brewing updates: mead and duvel

On March 11, I made my first ever batch of mead. Today, June 6, I racked it to a secondary fermenter where it will dwell until it clears — which apparently means it’s ready to drink and bottle. That’s nearly four months of fermenting! Impressive. And if I’d fermented at lager temperatures there’s no telling when this would ever be done. Who even knows how long this next round of fermentation will take. Don’t forget that I accidentally used the wrong yeast in this mead and wound up adding champagne yeast along with the accidental lager yeast. While it tasted sweet and of honey when I tried a little today, it’s still not quite mead-like.

On the other end of the fermentation spectrum, the duvel is quite active which I find a little surprising and worrisome. The last few times I’ve made this recipe, the yeast takes a good 3–5 days to get active in the wort. This time, I had solid fermentation within 24 hours. Unbelievable! I’ve brewed this recipe at least five times before, and each time the fermentation was so slow to start that I thought my yeast might be dead. Because this is abnormal in my experience, I’m definitely going to make more duvel next week just in case the first batch of the season doesn’t turn out right.

This brewing endeavor will have all three of my carboys in use for who knows how long. I may have to borrow one from a friend if I’m going to make more kolsch and possibly some porter for the wedding. So much beer, so little time!