There are always adjustments and plain fiddling about.  I've hit the twenty five gallon mark today with the next installment of metheglin and I am in a happy spot.  Half way to my goal and prior to June.  Whoo Hoo!

I've posted the process I currently use for a non heat method of metheglin production.  I do want to share what I did differently on this particular batch.

Robin, my wife and general empress of our domicile, apparently heard me mention a desire to get a mortar and pestle for grinding stuff. I am glad she pays attention to my ramblings as I apparently do not.  It did sound familiar, but for the life of me, I couldn't remember what I was talking about until today!  I used the mortar and pestle to coarse grind the cinnamon, allspice, and coriander.  I now remember thinking about doing this in order to free up some fresh flavor out of the spices.  It was a real treat to get that intense smell of the spice as I happily broke down the ingredients.  It was like walking into a spice shop and the smell is still in the air an hour later.  It almost has a winter holiday atmosphere around the house.

I also held off on adding the malo dextrose until after the boil of both the spices and the tea bags.  I am not sure of my reasoning, but I did take notes for future puzzlement.  Again, I filled the carboy to a about 5 3/4 gallon and added 12 1/2 pounds of honey.  After a healthy stirring, I actually did a front end reading and got a little over 11% which tickled me to no end as I will be adding another 2 1/2 pounds of honey as usual in about 2 weeks.  I then pitched the yeast, popped on the lid, and added the newborn batch to my lovely corner of metheglin.  Happy day and a delightful 40 minutes to complete.  The new wait begins.

Time to take Robin to work.  I intend to look after the bees on my return.  It is a bit cooler out (around 65 degrees) so I don't expect a great amount of hive activity, but the girls always surprise me.  I have been getting more daring and re-filled the feeders yesterday without gloves or veil.  I think I heard a few bees snickering at my nervousness.  They were good though and didn't even bother with a few fly-bys around my head.

Until next post,  enjoy your day as life is out there!