Back to Brewing

So then, while I know I've just started posting.  But I'm back.  I was brewing today.  From my log book it seems the last time that I brewed was back in February.  Now I did travel a bit, but still, tis a rather long time.

Today I brewed a elderflower mead for starters.

I had 25 grams of dried elderflowers in a saucepan over medium heat for about 30 minutes.
I strained the flowers out and added 5 lbs of honey and added it to a 1 gallon jar.
The jar got a tsp of yeast nutrient, and then was topped up.
Lastly a packet of EC-1118 yeast was added.

We'll just let that and ferment a while.  I've noted down the OG, but don't have my notes with me.  I do believe it was the highest OG that I've done so far.  It will probably be quite a few months before that one is ready.

Then I went on to an elderflower ale.

4 lbs Marris Otter
8 oz 55L British Crystal
1 oz Chocolate Malt

Mashed for 1 hour at 148

Then boiled for 60 minutes, with an addition of 1 oz fuggles at the start of the boil.

5 minutes prior to the end of boil I added 17 grams of dried elderflowers.

I cooled it and siphoned the first 2 gallons into a bucket and added a packet of Safale US-05.

As it would turn out I had more wort left over, so I russelled up an old half used packet of EC-1118 and used that, some yeast nutrient and the extra wort.  I'm not sure how it'll work out, but we shall see.