I’m making my third batch of mead right now. I used some of our Spring honey which is very light and fruity. We made a batch with it last year that was very good, but had too much acid tang in the end. This time we added some Dark French Oak chips for three days in the secondary and then racked it off to another carboy. I think it is going to be a lot smoother this time. It looks like it’s going to have to sit for awhile to let the yeast settle out before we bottle it. The coolest thing was when the oak chips were in the carboy you could see the currents that the fermenting yeast cause to circulate from the top to the bottom.
My wife got me a eight gallon kettle for my birthday and so we brewed out first porter this summer. I’ve been worried since bottling it that it was still kind of flat after three weeks, but it looks like it was just taking longer. We tried a couple of bottles last night (4 1/2 weeks) and it was much better. I’m still trying to decide what to brew next, a chocolate stout or a braggot (beer with honey).
I have had at least one problem with a porter not wanting to carbonate. I have no idea why but after 8 weeks it was still flat. My guess is I left it in the secondary to long and there were not enough viable yeast left to do the carbonation - still not convinced that was the cause.