Lee Harker
Well-known member
http://www.gotmead.com/index.php
I'll never learn how to link anything!
I'll never learn how to link anything!
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Didn't know what Mead was sooo
- Thread starter Lee Harker
- Start date
Steve Sutton
Well-known member
We had no idea what the heck we were doing, other than following directions, and ended up with some "pure D, double rectified BUST HEAD".....one of those things that got better the more you drank and that generraly resulte din someone, or someones, doing something excedingly stupid......Never drank it without it resulting in the absolute worst hangovers I've ever experienced.....
Since then I've had a couple of commercially brewed meads...smoother, not as sweet, and without the "kick" of the homemade stuff....
Be neat to try some made out of Maple Syrup....
Steve
Since then I've had a couple of commercially brewed meads...smoother, not as sweet, and without the "kick" of the homemade stuff....
Be neat to try some made out of Maple Syrup....
Steve
Ed Askew
Well-known member
I've been in the habit of making about 5 gallons of mead a year, most often from Orange blossom honey. To be really good, it's got to be 2 years old. I once made some from Tulip poplar honey. I still have some, I think it's 5 years old, taste sort of like scotch (of course, it's not distilled). Very different from the other meads I've made. It would gag a maggot until it was 2 y.o. Still, you've got to take it easy with mead because it is notorious for hangovers. One of the easiest home brews to make, but the problem is the wait.
Ed.
Ed.
Bill McAdam
Active member
Steve.
Haven't tried Maple Meade, but have used syrup as a flavoring agent in my Chirstmas Dopplebock. It was quite good. Also have used it as a flavoring agent when I tried to copy Vermont Distillers Tamarack Liqueur (bourbon flavored with Maple and spices). Can't get up to Waterbury very easily from here so I have to make due......
Haven't tried Maple Meade, but have used syrup as a flavoring agent in my Chirstmas Dopplebock. It was quite good. Also have used it as a flavoring agent when I tried to copy Vermont Distillers Tamarack Liqueur (bourbon flavored with Maple and spices). Can't get up to Waterbury very easily from here so I have to make due......
Lee Harker
Well-known member
Bill, what was that Kickapoo joy juice you had at Westlake a few years ago? The stuff you gave to me? I remember it tasted great and made my eyes straighten out...
Bill McAdam
Active member
Blackberry Brandy.
Just take a 750 ml bottle of brandy, add about a cup of sugar and a 10 oz. bag of frozen Blackberries and about 6 whole Allspice berries (?). Let it steep for about three weeks and strain the booze into another bottle (agitate teh bottle every couple of days to even the 'mix'). Haven't found a good use for the Blackberries, yet........
Just take a 750 ml bottle of brandy, add about a cup of sugar and a 10 oz. bag of frozen Blackberries and about 6 whole Allspice berries (?). Let it steep for about three weeks and strain the booze into another bottle (agitate teh bottle every couple of days to even the 'mix'). Haven't found a good use for the Blackberries, yet........
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Lee Harker
Well-known member
George, did you go to that link that I posted in the other thread? That was supposed to be the end all site for Mead makers.
Steve Sutton
Well-known member
Since mead was their brew of choice, or perhaps necessity, and since I doubt that they had the patience to wait a couple of years for it to "age" they most likely were in a state of perpetual "hung overedness"......nothing like a, "feels like two goats busting their heads together", (anyone who remembers that commercial is dating himself), to make someone feel like smackin some fop with an English accent upside the head with an axe. Throw in a little pillaging, some damsel harassment and then back to the mead barrel for a recharge......
The Masai drink a really potent type of Mead.....Honey and milk with a little blood mixed in...mix that up in a big old gourd, hang it in the sun for a couple of days and then drink...I can't imagine that that stuff wouldn't make Ed's "gag a maggot" Mead taste like sugar water in comparison...upon which the imbiber falls into a state of drunkeness that doesn't end until the beverage finally stops cooking off in his gut, or, until a Hyena bites off half his face.....
Steve
The Masai drink a really potent type of Mead.....Honey and milk with a little blood mixed in...mix that up in a big old gourd, hang it in the sun for a couple of days and then drink...I can't imagine that that stuff wouldn't make Ed's "gag a maggot" Mead taste like sugar water in comparison...upon which the imbiber falls into a state of drunkeness that doesn't end until the beverage finally stops cooking off in his gut, or, until a Hyena bites off half his face.....
Steve
Rick Pierce
Well-known member
Actually, mead was probably the least of it.
We make glogg every Christmas. It's basically mulled port/brandy with almonds and raisins and a spice bag that includes cardamom, stick cinnamon, etc. I refer to it as "love in a bottle", because after a shot or two, you can't hate anyone.
And, by the by, it is a sipping drink, not a "shooter". I'm guessing all the mead and glogg was to counter the taste of eating lutefisk. Forget the post-pillaging celebration; have a plate of steaming hot fish that's been dried with lye and reconstituted...that'll make you drink out of self-defense.
The Swedes were a tough lot, indeed. Land of tall women and virgin timber...
Rick
P.S. Bill's blackberry brandy is some fine stuff...still working on a small bottle at the house.
We make glogg every Christmas. It's basically mulled port/brandy with almonds and raisins and a spice bag that includes cardamom, stick cinnamon, etc. I refer to it as "love in a bottle", because after a shot or two, you can't hate anyone.
And, by the by, it is a sipping drink, not a "shooter". I'm guessing all the mead and glogg was to counter the taste of eating lutefisk. Forget the post-pillaging celebration; have a plate of steaming hot fish that's been dried with lye and reconstituted...that'll make you drink out of self-defense.
The Swedes were a tough lot, indeed. Land of tall women and virgin timber...
Rick
P.S. Bill's blackberry brandy is some fine stuff...still working on a small bottle at the house.
Geoff Pike
Active member
Didnt know we were making mead here!!!! I've got a batch of Maple Mead mellowing right now and a multi berry mead in the
fermenter. The maple is good right now (gotta test!!) and I'll let you know on the berry.
fermenter. The maple is good right now (gotta test!!) and I'll let you know on the berry.
Geoff Pike
Active member
alright George here you go
8 lbs honey (clover)
8 lbs maple syrup (darker the better)
juice from thee lemons
Lavilan EC 1118 yeast
Combine honey and syrup into (sterile)5 gallon container with lemon juice.
Add HOT water to 5 gallon mark. Stir. A lot. Let cool to about 95-100 degrees.
Add rehydrated yeast (see package). Cover and let sit. Use an airlock.
When its done bubbling, about two weeks, bottle in useing a siphon.
I use quart mason jars for containers.
An Ace 5 gallon bucket with a 3/8 hole in the top works well for the fermenter.
3/8 surgical tubing thru the hole, run along the side, and into a glass of water
makes a good airlock.
Bleach is a great sterilizer but rinse very well.
The yeast # may be the old one, they renumbered not long ago, ask the supplier.
Geoff
8 lbs honey (clover)
8 lbs maple syrup (darker the better)
juice from thee lemons
Lavilan EC 1118 yeast
Combine honey and syrup into (sterile)5 gallon container with lemon juice.
Add HOT water to 5 gallon mark. Stir. A lot. Let cool to about 95-100 degrees.
Add rehydrated yeast (see package). Cover and let sit. Use an airlock.
When its done bubbling, about two weeks, bottle in useing a siphon.
I use quart mason jars for containers.
An Ace 5 gallon bucket with a 3/8 hole in the top works well for the fermenter.
3/8 surgical tubing thru the hole, run along the side, and into a glass of water
makes a good airlock.
Bleach is a great sterilizer but rinse very well.
The yeast # may be the old one, they renumbered not long ago, ask the supplier.
Geoff
Ed Askew
Well-known member
Orange Blossom Mead
Ingredients for 5 gallons:
15# Orange Blossom Honey
5 tsp WYEAST nutrient powder
2 tsp gypsum
1 large pinch of Irish Moss
1 pot of tea made with 5 Lipton tea bags
Yeast: Red Star Champagne Yeast.
Procedure:
2 ½ gallons of water plus all the other ingredients except the honey are boiled for 5 minutes, then allowed to cool. (I have a Kajun Cooker I use as a brewpot. If you are doing this with a smaller pot, use a lot less water.) The honey is then added, and the mixture reheated to 150 degrees. The mixture is added to a sanitized fermenter, enough water is then added to make 5 gallons, and cooled as rapidly as possible to less than 85 degrees, and the yeast is then added. (The honey really doesn't need to be heated. It's just I'm anal about sanitation. Many brewers make this without heating at all. Whatever you do don't heat over 150 degrees and don't keep the honey warm for long, as soon as it gets to 150 begin cooling. The best thing about mead is the bouquet, which comes for highly volatile compounds in the nectar gathered by the bees, essentially the aroma of flowers. You'll loose this if you heat the honey too much.) The resultant mixture (the "must") is then aggressively agitated for 5 minutes to aereate it. An airlock is put in place. After one month rack to secondary. Bottle when fermentation is complete (4 to 6 months.) You can drink it anytime, but it will be it's best 2 years from brewday.
I wish I had known about this stuff in college, because of it's aphrodisiac properties. I think it's the deceptively high alcohol content, but who knows? I probably would have made a mead that matures more rapidly, something like "Smoke and Chillies" which is supposed to be ready in 6 months or less. Like I said, take it easy with this stuff. One bottle for 4 people is more than enough. Best enjoyed alone, like a desert wine, as the flavors and aromas are very subtle. If anyone is interested in getting into home brewing I'd recommend getting a book "The Joy of Homebrewing" by Papazian. Any plastic buckets used for fermenters should be "food grade" and need to be airtight. Good plastic fermenters are gotten online from a number of places for less than a box of shells. Don't use any old bucket or garbage can. No telling what nasty, carcinogenic organic compounds are being leached out of regular plastic by an alcoholic beverage sitting in them for months. Purist will insist on using glass containers for secondary fermentation, as the plastic is alleged to allow oxygen to cross into the container. I've had mead in plastic for over a year on several occasions, and it doesn't seem to hurt it.
Ed.
Ingredients for 5 gallons:
15# Orange Blossom Honey
5 tsp WYEAST nutrient powder
2 tsp gypsum
1 large pinch of Irish Moss
1 pot of tea made with 5 Lipton tea bags
Yeast: Red Star Champagne Yeast.
Procedure:
2 ½ gallons of water plus all the other ingredients except the honey are boiled for 5 minutes, then allowed to cool. (I have a Kajun Cooker I use as a brewpot. If you are doing this with a smaller pot, use a lot less water.) The honey is then added, and the mixture reheated to 150 degrees. The mixture is added to a sanitized fermenter, enough water is then added to make 5 gallons, and cooled as rapidly as possible to less than 85 degrees, and the yeast is then added. (The honey really doesn't need to be heated. It's just I'm anal about sanitation. Many brewers make this without heating at all. Whatever you do don't heat over 150 degrees and don't keep the honey warm for long, as soon as it gets to 150 begin cooling. The best thing about mead is the bouquet, which comes for highly volatile compounds in the nectar gathered by the bees, essentially the aroma of flowers. You'll loose this if you heat the honey too much.) The resultant mixture (the "must") is then aggressively agitated for 5 minutes to aereate it. An airlock is put in place. After one month rack to secondary. Bottle when fermentation is complete (4 to 6 months.) You can drink it anytime, but it will be it's best 2 years from brewday.
I wish I had known about this stuff in college, because of it's aphrodisiac properties. I think it's the deceptively high alcohol content, but who knows? I probably would have made a mead that matures more rapidly, something like "Smoke and Chillies" which is supposed to be ready in 6 months or less. Like I said, take it easy with this stuff. One bottle for 4 people is more than enough. Best enjoyed alone, like a desert wine, as the flavors and aromas are very subtle. If anyone is interested in getting into home brewing I'd recommend getting a book "The Joy of Homebrewing" by Papazian. Any plastic buckets used for fermenters should be "food grade" and need to be airtight. Good plastic fermenters are gotten online from a number of places for less than a box of shells. Don't use any old bucket or garbage can. No telling what nasty, carcinogenic organic compounds are being leached out of regular plastic by an alcoholic beverage sitting in them for months. Purist will insist on using glass containers for secondary fermentation, as the plastic is alleged to allow oxygen to cross into the container. I've had mead in plastic for over a year on several occasions, and it doesn't seem to hurt it.
Ed.
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Lee Harker
Well-known member
Anal and sanitation in the same sentence cracked me up. My best friend made pretty much the same thing while on an oil rig in the North Sea..he said it would "knock your d**k in the dirt" I don't remember him calling it Mead though. He said they would take raisons or oranges with sugar and yeast and make it.
Dave Parks
Well-known member
Lee, if I can do it, anyone can do it! First thing you do is put your cursor on the end of the URL you want to copy, press the left mouse button down while you run your cursor over the URL. 2. let up on the left button and press down on the right button and choose COPY. Then when you get into your post or email and want to add the URL click your left mouse button again and choose PASTE...........and like friggin magic....the url will show up in BLUE, which means you can go to it by simply clicking on it.
Like this:
http://www.gotmead.com/index.php
From an old cowboy fart in Oregon!
Like this:
http://www.gotmead.com/index.php
From an old cowboy fart in Oregon!
Geoff Pike
Active member
Any body else tried it yet?
Cmon Sutton I never thought of you as such a wimp, any real druid would hav a batch at hand..
Cmon Sutton I never thought of you as such a wimp, any real druid would hav a batch at hand..