How many wine makers do we have here?

[kuntrygirl]

what is mead?

Wine made from honey! YUM

NOW you got my attention! Oh, PLEASE do tell.

 

[Canieldonrad]

Apis Mellifera juice!

Its fermented Honey(mainly honey, other things can be added). It has extensive history with many of the worlds civilizations. Obviously the Nordic people, and majority of areas in Africa have versions of mead(notably Egypt). Its typically low in alcohol content compared to other wine beverages. You have to add things to the must in order for yeast to really do much. A lot of people add in fruits and vegetables. Peppers seem to be a bit popular at the moment.

I just started my first batch I'll post some pics.









The first picture is just the honey, very dark. Most of the nectar flow at the time it was extracted was Tulip Poplar. Its typically a darker honey but tends to taste more subtle than most of your darker honey. It was extracted in 2001(yes long time ago) but was still good honey and was only mildly crystallized(I would dare say the crystallization came from other flowerings).

 

[sgtmom52]

NOW you got my attention!

Oh, PLEASE do tell.

Mead can be made several ways ~ you can make a Long Mead basically like you would make wine. For best flavor, a Long Mead should age for about a year or even more. A short Mead can be made in a week and must be kept refrigerated and drank within a month. In fact I'm going to brew a Raspberry Lemon Short Mead this afternoon.

I buy Short Mead Kits that include everything but water and honey from a local farm ~ www.ambrosiafarm.com It makes it really easy. The kit uses 1 gallon of water and 2 pounds of honey to make 4 bottles of mead.

 

[kuntrygirl]

All this mead talk has me VERY interested. I want to try it but I may mess it up. Is there a book called, "Mead Making for Dummies", cause I'm sure I would mess it up?

Canieldonrad, can't wait to see your pics. Great info that you posted.

sgtmom52, thanks for the link.

I have been looking at different primary fermentation buckets online. Anyone have a favorite? I have a home made one that I use that has a drilled home in the lid and a plastsic tube running from inside to outside in a bottle filled with water, so that air can't get in. Anyone have a home made bucket like that?

 

[Canieldonrad]

I haven't seen mead specific books, but there are some great sites on the interweb to assist you in your journey. Definitely look into use of a nutrient. Most recipes you will find will be here and there scattered in general wine books. I know this may sound atrocious to people who work with measurements. It involves mixing Imperial with Metric. 1 liter to 1 lb seems to be a good base to adjust your SG from. The best way in my opinion to mix would be to use the 3 Liter bottles from Ice Mountain/Nestle Pure Life, with a quart jar of honey. 1 Quart jar is worth about 3 lb's of honey. So one jug, to one jar and then add in whatever you need to get a SG you want.

For honey, as my family has bees, I suggest you purchase local. Majority of supermarket honey has no character. Commercial apiaries do two things typically. They dump hives on a specific crop, which limits your flavors and they have no character. Or they mass feed with corn sugar, which produces garbage honey.


If you are adventurous, as I may be in the next couple of weeks, there is a whole hive method. I guess I probably wouldn't need to explain much with a title such as Whole Hive.

 

[sgtmom52]

All this mead talk has me VERY interested. I want to try it but I may mess it up. Is there a book called, "Mead Making for Dummies", cause I'm sure I would mess it up?

There are actually lots of Mead making books.


"The Compleat Meadmaker" by Ken Schramm

"A Sip Through TIme" by Cindy Renfrew

www.gotmead.com

www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/brewing

 

[Canieldonrad]

Oh boy.... my dad is working splits at the moment. Taking colonies of bees and splitting them into two groups each to prevent swarms. He found something interesting. If you know much about bees you will understand.

He found a colony with no queen. The workers began to fill all of the comb with drone larva. Every frame of the hive. This is odd. But its a good odd. I'm going to clean his frames of all the drone cell comb. I'm going to use that comb for my next batch

 

[kuntrygirl]

What does everyone do with the fruit "pulp" once it's strained away from the liquid wine? I was curious about the strawberry because it smelled and looked.sooooo good, so I kept the strawberry pulp and put it in the fridge. I took a taste ot if tonight and it taste like strawberry preserves. Not sure if I should eat it or not. I'm scared that I may get sick. What do you all think?

 

[Canieldonrad]

Before or after it has been fermented?

 

[kuntrygirl]

Well, it was in the 2nd to last process before I set up my tubing process to allow it to sit for 30 days. It had set for 2 days with the sugar and yeast.