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 ManianFH 
living in perverty
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 Re: Brewing@home  [Re: ohmatic]
#5640884 - 05/17/06 07:20 AM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Things are progressing well - at first filtered several two gallon preperations (from sediment) that had sat for 9 months -
think there was honey- lemon - mango - and one other type -
Kept them outside in a shed type thing and alot got fucked up from rust or something. think only the lemon and honey were good to drink - honey was ultimately the most resistant, zero mortality anyways. . .
never tried to pc it, heat prolly is bad  - just seal the top correctly - and yes the longer it ages the better it gets - in my experience =)
it was a total ghetto canning setup - but 'honey' mead doesnt contam easily - not like brewing beer - which is tedious like innoculating pf jars, precise contam control, and requires low storage temp/no light
im gonna save this another 20 years then drink it one night after my future daughter steals my car and wrecks it.... those crazy kids!!!!!
or maybe drink it this summer , dunno 
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notapillow said: "you are going about this endeavor all wrong. clear your mind of useless fear and concern. buy the ticket, take the ride, and all that.... "
ChrisWho said: "It's all about the journey, not the destination."
Edited by mickdawg666 (05/17/06 07:23 AM)
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ManianFH
living in perverty
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Re: Brewing@home [Re: ManianFH]
#5640886 - 05/17/06 07:22 AM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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oh you were talking to other guy... haha
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notapillow said: "you are going about this endeavor all wrong. clear your mind of useless fear and concern. buy the ticket, take the ride, and all that.... "
ChrisWho said: "It's all about the journey, not the destination."
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Konnrade
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Re: Brewing@home [Re: ohmatic]
#5643013 - 05/17/06 08:15 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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My batch is doing well, it's bubbling away at it's own pace. Lord knows when it'll be done, though.
It tastes allright when sample it, allthough the cinnamon flavor is a little too strong.
I really wish I had something like a 2-gallon carboy. It would enable me to start another batch, and a larger one at that.
I could go get a 5-gallon bucket, but I want to be able to see inside the fermentation chamber. I really prefer glass.
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I find your lack of faith disturbing
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Jfisher
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Re: Brewing@home [Re: Konnrade]
#5643620 - 05/17/06 10:41 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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5 gallon carboys aren't much. I get mine for about 20 bucks.
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Konnrade
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Re: Brewing@home [Re: Jfisher]
#5643899 - 05/17/06 11:49 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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but do you buy them from a storefront?
The pain in the ass isn't the price of the carboy, it's the price of getting it shipped to me. I don't have any brew shops in this area, in fact I'm not sure what the legal status of homebrewing is in california.
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I find your lack of faith disturbing
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ManianFH
living in perverty
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Re: Brewing@home [Re: Konnrade]
#5644096 - 05/18/06 12:30 AM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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brewing beer is 100% legal - even for minors (your're really only boiling grains and hops)...
ebay 5 gallon glass carboy - they're about $20 - you could find one at a swap meet or something for much less. I prolly have 3 or 4 of em ;p
edit- actually i think theres a 30 or 130 gallon max per year - but theres no way to control that anyways
Edited by mickdawg666 (05/18/06 12:32 AM)
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 Brainiac
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Loc: 與您的女朋 
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Re: Brewing@home [Re: ManianFH]
#5648991 - 05/19/06 04:53 AM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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law says 100 gals per person over 21 in a house
so if you have five people in you house you can make 500 gal
just don't sell it, give it away you can take it out of the bewey for an orgized(sp) tasting
I like 5 lbs of honey to one gal water(boil the water than add honey)
A good book to read that has alot about the history of mead is
Sacred & Herbal Healing Beers
This substantial and well written book explores beer history from it's ancient beginnings and the spiritual and medicinal properties of fermented beverages. Includes numerous recipes and brewing techniques, and has extensive descriptions of herbs used in brewing throughout the ages. A true departure from modern perceptions about alcoholic beverages. Inspiring!
By Stephan Harrod Buhner, 584 pp
I thank that you will like it alot.
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 Fair is Fair 
Edited by Brainiac (05/19/06 04:46 PM)
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Corporal Kielbasa
Registered: 05/29/04
Posts: 17,233
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Re: Brewing@home [Re: Brainiac]
#5650483 - 05/19/06 04:23 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Sounds like my kind of book!!! Thanks for the heads up!
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daussaulit
Forgetful
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Re: Brewing@home [Re: Brainiac]
#5651311 - 05/19/06 09:02 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
Brainiac said:I like 5 lbs of honey to one gal water(boil the water than add honey)
If your using not using regular blended clover honey from wally world or any spermarket, I suggest that you heat the honey as least as possible. You could soak the container of honey from warm water from the tap just to loosen it up. Then add it to the water and dump the yeast.
Honey's water content is so low, it is not a suitable environment for any pathogens to live. Heating the honey would only help evaporate the aroma.
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Brainiac
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I'm learning beekeeping in a month or three i will have my own honey.
I have been useing Og honey from a local co-op at 2.85 per lb I uselly just heat the water. Then pour the warm water over the the honey
in the glass botte, I have some mead reps form before 1800's they didn't even heat the water!
In some meads i've mead I only heated the water before ( i use wall water) the let cool down over night
Honey has an small amont of h2o2 and some wild yeast.
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Fair is Fair
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Konnrade
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What about contamination?
If you just pour honey into warm tap water, I'd think you're just bound to grow lots of things that aren't yeast.
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I find your lack of faith disturbing
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Brainiac
Rogue Scientist
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Posts: 13,259
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Re: Brewing@home [Re: Konnrade]
#5652142 - 05/20/06 03:29 AM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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What about contamination?
If you just pour honey into warm tap water, I'd think you're just bound to grow lots of things that aren't yeast.
Honey is made up of alot of yeast and yeast doesn't let very much grow becase of the alcohol
Boil the h2o it will kill the contamination in the water
before 1600's thay didn't kown about
contamination
Mead
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For other uses, see Mead (disambiguation).
MeadMead is a fermented alcoholic beverage made of honey, water, and yeast. It is generally pronounced "meed" (IPA: /miːd/). Meadhing (pronounced meth' ing, IPA: /ˈmɛ.ðɪŋ/) is the practice of brewing honey. Mead is also known as "honey wine," although this is inaccurate. Mead is a separate and distinct family of alcoholic beverages, completely apart from beer, wine, liqueur, and distilled beverages.
A mead that also contains spices (like cloves, cinnamon or nutmeg) or herbs (such as oregano or even lavender or chamomile) is called metheglin. The etymon of this word is derived from the Welsh word meddyglyn, meaning "medicinal liquor", as healing herbs were often stored as metheglin so they would be available over the winter (as well as making them much easier to swallow). Slavic miod/med, which means "honey", derives from the same Proto-Indo-European root.
A mead that contains fruit (such as strawberry, blackcurrant or even rose hips) is called melomel and was also used as a delicious way to "store" summer produce for the winter.
Mulled mead is a popular winter holiday drink, where mead is flavoured with spices and warmed, traditionally by having a hot poker plunged into it.
Contents [hide]
1 History of mead
2 Varieties of mead
3 Brands
4 References
5 External links
[edit]
History of mead
The history of mead goes back more than 8,000 years. The oldest known meads were created on the Island of Crete; fermented honey was seen as an entheogen and bees were sacred to Demeter. Wine had not yet been created. Mead was the drink of the Age of Gold, and the word for drunk in classical Greek remained "honey-intoxicated." (Kerenyi 1976 pp 35ff).
Mead was once very popular in Northern Europe, often produced by monks in monasteries in areas where grapes could not be grown. It faded in popularity, however, once wine imports became economical. Especially partial to it were the Slavs. In Polish it is called miód pitny (pronounced [mjut pi:tni]), meaning "drinkable honey". Mead was a favored drink among the Polish-Lithuanian szlachta (nobility). During the Crusades, Polish Prince Leszek I the White explained to the Pope that Polish knights could not participate in the Crusades because there was no mead in Palestine.
In Norse mythology, mead was the favorite drink of the Norse gods and heroes, e.g. in Valhalla, and the mead of the giant (Jotun) Suttung, made from the blood of Kvasir, was the source of wisdom and poetry. The nectar and ambrosia of the Greek gods are often thought of as draughts of fermented honey.
In Finland, a sweet mead called Sima (cognate with zymurgy), is still an essential seasonal brew connected with the Finnish Vappu festival. It is usually spiced by adding both the flesh and rind of a lemon. During secondary fermentation raisins are added to control the amount of sugars and to act as an indicator of readiness for consumption — they will rise to the top of the bottle when the drink is ready.
Ethiopian mead is called tej and is usually home-made. It is flavored with the powdered leaves and bark of gesho, a hops-like bittering agent which is a species of buckthorn. A sweeter, less-alcoholic version called berz, aged for a shorter time, is also made. The traditional vessel for drinking tej is a rounded vase-shaped container called a berele.
Evidence exists that mead was also made in India, Southeast Asia, China, Japan, and Central Africa.
Mead is also mentioned in many old north Anglo-Saxon stories, including in the epic poem Beowulf.
The word "honeymoon" in English is supposedly traceable to the practice of a bride's father dowering her with enough mead for a month-long celebration in honor of the marriage.
[edit]
Varieties of mead
Different types of mead include, but are not limited to:
Braggot - Braggot (also called bracket or brackett) marks the invention of Ale. Originally brewed with honey and hops, later with honey and malt - with or without hops added.
Black mead - A name sometimes given to the blend of honey and black currants.
Cyser - Cyser is a blend of honey and apple juice fermented together. See also cider.
Hippocras - Hippocras (or Ypocras) is a combination of Pyment and spices.
Hydromel - Hydromel literally means water mead, and is the French name for mead. It is also used as a name for a light or low-alcohol mead.
Melomel - Melomel is made from honey and any fruit. Certain melomels may also be known by more specific names (see cyser, pyment, morat for examples)
Metheglin - Metheglin starts with traditional mead but has herbs and spices added. Some of the most common metheglins are ginger, tea, orange peel, coriander, cinnamon, cloves, or vanilla.
Morat - Morat blends honey and mulberries.
Pyment - Pyment blends honey and grapes. Pyment made with white grape juice is sometimes called "white mead"
Rhodomel - Rhodomel is made from honey, rose hips and water.
Tej - Tej is an Ethiopian mead, fermented with wild yeasts (and bacteria), and with the addition of gesho. Recipes vary from family to family, with some recipes leaning towards braggot with the inclusion of grains.
Mulsum - Mulsum is not a true mead, but is unfermented honey blended with a high-alcohol wine.
Medovukha - Eastern Slavic variant, very alcooholic. In principle, a vodka with distilled honey addition.
Mead can have a wide range of flavors, depending on the source of the honey, additives called "adjuncts" or "gruit" (including fruit and spices), yeast employed during fermentation, and aging procedure. Mead can be difficult to find commercially, though some producers have been successful marketing it. Blended varieties of mead can be known by either style represented. For instance, a mead made with cinnamon and apples can be referred to as a cinnamon cyser or as an apple metheglin.
Some meads retain some measure of the sweetness of the original honey, and some can even be considered as dessert wines. Drier meads are also available, and some producers offer sparkling meads, which (like champagne) can make for a delightful celebratory toast. There are a number of faux-meads, which are actually cheap wines with large amounts of honey added, to produce a cloyingly sweet liqueur. It has been said that "a mead that tastes of honey is as good as a wine that still tastes of grape".
Historically, meads would have been fermented by wild yeasts and bacteria residing on the skins of the fruit or within the honey itself. Wild yeasts generally result in a high alcohol content and some interesting by-flavors. As commercial brewing interests 'tamed' the yeasts into the strains we recognize now, certain strains became associated with certain styles of mead. Mostly, these are strains that are also used in beer or wine production. Several commercial labs, such as White Labs, WYeast, Vierka, and others have gone so far as to develop strains specifically for mead.
Mead can also be distilled to a brandy or liqueur strength. Krupnik is a sweet Polish liqueur made through just such a process.
[edit]
Brands
Havill's Mazer Mead, Rangiora, South Island, New Zealand
Empire T&W American Royal Mead
Rabbit's Foot Meadery, Sunnyvale, California, USA
Red Branch Cider Company, Sunnyvale, California, USA
Honeymoon Meadery Bellingham, Washington, USA
Redstone Meadery , Boulder, Colorado, USA
"Camelot Mead" made by Oliver Winery, Bloomington, Indiana, USA
White Winter Winery , Iron River, Wisconsin, USA
"Bunratty Mead" made by Bunratty Mead & Liquer Co Bunratty, Co. Clare, Ireland
Bartholomews Meadery, Denmark, Western Australia
Stonewall Vineyards Pyment, Concord, Virginia, USA.
"Moniack Mead" made by Highland Wineries Inverness Scotland
Lurgahsall Winery, Petworth, West Sussex, UK.
[1], Lindisfarne, North East England, UK.
[2], Huddersfield,England, UK.
[3], Norfolk,England, UK.
[4], Cornwall,England, UK.
[edit]
References
Schramm, Ken; The Compleat Meadmaker; Brewers Publications; ISBN 0-937381-82-9; paperback, 2003
Kerenyi, Karl; Dionysus: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life; Princeton University Press; ISBN 0-691098-63-8; unknown binding, 1976
Digby, Kenelm; The Closet of the Eminently Learned Sir Kenelme Digbie Kt Opened 1669; Prospect Books; eds. Jane Stevenson and Peter Davidson; ISBN 0-907325-76-9; paperback, 1997
Gayre, Robert and Papazian, Charlie; Brewing Mead: Wassail! In Mazers of Mead; Brewers Publications; ISBN 0-937381-00-4; paperback, 1986.
[edit]
External links
Wikibooks Cookbook has more about this subject:
Mead
MeadWorks.ca , A Canadian-based mead brewing club, resource, and Ezine.
Gotmead.com , A huge site with over 1200 pages of mead-related info, along with a lively, but friendly Forum.
A Friend In Mead General Interest
East Cowdry Bootleggers A short history & homebrewing recipes.
[5] Web site location for the venerable Mead Lovers Digest. Archives, FAQ, and information for subscribing to the digest are here.
[6] Good site covering areas of general interest, also tasting notes and a searchable archive of the Mead Lovers Digest.
[7] Apiary Honighäuschen at the Drachenfels with mead recipes
RealBeer.com's Mead pages
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mead"
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Fair is Fair
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daussaulit
Forgetful
Registered: 08/06/02
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Loc: Earth
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Re: Brewing@home [Re: Konnrade]
#5652293 - 05/20/06 05:25 AM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
Konnrade said:
What about contamination?
If you just pour honey into warm tap water, I'd think you're just bound to grow lots of things that aren't yeast.
So? If you open up a can of soda and leave it out you're just bound to grow lots of things that aren't yeast.
Like I previously stated, the water content of honey is really low, so pathogens don't survive. Even the Egyptians have been known to put honey on their wounds to prevent infection.
Secondly, if your going to make mead, your going to add yeast. A packet of brewers yeast will contain hundreds of millions of yeast cells, and certain companies will have over 1 billion cells as their pitching rate. Yeast has a tendency to overrun all other microrganisms that might grow. A prime example is beer. While beer is fermenting or after its fermented, any sort of infection or contamination will not cause any serious harm if it is consumed.
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Konnrade
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So, essentially, I can skip the process of boiling the must and preserve some of the subtler flavors?
If that's the case then it would even save me a lot of hassle, too. I'll try that the next time I start some mead
Well, perhaps I'll just keep making Metheglin instead of a basic mead. I want a chance to work on the amounts of spice. This time the cinnamon is a bit too strong, but if I can correct that I think that the mix of cinnamon, cloves, and allspice could come out pretty nicely.
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I find your lack of faith disturbing
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daussaulit
Forgetful
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Re: Brewing@home [Re: Konnrade]
#5654871 - 05/21/06 12:58 AM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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dry yeast over the years have become a lot better. If you want to take out any insurance, you can use a few extra packets of yeast for a faster and more complete fermentation.
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makaveli8x8
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in my honest opinion liquid yeast is a waste of money except when it comes to beer. Just buy lavlin yeast for meads or wine. down the road you can experiment with liquid piss.
also its not just yeast consuming contamination, you are also creating alcohol every day that passes it goes up some..which makes it more and mroe...well you get it.
the key is to get a quick and fast fermentation, and DON"T let it foam over...this is where ALOT of contaim can happen...leave lots of head space...then after fermentation dies down you can add water or honey to get it up.
and if you are just starting out..i DO recommend boiling your must. It is very disappointing to make a batch only to find out months later its ruined. A batch can look like its fermenting well and everything....then when you taste it hmm hmmm bacteria!!!
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   We were sent to hell for eternity  Ø h®
We play on earth to pass the time 
Over-population the root of all Evil-brings the Elites Closer to the gates.
Edited by makaveli8x8 (05/21/06 03:01 AM)
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Konnrade
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I've made some shitty mead in the past...
what kind of flavor would bacterial infection produce?
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I find your lack of faith disturbing
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Corporal Kielbasa
Registered: 05/29/04
Posts: 17,233
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Re: Brewing@home [Re: Konnrade]
#5656246 - 05/21/06 02:59 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Honey is a natural anitseptic that has been used for thousands of years.
How do you think raw honey can stay in a hive for years without growing funk?
ok the dirty dozen contaminants and flavors
Acetaldehyde = green apple scent
Acetic = vinegar aroma
Cheesey = over oxedised hops
Chlorophenol = smells like medical tape
Diacetyl = butter
DMS di-methyl sulfide = vegetal aroma
oxidized = paper, wet cardboard flavor/aroma
goaty/seaty = lactobacillus bacteria
phenolic = smells like burnt circuit board
skunks= comes from light hitting disolved hops particals
solvent = produced by yeasts at high temperatures
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Brainiac
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You can save the yeast that is on the bottom of the fermenter
and use it over and over . With time it will have its own house flavor
some off flavor can be good in some beers. Like lac bacterial that products a sour beer. It's the same lac bacterial that gives sour dough it's flavor.
Some people use use ganger for it's wild yeast in beer.Some people can' the name of the tribe but thy crew the grain up and spit it out to make some kind of beer.I don't thank thay worry about bacterial infection .
A like to use the some of the old yeast form beer etc. and use in the sour dough starter.
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Fair is Fair
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makaveli8x8
Stranger
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Re: Brewing@home [Re: Konnrade]
#5656776 - 05/21/06 05:34 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
Konnrade said:
I've made some shitty mead in the past...
what kind of flavor would bacterial infection produce?
i guess something along the lines of rotten eggs, the mead i made had peaches in it so it tasted like rotten peaches lol. its just nasty and undrinkable you will know it when you get it.
a good mead should taste good with a hint of honey, and purhaps a alcohol burn to it...no off flavors should be present...but i usually have so much stuff in it its hard to tell anyways....use blueberrys...they have lots of tannin...just dump about 2 lbs into bottom of your container before fermentation or after for one gallon batch.
p.s. putting fruits in after fermentation will produce a MUCH more fruity drink...fermentation eats alot of the tasty stuff away.
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We were sent to hell for eternity Øh®
We play on earth to pass the time
Over-population the root of all Evil-brings the Elites Closer to the gates.
Edited by makaveli8x8 (05/21/06 05:35 PM)
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