Mead

by bigwilly 5 Replies latest jw friends

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  bigwilly

  BrentR was nice enough to bring this subject up in the wine thread earlier. It would be fantastic if anyone is a fan of, brewer or interested in meads would pop in with their .02

  I don't have it here, but I'll look up the recipe for my Ginger Metheglin and share it with you all. I'd also like to compare notes on processes with y'all.

  A couple of basic discussion points for you all;

  - Do you boil, treat with chemicals or neither?

  - What type of honey and yeast do you use?

  - Do you treat your water or use it as is?

  - How long do you ferment? Do you rack to secondary and/or tertiary fermentors for bulk aging?

  - Do you bottle or keg?

  That should be a good start
• 

  AWAKE&WATCHING

  I had Chaucer's Honey Mead for the first time about a year ago and it was marvelous. I have never had any home brewed anything but it sounds like a delicious hobby. I hope you get some good feed-back on this Willy.
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  BrentR

  I boil it and the boiling is the only part that I do not like. It seems like it takes forever to get all the albumin skimmed off. I did make a ginger mead and it was awsome but I never made another batch since then. I remember was a PITA it was to juice all those ginger roots.

  One of my home brewing books has a prickly pear mead recipe but I do not have access to prickly pear juice.

  This will be the first fall in many years I have not brewed. I re-herniated my L4,5 disk so all I managed to get done was to make some sour apple liquer.
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  bigwilly

  Here's a good "Mead 101" type page from my LHBS (Local Home Brew Supply).

  Personally I do a no sulfite/no heat method. Since honey is naturally antibiotic, I have chosen this option due to close friends' dietary restrictions as well as my own preference for the natural. It seems one gets more of the delicate aromatics and flavors of each type of honey this way.

  When I made my Ginger Mead (on 06/06/06) I boiled 1/2gal of water with the coarsely chopped ginger in it for 30 min. I then allowed it to cool to 90-100F, just enough heat to help the honey get into suspension. Then I topped it up to 5gal and left it alone.
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  BrentR

  I never used chemicals either but I boil it to make sure the protiens are out. I like it crystal clear and I have a filter pump but it oxidizes the mead to bad so I stick to boiling and gelatin.
• 

  Cellist

  The only mead I've made so far is a Ginger Metheglin. I used local honey. I'd have to look up the recipe to tell you the details. I can't remember if I used our well water or town (lake) water. I made it last year and haven't tried it yet.
  
  Cellist