Brewing

[gnoff]

I'm far more experienced in beer brewing than brewing mead, and have tasted many many more beers than I have mead, but still levo the mead part of brewing and tasting.

Will visit a meadery in Boulder in a few weeks, shall be interesting to see a commercial one and how they have it set up.

Good luck with the brewing!

 

[ErichW]

Yeah I havent found a commercial mead maker here in the US that I absolutely love yet. I like Red Stone Meadery, they have decent stuff. I will say that I do love Viking Blod (Dansk Mjod).

 

[gnoff]

Yeah I havent found a commercial mead maker here in the US that I absolutely love yet. I like Red Stone Meadery, they have decent stuff. I will say that I do love Viking Blod (Dansk Mjod).

Redstone is the one I'm going to!

And Dansk Mjød Viking Blod
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/dansk-mjod-viking-blod/23988/32615/
is the one mead I've rated the highest on ratebeer

 

[ErichW]

Oh nice yeah redstone is pretty good. I like their carb blueberry mead and the vanilla season mead. And I had placed an order for 4 bottles of Dansk Mjod Viking Blod but had to cancel for financial reasons. But as soon as I can im going to order a bunch of it. Im almost certain they mix in some sorta wiskey or hard liqour I cant think the name of right now.

Also I racked one of my 3 gallons over to secondary which fermented out pretty dry so I had to backsweeten and stabalize with sobrate and a campden tablet. Its my fault for messing with the original recipie as I added nutrients. Also the honey I used was a local honey that had an odd tart flavor which I dont think transfered over well to mead. But we will see I will let it sit for another month then bottle. Then shelf it for about a year and see how it tastes.

One last thing I HIGHLY recomend trying http://www.shoppersvineyard.com/sto...product_ads&v_traceback=c0922_2248_f0922_2320 thats the second best commercial mead ive tasted.

 

[gnoff]

I've tried two commercial ones from that meadery

B. Nektar Barrel Aged Dry Cyser
and
B. Nektar Yo Momma’s Strawberry Pizzazz

liked both of them.



As for brewing mead I enjoy letting them ferment completely, so sweetness left, and also spice them with something.
Dry meads with subtle hints of fruits or berries and spices, mmm

 

[Brisantni]

Completely with the whole honeycomb including remains of bees? But what about the wax?
No, ok, sure..., but some do so and in the past people did it also that way I think.

 

[ErichW]

Completely with the whole honeycomb including remains of bees? But what about the wax?
No, ok, sure..., but some do so and in the past people did it also that way I think.

Pretty everyone who brews mead use 'raw' honey which is unprocessed which would include bee parts, bits of wax, pollen, and honeycomb. Usually tiny amounts that you cant see. But its what makes honey so good for you too.

 

[Brisantni]

Pretty everyone who brews mead use 'raw' honey which is unprocessed which would include bee parts, bits of wax, pollen, and honeycomb. Usually tiny amounts that you cant see. But its what makes honey so good for you too.

Guess Amon Amarth in the video brewed with refined honey, though of course I'm not sure.

When I was reading about it I understood that in the past they used

it like it is. Maybe they broke it and that's all. Does that mean 'raw' honey? That would mean, that there is also propolis and gelee royale in the brew, or not? Quite healthy in that. But wouldn't the propolis take some bad influence on the microorganism for fermentation? Just a question. I mean it's a natural antibiotic after all. But well, maybe I misunderstood.

 

[gnoff]

Some mead brewers swears I'm an idiot since I boil my honey in water.

But as doing so I destroy all bacteria and wild yeast in the honey, making sure the yeast I add is the only one to ferment the sugar, and in a controlled way.

Works for me.

 

[Brisantni]

Some mead brewers swears I'm an idiot since I boil my honey in water.

But as doing so I destroy all bacteria and wild yeast in the honey, making sure the yeast I add is the only one to ferment the sugar, and in a controlled way.

Works for me.

Oh really? But then the best from the honey is away too, or not?! What a pity! But ok, guess you don't drink it for medicine anyway.

 

[gnoff]

Oh really? But then the best from the honey is away too, or not?! What a pity! But ok, guess you don't drink it for medicine anyway.

if you want to drink it for medicine I'd say don't ferment it

Still haven't had anyone actually been able to say for sure, lets say a study, taht proves what will be available pre- respectively post-boil of honey, and what "good things" go away and what it'll do.


Pic from this morning:

 

[gnoff]

small pots contain together 4500 g of honey

dissolved in water, boiled it, cooled, added oxygen, yeast, added more water to get about 15 liter of 86 degree Öchsle

if it ferments as well as it has done in the past (never tried this specific yeast) and at least go down to 6 or lower degrees, will get 11% ABV


Will add sloe to secondary fermentation stage for color and flavor

 

[Brisantni]

if you want to drink it for medicine I'd say don't ferment it

Still haven't had anyone actually been able to say for sure, lets say a study, taht proves what will be available pre- respectively post-boil of honey, and what "good things" go away and what it'll do.


Pic from this morning:

Oh but fermentation is always good! Of course the dose makes the toxin. I don't drink it for medicine however. I have to take medicine only once in a blue moon anyway *knock on wood*. Maybe because I don't boil my honey.
Why actually do you boil it? Bad experiences with unboiled honey?

Don’t have any expert statements for sure either. As far as I know however according to the german honey regulation, the predicate "German Honey" is only permitted for honey that isn't heated more than 40 °C, because of the enzymes and some vitamines which are sensitive to heat.

Where do you purchase such buckets of honey? Directly from the beemaster or do you get it in the supermarket?

 

[Brisantni]

Will add sloe to secondary fermentation stage for color and flavor

In the first moment I thought of slaw because I didn't know what sloe is. Ugh! That would be pretty awful I guess. But sloe, well, that's fine.

 

[gnoff]

Oh but fermentation is always good! Of course the dose makes the toxin. I don't drink it for medicine however. I have to take medicine only once in a blue moon anyway *knock on wood*. Maybe because I don't boil my honey.
Why actually do you boil it? Bad experiences with unboiled honey?

Don’t have any expert statements for sure either. As far as I know however according to the german honey regulation, the predicate "German Honey" is only permitted for honey that isn't heated more than 40 °C, because of the enzymes and some vitamines which are sensitive to heat.

Where do you purchase such buckets of honey? Directly from the beemaster or do you get it in the supermarket?

Basically this being "raw" honey, it has tons of pollen in it, so it would have massive amounts of "wild yeast".

I don't want anything living in my fermentation than teh added yeast for a controlled fermentation.

Also, while boiling sterilize the solution, it also makes some bigger proteins to flock together and allows you to get rid of it, making for a clearer (more attractive) end product.

But mianly I boil it do kill off wild yeast and bacteria.


When it comes to beer there are other reasons for boiling, bt won't go into those unless asked, I nerd out enough as it is :Spin::Spin:


I get my huge buckets of honey for free from my brew mentor, he gets loads and loads every year from neighbouring bee keepers, the parts they don't want to or can't sell for various reasons.
He gives me some now and then for free so I can brew mead or use it in beers.

If I had to pay for a huge ass bucket of honey that size my mead would become fairly expensive indeed...

 

[gnoff]

In the first moment I thought of slaw because I didn't know what sloe is. Ugh! That would be pretty awful I guess. But sloe, well, that's fine.

hehehe

yeah, made beers with sloe in it, turned out nice, should work even better in a dry mead I think

 

[gnoff]

It's fun (for me at least) to go back and read through the old pages

From when I wrote I hadn't tried brewing mead in the past, up until now when mead 6 is bubbling away in the other room

Also from beer 46, will brew 96 come Sunday.


Saturday last week we tried three of my meads(3, 4 and 5) , aged about 4 years, good stuff, turned out well

 

[Brisantni]

It's fun (for me at least) to go back and read through the old pages

Yeah, but where are all the folks of the old pages? Hope their homebrew didn't harm them?

 

[Brisantni]

nd bacteria.


When it comes to beer there are other reasons for boiling, bt won't go into those unless asked, I nerd out enough as it is :Spin::Spin:

Haha, so but why are you boiling the hops? Is it necessary?

 

[gnoff]

Haha, so but why are you boiling the hops? Is it necessary?

yes, one of the reasons hops is used almost exclusive in beers is that the alpha acids can be dissolved into water by isomerization via boiling.

So if you boil hops for 60 minutes you can get up to around 30% of the iso alpha acid into the beers, which is
1) what cause the bitterness in beer
2) works as a natural conservative, making beer have a shelf life of more than a few days/weeks