Mead Mead Mead!

[Slitherrr]

As Cynycal and I delve into the world of mead, I've decided to post our progress...

10-1-2000
Cyn found a recipe for mead yesterday, and almost went crazy, along with the rest of us. I mean, it's mead man, that's worth going crazy over! So today we went to the store, bought honey, apple juice, and yeast (and an Orange Slice (tm) for me), then went home to mix it all up. Here's what we did exactly:

Ingredients:

2 Containers of honey (12 Oz. each)
192 oz of water (2 gallon jugs, filled 3/4 full)
64 oz of apple juice
Nutmeg
Cinnamon
Three packets of yeast (forgot what size)
Straight hops (not much, just a little to start)
Cauldron one:

Pour in 96 oz of water and about two cups of apple juice
Scrape as much of one of the containers of honey into
pot with water
Put on high heat
Stir, put in some nutmeg and one and a half packets of
yeast
Allow to come to rolling boil, strain scum that forms off
top (didn't form too much for the nutmeg batch, as a note)

Cauldron two:

Same as number one, except we didn't use apple juice or
nutmeg, and we did use cinnamon. There was a lot more
scum on this one.

Next, we allowed it to cool, poured in the beer, and it's fermenting as we speak... We'll let you know how it turns out in about a month or so.

Check out this link, midieval recipes galore.

http://www.geocities.com/Paris/1265/calcohol.html


[Edited by slitherrr on 10-02-2000 at 08:51 PM]

[Rolfe]

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA. Now THAT'S awesome.
Slitherrr, Do you check your email often?

[Slitherrr]

Oh, crap! I knew I forgot something... I usually check one address, but not the other, I'm gonna do that now...

[Cynycal]

you see there are several different types of mead..the main 3 ingrediants are water, honey and yeast...(yeast makes it ferment better) anyway...u can add a crazy array of fruit juices and spices...these can make up for bad brewing or add to good brewing...at any rate maybe you should give it a try...here's a basic recipe

40 gallons of water
5 gallons of honey
40 packets of yeast
bring to boil and skim
let cool and seal
set somewhere and let it ferment for 1.5 to 3 months
you have mead...dont drink and drive..


Mead with Applejuice = Cyser
mead with Nutmeg = Metheglyn

there are several other types of mead..i'll post more about it later if you guys show interest, i also learned to make Ale and several other beverages...perhaps you guys could use this information to make the brewing in your game more realisitc...if so i'll give you all the information i have (alot)..

[Cynycal]

The Mead i made with "accelerated yeast" is fermenting much faster than with "Normal yeast" (duh)...and its fermenting nicely i took a sip today to test it...very good, very good indeed..

[Cynycal]

today i made more mead using grape juice instead of water, its supposed to make a more wine like mead...supposedly pretty powerful if done properly i think its my best batch yet actually...

[whickleton]

I have heard of the drink, but wasn't sure that it existed. I seem to remember it being a Viking drink? Nevertheless, if it is in any way what I would imagine it to be like, I'm sure that I could become the best of friends with it.

[Slitherrr]

Yeah, mead definitely exists... The brew is coming along nicely. We started work on our mead hall too, burnt out two hornet nests and put up some walls in this shed on my property, and destroyed this one house with hammers and axes, it was a load of fun. More reports later.

[Cynycal]

tearing up the house was perhaps one of the best times i have ever had in my entire life..espeacially the windows

[Slitherrr]

Well, we've been doing more work on the Hall. Gotta big ol' fire pit now, and the floor's getting more packed down. Completely walled in as well, we're debating whether or not to poke a hole in the ceiling for ventilation, or just keep the opening at the top of one of the sides open... Anyone here an engineer that knows something about ventilation, maybe you could give us a couple of pointers.

[Cynycal]

we deepened the firepit a bit, and we plan on getting some hay to lay down for bedding as well as building tables and beds out of branchs and bailing twine (advantages of being from VA i suppose)

[Kymeri mac An Iolar]

Mead is the best beaverage on earth. I have a friend who has a 25 year old mead (the rat won't give out the recipe) that is absolutily out of this world.

[KirosBlade]

Ahem...to the tune of 'Beer Beer Beer'

Mead mead mead tiddley mead mead mead

A Short time ago
Not so far back in history
when you could have anything to drink
even buckets of tea
along came a man (man? haha)
by the name of richie worley
and he revived a wonderful drink
and he made it out of honey!


and im a total black for more verses

[KirosBlade]

good lord i cant type....i meant blank, not black, jes wanted 2 correct that one jes for all the people who may accuse me of being racist somehow

[Saint Faucet]

If you click on the word "Edit" under your own post, you should be able to go back and fix any mistake you've made (after entering your UserName and Password again). I don't believe there's a time limit on this feature (so long as the thread is still open).

[Cynycal]

4 nerds fighting a hornet's nest, yo ho ho and a barrel of Mead (inside joke...slitherrr)

[Slitherrr]

Mead tastes like apple cider. Has yet to really ferment, but we're testing it every once in a while anyways...

[BelDragos]

I bet you are.

Remember, if you test it too many times there will be nothing left when it is done!!!!

[Kymeri mac An Iolar]

Thanks always the way with brewing, keep testing and theres nothing left to show, but boy do you feel good. I have a friend who must have the patients of Job, he has 28 year old mead. Its the best mead I have ever tasted and the simplist mead recipe there is. Just Yeast(I think he uses a very good quality champene yeast), honey and water. Let age 25 years and then there you go. The best mead ever. Bet ya can't wait that long.

[Thracyl]

Okay, i'll bite on this one. If I was to try making mead, I need to know two more things. One, It needs to be in an airtight container as it ferments? Two, what is the best container to ferment it in? I'm thinking of wooden barrels, but would that affect the taste? Does it add or take away from the quality? I know old whiskey barrels can be had, but the liquor that they soak up leach out into whatever is stored in them........ an interesting thought but not sure how well whiskey would go with mead.

[Kymeri mac An Iolar]

Most of my boys use glass carboys, you can get them at brewing shop, there are quite a few around.

[Slitherrr]

To tell the truth, we really don't know what'd make the best mead. Right now we're using plastic gallon jugs that distilled water was sold in, because we're broke and there isn't a brewing store around here. Works pretty well, doesn't soak much different flavor into the drink. Also, we haven't really fermented it that long... Couple of months tops. So none of it's extremely strong. The mead hall hasn't been worked on in a while either, cold weather's been an impediment to that, and will be till we can get a vent or something for the fire pit.

[Kymeri mac An Iolar]

Sorry your broke Slitherrr. Try Arrow.com I think, its a online store. The best Mead I have ever had was a made by mistake. I am in the SCA and we do medival re-creation and alot of my friends brew and vint. One of them is pretty old (compared to me anyway) and he started a batch, forgot about it, went to Vietnam, came back, still forgot about it and years later his mom said "Mike what you going to do with that carboy thats still in the basement". That was 10 years later, usually mead in only good about a year after you make it, but this stuff is now 28 years old and the clearest mead ever, great taste and good kick. I have had a good strawberry and a couple of very nice spiced meads. My guys usually use a 5 gallon glass carboy with a frementation lock on it. Slitherrr try getting some of those 64oz glass juice jugs, its better than the plastic. The mead will pick up a aftertaste from the plastic. My guys also don't you any hops. They use either a brewers or champange yeast.

[Kintoun]

hahahahah good stuff and good times gentlemen!

[Foxnix]

Thought I would move this back up the list so it can be seen in its full glory.

Mead is the drink of th eGods I would like to try making some but alas I scarcely have the time to sleep