Off Topic The Snark Thread

[gmoneyluv]

Happy Victoria Day to all you Canadians!

Thanks!

 

[zzyzzogeton]

Congrats on the mead, Greg.

Although "technically" you made melomel, which is mead made with fruit and/or fruit juice added. If you add herbs/spices (considered to be any thing added that is not honey or fruit related), you are making metheglin. There are many names for the melomels and metheglins depending on the fruit or spice used.

Cyser - honey and apple juice
Black mead - honey and black currants
Red mead - honey and red currants
Pyment - honey and grapes
Morat - hiney and mulberries

Capsiculmel - honey and peppers (mild or hot)

Generally, the metheglins are identified by the spice/herb used. e.g., cinnamon metheglin, etc.


It will get better with age. "New" mead has a bitter bite to it. Unfortunately, I've found most commercial meads to be under aged. Based on comparing commercial meads to my own, I estimate most commercial meads have been aged less than 6 months. I let mine age at least 1 year from bottling.

That's a couple of week fermenting (or until all bubbling has ceased), then racked into 1 gal jugs, wait 30 days or so to rack into 1 gal jugs again, then wait another 30 days, the bottled. Each stage allows dead yeast (and any fruit pulp, if making melomel) to settle to the bottom of the jugs. Some folks even rack it a 3rd or 4th time trying to get really clear mead.

The simplest sweet mead recipe I've found is 1-1/2 gal honey, 3-1/2 gal distilled water, 1 package of champagne yeast and 1 T yeast nutrient. For a dryer sweet mead, drop the honey to 1-1/4 gal and bump the water up to 3-3/4 gal water. Dropping the honey much more than that can result in a bad batch - failure to ferment properly, production of vinegar or yield an alcohol content under 12%, which in itself can lead to a spoiled batch as it ages. Typically, these lower ABV meads are consumed new, without extensive aging.

 

[Lapedog]

Good day, fellow 'Heads!

I'm woefully behind on all my internet wasting of time! Been really busy at work, so no slack there... Also busy at home... So, I'm not dead or injured, just a bit tied up with life.

Speaking of alcohol, I hope ZZ is proud of me...I finally got off the dime and made some mead. I used a recipe for 1 gallon batches that my wife found on the Book of Faces. Nothing fancy, just water, honey, champagne yeast, 10 raisins (food for the yeast), half an orange (also yeast food), then fruits and stuff. One batch is strawberry-vanilla (with a whole vanilla bean and the seeds added), and the other is ginger-lime-rosemary. My son and I bottled most of it, but kept one pint mason jar for immediate consumption. It's not terrible, but the raw alcohol taste was a bit much for my wife. Looking forward to letting it age for a few months to mellow. Hydrometer measurements indicated we managed to get about a 14% ABV during the 6-week ferment.

Also had a 7 liter Harsch crock of sauerkraut going at the same time.

The finished product! One wine bottle, three 500 ml grolsch-style bottles, and a pint mason (this is the ginger-lime-rosemary). Didn't get the extra pint from the strawberry-vanilla since the lees (sludge) was a little thicker along with the dead fruit floating on top.

I am sure that mead is delicious. What percentage alcohol does it brew up to? Is 14% normal? So it is like wine?

To be honest it looks alot like jailhouse brew usually produced in garbage bags then strained through a pillow case.

That is not an insult at all just thought it was funny.

 

[The Warrior]

I need to buy the "stuff" for yet another bug out bag. I have one at home, one at the cabin, but want one on a smaller scale for my truck.

 

[KingMC]

I need to buy the "stuff" for yet another bug out bag. I have one at home, one at the cabin, but want one on a smaller scale for my truck.

I need one for my car, I live in a region primed for a ginormous earthquake, I work in part of the city that's built on a landfill and near sea level, so liquefaction and flooding/tsunamis are a real fear in the aftermath, and there's a sizeable river between home and work so if the bridges are out I'd need to travel many miles to get home or many miles to get to the outdoors for survival.

Either way, I'm not prepared for any of that at the moment, a BOB in my car would be great.

 

[Bladite]

Congrats on the mead, Greg.

Although "technically" you made melomel, which is mead made with fruit and/or fruit juice added. If you add herbs/spices (considered to be any thing added that is not honey or fruit related), you are making metheglin. There are many names for the melomels and metheglins depending on the fruit or spice used.

Cyser - honey and apple juice
Black mead - honey and black currants
Red mead - honey and red currants
Pyment - honey and grapes
Morat - hiney and mulberries

Capsiculmel - honey and peppers (mild or hot)

Generally, the metheglins are identified by the spice/herb used. e.g., cinnamon metheglin, etc.


It will get better with age. "New" mead has a bitter bite to it. Unfortunately, I've found most commercial meads to be under aged. Based on comparing commercial meads to my own, I estimate most commercial meads have been aged less than 6 months. I let mine age at least 1 year from bottling.

Morat sounds like it tastes like ass?

Cherry Cyser is lovely...

I need to start these experiments... got a basement

also, i have a few pound of pre-processed Autumn Olive fruit i want to convert to wine...

 

[Bladite]

word to the wise...

a stove company that rhymes with "han solo" is having a lightning 15% off sale ending in about six hours

and they've already got a pre-discount sorta. plus free shipping. amazing river pay even.

the big stove "the bonfire" is more of a fancy firepit of small size for the backyard or RV. sweet.

ordered

 

[GSO1962]

Congrats on the mead, Greg.

Although "technically" you made melomel, which is mead made with fruit and/or fruit juice added. If you add herbs/spices (considered to be any thing added that is not honey or fruit related), you are making metheglin. There are many names for the melomels and metheglins depending on the fruit or spice used.
(snip)
The simplest sweet mead recipe I've found is 1-1/2 gal honey, 3-1/2 gal distilled water, 1 package of champagne yeast and 1 T yeast nutrient. For a dryer sweet mead, drop the honey to 1-1/4 gal and bump the water up to 3-3/4 gal water. Dropping the honey much more than that can result in a bad batch - failure to ferment properly, production of vinegar or yield an alcohol content under 12%, which in itself can lead to a spoiled batch as it ages. Typically, these lower ABV meads are consumed new, without extensive aging.

Z - Yes, I'm familiar with the varietal names (thanks to the "Queen Bee Club" at Walker Honey Farm/Dancing Bee Winery), but tend to just use the generic "mead" to avoid lengthy discussions. Although I know you don't shy away from lengthy discussions...haha! I used a quart (3 pounds) of honey and enough spring water to fill the gallon jug after the fruit was in it. It tastes pretty dry right now, but perhaps will taste sweeter after it mellows with age. We shall see!

I am sure that mead is delicious. What percentage alcohol does it brew up to? Is 14% normal? So it is like wine?

To be honest it looks alot like jailhouse brew usually produced in garbage bags then strained through a pillow case.

That is not an insult at all just thought it was funny.

Honestly, it tasted like homemade "hooch" when we sampled it before bottling! I'm not sure I can wait a whole year as ZZ suggests, though.

It is basically wine made with honey as the only or primary source of fermentable sugar. As ZZ stated, there are many varieties that add fruit or herbs. The commercial meads that I buy (from Dancing Bee) run about 12% for things like Citrus Tango (orange) and Merry Texmas (cranberry and orange-bought a case of this), with the portomels (dessert wines) at 17%. My current favorite is their "Slow Dance" Portomel...45% honey, 45% grape, 6% orange, 3% cocoa, and 1% vanilla. My wife's favorite is the Espresso Portomel...60% honey, 37% grape, and 3% espresso.

ABV for meads tends to be in the same ballpark as regular wines. I'd expect I'll hit 12-14% if I continue to use champagne yeast. An on-line friend uses alcohol-tolerant Lalvin yeasts to boost ABV and told me his personal best for a pear melomel was 19%. I think my next batch will include some lavender and whatever wildflowers I can scrounge up...

 

[zzyzzogeton]

I shoot for a yield of around 15.5% to 16%.

Yeah, the first year is a bitch. My method of getting past the first year was make 2 5 gallon batches the first year so that I so that I could open a bottle 1x per month to "test" how the aging was progressing. The large amount allowed me to have some to transition to 2 and now 3 y.o. stuff. I only have 3 bottles left of the original 10 gallons and they are marked for keeping for a 4, 5 and 6 year sampling.

I had a glitch in the making this past fall. I had a 5 gallon batch of blackberry melomel totally fail. For some unexplained reason, it never developed a decent fermentation rate, even after adding additional yeast and nutrient powder. The batch ended up drawing extremely heavy vacuum.

Oh, well, 1 failed batch out of 11 isn't too bad.

 

[The Warrior]

Better get my old butt to bed. 3:15 gets here mighty fast.

 

[KingMC]

Yeah, IPA's are indeed everywhere. I kind of hope that bubble will burst eventually though. As much as I like a good IPA, there are way too many out there and it is becoming harder to find a truly exceptional one. So I have largely shunned IPA's and am trying to focus on harder to find styles like Reds and Browns. Stouts and Porters are good standbys, but can be a wee bit heavy for regular drinking. I certainly have been enjoying European styles more lately and have been experiencing some fantastic Doppelbocks.



I like the Dawn of the Red, but I think it is simply a "Red" IPA. I think the depth and balance one finds in a Red is what ultimately defines a good one. Ambers tend to be too bland for me and IPA's just can be over the top hoppy, if one can find that place in between, that's the stuff right there.... I will be looking for that Ridgetop. If I can't find it, I might see if I can convince you to bring some to the next Gathering.



LOVE mead! It is actually one of the only sweet wines I care for. I have aspired to make some for years and just have never taken the plunge.... Your concoctions sound tasty.

'ey, I had some of that Lagunitas Red Ale today, turns out I went to Safeway and they had it there, on sale even, so I bought a six-pack. Then, we got the brand new neighbors over and throughout the course of the evening we went through the entire six-pack along with another 12-pack of a shock-top variety pack summer edition.

The Lagunitas is pretty nice, it has a great bite to start with a smooth finish, I'm not sure if it's as good as the Ridgetop but it's dang good regardless.

 

[Jonny1280]

Lugunitas makes amazing beer! Everything I've tried from them is very good.

Mead is gross.
It's horrible.
There. I said it. Mead is nasty, nasty, nasty...
Give me a beer and keep the mead up on the shelf. I've tried it more than once. Maybe I've never had a "good" mead, but man...that stuff is not good.

I was at some hipster brewery a few weekends ago. They were touting all of their mead. I asked for their best. Took a drink and traded it for a beer. To each their own...mead is just not for me. Can't do it. Nope.

 

[KingMC]

The one mead I had was rather hard to drink, but I did buy a spiced mead and thus it had some strange flavors in it. I'm not a huge wine person so mead isn't automatically my drink if it's available, I seem to prefer beer over any other alcoholic beverage.

 

[Pàdruig]

'ey, I had some of that Lagunitas Red Ale today, turns out I went to Safeway and they had it there, on sale even, so I bought a six-pack. Then, we got the brand new neighbors over and throughout the course of the evening we went through the entire six-pack along with another 12-pack of a shock-top variety pack summer edition.

The Lagunitas is pretty nice, it has a great bite to start with a smooth finish, I'm not sure if it's as good as the Ridgetop but it's dang good regardless.

Awesome! Well I will certainly look forward to the opportunity to try the Ridgetop some day. Always looking for another good red.

Lugunitas makes amazing beer! Everything I've tried from them is very good.

Mead is gross.
It's horrible.
There. I said it. Mead is nasty, nasty, nasty...
Give me a beer and keep the mead up on the shelf. I've tried it more than once. Maybe I've never had a "good" mead, but man...that stuff is not good.

I was at some hipster brewery a few weekends ago. They were touting all of their mead. I asked for their best. Took a drink and traded it for a beer. To each their own...mead is just not for me. Can't do it. Nope.

Though I do like mead, I have had mead that is way too sweet, I tend to like the drier stuff. There might be one out there for you, you never know. That being said, if I were in your shoes, I'd just get a beer... That's the safe choice.

 

[KingMC]

I got a bit out there tonight so my judgement may be clouded a bit, but it was some good beer regardless. I'm certainly gonna have to sleep it off...

Beer > mead in my limited experience.

 

[GSO1962]

For whatever reason, I'm not a huge fan of distilled beverages, but do enjoy fermented beverages such as beer, wine and mead. Within each category, there are some I like and others on which I'll pass. A couple of good choices for the beer drinkers in the crowd would be a Cyser (similar to hard apple cider) or a metheglin like Dancing Bee's "Beerded One", which is mead spiced with hops. The Beerded One is not too dry and not too sweet, with the citrusy flavor from the hops...pretty tasty!

 

[bearfacedkiller]

I like beer, wine, mead, whiskey... Well, I like to drink.

 

[91bravo]

 

[The Warrior]

Believe it or not, I won a contest with that photo, haha. Won an MP4 player.

 

[91bravo]

lol It's a good one!