The Great Tree Forum Index The Great Tree
still kickin'
 
 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   Poster ListPoster List   Member ListMember List  UsergroupsUsergroups   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 
 Links:   great tree   uru live   uru obsession   drc site  

 Documentaries:    learn the story of the great tree

Recipe for Mead

 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    The Great Tree Forum Index -> Neighborhood
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Mystlander
Great Tree Member
Great Tree Member


Joined: 22 Dec 2003
Posts: 521
Location: In Cavern

PostPosted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 2:45 am    Post subject: Recipe for Mead Reply with quote

Basic concepts about making mead:

Making mead is really very simple. You combine water and yeast with some ‘food’ (honey) for the yeast and flavoring agents. The yeast bubbles away in an anaerobic environment, turning some of the sugars into alcohol, and you get a nice beverage at the end.

When you add spices to the basic honey/water/yeast mixture, it’s technically called a metheglin. Don’t count on anyone outside of the local Renaissance Faire or home-brew shop knowing that, though.

You will be adding wine yeast (or sherry or champagne yeast) to do the fermenting. You want to keep all of the other ‘wild’ yeasts in the air out of your mead, since they may sour it. Therefore: wash everything with a mild bleach solution and rinse it very well before you use it. This includes pots and pans, funnels, and especially glass jugs.

Ingredients:

2 or 3 cloves, lightly cracked

2 sticks of cinnamon, cracked

dash of cardamom

2 to 4 teaspoons fresh lemon zest (just the thin yellow part, not the white part of the peel)

2 lbs. raw honey (get this at a health food store – don’t use a processed honey like “SueBee”)

1 packet of wine yeast*

¼ cup vodka or grain alcohol

*Get this yeast at a home-brew shop. I have tried several kinds with good results. Some to try as a beginner: Flor Sherry, Cotes des Blancs.

Equipment:

large stockpot, 4 quarts (or larger) with lid

strainer or sieve

1 glass wine jug

4 to 6 feet of ½" plastic tubing, OR a large funnel

Optional Equipment: (definitely not necessary, but more technical)

rubber stopper and airlock to fit the glass jug

specific gravity indicator

commercial “yeast nutrient”

wine bottles for serving the mead more easily

Method:

Day 1, preferably during a waxing moon, to encourage the mead to ripen: Clean the stockpot with a bleach solution and rinse well. Put cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and lemon peel in about 2 quarts of water and simmer for about 15 minutes, until the spices have scented the water. Add water to bring the volume to about 3 quarts, and return to a simmer. Add the honey, stirring constantly, and heat but do not boil. Skim off white scum as it forms. If the scum is yellow, reduce the heat. When no more scum forms, remove the pot from the heat, cover it to keep out airborne yeast, and leave it overnight. It must reach room temperature before you continue, or you will kill the yeast.

Day 2: Strain the mixture to remove as much of the spice particles as possible. You will have to strain it into something, so use another (cleaned and rinsed) pot, or the (cleaned and rinsed) wine jug. The mixture should end up back in your large stockpot. Add the packet of yeast, stir it in, and put the cover back on.

Day 3 or 4: (when the yeast has formed a thick foam on the surface of the liquid. Preferably before this foam sinks like a rock to the bottom of the pot. But if the foam does sink, it’s not a big deal, but it’s time to proceed with this step.) Rack the mixture to a jug, leaving the foam and dregs of yeast behind. (“Racking” is the technical term for transferring liquid. Use a clean funnel or plastic hose.) Add enough boiled, cooled water to reach the neck of your jug. To seal the jug but allow gases to escape, cover it with a double layer of paper towel, held on by a rubber band. (Tech option: use an airlock with water to allow the bubbles to escape.) Leave the jug somewhere at room temperature, and watch it to make sure the paper towel doesn’t get fouled with foam. (If it does, just replace the paper towel with a clean one.)

Two to four days later: Wait until the vigorous foaming stops, or at least 2 days. Make sure the paper towel is clean, and move the jug to the refrigerator (or the porch, if the weather is predictably 45°F).

12 to 24 hours later: Rack the mead (it’s becoming mead now!) to a clean jug, put on a clean paper towel, and return it to the refrigerator.

12 to 24 hours later: Rack the mead to a clean jug again, and add ¼ cup of vodka or grain alcohol to kill the yeast. Put on a clean paper towel, and return the jug to the refrigerator.

Keep the mead in the jug in the refrigerator for 3 or 4 days. Then bottle the mead, using a clean funnel or plastic hose. The mead is supposed to be drinkable in 10 days, and really pretty good in about 2½ weeks. (I find that I can start this mead about a month before I want to serve it, and it turns out fine.) Keep the mead refrigerated, and don’t let it get too old – drink it within 6 months or a year. It’s not a fine wine, and it doesn’t age like one!

Keep in mind that you’re dealing with living yeast and wild honey. Your results won’t be entirely predictable, and you should adjust things as you see fit. Occasionally, things just won’t work the way you expect them to (so I’ve heard – it’s never happened to me, of course!). It just happens, so don’t be discouraged and try again.
_________________
URU Live KI #: 50911 MOULa KI #11697212
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Professor Askew
Great Tree Member
Great Tree Member


Joined: 23 Dec 2003
Posts: 2532
Location: Bloomfield, CT

PostPosted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 6:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

MMmmmmmmm......................mead.

Can't wait to try the recipe.....................



Or can I? Hmm.
_________________
Professor Daniel Askew - Securing our reality from the machinations of the Station Masters.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Gadren
Great Tree Member
Great Tree Member


Joined: 18 Mar 2004
Posts: 218

PostPosted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 7:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

O_o You guys making a brewery in the Cavern? Razz
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail AIM Address Yahoo Messenger MSN Messenger
dcos
Great Tree Member
Great Tree Member


Joined: 21 Feb 2006
Posts: 1174

PostPosted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 7:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Why do you think we want the Pub? Wink
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Gadren
Great Tree Member
Great Tree Member


Joined: 18 Mar 2004
Posts: 218

PostPosted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 7:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Would that also explain your (and Sharper's) interest in the spore-filled Teledahn? ^_^
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail AIM Address Yahoo Messenger MSN Messenger
dcos
Great Tree Member
Great Tree Member


Joined: 21 Feb 2006
Posts: 1174

PostPosted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 8:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm affraid I'm not authorised to speak on that subject. Twisted Evil
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Mystlander
Great Tree Member
Great Tree Member


Joined: 22 Dec 2003
Posts: 521
Location: In Cavern

PostPosted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 11:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yeah, that...
_________________
URU Live KI #: 50911 MOULa KI #11697212
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    The Great Tree Forum Index -> Neighborhood All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum



RescueTime
Offering Time Management Software for Individuals &
Employee Time Tracking Software for Businesses