Mead?

[Jenn]

Never paid any attention to it before but just recently tried and liked it. Any other fans?

Green River Ambrosia winter warmer....mmm, mm good. The liquid sunshine I thought was ok but not crazy about though....
Also just finished a bottle of Calendonia Winery Elderberry that was de-lish!

[The Dad Fisherman]

Made some a while back....good stuff, but can hit you hard.

Got some Spiced, Blackberry, and Apricot still on the shelf. usually crack a bottle or 2 for X-mas

[Raven]

apricot sounds great....
i could use a bottle about Now

the elderberry wine Jenn has good
anti carcinogenicity properties built in to it

[Saltheart]

At one time I made mead regularly. The easiest to make is cranberry mead. Citrus meads can be hit or miss. Plain meads that rely on the type of honey for flavor are very delicate and easy to screw up. For example , you can get honey that has been collected by bees in an orange grave. You make the mead without adding anything else for flavor , hoping the hint of orange in the honey itself will be enough. Well that does work out to well. To me the easiest is to buy a clover honey , add some fruit or fruit juice to add flavor and let it ferment.

Anyway , I agree it can be powerful stuff that will hit you like a ton of bricks.

[JohnnyD]

I've always wanted to try mead but I've been told it takes forever to ferment.

[Jenn]

Raven-I absolutely LOVE anything elderberry and the health benefits are are bonus!

Saltheart I also love anything cranberry....If you have a recipe and care to share I sure wouldnt mind giving it a try!

[Saltheart]

2 quarts clover honey
2 gallons ocean Spray Cranberry juice
3 to 4 gallons of water.
Champagne yeast.

Put everything into a big 6 gallon water bottle. Shake it all up good.

Get an airlock and put it through a cork that will fit the water jug (carboy)

Place the jug with the mix inside another container like a rubbermaid or cat litter pan. This secondary container is to catch the crap that will foam and erupt out the top of the bottle. There will be a lot at first then it will slow down to just fine bubbles. Clean the airlock to get all the foam yuk off and then reseal the carboy with the airlock in the cork. Let ferment at about 60 degrees F for a month. Syphon from carboy leaving behind the crap on the bottom and put into sterile bottles (use bleach water to sterilize clean bottles and then let the bottles dry thoroughly to be sure all the bleach residue also dries away.)bottles. seal the bottles. This is just like when you bottle beer or soda but for mead you do not add any priming sugar before bottling. In about 2 weeks you will have a mead that tastes a little like White Zin wine. It may develop an ever so slight sparking character if there is enough sugar and yeast life to carbonate it a little very little but you notice it and its nice(carbonated=Sparkiling). If it doesn't carbonate , don't worry , its high alchohol so it keeps a long time in the bottles

Be prepared , it could have as much as 13% alchohol by Vol. It gets better over time so taste some every two weeks to see its quality imp[rove then when its how you like it , get fugged up big until its gone!

[The Dad Fisherman]

Originally Posted by JohnnyD

I've always wanted to try mead but I've been told it takes forever to ferment.

No longer than wine...

It takes awhile to age...gets better as the time goes by

[Jenn]

Thanks Saltheart! Sorry I should have mentioned I should be good with the process since I have made wine and beer before. I was mainly looking for a tried and decent recipe. Thanks for the info!

[Saltheart]

Originally Posted by Jenn

Thanks Saltheart! Sorry I should have mentioned I should be good with the process since I have made wine and beer before. I was mainly looking for a tried and decent recipe. Thanks for the info!

Then you are all set because mead is lots easier to make than beer or wine. The bees did all the work. they provided almost pure sugar with built in preservatives and some flavor from the clover. The cranberry will overpower the clover flavor in this case.

Good Luck

[Sea Dangles]

I tried a Mead today at Pour Judgement in NPT. Honey aftertaste and $$$, but very easy to savor.Two thumbs up.