Food: Home Brewing

[JupiterSkies]

So I thought I'd update because we drank one of the bottles I made last Imbolc a week ago and it was a big hit. I'm planning on repeating that recipe again today to have it for next year.

I did end up brewing around every sabbat last year, and then some. Here's what I did:
Imbolc- Winter fruits Melomel
Ostara- Dandelion and chamomile metheglin
Beltane- "Maibowle" melomel (strawberry and woodruff)
Midsummer- Raspberry Orange melomel, Double Cherry melomel (sweet and tart cherries), Oaked brown-sugar cyser
Lammas- Mulit-berry melomel, Peach ginger melomel
Mabon- Concord pyment
Samhain- Mugwort cyser
Yule- "Wassail" cyser (spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, clove)

This year I'm going to try a few different things. I noticed that my Apothecary rose has peak blooms right around Beltane so I'll probably make a Rhodomel about that time this year. I'm also planning on making an elderflower mead with Sauternes yeast at midsummer this year, provided I get enough elderflowers (my bush is still pretty small, and although I know where there are some in the parks near me it's iffy as to whether I can sneak some flowers off them). Everything else mostly depends on what I can get at the farmer's market.

1. This whole thing is marvelous, and as a fellow meadmaker, I'm loving and desperately wanting to try most of it. I belong to a local brewer's guild with a strong meadmaking contingent, and everyone plays with and loves the big fruit melomels, a la Ken Schramm style (who is a member of the club actually, though he rarely makes meetings anymore), so your dandelion and chamomile metheglin and mugwort cyser specifically, I'm very curious about.

2. My first solo mead (made without the Boy or in collab with other friends) was a rhodomel, and the people who liked it, REALLY liked it.  Needed a little backsweetening, and so it's got a little raw honey flavor still with the rose.  We've been planning a few batches to do this winter, and we both keep coming down with various illnesses so we haven't started any of them, but I want to do a straight wildflower honey batch to use for backsweetening instead, as I've been reading around you can blend the sweetness in more smoothly than raw honey that way (though all the friends use honey, so maybe it's just the nature of the rose flavor).

[Owl]

I first tried my hand at brewing - beer then - in 1995. I have brewed many kinds of bee, mead, and for the last 5 years also blackberry wine because we have a lot of blackberries on an area of our property that can be left to grow and isn’t near the road(I refuse to eat or drink car exhaust).

But unlike most meads made these days, mine are dry. As is my blackberry wine. Because I don’t like sweet wine and neither does my husband. That is also why I tend to make very dark beers - that’s our preference. And historically, dry mead was very common - the idea was to produce alcohol, not use extra honey.




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[Noctua]

I belong to a local brewer's guild with a strong meadmaking contingent, and everyone plays with and loves the big fruit melomels, a la Ken Schramm style (who is a member of the club actually, though he rarely makes meetings anymore), so your dandelion and chamomile metheglin and mugwort cyser specifically, I'm very curious about.

What's funny is that it was actually Ken Schramm's book that gave me the idea to try chamomile in mead. He pretty much gushed over it in his ingredient section so I thought I'd give it a shot. I brewed it early in the spring when we didn't have a lot of dandelion, so I'm thinking the dandelion is mostly adding color and not much in the way of flavor. I'll actually be cracking that one open for the spring equinox, so I can tell you more about it then. I know when I bottled it I thought it was pretty damn tasty even then, with a vibrant almost crayon-yellow color and the strong apple aroma from the chamomile. It also seemed to have this really weird warming effect that was quite pleasant, I'm eager to see if it still does that.

The mugwort cyser is more of an experiment, I was just combining two things that to me speak Samhain. From what I understand the mugwort is supposed to enhance the intoxicating effects of the alcohol, so drinking that one might be fun. It's still in a carboy bulk aging, though, because it's taking longer than expected to clear despite lots of pectinase.

[Noctua]

I first tried my hand at brewing - beer then - in 1995. I have brewed many kinds of bee, mead, and for the last 5 years also blackberry wine because we have a lot of blackberries on an area of our property that can be left to grow and isn’t near the road(I refuse to eat or drink car exhaust).

But unlike most meads made these days, mine are dry. As is my blackberry wine. Because I don’t like sweet wine and neither does my husband. That is also why I tend to make very dark beers - that’s our preference. And historically, dry mead was very common - the idea was to produce alcohol, not use extra honey.

I like mine a little on the dry side too- I haven't done much in the way of backsweetening my meads. I may have to change that for a few recipes depending on my husband- he's the one who likes his wine to taste like grape juice. He liked the one I did with the dried fruits but that one had such a high starting sugar that the yeast pooped out before it could eat it all.

I also want to make an aside here and mention a book I got over the holidays from my family- Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers by Stephen Harrod Buhner. I haven't had as much time as I'd like to read it what with school and all but what I have read so far has been super cool.

[JupiterSkies]

What's funny is that it was actually Ken Schramm's book that gave me the idea to try chamomile in mead. He pretty much gushed over it in his ingredient section so I thought I'd give it a shot. I brewed it early in the spring when we didn't have a lot of dandelion, so I'm thinking the dandelion is mostly adding color and not much in the way of flavor. I'll actually be cracking that one open for the spring equinox, so I can tell you more about it then. I know when I bottled it I thought it was pretty damn tasty even then, with a vibrant almost crayon-yellow color and the strong apple aroma from the chamomile. It also seemed to have this really weird warming effect that was quite pleasant, I'm eager to see if it still does that.

The mugwort cyser is more of an experiment, I was just combining two things that to me speak Samhain. From what I understand the mugwort is supposed to enhance the intoxicating effects of the alcohol, so drinking that one might be fun. It's still in a carboy bulk aging, though, because it's taking longer than expected to clear despite lots of pectinase.

We have the Ken Schramm book, which the Boy has read, and I have admit only to skimming, but I can't wait for tasting notes on the chamomile!  That apple aroma... sounds completely intriguing.

The mugwort, that's what I was thinking, so I bet that could be a fun drink.  Maybe have someone around for when you sample that, just in case...

One of my friends... his whole basement is nothing but carboys and buckets and bottles of mead and buckets of honey.*  He leaves things in carboys for years, so I don't think it'll hurt to be patient waiting for it to clear.

*It's both impressive and horrifying how much mead is in that small space.  Twelve years, over 300 batches of mead, he just started an experiment... same recipe, eight different yeasts.  That's eight five gallon batches of meads having at it in his kitchen right now and I fully admit I'm not sure how he does anything in his kitchen when he's got that much going at the same time...

[Owl]

It's still in a carboy bulk aging, though, because it's taking longer than expected to clear despite lots of pectinase.

I broke down and bought a wine filter some years ago, and now I love it. In addition to the clarity, since I don’t use sulfites, it makes sure all the malo lactic fermentation is shut down. Kind of a pain to sanitize (since I don’t use sufites I have to sanitize), but worth it


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[Noctua]

Twelve years, over 300 batches of mead, he just started an experiment... same recipe, eight different yeasts.  That's eight five gallon batches of meads having at it in his kitchen right now and I fully admit I'm not sure how he does anything in his kitchen when he's got that much going at the same time...

This is awesome. I actually had the thought of doing something like this myself, as an experiment with the different strains of yeast as the independent variable and see how they change the ferment and end quality of the mead. I just don't have the space or equipment for it though (I brew 1-gallon batches, with only about enough equipment/room for two fermenters and three carboys at a time.) Maybe someday.

[Owl]

This is awesome. I actually had the thought of doing something like this myself, as an experiment with the different strains of yeast as the independent variable and see how they change the ferment and end quality of the mead. I just don't have the space or equipment for it though (I brew 1-gallon batches, with only about enough equipment/room for two fermenters and three carboys at a time.) Maybe someday.

The American home brewers association had an article in their magazine (Zymurgy) comparing the different flavors many different yeasts give to mead.  It was in an issue a few years ago.


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[Noctua]

We have the Ken Schramm book, which the Boy has read, and I have admit only to skimming, but I can't wait for tasting notes on the chamomile!  That apple aroma... sounds completely intriguing.

The mugwort, that's what I was thinking, so I bet that could be a fun drink.  Maybe have someone around for when you sample that, just in case...

One of my friends... his whole basement is nothing but carboys and buckets and bottles of mead and buckets of honey.*  He leaves things in carboys for years, so I don't think it'll hurt to be patient waiting for it to clear.

*It's both impressive and horrifying how much mead is in that small space.  Twelve years, over 300 batches of mead, he just started an experiment... same recipe, eight different yeasts.  That's eight five gallon batches of meads having at it in his kitchen right now and I fully admit I'm not sure how he does anything in his kitchen when he's got that much going at the same time...

So I forgot to update this when we had the chamomile mead on the Equinox. I really, really enjoyed it- it secured a place at the top so far. Very floral, which isn't surprising, but with a lot of citrus notes under the floral which did surprise me. It came out semi-dry and unintentionally sparkling, which was a nice bonus on top.

Also I bottled the mugwort cyser today and that one's going to be killer as well. It's not even 6 months old and easily drinkable right now. This one is also semi-dry, has a strong apple base but with hints of fresh mown hay and flowers on top. Very enjoyable to drink. Here's my recipe if you want to replicate it, I make 1 gallon batches but it can easily be scaled up:

4 quarts unfiltered apple juice (I used a combo of Kroger generic and Trader Joe's Honeycrisp)
2 cups strong mugwort infusion (1/4 cup dried mugwort in 2 cups water)
1.5 lbs Trader Joe's Mostly Mesquite Honey
Lalvin 71b-1122 yeast
1 tsp pectinase

I don't bother with heating anything aside from the infusion, just mix it cold in the primary fermenter and pitch the started yeast. My starting SG was about 1.086, after a week it had dropped to 1.000. I then racked it into a secondary with another 1/2 tsp pectinase and 1 tbsp dried mugwort. Once it had gotten mostly clear (took at least 2 months) I racked a third time onto about 3 tbsp orange blossom honey mixed into a small amount of water to top up the carboy. Let it clear yet again (another 2ish months) and bottle.

[Noctua]

The American home brewers association had an article in their magazine (Zymurgy) comparing the different flavors many different yeasts give to mead.  It was in an issue a few years ago.


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Just wanted to let you know that I did eventually track down that article, and the corresponding tasting note table that came with it is now in my book of mead stuff for future use, so thank you for this.

Because I'm on break now I'm getting a lot of brewing done. I'd started my rhodomel about two weeks ago, with homegrown rose hips in primary. Today I moved it to secondary and added the rose petals. I'm also starting two batches in primary- elderflower mead with orange blossom honey, and a Haiti inspired mead using hibiscus flowers and some Haitian wildflower honey I scored in the duty-free when I was leaving Port au Prince.


As you can see here I have to make a bit of creative use of space- my kitchen table becomes my primary workbench, and the primary fermenters will go onto the little table in the corner (which has my crap on it now, but not for long). My glass carboys go onto the floor in my kitchen pantry- I have just barely enough room for 3 carboys so that's my upper production limit at one time. When I want to make a new batch I'll have to bottle one of the carboys. Right now the bottled mead is sitting in wine cases in my bedroom closet- almost 4 cases worth. Most of it will be drinkable in the next month or so so we'll be using some of the aged stuff to make room for the new stuff.

[Owl]

Just wanted to let you know that I did eventually track down that article, and the corresponding tasting note table that came with it is now in my book of mead stuff for future use, so thank you for this.

Because I'm on break now I'm getting a lot of brewing done. I'd started my rhodomel about two weeks ago, with homegrown rose hips in primary. Today I moved it to secondary and added the rose petals. I'm also starting two batches in primary- elderflower mead with orange blossom honey, and a Haiti inspired mead using hibiscus flowers and some Haitian wildflower honey I scored in the duty-free when I was leaving Port au Prince.


As you can see here I have to make a bit of creative use of space- my kitchen table becomes my primary workbench, and the primary fermenters will go onto the little table in the corner (which has my crap on it now, but not for long). My glass carboys go onto the floor in my kitchen pantry- I have just barely enough room for 3 carboys so that's my upper production limit at one time. When I want to make a new batch I'll have to bottle one of the carboys. Right now the bottled mead is sitting in wine cases in my bedroom closet- almost 4 cases worth. Most of it will be drinkable in the next month or so so we'll be using some of the aged stuff to make room for the new stuff.

Most excellent!!


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