Everyone you give a sample taste too suddenly wants to be your friend! I made 1g of JAOM, but should have made 10g according to the new mead fans glamoring for more than just a taste. 
Unspoken Danger of Mead Making
- Thread starter columbiacritter
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I'm actually planning on that! But, it will be to the nice lady at the Farmer's Market who sells me the honey, we always chat about it, and so she gives me a nice deal on her honey. And as soon as I have a bottle ready that's been using her honey, I will be giving her a nice little 375ml bottle in hopes that she continues to give me good deals (=
It is illegal to trade homebrew here, as with most places, but I have noticed that since I started gifting my honey-lady with mead, and the tea-man and a couple of others, the sample pots of honey - and the sample bags of new teas it is suggested i try - have increased a lot... like from zero ;-)
I'm the odd man out, y experience so far doesn't mesh 
Me: "Hey I brew beer and wine/mead!"
Person1: "I drink Budweiser thanks"
Person2: "I only drink beer that subscribes the the german beer council of 1427, your is excluded because it has XXXXX"
Person3: "Honey wine sounds awful no thanks"
Person4: "I'm Mormon"
Person5: "I've heard things about homebrewing, sorry don't trust it not to make me blind"
Person6: "I had stomach cancer/Gastric Bypass and can't drink"
Me: *Looks around at the 60 or so gallons of booze* "Damn, I don't even drink that much, who would thunk it'd be so hard to get rid of this?!"
Me: "Hey I brew beer and wine/mead!"
Person1: "I drink Budweiser thanks"
Person2: "I only drink beer that subscribes the the german beer council of 1427, your is excluded because it has XXXXX"
Person3: "Honey wine sounds awful no thanks"
Person4: "I'm Mormon"
Person5: "I've heard things about homebrewing, sorry don't trust it not to make me blind"
Person6: "I had stomach cancer/Gastric Bypass and can't drink"
Me: *Looks around at the 60 or so gallons of booze* "Damn, I don't even drink that much, who would thunk it'd be so hard to get rid of this?!"
While I do have this amount of booze available right now...I do not have this issue. Instead, I am looking at not being able to start a new brew till June/July and wondering how I'm going to make 65 gallons LAST THAT LONG!
Just drink one bottle every day! My current situation only allows me to drink one glass a day. But the mead stock will continue to rise, as I'll be bottling my strawberry raspberry very soon.
I'm the odd man out, y experience so far doesn't mesh
Me: "Hey I brew beer and wine/mead!"
...
Me: *Looks around at the 60 or so gallons of booze* "Damn, I don't even drink that much, who would thunk it'd be so hard to get rid of this?!"
Yeah, that's kind of where I am...
"We don't drink anymore." X2
"Sorry, on anti-depressants, does not play nice with alcohol." X2
"I don't drink, alcoholism runs in my family." X2
"I don't drink, haven't ever found any alcoholic beverage I like the taste of." X2
"Honey, I love you and I know you have fun with this but wine/mead/beer really isn't my thing." (my husband, who will share a glass with me about once a month just so I don't have to drink alone)
"I wish I could but alcohol now makes me ill."
"Almost everything that goes into traditional wines gives me migraines, sorry, not worth the risk."
"I have no sense of smell so all I can taste in most alcoholic beverages is the alcohol."
And the one person who WILL help me put a dent into my stocks, has two kids and comes over very rarely, and then has to drive himself home so I don't feel comfortable giving him more than a glass or two.
There's a gang I occasionally spend time with who will quickly down anything I put out but I never get any useful taste feedback (they drink to get drunk and then they get stupid), which is not really what I'm about... so I don't share with them very often either. They're the ones I'm trying to do honey trading with
Personally, I don't find time to drink very often, as three evenings a week I'm at the dojo till late and I have to work the next morning, then on weekends I either have to drive home or I'm surrounded by non-drinkers. So I'm lucky to drink a glass a week, and that takes a really long time to eat into the 400 or so bottles that I've got aging downstairs and the 60 gallons or so still in carboys waiting to be bottled!
I really don't drink much but I have friends that do drink. I go to parties and enjoy a bottle or two there, I bring a six pack of 12oz bottles or 2 six packs and it goes. I even have some of my friends salivating over new flavors.
I do manage to keep 1 six pack from each brew and set it aside. Been brewing for 5 years now. I figure when I stop being able to brew and in my old age, I will have lots of stock and wont need to buy any for several years in my old age.
I also have a couple of people that will do trades for my mead, gift for gift. Like a Resturaunt manager that I am friends with and some of the staff. So, yeah. I don't have this problem.
I have the problem of not producing fast enough or rather not having the money for honey. Although, I do have a couple of friends that will sponser a brew now and then. I have a Blackberry Black Tea mead that a friend sponsored and is going to get half. He just wants me to experiment and is willing to pitch in for honey money. I reward him and get some good comments from my friends.
Matrix
I do manage to keep 1 six pack from each brew and set it aside. Been brewing for 5 years now. I figure when I stop being able to brew and in my old age, I will have lots of stock and wont need to buy any for several years in my old age.
I also have a couple of people that will do trades for my mead, gift for gift. Like a Resturaunt manager that I am friends with and some of the staff. So, yeah. I don't have this problem.
I have the problem of not producing fast enough or rather not having the money for honey. Although, I do have a couple of friends that will sponser a brew now and then. I have a Blackberry Black Tea mead that a friend sponsored and is going to get half. He just wants me to experiment and is willing to pitch in for honey money. I reward him and get some good comments from my friends.
Matrix
At the moment all my carboys are full, nothing ready to bottle, >35 gal aging in bulk. I like drier wines but everyone I love who is willing to taste my meads likes sweet!
Other dangers of being a meadmaker is it can make you become a beekeeper, plant a Wineyard (or Meadyard)(should be in glossary soon) and fill your basement up with not only carboys but bee boxes stacked up all over the place. Plus you might get stung more often and if you are silly enough to drink a glass of mead among your bees you WILL NOT GO UNNOTICED by the girls! Another unspoken danger is having your house sticky all the time You might also join a meadmaking group full of people wanting to preserve an ancient art form while trying to calculate how much YAN is in their modern additives WVMJ
You might also join a meadmaking group full of people wanting to preserve an ancient art form while trying to calculate how much YAN is in their modern additives WVMJOnce I have land, I definitely plan on planting a bunch of fruits. I know birds will eat most of it, but I love bird watching so its a win win. Just hope they save me some. Right now my apartment has... 0 dirt.
Other dangers of being a meadmaker is it can make you become a beekeeper... Plus you might get stung more often and if you are silly enough to drink a glass of mead among your bees you WILL NOT GO UNNOTICED by the girls!
The girls notice when you raise a glass of mead?
They ARE clever...
Who knew...
Yes, one day the call of the beek will catch me, I reckon...
Another danger: Overzealous brewing.
Example,
My uncle has been making wine for years. Mostly 10 or 15 liters at a time.
Everybody in our family loved it so much, so he started to brew bigger batches (3x 50 liters). After finishing these batches he came to realize he needed to order around 200 empty wine bottles, corks and a new corking machine (only has little hand corker)!
Also, we had to make a huge storing facility in his basement to store all the bottles.
Total cost: around €400,-
Example,
My uncle has been making wine for years. Mostly 10 or 15 liters at a time.
Everybody in our family loved it so much, so he started to brew bigger batches (3x 50 liters). After finishing these batches he came to realize he needed to order around 200 empty wine bottles, corks and a new corking machine (only has little hand corker)!
Also, we had to make a huge storing facility in his basement to store all the bottles.
Total cost: around €400,-
Ah, see, there in lies something that most people really don't realize about me...
*drumroll*
I'm one of those weird people who really don't drink!
I will have a glass or two maybe once every 3-4 months when out with friends. Mostly I make the stuff then ply it off on others. It's my hobby, it makes me happy, but it's just something I take pride in...not something I personally utilize.
Fortunately, I do have friends and groups who know what they're drinking and how to critique it. (a once a month meet and greet of other brewers, several of my friends have been brewing for well over a decade and a couple for longer than I've been alive, and they've all figured out I'm actually in the market for real feedback.) Unfortunately, I have developed a reputation of showing up at about every event with a hardy selection of brews and THAT"S why I'm not sure how to make my little supply last.
