Mass Fermentation Vessels
- Thread starter Oskaar
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Bootlegged Mead
20/20 Hindsight it wasn't exactly a Phi Beta Kappa move, but no ill came of it, and I don't regret doing it. I wouldn't do it now because time and experience are good teachers.
But, at the time youth and inexperience prevailed!
`nuff said,
Oskaar
20/20 Hindsight it wasn't exactly a Phi Beta Kappa move, but no ill came of it, and I don't regret doing it. I wouldn't do it now because time and experience are good teachers.
But, at the time youth and inexperience prevailed!
`nuff said,
Oskaar
D
Dave
Guest
Guest
I'm doing my homework to gear up toward commerically procucing mead. My target date for a first release is 2010. Why so long? Well, I don't plan to be a startup that fails in 2 years.
What I am doing now is education. One store in my town carries Chaucers, Carolines, and a couple other honey flavored wines that they call mead. I am giving samples of mead to all the friends I can find. My goal is to get them to try it and then have them spread the word.
Ok, now Chaucers may not be the worlds finest mead, but it's pretty tasty, and I've only found one person who did not like it at all. Carolines was quite comparable to Chaucers. I've not been able to get other domestic meads yet, but I have fallen in love with Jadwiga. That stuff is increadible. I'm trying to bully/beg/bribe a local distributor to carry it.
Right now, it's all about educating the masses. I agree that a getting commercial meaderies to band together in a product campaign would be good for all.
What I am doing now is education. One store in my town carries Chaucers, Carolines, and a couple other honey flavored wines that they call mead. I am giving samples of mead to all the friends I can find. My goal is to get them to try it and then have them spread the word.
Ok, now Chaucers may not be the worlds finest mead, but it's pretty tasty, and I've only found one person who did not like it at all. Carolines was quite comparable to Chaucers. I've not been able to get other domestic meads yet, but I have fallen in love with Jadwiga. That stuff is increadible. I'm trying to bully/beg/bribe a local distributor to carry it.
Right now, it's all about educating the masses. I agree that a getting commercial meaderies to band together in a product campaign would be good for all.
Gearing up
I think it would be a great idea to get the commercial meaderies together to market and advertise, but I think that would be about one-third of the equation.
The other two would be to get the National Honey Board, and the Beekeepers Association involved in that effort. If you look at the market data on the National Honey Board website you'll notice that the growth of honey production in many states is pretty sluggish. In fact the gross honey production levels have dipped since 2000 and have not yet returned to that level of production.
From my perspective the honey growers, bee keepers and NHB need to start some kind of marketing juggernaught to get their product into the mass media if they want to increase production and grow sales and distribution. The mead makers need to be a vocal part of that effort.
I did a quick survey of the honey board's website and there are no direct mentions of mead, nor any direct links to mead makers, etc. There are links to brewing on sub-links off the main links, but I think that mead deserves it's own unique link.
I'd say that would be a good place to start. But, as I said in another post, I like mead being a more "homegrown" kind of product, so I won't be leading that charge.
Cheers,
Oskaar
I think it would be a great idea to get the commercial meaderies together to market and advertise, but I think that would be about one-third of the equation.
The other two would be to get the National Honey Board, and the Beekeepers Association involved in that effort. If you look at the market data on the National Honey Board website you'll notice that the growth of honey production in many states is pretty sluggish. In fact the gross honey production levels have dipped since 2000 and have not yet returned to that level of production.
From my perspective the honey growers, bee keepers and NHB need to start some kind of marketing juggernaught to get their product into the mass media if they want to increase production and grow sales and distribution. The mead makers need to be a vocal part of that effort.
I did a quick survey of the honey board's website and there are no direct mentions of mead, nor any direct links to mead makers, etc. There are links to brewing on sub-links off the main links, but I think that mead deserves it's own unique link.
I'd say that would be a good place to start. But, as I said in another post, I like mead being a more "homegrown" kind of product, so I won't be leading that charge.
Cheers,
Oskaar
A spot of thread necromancy here......
I'm actually finding it a pain tracking down a UK supplier of large fermentation equipment. The closest I am finding is a 210 litre brew bucket, but am already dreading the pain that will be in cleaning.
Background note - yes, I am taking the plunge and am forming a meadery, ongoing market scouting is showing a distinct interest in mead coupled with a distinct lack of outlets within the M25 here.....
I'm actually finding it a pain tracking down a UK supplier of large fermentation equipment. The closest I am finding is a 210 litre brew bucket, but am already dreading the pain that will be in cleaning.
Background note - yes, I am taking the plunge and am forming a meadery, ongoing market scouting is showing a distinct interest in mead coupled with a distinct lack of outlets within the M25 here.....
That's Socrates! Feigning ignorance to draw information and understanding out of others. I have warned him to stay away from the Hemlock mead.Chimerix said:
Wrathwilde
wow. if oskaar was a newbie to this forum just a few years ago but has been making mead since the 80's then a large percentage of his info comes from personal experience. i must say, that is awesome. Oskaar, you are the man. you spent all that time learning through experience, and we all pick your brain over and over again and you dont get annoyed.....yet again, thank you.
But the hemlock, it's so sweet! LOL
I was making wine and beer before I started in on mead. It's looking more and more like I'm going to end up making a move into wine production which will of course mean that I'll set up the premisis for mead and beer making as well. I'm halfway through the UC Davis Winemaking Certification courses and let me tell you. Anything I may have thought I knew about making quality wine on a large scale/commercial basis has been set on it's ear. This is some intense stuff, we've lost many students in the first couple of weeks.
But the information is worth killing for and I'm sticking it out as far as I can take it!
Cheers,
Oskaar
I was making wine and beer before I started in on mead. It's looking more and more like I'm going to end up making a move into wine production which will of course mean that I'll set up the premisis for mead and beer making as well. I'm halfway through the UC Davis Winemaking Certification courses and let me tell you. Anything I may have thought I knew about making quality wine on a large scale/commercial basis has been set on it's ear. This is some intense stuff, we've lost many students in the first couple of weeks.
But the information is worth killing for and I'm sticking it out as far as I can take it!
Cheers,
Oskaar
Sander said:
Ta, I'm actually looking at ABUK supplies in Nottingham now, chambers starting at 5BBL capacity. Though, am re-jigging the business plan to provide a more stepped approach ot scaling up as our marketing gets to work - having 200 gallons sitting around at this stage was infeasible.
