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The Sherlock Holmes of Mead . . .

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Dan McFeeley

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I'd sent off a few pictures of my latest mead session to Oskaar, which also featured my 7 year old daughter helping out by stirring the must. I didn't say a word about what kind of mead it was, or any of my procedures.

Oskaar sent back a reply and, by looking over the background in the pictures showing all the bottles, buckets, etc., I'd been using, he accurately reproduced the recipe, even down to amounts of water, honey, Brix measurements. The figures he gave weren't quite the same as the recipe, but even though he didn't hit the bullseye, he was close enough to nick it. It sounded pretty elementary (pun intended :D) as he went through the reconstruction of the recipe but nonetheless, I thought it was an impressive effort.

Oh yeah, the recipe (if I don't post it, I'll have Ancient Joe after me) -- 1 gallon, 1 quart of pomegranite juice, 15 lb.s honey, D-47 yeast, water to dilute to approx. 6 gallons for a SG of 1.11. The fermentation is happily underway, having been sufficiently O2'd and given enough nutrients to keep the yeasties happy.
 

Miriam

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What Oskaar doesn't know about mead isn't worth knowing. ;D

Dan, your little girl helps out? My 8-year-old daughter thinks mead and wine are gross.


Miriam
 

Oskaar

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Dan's Daughter is an absolute doll. And what's even more impressive is that she looks like she knows what she is doing, and is having a great time making mead.

Cheers,

Oskaar
 

Dan McFeeley

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Thanks Oskaar -- she's coming along! I think her favorite chore is helping to measure the gravity.

Miriam -- this was the first time she helped out and she loved it. I gave her some of the pomegranite/honey must to sip from a cup and she really liked that.

If anyone was wondering -- I waffled on posting the pictures to this forum and then decided against it. She's wearing a t-shirt that can help identify her location, and that's not a good thing. The GotMead forums are probably one of the safest places there are on the Internet, but regardless of that, I want to practice good Internet safety. I've seen reports that 30% of children and teens who hang out in chat rooms on the Internet get approached by pedophiles, and have come across real life instances of this.

Back to the subject of the thread -- in one shot she was holding out a spoonful of the must. Oskaar made a guess on the Brix of the must, using background knowledge of meadmaking, the amount of honey and juice suggested by the photo, but also looking at the color of the must in the spoon she was holding (one end of the stirring rod) in the picture, coming up with a figure of 24 to 26 Brix. Like I said, *very* impressive. Shows what a long background in wine and meadmaking can do for you.
 

David Baldwin

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I have an 8 year old son and 6 year old daughter who like to watch and "help". They mostly keep me company and watch me while I work. They do make excellent runners though. They are happy to fetch things from the sink or cupboards, and will even help with KP when I'm wrapping up. When I make Joe's Orange/Spice mead, they watch in wide eyed wonder while I fill the kitchen with oranges, honey, boiling water etc. They love to see the first bubbles and later the head of foam.

The biggest problem I have is keeping them out of my stash of oranges! ;D

I suspect that I'll see more of my little helpers in my mead workshop when school is out for the summer.
 

Miriam

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Dan, you are absolutely right not to post a picture of your little one, may she be well. I wouldn't either.

Oskaar's ability to deconstruct a mead by just looking at a spoonful of must amounts to the uncanny. Or eerie (I think Oskaar would like that better ;) .) The Mead Magician!

Miriam
 

Oskaar

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Hmmmmm

The mystical magical mead monkey . . .

Inspector Clouseau: "Do you 'ave a lahzeence for zat minkee?"

Blind beggar: "I am a musician and the monkey is a businessman. He doesn't tell me what to play, and I don't tell him what to do with his money. "

Oskaar
 

WRATHWILDE

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Oskaar the mind reader... he always quotes my favorite lines from some of my favorite movies. 8). on the business theme...

The Duke d'Escargot - Which do you prefer, business or pleasure?

Pierre - Well, that depends on what you regard as business.
Phillip - And what you may regard as pleasure.

d'Escargot - In Paris, we say business is pleasure.

Pierre - And to us, pleasure is our business.

d'Escargot - Then your business should be a pleasure, making my pleasure a business.

Phillip - Unless some mistake business for pleasure... while others know no business but pleasure.

d'Escargot - (angrily) In that case, sir, I will show you my business.

Phillip - My pleasure.

d'Escargot - (displays dagger)

Who can tell me the Movie? Sherlock?

Wrathwilde
 

Oskaar

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I'm guessing "Start the revolution without me"

Gene Wilder and Donald Sutherland?

Oskaar
 

WRATHWILDE

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Right. OK Oskaar, time to get obscure... back to the animal theme.

"Come on and... hop, hop, come and do the Kangaroo hop, hop, it's the dance for me and you."

Wrathwilde

PS if you get get the movie, the title is yours to keep.
 

Dan McFeeley

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Some other memorable quotes from the movie:

Helene de Sisis: I'm sorry Philippe, I try my best to please you.
Philippe de Sisis: How? You can't hunt, you can't ride, you can't shoot, you can't fence! What kind of a marriage is this?



Duke de Sisis: Do you know who I am?
Andre Coupe: Oh yes. The Duke de Sisis, the scrounge of Corsica.
Duke De Sisis: The scourge of Corsica, you ignorant peasant!


Oh, another quiz. The kangaroo hop is from: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother.

Here's one for you guys -- the lines run "What time is it?" "Just a minute, I've got it written down on a piece of paper. A nice man gave it to me this morning."

What radio show was this from? Who are the people voicing the characters?
 

Dan McFeeley

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WRATHWILDE said:
OK Dr, YOU are Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother.
I know it but I will leave it open with a clue... it's 8 o/c and it's BBC.

You got it -- shhhh! Don't say anymore! :eek:

Oskaar listens to all kinds of eccletic stuff -- I'll bet he's going to figure it out.
 

lostnbronx

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Dan McFeeley said:
Here's one for you guys -- the lines run "What time is it?" "Just a minute, I've got it written down on a piece of paper. A nice man gave it to me this morning."

What radio show was this from? Who are the people voicing the characters?

I say either Burns & Allen, or The Bickersons, Starring Francis Langford and Don Ameche.

"You say you'll do it, but you never do...get up and do it now!"

-David
 

Oskaar

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Nice catch Bronx!

Here's one for you all:


"I'm a free lance maintenance man!"

Cheers,

Oskaar
 

Dan McFeeley

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lostnbronx said:
I say either Burns & Allen, or The Bickersons, Starring Francis Langford and Don Ameche.

Nope -- Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan in the BBC production "The Goon Show." ;D

Oskaar posed a new one:

"I'm a free lance maintenance man!"

"The Maintenance Man" by Michael Baisden?

??? ??? ???
 

WRATHWILDE

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The Line seems familiar, but i can't place it without a reference. Hint Oskaar? Book, Play, Radio, TV... Something you overheard at a Ren faire by the joust? ???

Wrathwilde

"Would you like to play Questions?"
 

Oskaar

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Movie - mid-eighties

Another quote from the same film as a hint/help:

Listen, kid, we're all in it together.


Cheers,

Oskaar

WW: Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead ? ? ?
 

WRATHWILDE

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Oskaar,
And I was so sure your answer was going to be "How do you play that?" which is of course the next line. Although I did screw it up :-[... it was supposed to be "Do you want to play questions?"
Still racking my brains, I keep them in Jars next to my Mead, I get confused some times, rack one when I should be racking the other.

Wrathwilde
 
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