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Followers of Brother Adam

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Marion

NewBee
Registered Member
Jun 1, 2004
115
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Ah yes, the simple meads. How many have actually tried honey, water & yeast? Just let it do its thing. No tannin, no energizer, no nutrients?

I tend to think, we being as "educated" as we are, this day in time, we seem to over do things. Sometimes, maybe, we should set the books aside, put 3lb of Clover Honey to the gallon of rain water, add our yeast of choice and just forget about it. We may be surprised.

Or, if we can't possibly bring ourselves to being this simple, use a little black tea, raisins, lemon, etc... for our additives, rather than the text-book ones.

We can make both or lives and our meads very complex, if we wish. But, I think its nice to know we can keep things relaxed, simple and at the same time, quite elegant, with the most basic procedures.
 

JoeM

NewBee
Registered Member
Jan 9, 2004
665
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43
most meads i make consist of honey, water, yeast, a bit of lemon juice and some crushed red grapes...no tannin, acid, or nutrient powders. personally i think they are wonderful. I've also made meads of simply water, honey, and yeast, but in my experience the complexity of the final product benifits from a bit of acid and nutrient, be it from a bottle or from fruit.
 

Jmattioli

Senior Member
Lifetime GotMead Patron
I agree that a fine product can come from simplicity. I,ve made an ancient mead in a gallon jug with 3 1/2 lbs honey, a handful of raisins, 1 cinnamon stick, 2 cloves, and 1 complete orange cut into eights rind and all and pushed in jug. Add water and shake well. Then added 1 t of bread yeast and an airlock. I put it in the cubboard and forget about it for 2 months and it comes out crystal clear and great every time and quite a delicious sweet beverage good for sipping at Christmas time. If you wait long enough, all the solids will go to the bottom I am told but I just siphon out the clear stuff with a small cloth filter over the hose when it is clear.
Joe
 

Marion

NewBee
Registered Member
Jun 1, 2004
115
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64
Joe, I'm must be running a similar trail as you. I too find myself starting one up, putting it in the cellar and let it be. There are few things that can have a more positive outcome on Meads, than time and patience. We can energize this and stablize that, but when everything is said and done, time & patient is the basis of a good Mead.
 

Jmattioli

Senior Member
Lifetime GotMead Patron
;)Yes I agree. Mead knows how to pretty well take care of itself. Most problems are not because the yeast don't know how to do their job but from our incessant disturbing of their work. Patience is definely a virtue in meadmaking and there seems to be a tendency in us to always try and rush things along. Chuck W. once gave me the best piece of advice I presently use and that is "Don't do anything until the mead speaks to you" Think about it. Mead has its own language. The yeast let you know when they are ready for racking. The meads tells you when it is bottling time. Of couse they don't speak in words but mead gives you all the feedback you need to do the right thing if you pay attention to its lessons.
Regards, Joe ;)
 

Oskaar

Got Mead Partner
Administrator
Dec 26, 2004
7,874
8
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34
The OC
Keep it simple.

I make batches of 15 gallons and the only thing in them has been yeast, water and honey.

Never been disappointed with the end-product. I did have a dubious flirtation with a yeast nutrient once in a five gallon batch, but no ill effects were suffered.

I am getting ready to try some different honeys though.

Oskaar
 

Oskaar

Got Mead Partner
Administrator
Dec 26, 2004
7,874
8
0
34
The OC
Damn, my brain was on slow when I fired off the last post. I had forgotten about Marion being a gentleman's name.

Apologies for the Ma'am.

Oskaar
 

Whteknght

NewBee
Registered Member
Jun 25, 2004
56
0
0
48
The one mead I have done with chemicals has been a troublesome process. I think I prefer just honey, water, lemon juice and yeast. It's actually a better way to go.
 

kace069

NewBee
Registered Member
Mar 21, 2004
470
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46
how much lemon juice do you guys add to a 5 gallon batch? No tea? And you add it at preperation of the must correct?
 

SteveT

NewBee
Registered Member
Jul 1, 2004
273
1
0
One of the first meads I made was simple, and after aging 7 years, it is not absolutely incredible. I used no chemicals in this batch what-so-ever. Believe it or not I still have a couple of bottle left.

Does anyone have a source for the Beekeeping book that Brother Adam wrote?

Salude!
Steve
 

Oskaar

Got Mead Partner
Administrator
Dec 26, 2004
7,874
8
0
34
The OC
Hey Steve,

I was reading your post and got confused (which is not a very rare state of mind for me)

You wrote:

One of the first meads I made was simple, and after aging 7 years, it is not absolutely incredible.

Were you saying that the mead is absolutely incredible after seven years of aging? I don't have any on hand that's lasted that long. But, since you have a couple bottles left . . . . ;D

I hope they get even better as they age!

Cheers,

Oskaar
 

dogglebe

NewBee
Registered Member
Oct 14, 2003
352
0
0
hbd.org
Oskaar said:
Were you saying that the mead is absolutely incredible after seven years of aging? I don't have any on hand that's lasted that long. But, since you have a couple bottles left .
Oskaar

After drinking my first batch, I wanted to be sure that I never ran out of mead. As a result, I brew four to five batches of mead a year (in addition to all my beer). I still have bottles of every batch I made.


Phil
 

WikdWaze

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 2, 2004
600
0
0
I like this approach very much. More ingredients can only increase the possibility of an error. I am planning to very soon create my very first batch of mead and want to keep it as simple and pure as possible. I do have one question. I have heard that it takes quite a while for the yeast to start if you don't add nutrients, is this so?
 

Jmattioli

Senior Member
Lifetime GotMead Patron
I think you will find that the nutrients affect the tail end of fermentation more than the start. There is usually enough in the honey and hard water to get things started quickly but they sometimes run out and drag on to a slow fermentation or cause a stuck fermentation if they are insuffiecient to support a complete fermentation from a higher starting SG. I have made many batches without any nutrients except that in the honey and hard water and quick starting was never a problem. Certain yeasts require less nutrients than others.
Joe
 

WikdWaze

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 2, 2004
600
0
0
Hadn't thought about that, makes sense that the nutrients would only be a factor towards the end when the yeast were most plentiful and most stressed. I think we have fairly hard water here, but not as hard as some I've seen. I've seen places where a dried towel could attract a magnet ;)
Do you think there would be any benefit to boiling down the water, say taking a five-gallon pot all the way down to one gallon, and then adding water back to the original volume? This would concentrate the mineral content a bit, but would it be enough a difference to be worth the effort?
 

Jmattioli

Senior Member
Lifetime GotMead Patron
I would not recommend it since it will not only be a lot of trouble but the quantity will be unpredictable unless it is scientifically measured. It is much easier IF one is having a problem with a lack of nutrients in the water to Add some nutrients such as fermax or fermaid which is measureable and provides the essential nutrients required for complete fermentation without a lot of fuss. Just remember, too much of a good thing can spoil the mead. Use nutrients with discretion if at all.
Joe
 
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