Some far out ideas, maybe?

Matt Scott · Dec 10, 2004

How about nuts? I suppose you could put almond and hazelnut extract in a mead, but what about the actual nuts, like pecan? I have very little experience with brewing, so I dunno if that'd work.

Coffee? I saw a recipe which involved sticking coffee beans in an orange, but what about putting a shot of espresso in the wort?

Tea? I'm addicted to tea. I have a tea altar. Would maybe a fruity tea like Lady Grey or a french blend work?

Some other ideas: carob, chicory, yarrow, hyssop, nettle, meadowsweet, agrimony, dock..?

Not quite sure why I'm posting this, except for maybe some feedback as to how well these might work, hopefully before I head towards some major disaster on my own

)

Oskaar · Dec 10, 2004

General procedure that I use for grains, nuts, etc. is to steep them in some of the must on the stove for a while until the infusion of flavor is what I want and then rack the mead onto it in secondary.

Generally roasted nuts impart a much better flavor from my experience.

One note: I have done peanut butter at a rate of one pound per gallon to my mead. I racked onto in secondary and agitated it well once I had it capped off. It turned out nice, but the clearing process took a while. All things considered it wasn't as long as the mango mead I made.

Cheers,

Oskaar

Tsuchi · Dec 10, 2004

I would certainly consider trying some of the herbs... Meadowsweet and woodruff are traditional for Maybowl type beverages. I’ve also had a lovely sweet violet wine, where I gathered the violets and a friend brewed for me. Though I ought to point out that if you’re going to gather plants yourself... or even purchase them, you HAVE to know what you’re all about! Herbs are medicines, meds can be very dangerous. As for the nuts I’m a huge fan but I don’t know enough about the process to say whether or not the oils in them would cause you grief in the long term storage or even in the fermenting. I'm also interested if any one knows though.

Oskaar · Dec 10, 2004

No problems with oils in the meads that I've made with nuts.

Oskaar

Matt Scott · Dec 10, 2004

Interesting about the violets, I was planning on trying something with that, but instead of flowers, grind up some of those violet candies from C. Howards. It would add some sugar to the blend, but if the mints are suitably strong, it should also impart their flavor, ne?

beckett · Dec 10, 2004

a friend of mine used carob with wildflower honey and molasses. that turned out with a nice flavor. the carob gave it a really nice flavor when combined with the molasses. it is a shame he didnt used a darker honey. anyway the carob he used came as a powder which he mixed into the must.

zweitracht · Dec 10, 2004

beckett said:
a friend of mine used carob with wildflower honey and molasses. that turned out with a nice flavor. the carob gave it a really nice flavor when combined with the molasses. it is a shame he didnt used a darker honey. anyway the carob he used came as a powder which he mixed into the must.

That does sound tasty! Happen to have the recipe, and a little you can sip
on and give us a description of the flavor?

Matt Scott · Dec 11, 2004

Interesting... I have a vanilla-hazelnut tea that has carob in it that I was thinking of maybe using in a tea methyglin (I think we should coin a term: Theamel - tea mead*), but I didn't realize that carob came in a powder... I guess it would.

Oh, and, uh.. zweitracht? Hail Eris.

*Nucumel - nut mead? Theamel, floramel, cafemel... caramel?

zweitracht · Dec 11, 2004

Matt,

Sounds like a blend meant to get you in touch with your inner
hippie. Who manufactures/distributes it?

Her Ladyship, BTW, says she prefers sun to hail. Given the weather
we've had recently, I think hail is more likely. Maybe I can pack it into
snowball-sized ice-packs and go hail a few people of my own.

Hrm.. what would I have to put in her meads? I guess a golden cyser would be appropriate. I imagine golden apples added post-ferment would give it
a nice sour zing. Or perhaps one each of the five elements:

Sweet ... (this would be the honey?)
Boom ... (I think the yeast count as the "boom" here.)
Pungent ... (cloves ..?)
Prickle ... (prickly pear? agave nectar? nettles?)
Orange .... (I'd settle for anything citrus. Or maybe colored maybe.)

Ranna · Dec 11, 2004

Why, Celestial Seasonings of Boulder, CO, of course! Where hippie is normal.

I have several recipes for Nettle beer, but none of them sound that good with cloves. Maybe something more astringent, like yarrow or something, or maybe horsemint (I think? It's a weed in Colorado, but I lurves it; very peppery flavor).

But yes, a sparkling dessert cyser would be rather appropriate: apples, plus the five elements. The local supermarkets have a bunch of rather light cider available now, so I'm tempted to try it.

I've heard of people floating yeast on toasted bread to pitch it, or just using bread in general as a yeast nutrient. This opens up the avenue of adding hot-dog buns, though I'm not sure that such light bread would be that good for the mead. All you need is a symbolic amount, though, to piss off Our Lady. This limits the days you can drink the final product on, though.

jab · Dec 11, 2004

Ranna said:
This limits the days you can drink the final product on, though.

Why would that be? A devout follower of the Lady would be able to justify drinking on any given day by showing the uninitiated how that day is related to five.

Ranna · Dec 12, 2004

Point.

Good one, too.

In fact, this opens up a whole new avenue of excuses when you take into account that, in addition to the Discocal, you've got Julian, Gregorian, Lunar, Mayan, and all sorts of other calendars to justify meading, or just about anything else. I suppose if you have enough fives in there, which you always will, then it'll cancel out hot-dog-bun-ness.

In other news, the cider that's on sale, comes in nice, 1 gal. jugs, which would be useful.

Oskaar · Dec 12, 2004

I have two simple justifications that work for me.

1. The sun is shining
2. The sun isn't shining

In case there is any question as to whether the sun is shining or not, have a drink and recheck. Repeat until observation verifies one of the above.

Cheers,

Oskaar

beckett · Dec 12, 2004

zweitracht: i will get the exact recipe from him next time i go over there. he promised he would trade a bottle of it with me. i havent had time to go collect cause of papers and finals.

Matt Scott: carob powder is sold as a chocolate replacement for use in hot beverages, baking, etc. i think originally he was going to order whole carob pods off a website but instead got the powder from the local food coop. i was unaware it came mixed in teas.

zweitracht · Dec 12, 2004

Oskaar said:
I have two simple justifications that work for me.

1. The sun is shining
2. The sun isn't shining

In case there is any question as to whether the sun is shining or not, have a drink and recheck. Repeat until observation verifies one of the above.

Cheers,

Oskaar

I think Ranna was concerned that the floating bread may be mistaken for a soggy hot Dog Buns. Beckett, I look forward to seeing the recipe!

Oskaar · Dec 12, 2004

My comment was related to what Jab posted.

If you're going to float bread, or buns or anything else in your mead, that's great. More power to you. I'm more concerned about drinking mead.

Cheers,
Oskaar

jab · Dec 13, 2004

Right. My suggestion was purely a reminder to all Discordians that Sun's Up/Sun's Down, it's Thursday, it's my cat's birthday, etc. won't cut it if a bona fide Pope asks you what the reasoning is for your drinking today. Excepting if you are drinking on the 23rd, in which case, if a Pope actually has to ask why you are drinking that day, you have the right to demand access to and destroy his/her/it's Pope card on the spot.

-jb

Oskaar · Dec 13, 2004

OK, since I'm not a discordian that clears things up!

I'm not much for rules about when I can or can't drink.

Anyone saunters up to me in a pope outfit and asks me why I'm drinking he better be ready to get a cream pie in the face. It's just a knee jerk reaction to tall pope hats and men in dresses and pope-mobiles. I once got a pope-soap-on-a-rope gag gift at an office party. I gave to a girl I know and told her it was for all those hard to reach places.

Cheers,

Oskaar

Ranna · Dec 13, 2004

There seems to be an unreasonably high percentage of Discordians interested in mead. Perhaps it's the 5-gal. carboys, or the golden color of some mead, or that mead-with-apples has it's own name.

Anyhoo, back to the original topic, I came across some dandylion root, which has an interesting, earthy-sweet smell. Now, a certain book I have mentions that dandylion root can be roasted to a chocolate-brown and brewed like coffee, with a similar result: slightly bitter, though sweeter than coffee. Which do you think, in your opinions, would go better in mead? Sweet-earthy, or bittersweet and roasted? I know it would depend on the type of mead, but input on that would be helpful as well

)

Oskaar · Dec 13, 2004

Well, I'd try roasting that root to see if it's all it's cracked up to be before I trusted to something I read. Books can be informative, but sometimes all of the information isn't always included, or purposefully left out.

I've made Dandylion wine with my Dad and it was great. Roots tend to be more bitter from my experience, but I've never tasted these particular roots so I can't relate any firsthand knowledge. It sounds interesting.

Remember, those who can, do. Those who can't, teach. Those who can't do, write books.

Keep us in the loop on your experiment.

Cheers,

Oskaar

Some far out ideas, maybe?

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