first time making it.

well, im gonna try to make mead soon. and wanna know if anyone has tried to use some loquats in their meads here. but from my experience with loquats the rot quickly after ripening, would that not be good? maybe i'll just make plain mead first and next loquat season use them.

i'm a n00b and would like some advice.

[lostnbronx]

Dragonslayer,

I haven't used loquats before, so I have no info there, but I do believe that you're right about trying something a little more basic -- or time-tested -- before experimenting with something new. Joe's Ancient Orange is probably the best first mead a new enthusiast could put together: it's very easy, inexpensive, requires close to nothing in the way of equipment (a jug and an airlock), fast (only three months -- sometimes sooner), and quite good. After that, maybe a straight mead, or a simple melomel using juices. A little experience can go a long way once you do branch out on your own.

-David

[Oskaar]

Loquats are really not that tough to work with. I seed them and then freeze them before mushing them up good and into the must.

However, they are a delicate flavor, and you need to use a lot of them to get and preserve the flavor in the mead.

Practice . . . a lot before you tackle them. Pick the fruit and freeze it, then when you have a good basic mead recipe add them at a rate of at least 3.5 to 4.5 lbs per gallon, you may need even more of them depending on how concentrated they are, and what time of year.

Loquat wood is excellent for slow cooking pork ribs and pork in general as it is one of the densest woods I use when slow BBQing meat.

Also, there is a stylized version of Miyamoto Musashi using a loquat wood bo-ken (wooden sword) to defeat Sasaki Kojiro in a sword duel in 1612.

Cheers,

Oskaar

i just mixed a batch of joes orange mead. now just lettin it ferment. made a few changes though, i dont have cinnamon sticks, so i used a bit of ground cinnamon, and didn't use a clove dont have any and dont know what one is