Mead Newbee saying hello!

metal0130 · Apr 19, 2008

Hey guys and gals,

Just wanted to introduce myself. :wave: I have been home-brewing for about 6 months now and I decided to try my hand at mead. I had started home-brewing with a stout that turned out just fine, but not quite to my taste so I will be dumping it to use the bottles for my mead ;D

I started out with a one gallon "test" batch of JAO in a cleaned out milk carton followed by two other batches in 1gal glass carboys (one blood orange and one blueberry) and it's been one month. I have siphoned the JAO to another jug to get the crud out and took a taste test in the process and I must say, I don't know if I can wait another month or two before drinking the JAO! It tingled my tongue and was quite sweet!

So I guess this is my new hang out! I do a lot of reading here and not so much posting - so I'm always lurking

Yo momma · Apr 20, 2008

Welcome to GOT MEAD?

You picked a great space to hang out then.

I cannot belive you are throwing out a stout. What happened? :sad1:

NewBeeOne · Apr 20, 2008

HELLO AND WELCOME ABOARD!!!

This is indeed a great site to read and hang out at. I am setting up a paypal account now so that I can become a Patron due to the wonderful people and wealth of knowledge you will get here. Anywho, hope you love it as much I do!

vahan · Apr 20, 2008

Ahhhhhhh!

don't throw out a good stout!

give it away!

You'll have plenty of time for you friends to drink them, rinse them, and return them to you before youe mead will be ready!!!!!!

vahan

fatbloke · Apr 20, 2008

metal0130 said:
Hey guys and gals,

Just wanted to introduce myself. :wave: I have been home-brewing for about 6 months now and I decided to try my hand at mead. I had started home-brewing with a stout that turned out just fine, but not quite to my taste so I will be dumping it to use the bottles for my mead ;D
-----%<-----

Wow! don't waste it. Get some lactose and carefully sweeten it.

If it's a "guiness" like stout, the added lactose make it a great "milk stout". You'd just need to take the bitterness out, and it's heaven :toothy10: :tard:

regards

fatbloke

Medsen Fey · Apr 20, 2008

Welcome to GotMead metal!

I don't know for sure, but pouring out a stout sounds like "alcohol abuse" to me.

If you haven't looked at the Mead NewBee Guide, it is worth reviewing to make sure you have the basics covered.

Good Meading!
Medsen

metal0130 · Apr 20, 2008

Thanks guys! I have bought some red stone apricot mead to try out while I wait for my own.

The problem with the stout I think is that I over-sparged the grains. I think... The flavor is a lot more like a porter - it even has an aftertaste like black butte. I don't know enough about the flavors and off tastes yet to really describe it. I'm ok tossing it out because at least I know I did it right (i think), I just don't like it

beachfrontmeadman · Apr 22, 2008

is it really possible to over sparg?i agree with the others this sounds a little abusive to your creations, heck a porter sounds pretty good right now, `but then again it is your beer so you are well within your rights to do what your like with it, though you might try using it for some cooking

metal0130 · Apr 23, 2008

oh man, I didn't even think about using it for cooking! I gotta do some research and find some good recipes

also I did another taste test on my JAO (I'm kinda expediting this one) and It was drinkable but not by much, it was very very sweet, and had much more body than I had expected. So I am just leaving the other two im making alone for 3 or 4 months and pray :angel10:

vahan · Apr 24, 2008

cooking is a great idea!

try making beer bread, or some nice beer stew.

yum

doctajones · Apr 24, 2008

Beer Ice Cream!

Porter ice Cream
12 oz (1 1/2 cups) porter or other dark beer (JAF note: Maybe Young's Double Chocolate Stout, even?)
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise
6 egg yolks
sugar for sprinkling

1. In medium saucepan, bring beer to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 12-15 minutes or until reduced to about 1/3 cup.
2. In large saucepan, combine the cream, milk, and sugar. Using a small sharp knife, scrape the seeds from vanilla bean into the cream mixture. Add the vanilla pods. Bring the mixture to a gentle boil over medium heat, then remove pan from heat.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk egg yolks. Slowly whisk in 1 cup of the hot cream. Gradually whisk the yolk mixture back into the saucepan of hot cream. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Do not let boil. Strain through a fine mesh sieve into a clean bowl. Sprinkle generously with sugar to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
4. Whisk the beer into the cream. Follow the manufacturer's instructions to churn the ice cream. Transfer to airtight container and freeze until ready to serve.

Try it with a molasses brownie and cherry sauce . . . its like whoa :icon_thumright:

beachfrontmeadman · Apr 24, 2008

i think i'm in love

vahan · Apr 24, 2008

docta!!!

that is great! I just started making ice-cream recently and your recipe is very similar to the vanilla bean I make.

for a real overload, then make an ice-cream float! (Young's chocolate stout would be perfect as would a nice oatmeal stout, or milk stout).

thanks for the great recipe, I'm going to make it next week!!!!!

cheers,
vahan

doctajones · Apr 25, 2008

Vahan, let me know how you like it!

I've been making ice cream for a couple years now and I'm always looking for ways to improve recipes.

Also, where it says to refridgerate for 2 hours, if you can stand the wait, let it sit overnight. This will condition the cream mixture and the texture of your ice cream will be much better.

Beach . . .

Go buy a cheap home ice cream maker (I got mine from Target for $20) if you don't have one already and whip some up! You'll be glad you did!

metal0130 · May 5, 2008

Hello again guys!

It's been somewhere just over two months since I started 3 one gallon batches of mead and I have a question. (big surprise huh) Any of the ways, I tasted two of the meads to see how they were coming along, and I must say they were both much sweeter than I had expected. I used 3lbs of honey per gallon. One I tasted was JAO and the other was roughly the same with some blueberry concentrate added for flavor and used a mead yeast (may have been a sweet mead yeast). I am of course planning on aging the mead as long as it takes but will the sweetness ever mellow out or am I going to be stuck with an overly sweet mead forever? It IS drinkable but I would have a tough time even finishing a small glass just because of the sweetness (maybe even some sourness in there). It doesn't taste "bad" really, just not as good as I was hoping (like my beer :confused3: )

what can I do to make it better? Just leave it alone and it will mellow? add fruit to it? any suggestions?

GrantLee63 · May 5, 2008

Two months is WAAAAAAY to early to make any judgements of where your mead will eventually end up. Any meads I make these days bulk-ages for a minimum of 2 years before I either bottle it, or let it bulk-age some more. Meadmaking, more than just about any pastime, hobby, obsession, etc., etc., requires patience .... and LOTS of it !!!

Oh ... and ..... by the way .....WELCOME !!!

- GL63

vahan · May 8, 2008

So, I finally made the beer ice-cream with Sam Smith Oatmeal stout. It came out nice, but I decided to add some cinnamon, but, unfortunately I added too much (about a tablespoon), so that's all you can really taste.

So I have nice cinnamon ice-cream that has color from the beer! Still delicious, but not exactly as indended.

vahan

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