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New guy here

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Sciknen

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 17, 2011
9
0
0
Lowell, Ma
Hey hows it going..

New guy here..

I'm a part of a couple other forums in another hobby of mine, reef tanks. I have to say I love a couple of the threads about the rules and whose running house.

I laughed a little. Not going to lie.

Back to me, my favorite subject, I have never brewed anything and don't own anything to brew. I've bought beer brew kits for people as gifts, but never for myself.

Why do I want to brew mead? Beowolf, the movie. I loved it. Bash me if you will but I enjoyed it. And their hall was called Mead Hall. So . After a little research I relized that I could do this. I purchased a book, read it. Put it down for a little bit while I dealt with life. But I have the time now to actually do this.

I read the noob guide on the main page, fantastic. Thanks to whoever wrote that.

I will be posting up my plans in another forum probably for my recipe and stuff, I'm sure I will need some help.

thanks for having me
Steve
 

Sciknen

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 17, 2011
9
0
0
Lowell, Ma
O yea.. Never have had mead either. First thing I must do is figure out what I like as far as dry, semi sweet, and sweet.

I have a feeling I'm going to like the semi-sweet/sweet side of mead. But that will be my job tomorrow, to find mead.
 

AToE

NewBee
Registered Member
Jun 8, 2009
4,066
3
0
Calgary AB Canada
One thing to do to is buy white wines and start comparing and measuring. Mead (the "traditional" kind with just honey water yeast, nutrients, no fruit or spices... not really traditional but that's what we call it!) is closest in character to white wine than any other alcohol. It has a lot less acidity though, so if you find out you like a semi-sweet wine with an SG of 1.010 but no sweeter, then be careful because that same SG will taste a lot sweeter in a traditional. Now, if you're adding fruit and or spices, you can get away with more sweetness because there's more balance.
 

Chevette Girl

All around BAD EXAMPLE
Moderator
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Apr 27, 2010
8,443
53
48
Ottawa, ON
Well, if you think you'll like sweet, try a Joe's Ancient Orange batch, very few of us regret having done so! (except maybe AToE who doesn't like sweet meads at all :D)
 

Sciknen

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 17, 2011
9
0
0
Lowell, Ma
That is definitely going to be my 1st batch of mead. Its spelled out for me and seems very easy, i'm sure i can find a way to screw it up though.
 

AToE

NewBee
Registered Member
Jun 8, 2009
4,066
3
0
Calgary AB Canada
Well, if you think you'll like sweet, try a Joe's Ancient Orange batch, very few of us regret having done so! (except maybe AToE who doesn't like sweet meads at all :D)

I do plan on making it one day, I swear! It seems ridiculous for me to be a member here and to have never even tasted the stuff, gotta be by far the most famous mead recipe in the English speaking world!

I have had a couple non-dry meads I liked, I just thought they'd be better if they were drier, and also could only drink them in small quantities!
 

Chevette Girl

All around BAD EXAMPLE
Moderator
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Apr 27, 2010
8,443
53
48
Ottawa, ON
That is definitely going to be my 1st batch of mead. Its spelled out for me and seems very easy, i'm sure i can find a way to screw it up though.

Bah, follow the recipe and you'll be fine. Even my brother in-law was successful when he tried it, and he can barely boil an egg successfully.
 

AToE

NewBee
Registered Member
Jun 8, 2009
4,066
3
0
Calgary AB Canada
I think the weird thing about JAO, from reading so many people post about it, is that accidental mistakes seem to actually not do much damage to it, it might not turn out perfect, but it certainly won't be bad. It's only the well-meaning intentional changes that seem to actually go sideways on people...
 

Chevette Girl

All around BAD EXAMPLE
Moderator
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Apr 27, 2010
8,443
53
48
Ottawa, ON
I think the weird thing about JAO, from reading so many people post about it, is that accidental mistakes seem to actually not do much damage to it, it might not turn out perfect, but it certainly won't be bad. It's only the well-meaning intentional changes that seem to actually go sideways on people...

Yep. So far, my rules for JAO experimentation are "don't change the yeast" and "don't change the proportion of honey". Other than that I'm totally guilty of voiding the warranty, but I also know better than to complain when the lemon JAO I made where I reduced the honey was too bitter, or the multi-citrus one never cleared, or the vanilla one took years to be tasty... But that's a different thread (do a search for "JAO variant" and you'll probably find it, check it out while you're dreaming up your next batch).

Happy meading! And welcome to the addiction- er, I mean, hobby!
 

Sciknen

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 17, 2011
9
0
0
Lowell, Ma
I think the weird thing about JAO, from reading so many people post about it, is that accidental mistakes seem to actually not do much damage to it, it might not turn out perfect, but it certainly won't be bad. It's only the well-meaning intentional changes that seem to actually go sideways on people...

good to know.. I'm actually prettty pumped about doing this.
 

AToE

NewBee
Registered Member
Jun 8, 2009
4,066
3
0
Calgary AB Canada
good to know.. I'm actually prettty pumped about doing this.

It's a lot of fun, I went into making mead wanting to just make a gallon to try out (I'd had mead, but with fruit or spices, wanted to see what just mead itself tasted like), ended up stumbling across this website and now it's a couple years and many, many, many batches later.

It's cheap too, when comparing price per bottle to other wines/winelike types of booze you can buy. It's also expensive if looked at per batch... but I don't like to look at it that way!
 

wildoates

NewBee
Registered Member
Mar 22, 2009
2,373
4
0
Elk Grove, CA
My first mead was JAO, made 3 gallons of it. It ended up being too sweet for me, so after many moons I REALLY voided the warranty by racking it into a bucket, pitching wine yeast, and letting it sit on a cup or so of Hershey's cocoa for a few weeks. It was hugely popular when given out at Christmas. :)

Welcome to GotMead, our happy mead home!
 

Loadnabox

NewBee
Registered Member
Apr 17, 2011
849
3
0
Ohio
My first mead was JAO, made 3 gallons of it. It ended up being too sweet for me, so after many moons I REALLY voided the warranty by racking it into a bucket, pitching wine yeast, and letting it sit on a cup or so of Hershey's cocoa for a few weeks. It was hugely popular when given out at Christmas. :)

Welcome to GotMead, our happy mead home!

powder or syrup?
 

dover157

NewBee
Registered Member
Sep 13, 2010
78
1
0
Moriarty, New Mexico
My first mead was JAO, made 3 gallons of it. It ended up being too sweet for me, so after many moons I REALLY voided the warranty by racking it into a bucket, pitching wine yeast, and letting it sit on a cup or so of Hershey's cocoa for a few weeks. It was hugely popular when given out at Christmas. :)

Welcome to GotMead, our happy mead home!



Hmm..... The coco may ballance the cinnamon nicely.... gonna have to try this one I think. JAO is not one of my favs because of the cinnamon I usally leave it out. To me when made by the recipe the taste is similar to drinking a screwdriver while chewing a peice of big red, not bad but not one of my first choices.... cant keep it in the bottle if I have anyone over though... guess the problem is me :eek:
 
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