I'm totally new to meadmaking, though not to fermenting. I'm not even totally sure what sent me down this rabbit hole, I think I was looking at beekeeping and link hopping brought me here. Anywho, I'm so intrigued I've been reading everything I could find for a couple days now and I grabbed a bunch of honey from my local beekeeper this afternoon to try something out.
There aren't any brew stores around here (why not?? I live in the middle of Oregon wine country for pete's sake!) so I don't have easy access to tools or fancy materials. So until I'm ready to head to Portland which would be an all day deal I'm left with working with what I've got.
The honey I have is a rather dark blackberry/meadowseet combination (blended by the bees, wasn't that nice of em?) it's deliciously sweet/tart/with a hint of vanilla-ness and I'm thinking of a Ginger and Vanilla metheglin possibly with a tiny bit of cinnamon.
I've got bread yeast which I understand is not ideal but it can work. But what I'm really interested in trying is using a ginger bug as my yeast starter. I suppose if I want to get that adventurous I really should have at least a hydrometer if not means to pH test as well. I have some more research to do as I have no intention of purchasing any of the yeast feeder thingys, I'm rather picky about knowing precisely what's in what I consume so I want to find good alternatives. So far it looks like pollen and raisins can fill some of those nutrient needs.
I'm totally okay with results that aren't reproducible as long as they're tasty, I never cook anything the same way twice, brewing will assuredly be the same. I just want something tasty, mildly sweet, and not so alcoholic as to make us blind. Patience enough for it to mature a bit shouldn't be too difficult either, it'll have 6 months or so before I can touch it as I'm 3 months pregnant.
So um, one wall-o-text later, I guess my question is: am I totally crazy to contemplate making a first mead with a ginger bug? Any ideas for anything in particular I'd need to watch for to improves chances of tasty results?
There aren't any brew stores around here (why not?? I live in the middle of Oregon wine country for pete's sake!) so I don't have easy access to tools or fancy materials. So until I'm ready to head to Portland which would be an all day deal I'm left with working with what I've got.
The honey I have is a rather dark blackberry/meadowseet combination (blended by the bees, wasn't that nice of em?) it's deliciously sweet/tart/with a hint of vanilla-ness and I'm thinking of a Ginger and Vanilla metheglin possibly with a tiny bit of cinnamon.
I've got bread yeast which I understand is not ideal but it can work. But what I'm really interested in trying is using a ginger bug as my yeast starter. I suppose if I want to get that adventurous I really should have at least a hydrometer if not means to pH test as well. I have some more research to do as I have no intention of purchasing any of the yeast feeder thingys, I'm rather picky about knowing precisely what's in what I consume so I want to find good alternatives. So far it looks like pollen and raisins can fill some of those nutrient needs.
I'm totally okay with results that aren't reproducible as long as they're tasty, I never cook anything the same way twice, brewing will assuredly be the same. I just want something tasty, mildly sweet, and not so alcoholic as to make us blind. Patience enough for it to mature a bit shouldn't be too difficult either, it'll have 6 months or so before I can touch it as I'm 3 months pregnant.
So um, one wall-o-text later, I guess my question is: am I totally crazy to contemplate making a first mead with a ginger bug? Any ideas for anything in particular I'd need to watch for to improves chances of tasty results?