• PATRONS: Did you know we've a chat function for you now? Look to the bottom of the screen, you can chat, set up rooms, talk to each other individually or in groups! Click 'Chat' at the right side of the chat window to open the chat up.
  • Love Gotmead and want to see it grow? Then consider supporting the site and becoming a Patron! If you're logged in, click on your username to the right of the menu to see how as little as $30/year can get you access to the patron areas and the patron Facebook group and to support Gotmead!
  • We now have a Patron-exclusive Facebook group! Patrons my join at The Gotmead Patron Group. You MUST answer the questions, providing your Patron membership, when you request to join so I can verify your Patron membership. If the questions aren't answered, the request will be turned down.

Mead & SciFi...

Barrel Char Wood Products

Suzy_Q_Brewmistres

NewBee
Registered Member
Sep 18, 2004
155
0
0
Going to a SciFi Convention this weekend and there's a lecture on mead making scheduled for late Sat afternoon. It sounds like fun... hope I learn something... although I've learned a great.... and I mean GREAT DEAL from youse guys here on Got Mead and our Great Hostess.. Vicki.
The person giving the talk had one tonight on Medievil Cooking... it turned out quite interesting...

:-* Suzy Q
 

GntlKnght

NewBee
Registered Member
Jan 9, 2004
265
1
0
60
Please post what you liked and disliked about the presentation. I will be doing a mead making workshop in April, so I am very interested in how the one you're attending works out.

Is there a demo?
How many handouts were given?
Did they make it sound easy or scary?
How much "science" was shared?
 

Oskaar

Got Mead Partner
Administrator
Dec 26, 2004
7,874
8
0
34
The OC
Hey Suzy,

That sounds like a great combination, cooking, SF and mead! I'd like to get your opinion of how they carried off the convention and what you found your overall experience at the convention was.

Check your email for a message from me.

Thanks a bunch,

Oskaar
 

Dan McFeeley

Lifetime Patron
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Oct 10, 2003
1,899
7
38
68
Illinois
Suzy_Q_MeadFaerie said:
Going to a SciFi Convention this weekend and there's a lecture on mead making scheduled for late Sat afternoon. It sounds like fun... hope I learn something... although I've learned a great.... and I mean GREAT DEAL from youse guys here on Got Mead and our Great Hostess.. Vicki.
The person giving the talk had one tonight on Medievil Cooking... it turned out quite interesting...

Hello Suzy Q --

Yeah, let us know what they had to say at the seminar, we'd all be interested in hearing about it.

SciFi has used mead and meadmaking -- I'm thinking of the Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster and the infamous maple mead. Miles Vorkosigan, among other things, had started a maple meadery!
 

Suzy_Q_Brewmistres

NewBee
Registered Member
Sep 18, 2004
155
0
0
.. Well, the mead lecture was a bit dissapointing.... the one who was supposed to do it wasn't there and the substitute was an SCA (Society of Creative Anachranisms) member. They are known to research their craft, no matter what it is, and go with the ways it was done in the olden days. They kinda stick to authenticity.
First off... she says to bring your honey & water, she kept calling it wart not must.. to a boil for a good 20 minutes. She did say she uses some raw honey so there would be bee parts & other stuff in it... so I suppose some boiling would be neccessary. And she commented that honey comes in different qualities than it did in the olden days and boiling concentrates the honey.
Second... One fella remarked that they now make buckets with spouts in them about 2 inches above the bottom that would help in racking (filling bottles) and leaving the sediment behind. I said that it would add air to the mead... which you don't want. They said it would be no more than using a racking cane. I disagreed because the racking cane tube is inserted all the way to the bottom of the bottle and no air is added and the spout would let the mead trickle or fall a good 7 to 10 inches to the bottom of the bottle. (well you could attach a hose to the spout, she said) It didn't make sense to me to spend 3 to 6 months on a mead and then ruin it in the racking by adding air to it. Oh.. well...!!
Third... I asked her if she had heard of making mead with bread yeast... she didn't recommend it... the bread yeast can't handle high alcohol levels and will die out early. She also "heard" that it would give the mead off flavors.
Don't get me wrong... it was a good discussion... but I felt she had a lot more to learn. (she had been making mead for 3 years and the fella had been making mead for 7 years) I only wish the lady from the night before would have given the talk. She sounded fully knowledgable.
The SciFi convention was great fun though. There were all kinds of odd balls, wierdos and strange people and then a few Klingons from the USS Rubicon, the local trekkies club. They ran the Quark's Bar, and offered Klingon Blood Wine and Romulan Ale in one room and a movie, we watched the Chronicles of Riddick, on a big projection screen in the other room. A lot of Anime characters from the younger croud. Video gaming, roll play card games like Magic, and board games were played in separate rooms. They had a sales room, an art exhibit room and a ball room for the Mascarade ball and dancing later. And lots of us older croud dressed in various fashion. I went in a modest Ren fashion with a wreath of ivy in my hair.
But... all in all.... I will stick to the info I've learned from the Got Mead website... and the Pluthera of experience that you guys offer. Thanks for getting me started in the right direction on my mead making....

:-* Suzy Q

Oh.. I forgot... another thing... they said after the "wart" is ready, pour it into the primary bucket or jar and cover it with saran or plastic, secure it with elastic or a rubber band. Then when it is cooled open the sealed plastic just a wee bit and toss in the yeast. You don't want to let any air into it. ...... this contradicts what I've learned on the website about adding lots of air at this point to help the yeasties grow.
 

GntlKnght

NewBee
Registered Member
Jan 9, 2004
265
1
0
60
I went in a modest Ren fashion...

Until I moved from Southern California to North Carolina I did not realize that there was such a thing as "modest" Ren fashion! ;D

Sorry that it was so disappointing!
 

Suzy_Q_Brewmistres

NewBee
Registered Member
Sep 18, 2004
155
0
0
modest as meaning my legs were covered, no belly showing but still plenty of bosom, I couldn't give any less, ;D,

:-* Suzy Q
 

Oskaar

Got Mead Partner
Administrator
Dec 26, 2004
7,874
8
0
34
The OC
The Ren Faire in So Cal is great! Lot's of pretty ladies, and lots of very "un-modest" outfits.

Hmmmm, better check my calendar!

Cheers,

Oskaar
 

pain

GotMead Owner
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Apr 5, 1996
1,698
18
38
North Carolina
gotmead.com
I haven't been to RPFS in *years*....I did my guild mistress apprenticeship there. I remember hanging out on the bridge over by the Cuthie's, a little tipsy, in my wench clothes.

A really *fine* man with waist length hair wearing tights over *very* nice legs strolled by, and I commented as he walked by, "Have that one washed and brought to my tent!". It seems he heard me, 'cause he turned around, strode over, and grabbed me. He bent me back until my hair brushed the bridge boards, and kissed me just about unconscious.

*Thats* when I knew we weren't in NC anymore! That and seeing the guy who strides around in a loincloth composed of two squares of cloth on......

::sigh::

I miss going to SoCal......

Vicky - who *is* going to Scarborough Faire this spring in April.......as a pirate wench
 

Suzy_Q_Brewmistres

NewBee
Registered Member
Sep 18, 2004
155
0
0
Vicki.... sounds like you got into the ren mode.... I've offered to straighten out codpieces, flirting is expected. My husband enjoyed flirting with one pickle wench... she would display the largest pickle in her generous clevage. Only a dollar.
Oskaar... I think you would blend in well with the ren crowd... scoundrels are notorious.
I have our local ren faire that I have to behave myself... moderately... and then we go to the out of town ren faire that we relax a bit and thoroughly enjoy it.
:-* Suzy Q
 
Barrel Char Wood Products

Viking Brew Vessels - Authentic Drinking Horns