AHA Honors Mead

Hey LNB, am I reading this correctly...you just have something yourself to introduce friends to mead. I'll be at a Pow Wow that weekend and may take a bottle of ancient orange for some friends to try....I have to watch out though, you heard about Indians and fire water....hehehe ;D

Aha Mead Day... Is for gathering freinds and family and none brewers to get together and Make some mead. There is usually 2 recipies for Mead Day posted.
If you decide to have a gathering you should register on that site, It will ask how many ppl invloved and at noon on that day everyone in the country makes mead (One of the posted recipies). Tha AhA keeps tabs of How many people and how many gallons of mead are made that day nation wide.

Unfortunately working that day , the price of freedom. Our club has our own Mead Day, around mid October-November, after the first frost (reduces incidents involving those pesky hornets).

I am planning to host an AHA Mead day event this year for my home brew guild. If anyone lives in the Greater KC area, they are welcome to attend. I will be posting more as Mead day grows closer.

Hey GB, I would love to attend. Let us know when it will be. I live in Omaha. I figure I drive 8 hours to Denver to get Hamm's beer, 3 hours to KC would be nothing for mead!

Would love to have you Jab! It will be Saturday, August 6th. I am not certain what time yet. We will be making this years official Mead Day recipie "Morning Wood" Oak aged mead, and I hope to brew a braggott as well. The braggotts that I have been bringing to my Brewers Guild meetings have really helped to stir up interest in mead. It appears the link posted above is now dead. Check this one to learn more about mead day.

http://www.beertown.org/events/meadday/

Greenblood

A Hamm's beer drinker eh? I loved the old Hamm's commercial! Da Bear! LOL

Just to clear things up. The event will be held in Lawrence, KS. It is about 30 minnutes from KC.

Greenblood

Oskaar said:

A Hamm's beer drinker eh? I loved the old Hamm's commercial! Da Bear! LOL

Click to expand...

Yeah, well I generally drink a good stout or Belgian but hey, if I have to drink weak american beer I at least pick some with some flavor!

*ties string to finger to remind himself to start a batch of beer when a carboy frees up*

I'm having friends over the 6th to make mead, But... I wonder about the AHA recipe for a couple of reasons.

From the recipe;

"Ferment at 65° F for two weeks. Rack to secondary and ferment two more weeks. Rack to a tertiary fermenter with oak chips added (oak chips can be sanitized by steaming in a steamer basket for 10-15 minutes). Sample after one week, and once every week after that until you achieve the level of oakiness you desire, then rack to another fermenter and age six months before bottling"

1. 65° for two weeksmay not be a problem early August in Alaska, here in L.A. I'm running the AC 24/7 to keep it between 74° & 80°, the last batch finished primary in 3 days.

2. Seven + months from start to bottle. I don't have a problem with a mead that's going to take 3/4 of a year to finish. But I thought the idea behind "Mead Day" was to bring new folks into the fold. This is like telling someone who has an interst in fly fishing you'll teach them how, then having them watch you tie flies for a year.

The gent who got me started in this hobby, used a straight foreward recipe; honey, water, yeast & nutrient, irish moss and sulfites (which I've desided not to use). Primary finished in less then a week, secondary in about 2, it had cleared and was bottled in less then 8 weeks time, two months later taste wonderful. I'll be sharing that mead with friends on mead day.

Had he started me with a recipe that takes the better part of a year to finish, I'd likely not be making mead, or introducing friends to the hobby in a couple of weeks.

For a first batch I believe keeping it simple is best, remove the oak from this recipe and you have just that.

Anthony

Unfortunately mead day will not be happening for me.

Family wedding . . .

'nuff said!

Bogus,

Oskaar

Hey Dmntd,
Could you post the details on that recipe? Two months sounds like a short enough period to wait. I would love to give it a shot.
Also, can you enlighten me on the irish moss idea? I saw it used, primarely in beer recipes, what does it do?....

Thanks,
Ted

Irish Moss is used to clear your mead. You don't need to add it up front, even if you're boiling in my experience. The mead clears just fine without it.

Adding tannin up front will help to clarify the mead and also add structure, color stabilization and help prevent oxidation. No need for the mossy moss.

Cheers,

Oskaar

Hey Ted,

15 lb. Clover honey
water to make 5 gal.
Superfood Plus (as per instruction on package)
Irish Moss, aids in clearing (as per instruction on package)
Red Start Champagne Yeast, in a 500 ml starter (400 ml water, 100 ml honey & 1/2 t. Super Food Plus) made the day before

Pasturize must @ 170° for 20 minutes. Add Irish Moss after removing from heat, add super food once the must is cooled to pitching temp. aerate with a balloon whisk, drain to glass carboy, pitch the starter and fit an airlock.

This is what I made the first time and how it was made.

I was mistaken, that mead has only been in the bottle since mid June.

Anthony