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Ready to Go on my first batch

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Brewbear

NewBee
Registered Member
May 10, 2005
959
0
0
Hi all,

Just got back fron B3 and Trader Joe's. I couldn't wait till the week-end and took off early from work, made it to B3 only to find out they were out of the mead kits :-\ What a bummer! Soooo....I went to Trader Joe's and bought the only honey they had available in 3 lb containers, the mesquite :'( I also bought a small jar of TJ's clover honey to bring the total amount of honey to 3.5 lb. I will attempt Joe's recepe using the 3.5 lb honey, 1 orange, 2 cloves, 25 raisins, yeast and enough water to bring the total volume to 1 gallon. I have a 1 gal. dark glass bottle that was used for methanol that I rinsed for about 20 min. in continuous DI water flow and airated for 1 day. All ingredients will go in and I'll pray for the best. I only hope that the mesquite honey will not make my first mead taste like barbique LOL! If interested, I will keep you posted of the progress.

Ted
 

lostnbronx

Senior Member
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Dec 8, 2004
1,020
1
0
Brewbear said:
All ingredients will go in and I'll pray for the best. I only hope that the mesquite honey will not make my first mead taste like barbique LOL! If interested, I will keep you posted of the progress.

Ted,

I'd never had mesquite honey until I moved to the southwest, so I had all sorts of preconceived notions about how it might taste. I am so glad I was wrong, because it is a very nice honey that goes really well with a wide range of recipes. It's one of my absolute favorites now.

And by all means keep us updated on your progress! Start a new thread in the Brewlog section. I'll be looking forward to it.

-David
 

Miriam

Senior Member
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Feb 2, 2005
643
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69
Ted,

You will be delighted with the mead, I assure you. Did you put in a stick of cinnamon? It's not too late, if you didn't. It goes really well with the orange and clove.

Once you've made this mead, you'll see that more advanced recipes are very doable as well, and you'll never look back.

Miriam
 

Brewbear

NewBee
Registered Member
May 10, 2005
959
0
0
I'm in So.Cal.
I DID IT!!!! My first mead is on the way ;D
I will put a few comments here and I will post the recepe used and procedure in the Brewlog.
First, thank you all for the support, advice, and sharing your vast and varied experience.
Second, thank you Joe for the Ancient Orange, Clove and Cinnamon Mead recepe, this is what i used.
Thirdly, thank you Miriam for the cinnamon reminder. Thank you Gotmead.com for the great support and the awsome boards.
The Mead Gods were working hard on my behalf today. My Suburban failed the smog test and I had to leave it at the mechanic :mad: My second car overheated on my way to work....and you guessed it, I had it towed to the mechanic (same one). So...here I am, at home, with all the ingredients at hand and not much else to do 8). The original intent was to use blood oranges from my tree, but much to my dismay, there were none left - Cheyenne, my dog ate them! I stuck to the original recepe, which I will post in the Brewlog. "See" you there ;D
Ted
 

Oskaar

Got Mead Partner
Administrator
Dec 26, 2004
7,874
8
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34
The OC
Congrats!

You'll be hooked and brewing more in no time.

Cheers,

Oskaar
 

Brewbear

NewBee
Registered Member
May 10, 2005
959
0
0
As I related previously, I fumbled the yeast portion of the recepe :mad:. After 2 days, I get one bubble every 4 -5 sec. and there is some light foaming, but I am nowhere close to heavy activity ( at least I don't think so). Should I re-oxygenate and then re-pitch with half the amount of yeast ( rehydrated this time) just to give the whole lot a boost? Should I leave it alone? And pray HARD? Closet space is at a premium around here so my mead is in a dark colored 1 gal. bottle in my study, where the curtains are drawn so it is fairly dark.

If any of you good people have any words of advice, they are greatfully appreciated.

Ted
 

JoeM

NewBee
Registered Member
Jan 9, 2004
665
1
0
43
As long as you have activity you're fine. In fact a blip every few seconds sounds perfect for a 1 gal batch. Even if it did get off to a slow start as long as its doing something it should pick up in a day or two, no need to worry.
 
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