freaking cold nights like tonight are perfect for drinking mead

[Anonymous No.15497380]

any /ck/ bruhs into mead? mead isn't a meme right? I still like it even if it is tho

[Anonymous No.15497384]

>>15497380
I've only had Chaucer's, was pretty good. Would like to try Viking Blød but it's expensive as hell in my local.

[Anonymous No.15497404]

im on probation for a DUI and cant wait to be done and drink again

should I get Mead for my first day back into freedom?

[Anonymous No.15497407]

>>15497380
Yeah, I make mead. I call it honey wine cause i dont want to be associated with the viking wannabe crowd. (it is dubious the vikings even made any appreciable amount of mead, it was likely more often a trade good. And poland, russia, and ethiopia have uninterrupted mead traditions, but yet a few mentions in the norse sagas and you have every wanker into mead walking around with some drinking horn they bought at a ren faire, making shit mead and saying shit about odin)

[Anonymous No.15497410]

>>15497407
give me some nordic recipes

[Anonymous No.15497871]

>>15497380
>ethiopia
I like Tej

[Anonymous No.15497913]

>>15497871
Tej is really good. Honestly its a mixed bag in addis ababa when i was there. some places where good, some were fuselly as fuck. But everything ive had in the states has been fine.

[Anonymous No.15497929]

Rate my jug

[Anonymous No.15498475]

>>15497404
Maybe you should quit the drinking for good mate?

[Anonymous No.15498488]

>>15498475
why? not everyone who gets a DUI has a drinking problem...I was just a dumb college kid who made a bad decision at the time

[Anonymous No.15498502]

>>15497380
>Odin's Skull
>two eyes

[Anonymous No.15498516]

>>15498488
You don't ever have to worry about getting another DUI if you never drink again. It's the liquid Jew, goy poison.

[Anonymous No.15498561]

>>15498516
or I can just not get torn up everytime i drink and make better decisions that dont violate laws and put peoples safety at risk...which i started doing before “probation”

i say “probation” because its a diversion program that emulates probation so that i can qualify for the charges to be expunged...i opted in to be in the program

[Anonymous No.15500283]

>>15497380
had some really good polish mead once (pic only slightly related). it was a fluke item I found in an asian grocery store that I took a chance on and was blown away how good it was then never saw it again and of course can't even begin to remember the name of it now

[Anonymous No.15500303]

Why is mead so cringe

[Anonymous No.15500355]

>>15500303
Because you masturbate to pictures of men dressed like women.

[Anonymous No.15500367]

>>15497929
Your clarity is shit, bentonite is cheap.

[Anonymous No.15500371]

>>15500303
Because you're cringe so you project your cringe onto others.

[Anonymous No.15500375]

What's with these redit ebin clapbacks lately
>>>15500355

[Anonymous No.15500388]

>>15500367
>here bro pour some dirt in your mead so it looks more like peepee
I'll pass, thank you.

[Anonymous No.15500405]

>>15500375
>why is the mead thread full of reditors?

[Anonymous No.15500416]

>>15498561
Fuck it drink 3 bottles tonight and drive to jack in the box when you get hungry. Remember to honk at everyone in the drive through for taking too long and fall asleep in the parking lot with your engine running.

[Anonymous No.15500417]

>>15498488
Getting a DUI is literally a drinking problem.

[Anonymous No.15500419]

>>15497384
I've had a few different vikings blod and they're extremely sweet, I could only stomach about 3 ounce. That being said it's very delicious

[Anonymous No.15500424]

>>15497929
How long has she been bubbling for? Looks fairly fresh, but then why so little headspace?

[Anonymous No.15500437]

>>15497380
We can make it a meme.
>Samurai Bliss
Ingredients
Raspberry Mead
Draft style Sake
Ginger Ale

Directions

Combine equal parts raspberry mead and draft sake into an ice filled cocktail shaker.
Add a decent splash of ginger ale.
Shake.
Strain into a martini glass.

[Anonymous No.15500440]

>>15500424
About 3 weeks now. I had to empty the balloon several times a day when it was a week old.

[Anonymous No.15500451]

>>15500440
Yeah cuz you didn't leave enough headspace m'lad. If you already have a fuckhuge carboy just buy a friggin bung, airlock, and blowoff tube. The last three items will cost you maybe $5 total and provides better protection for your mead.

[Anonymous No.15500471]

>>15500440
3 weeks? use some yeast nutrient next time it should have fermented dry by now. Your mead will come out so much cleaner with staggered nutrient additions.

[Anonymous No.15500491]

>>15500451
Will do, right after I paint my nails and put in my butt plug. I like huffing a balloon full of fresh yeast brap.

>>15500471
Last batch I had going for nearly a month, and then I got sent on a business trip for 3 weeks. When I got back it was still a little bubbly.

[Anonymous No.15500559]

>>15500491
All my batches of mead ferment out to 1.000 or below by day 14. If its taking longer the yeast doesnt have ample nutrients. Yeast without ample nutrients often throws off flavors.Google tonsa for modern meadmaking nutrient addition protocols, it honestly makes mead making much more reliable.

[Anonymous No.15500570]

>>15500559
How much honey do you use?

[Anonymous No.15500656]

>>15500570
12-16lbs for 5 gallons, for a standard traditional without any fruit or shit.

[Anonymous No.15500728]

I've just ordered some now because of this thread. Never had mead before. Is it any good?

[Anonymous No.15500737]

>>15497380
is there something like dry mead that isn't sweet?

[Anonymous No.15500740]

>>15500728
Some are some arent. If you like white wine, you'll likely like mead.

[Anonymous No.15500759]

>>15500737
Yup, its called dry mead. On the label it should say if its dry, semisweet, or sweet somewhere.

[Anonymous No.15500767]

>>15500740
Ah really, I never drink wine as it gives me massive hangover

[Anonymous No.15500805]

>>15498475
>>15498516
>>15500417
get off your high horse

[Anonymous No.15500815]

>>15500656
Wow. I used about 7.5 lbs for the last one, thought it was good but could be sweeter so I upped it to 9 for this one. My very first batch was a tiny 64oz jug and I used 2.5 for that, it came out disgustingly sweet, tasted like port wine and cough syrup.

[Anonymous No.15500841]

>>15500815
Yeah, I like mine wine strength. unless you are up around 18% abv all mead should finish dry. Sweet mead is usually made by disabling the yeast with potassium sorbate and then adding backsweeting with honey to make it sweet

If your mead ends up sweet after fermentation its cause the yeast crapped out due to lack of nutrients. Honey doesnt contain enough nitrogen for the yeast to be happy, so you have to add it, if you dont its a crapshoot whether the yeast will limp along to finish or not and will likely release sulfur, fusels, or other off flavors cause its stressed.

[Anonymous No.15500867]

>>15500841
Let it ferment naturally without adding yeast

[Anonymous No.15500888]

>>15500867
Good luck with that.

[Anonymous No.15501023]

Homebrewed 23 litres of it couple if years ago, used 1 part of English flower honey for 8 parts water and threw some lyells in there too. Turned out splendidly. I agree that mead has been hijacked by LARPers sadly

[cornelius cutlass No.15501217]

>>15497384
this one popped up at bottle shop I got to a few towns away recently yet for the price need a specially occasion.. I've the viking blood and klopester ? version before as well as well lets see 37 different meads and 9 melomels which are meads mixed with fruit other then grapes (pyment) or apples (cysers)

[Anonymous No.15501325]

>>15500841

Depends on the yeast though as as well. Ken Schramm's book is a must have (all the other books I've heard aren't as great). Everyone interested in Meadmaking should read that asap.

That said, you should experiment with meads/yeasts/honey as mead is a very forgiving alcohol to produce. Unless you totally fuck up and don't sanitize, dont add nutrients, or just don't keep a stable temperature/read about the yeast you should be fine. I disagree with your assertion that mead is sweet only if your yeast crapped out due to nutrients. It depends on the honey, the yeast, the temperature, ph, nutrients, etc.

I've made a 5 gallon mead with 15 pounds of honey that turned out medium and a 15/5 that turned out very very dry. I use up to 20 lbs of honey for a 5 gallon batch.

Things I've learned:
don't pitch the yeast in when the must is above 90 degrees f; generally use a SECONDARY to add fruit (I prefer using frozen fruit as good raw fruit is difficult to find and risky); don't overheat the must; BE PATIENT!! wait until the mead clears before bottling or else you will get gunk at the bottom of your bottles; aging with oak is amazing; and mead IMPROVES with age. Optimal age is 1-2 years.

[Anonymous No.15501377]

>>15501325

If you are looking at starting to make mead, get a 1 gallon glass jug and 3 pounds of honey. Good rule of thumb is 1 gallon/3 pounds of honey. Use actual wine yeast (any white wine yeast will do) and not shitty bread yeast. Follow the directions and advice listed on the yeast packet. After pitching you should notice activity within 24 hours, and a good mead (depending on yeast) will be fermenting for at least a month and possibly 2-3 months. Don't bottle anything until it clears up completely.

Some people freak out and bottle too early (I have been guilty of this). Trust me the yeast at the bottom won't die for a while and wont be responsible for off flavors unless you are a total moron and don't bottle well after it is ready.

[Anonymous No.15502462]

>>15501325
Yeah, I was simplifying for a beginner. But anything using a wine yeast and nutrients and basic ph buffering should be able to ferment 15lbs of honey dry, and they were using far less.

Schramms book is fine, there really isnt anything better, but there have been some advancements in the 20 years since it came out.

I usually prefer to add fruit to primary, but it depends on what you want, if you want a fruit wine with honey character or a fruit flavored mead character. I prefer the former for melomels.

[Anonymous No.15503519]

>>15497380
I have one last bottle of Golden Coast mead (this one is a wildflower honey mead) left from an order I made in the fall.

>>15497871
Tell me about Tej.

[Anonymous No.15503789]

>>15498516
You’re aware brewing alcohol and drinking it with the lads at the tavern has been a tradition long before jews even settled in europe right

[Anonymous No.15503794]

Isn't mead just half strength spirits that are sweet? So liqueur? It's just liquor for pussies. Thanks for reading.

[Anonymous No.15503808]

>>15497380
Mead sounds like something reddit will pick up on

[Anonymous No.15503888]

made my own batches at the start of quarantine with food safe buckets i bought at home depot and a balloon.

won't compare to stuff you can buy off the shelf, but it's still not bad at all, and the barebones mead+water spec can easily be mixed up for something more interesting.

[Anonymous No.15503904]

Thinking about making some honey mead myself. Any tips for a brewing noob?

[Anonymous No.15503953]

>>15503519
Tej is a type of mead made for at least two thousand years in Ethiopia. Its flavored with gesho leaves and bark which give it a slight bitter finish. There gesho also is usually covered in a wild yeast which causes fermentation.

[Anonymous No.15503973]

>>15503904

same anon as >>15503888 here

Equipment tips:

>sanatization is paramount. sanatize EVERYTHING with starsan solution; consider alternative cleaners only once you're comfortable with the process imo
>hydrometer for measuring ABV also nessecary for note keeping/not getting more wasted than expected
>for vessels, glass is ideal especially for small volumes; find 1 or 0.5 gal glass juice/cider bottles to reuse at the supermarket instead of carboys online that'll probably break in transit
>whole foods specifically has apple cider in large glass jugs
>get at least two vessels since you'll need to rack (shift product from one to the other, leaving sediment at the bottom of the first)
>larger batches can be done with food safe buckets w/ a drill hole in their lids for your airlock
>for entry level, baking yeast is fine

First batch

>3lb honey per gallon of water ratio
>activate yeast in slightly honeyed warm water before pouring it into the mix
>quickest it'll be "finished" is a month and a half, twice as long to actually taste decent

go poke dedicated sites for a full article on this stuff, go ask the >>/diy/ homebrew thread, or other forum spaces for further advice. hopefully this gets you started

[Anonymous No.15503984]

>>15503904
avoid recipes/instructions online that use raisins as nutrients. its bullshit. Also avoid recipes that ask you to boil the honey must.

Buy raw honey from a beekeeper or online from a place that only sells honey. Honey is expensive (40-60$ a gallon), and you need a gallon for a 5 gallon batch. But raw honey has alot more flavor than supermarket honey.

Honey is expensive, dont cheap out on stupid shit. Spend the 2$ on getting wine yeast and dont use 33 cent bread yeast, for expensive. You are making 25 750ml bottles of wine, its false economy, if it is shit.

[Anonymous No.15503998]

>>15503973
>>15503984
Cheers. Thanks anons. If i actually get around to making it, my first toast is to you.

[Anonymous No.15504005]

>>15503998
no probs m8

also >>15503984 is right about honey quality, but i'm a poorfag thanks to rona and can't afford the good shit very often. if you're not in a similar boat and can spare some cash, go and get that local good stuff.

[Anonymous No.15504218]

Every time I try and make mead I get vinegar. Expensive as fuck honey gone down the drain. Any good retard proof guide?

[Anonymous No.15505936]

>>15503794
but mead is fermented honey. liqueur is just added flavoring to liquor. other than that great point