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what is mead?

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  • #16
    If you are a mead lover then you must do it. Mine came out quite pink in colour but thats probably because i used tesco's red grape juice rather than welch's (i guess anyway!). It was nice enough straight away though, in time i reckon it'll be very good.

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    • #17
      If you are getting local honey try & find out where he is siting his hive and if he draws off at different time. So for ex of he sites in an orchard part of the year & near rapeseed another part the orchard honey would be nice for straight mead, but the rapeseed might as well got for melomel IMHO as rapeseed honey isn't great in my bopok. On of the reasons I stopped keeping bees was due to the excessive amount of rapeseed honey due to their being SOOOO much rapeseed around

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      • #18
        Originally posted by Pronay View Post
        Do you know if it was accidental ????
        Almost certainly. Without it happening in nature it is unlikely it could have been dreamt up. It will occur easily with wild yeasts.

        And probably several times over in various parts

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        • #19
          Originally posted by Mel View Post
          If you are getting local honey try & find out where he is siting his hive and if he draws off at different time. So for ex of he sites in an orchard part of the year & near rapeseed another part the orchard honey would be nice for straight mead, but the rapeseed might as well got for melomel IMHO as rapeseed honey isn't great in my bopok. On of the reasons I stopped keeping bees was due to the excessive amount of rapeseed honey due to their being SOOOO much rapeseed around
          At the moment my parents live in Herefordshire, but when they were still "down here" my father always kept a close eye on the hives he had sited near farms because of the OSR. He would decap/extract this regularly as it's easier to do something with honey that's granulated in a jar than it is if it's still in the comb.

          That said, some of the best honey he managed to produce was from the hives he kept on the railway embankment behind their house in Hove. The line workers learned to notify him when they were due to run the "bush whacker" along the embankment and it also meant that the local burglars, stupid local kids etc, never bothered trying to run/climb through their back garden. An excellent deterent!

          regards

          JtFB
          Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy.

          Some blog ramblings

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          • #20
            Not made a mead yet, do you recommend that all need to be set aside for months? or is there a wine No1 equivalent thats fine to drink early on?

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            • #21
              I think the vast majority of meads need ageing - we're talking 6 months to several years.

              The exception seems to be Joe Mattioli's Ancient Orange mead - there is a huge thread dedicated to it. Mine was drinkable after a couple of months.
              Pete the Instructor

              It looks like Phil Donahue throwing up into a tuba

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              • #22
                Originally posted by Pyrosfx View Post
                Not made a mead yet, do you recommend that all need to be set aside for months? or is there a wine No1 equivalent thats fine to drink early on?
                I drink everlasting mead fairly early on, or at least I did when it first started but it is much better as an older project, so if you keep to 1 bottle drawn about 4-6 weeks it is very nice earlier than that its a bit raw.

                I've read a few chemical addition suggestions for mead on this forum & elsewhere, but I guess it depends what you are after, IMHO real mead need time to mature, so if you want to drink it quickly buy a bottle until yours is ready A lot of modern mead makers have what I'd consider a fast fermentation (ie less than a year) by addition of nutrients or fruit (to make what tends to be defined melomel these days)

                Maybe try a melomel first as I think with the addition of fruit juice it will be more like a wine but with honey as the sugar componant, and start a mead at the same time.

                But really it depends on what you want to achive in your mead making ?

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                • #23
                  Originally posted by Pyrosfx View Post
                  Not made a mead yet, do you recommend that all need to be set aside for months? or is there a wine No1 equivalent thats fine to drink early on?
                  Hum? apart from Mels suggestion of the "everlasting" mead, most of the available info says about ageing it.

                  I have some books that suggest that the stronger and darker the honey, then the better mead it makes. Though it's also worth mentioning that some honeys are famed for taking forever to age (heather honey comes to mind). Plus it depends on what kind of heather the bee's have collected from. Oh and when I say ages, some of the literature suggests time frames of 3 to 5 years, sometimes longer.

                  My first attempt was from cheapo tesco's honey. When it was young it was rubbish, but after about 9 to 12 months it was actually not bad at all.

                  Since then it's been experiment after experiment. I also just make the stuff get it cleared and then age it in bulk in a DJ.

                  I've got a couple of small "buckets" (well more large pots really) that contain 3lb/1.36kg, of lavender, and of orange blossom honey. Luckily I also have a local bee keepers and honey wholesaler shop. so those are next to try!

                  regards

                  JtFB
                  Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy.

                  Some blog ramblings

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                  • #24
                    I really want to make some mead, but I was told that honey is really expensive, anyone know a place that sells honey, such as LIDL, that I can get cheapish honey that will suffice

                    thanks

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                    • #25
                      90% of my mead (and I make a lot) has been made with Lidl's honey and the results are as good as that made with more expensive stuff. Just remember to let it age and you won't be disappointed.
                      Let's party


                      AKA Brunehilda - Last of the Valkaries

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                      • #26
                        Originally posted by Mamgiowl View Post
                        90% of my mead (and I make a lot) has been made with Lidl's honey and the results are as good as that made with more expensive stuff. Just remember to let it age and you won't be disappointed.
                        I use Lidl & aldi honey a lot for brewing & cooking & I'm pretty happy with it too

                        They often have specials of particular types too.

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                        • #27
                          One other possible is to seek out crystilized honey, in some areas they it won't sell,(so can be got cheap) but warming it will drop the crystals back to liquid, I mean crystilized not set though .

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