If it's worth doing...

[Tiwas]

Ok, I can be a little OCD about things. Especially when it comes to doing things half-assed. Like making a small batch to test it. The problem, according to my brain (or, as I like to look at it, the little elves and ferries living in my head telling me what to do) making a small batch is just stupid. For one - what if it's really good?? Make another one and wait for at least 12 months before drinking? Yeah, right...

Sooo...My plan was to make a test batch to compare to my main batch. Then whatever's in my head told me to get another fermenting bucket. Nice to have. Then I called my beekeeper to check up on stock (it's 1.5 hours each way), but he told me he could deliver on Sunday as he was driving past anyway. Cool! So - did I order enough to make a small batch? Nah. Ended up buying 8kg heather honey for my comparison (got 2kg in the fridge) and 10kg of "summer honey" (which is a lighter blend) to compare tastes between honeys.

At least I'll be done before it gets too hot (our three weeks of summer), but by that time I'll have 70l liters!

 

[wayneb]

Welcome to the addiction, man!

You'll really know that you're hooked on the process when you find that you've actually given away so much mead, that even at that relatively large rate of production, you can't keep your own cellar stocked! ;D

 

[mccann51]

In defense of small test batches:

Firstly, it sounds like you're making traditional meads, which I agree, you should just make a large batch, because chances are that it's gonna be enjoyable on some level. BUT, if you're making something kind of atypical or that you haven't found much advice on because not too many people have done it, then it's definitely worth staying on the conservative side of things. I've made a few brews that I ended up really not liking at all, so I was also reluctant to pawn them off on people. I'm glad it was only a gallon, because I sure as hell am not dumping them, but it was tough drinking them at times.

 

[Tiwas]

Welcome to the addiction, man!

You'll really know that you're hooked on the process when you find that you've actually given away so much mead, that even at that relatively large rate of production, you can't keep your own cellar stocked! ;D

I can easily see that happening. I'm not a big drinker myself, but some times I find stuff I like, and... If not, my whole family love wines...

In defense of small test batches:

Firstly, it sounds like you're making traditional meads, which I agree, you should just make a large batch, because chances are that it's gonna be enjoyable on some level. BUT, if you're making something kind of atypical or that you haven't found much advice on because not too many people have done it, then it's definitely worth staying on the conservative side of things. I've made a few brews that I ended up really not liking at all, so I was also reluctant to pawn them off on people. I'm glad it was only a gallon, because I sure as hell am not dumping them, but it was tough drinking them at times.

Well, one of the batches will still be split up, but I get more and larger samples. I will use it to taste the change as the mead develops, and I will also make dry/semi-dry (maybe sweet) versions of my first batch. They will be split into oak, vanilla, vanilla+oak, tannin, tannin+oak, tannin+vanilla, tannin+vanilla+oak.

I'm not really afraid of having to dump any. I have a 17 year old nephew, and if he's anything like me, he's like a walking (some times) alcohol recycling plant

 

[AToE]

Ha, good point, giving it to kids (legal kids, so in my area 18) is a great way to get rid of unwanted mead!

 

[Tiwas]

Ha, good point, giving it to kids (legal kids, so in my area 18) is a great way to get rid of unwanted mead!

Legal age for beer and wine is 18 here, too (legal age for starting a family is 16...go figure ), but I believe all kids should know how to drink and how to hold it before they go out drinking somewhere you cannot monitor them. Besides, getting some drinks at home takes some of the fun and excitement of getting drunk out of their head in some abandoned factory building...

 

[AToE]

I'm all for kids learning to drink responsibly from a younger age, I think here you can give your own kids alcohol at any age a long as you're at home, but I don't have any kids.

You have a legal age for starting a family? Good idea maybe, but what happens to younger kids that get pregnant??

 

[wayneb]

I'm all for kids learning to drink responsibly from a younger age, I think here you can give your own kids alcohol at any age a long as you're at home, but I don't have any kids.

The laws down here are much murkier. Although some states (notably those with historically high European immigrant populations) have some on the books that allow serving of alcohol to children in a home setting, (generally with a disclaimer like in keeping with religious or family tradition), that isn't universally true. Additionally, if you allow a legally intoxicated minor to leave the family setting and to wander out in public where they are then apprehended, in most places you are then liable for child abuse - with very nasty consequences.

 

[Tiwas]

I'm all for kids learning to drink responsibly from a younger age, I think here you can give your own kids alcohol at any age a long as you're at home, but I don't have any kids.

You have a legal age for starting a family? Good idea maybe, but what happens to younger kids that get pregnant??

Well, actually you can legally have sex when you turn 16. If you fall asleep drunk and a 15 year old girl "has her way" with you, then you're a rapist. Not that I believe that would ever happen. Basically, when you're 16 you can have sex with anyone you feel like as long as they, too, are over 16. That doesn't apply to animals, as there's this ancient law still in effect saying you can actually have sex with them as long as it doesn't cause them pain

Strange thing is that it's not considered equally bad for an older woman to have sex with an under-age boy, as it is for an older man to have sex with an under-age girl. Also, if an older woman gets pregnant with a younger boy, he still has to pay child support. Damn, come to think of it, I'm happy I'm not 17 any more. By that time your hormones are racing around your system, and 15 year old girls look good. BAD combination I believe the legal age on Iceland is 12, but I could be wrong...

The laws down here are much murkier. Although some states (notably those with historically high European immigrant populations) have some on the books that allow serving of alcohol to children in a home setting, (generally with a disclaimer like in keeping with religious or family tradition), that isn't universally true. Additionally, if you allow a legally intoxicated minor to leave the family setting and to wander out in public where they are then apprehended, in most places you are then liable for child abuse - with very nasty consequences.

I'm from the north of Norway, and we have long "traditions" in drinking. Don't know any of my childhood friends who hadn't experienced a buzz before starting school (though I don't think any of them had parents irresponsible enough to let them get drunk), and the "sheriff" from my home town used to buy moonshine, just like everyone else. If they didn't blow up their houses in the process, or did something equally stupid to get them busted, nobody cared. Unless they made really bad moonshine and someone got sick.

I still pity the people I hung with when I moved south (still north of most of Canada, mind you ) - they'd never tried alcohol until they managed to get hold of some on a party and ended up doing stupid things. To this day, I still "just want to go home and sleep" if I tip over from having a good buzz to getting drunk. I want the same for my nephew

 

[wayneb]

I still pity the people I hung with when I moved south (still north of most of Canada, mind you ) - they'd never tried alcohol until they managed to get hold of some on a party and ended up doing stupid things. To this day, I still "just want to go home and sleep" if I tip over from having a good buzz to getting drunk. I want the same for my nephew

My experience is similar. I can't remember the exact age, but I was about 10 when I could start having beer at family dinner parties, 14 when I could also have wine. (There's something uniquely Polish-American in that dichotomy, I assure you!) By the time that my "purely American" peers were getting totally wasted in college, I'd already learned that anything more than a light buzz was very uncomfortable the next day, and usually not worth it.

Back when I was an undergrad in college, the legal drinking age was 18; these days (with all that "enlightened" concern we display for our youth) it is 21. Never have I seen more college binge drinking behavior than I do now. Something is definitely wrong with this picture.

 

[AToE]

It should be noted too that when I say serve a kid alcohol I don't mean allow them to become drunk!

Tiwas - I don't think there is a legal age to have sex here (could be wrong though) but there is obviously a legal age of consent for a teen to have sex with an adult (which is 16, they raised it from 14 a while back. I believe it would be illegal if the other person was over 18, but I could be wrong about that, it could be any age over 16... but as far as I know a 17 year old can have sex with anyone that's not more than 2 years younger than them... man this gets complicated!).

 

[AToE]

Back when I was an undergrad in college, the legal drinking age was 18; these days (with all that "enlightened" concern we display for our youth) it is 21. Never have I seen more college binge drinking behavior than I do now. Something is definitely wrong with this picture.

Anything older than the legal age to join the military is just plain insane in my opinion (even our Canadian provinces that have a legal drinking age of 19 is no good in my opinion). The idea that someone is old enough to kill and/or be killed but not to have a beer shows some serious lack of proper priorities in my opinion!

 

[Tiwas]

Anything older than the legal age to join the military is just plain insane in my opinion (even our Canadian provinces that have a legal drinking age of 19 is no good in my opinion). The idea that someone is old enough to kill and/or be killed but not to have a beer shows some serious lack of proper priorities in my opinion!

haha..."Sure, son! Why don't you go out and practice killing people, ok? BUT - DON'T - DRINK"

 

[Tiwas]

Tiwas - I don't think there is a legal age to have sex here (could be wrong though) but there is obviously a legal age of consent for a teen to have sex with an adult (which is 16, they raised it from 14 a while back. I believe it would be illegal if the other person was over 18, but I could be wrong about that, it could be any age over 16... but as far as I know a 17 year old can have sex with anyone that's not more than 2 years younger than them... man this gets complicated!).

Might not be the intention, but it is how it's used. I haven't seen anyone trying to use it when both kids are minors, though...I just know that if I had a daughter...

 

[AToE]

Might not be the intention, but it is how it's used. I haven't seen anyone trying to use it when both kids are minors, though...I just know that if I had a daughter...

Ha, yeah I have no problem with keeping adults away from teens! (Regardless of whether the younger party is male or female, though obviously we're all more protective of girls, huge double standard). It would seem a bit nuts for me if they started prosecuting people in the same age range(give or take a couple years) for sleeping with eachother.

 

[wayneb]

Anything older than the legal age to join the military is just plain insane in my opinion (even our Canadian provinces that have a legal drinking age of 19 is no good in my opinion). The idea that someone is old enough to kill and/or be killed but not to have a beer shows some serious lack of proper priorities in my opinion!

This is exactly the argument we used to convince the political powers in place at the time to lower it from 21 to 18... but that was back when lots of guys were coming back from Vietnam... and the politicians suddenly realized, veterans vote.

I guess since then, lots of them grew older - and much more conservative.

 

[Tiwas]

Ha, yeah I have no problem with keeping adults away from teens! (Regardless of whether the younger party is male or female, though obviously we're all more protective of girls, huge double standard). It would seem a bit nuts for me if they started prosecuting people in the same age range(give or take a couple years) for sleeping with eachother.

It's not double standards at all. It's basic human behavior. We don't want to expand the pack without some sort of control, hence there is a bigger problem if one of our females get impregnated than if one of our males stray to another pack as long as they're stuck with the offspring.

If I had a son, I'd be much more concerned with him being beaten senseless by a girl's father. If I had a girl - let's just say I'd charge my stun gun and wipe off my baton

I still remember Al Bundy when he meats one of his daughter's boyfriends. He walks up to the door polishing his baseball bat, stops, stares at the guy and says something like "You guys go out and have fun. Just remember...What you do to her, I do to you" while he clenches his hands tightly around the bat. I still giggle when I see it, because that's the kind of father I'd be if I suspected someone trying to "soil" my daughter

 

[AToE]

I think it has more to do with simple protection instinct frankly, rather than population control. We (males) have it bred into us to fight both for and over females. When it comes to daughters you get both those instincts kicking in, on top of parental protection instincts - pretty dangerous combination.

The scariest person I've ever met is my mom when someone threatened my little brother! (and I know scary, SCARY people) Parents are NOT to be messed with!!

 

[Chevette Girl]

but there is obviously a legal age of consent for a teen to have sex with an adult (which is 16, they raised it from 14 a while back).

From the age of 14, sex is legal so long as there is less than 5 years between the partners. Found an article... Huh, I hope they can't go after people legally after the fact! A friend of mine was 14 when she met her 21 year old boyfriend (now husband) and all the cops could do was drag her home to her mother until she turned 16 (which is when she moved in with him)...

Crossing parents is always risky... although I do know of a number of parents raising their kids to double standards... boys may never hit girls because if they do they can go to jail... but if girls hit boys, boys should suck it up. Somehow seems like a giant leap backwards for equal rights...

 

[AToE]

From the age of 14, sex is legal so long as there is less than 5 years between the partners. Found an article... Huh, I hope they can't go after people legally after the fact! A friend of mine was 14 when she met her 21 year old boyfriend (now husband) and all the cops could do was drag her home to her mother until she turned 16 (which is when she moved in with him)...

Crossing parents is always risky... although I do know of a number of parents raising their kids to double standards... boys may never hit girls because if they do they can go to jail... but if girls hit boys, boys should suck it up. Somehow seems like a giant leap backwards for equal rights...

This was changed 8 or 10 years ago I think, though I'm not totally sure. I know that until recently 14 was the legal age of consent (lines up with your statement) and then it was raised to 16 - but something seems weird about what I'd read vs you'd read. I thought it was a 2 year gap if both are under 18, and if one is over 18 then the other cannot be less than 16 (2 years if the older is 19) but your way would have 14 and 19 year olds be ok.

This is a seriously murky topic too, I've asked cops (when I was 18 I dated a 15 year old for a bit, and when I was 20 was dating a 17 year old... and continued to date her until a couple weeks ago!) and gotten different answers from each one.