My wife says I have an obsession

[jfet]

I am on my 5th batch of brew in the last 2 years. It goes as follows. Cyster(4gal), Delaware(4 gal), Mullberry Mead(2 1/2gal), Mead straight up (4 gal), and now Joes AO(1 gal). By far the AO has been the easist and most fun to watch. The only batch that took off like the AO was the Mullberry Mead. I used lavin D-47 and the fruit was fresh squeezed. I like watching the AO because there has been constant change from the minute that I started it. The raisins have bloated and are dancing around, the oranges are lazily floating on the top, the cinnamon is diving and surfacing like a submarine. The smell of it...ummm I cant wait to try this one especially if it is good after ONLY 2 months. The cyster I made took a year to mellow out. I have noticed an unusual taste around the 6 month of age in all the other brews. I cant wait to see if the bread yeast is any different.

Happy fermenting,
chris

 

[Oskaar]

Ahaaaaa,

Another obessesive compulsive meadmaker! Welcome to the party!

Here's my list of how to tell if you're obsessed with mead.

cheers,

Oskaar

 

[Miriam]

It was fun going through that thread again... but Chris, 5 batches in 2 years does not sound like an obsession...yet.
Although it sounds promising. >

Miriam

 

[GrantLee63]

Well .... I just started another 5 gallon batch on April 8. This was my fourth batch since February 18. If I keep this pace up, I will have made 48 five gallon batches in the same two-year period !

I agree with Miriam ..... you are FAR from having an obsession ..... yet !

1) Traditional Antipodal
2) Joe's Ancient Orange
3) Joe's No-Age Sweet
4) Tri-Berry Melomel
5) Will be either a Cyser of some sort -or- a Prickly Pear Mead

 

[Sigmund Von Meader]

Hello Chris.

Rest assured, you do not have a compulsion. Here is the outline of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, as it is understood by the American Psychiatric Association. This is from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV-TR. I am going to abbreviate a little.

A. Obsessions
Recurrent and persistent thoughts, enough to cause
distress to the person obsessing.

The recurring thoughts are not what to expect from
normal worries.

The person knows that this is much too much, and may
try to ignore or surpress the recurring thoughts.

B. Compulsions
There are repetitive behaviors as a coping response
to the obsessions.

The repetitive behaviors reduce the distress from
the obsessing thoughts, but the behaviors themselves
impair everyday life.

Nu! You do not have an obsession. You do not have an obsessive compulsive disorder. You do not have obsessive compulsive personality disorder. You do not even have a neurotic obsession.

But! Your wife is unhappy? And why is this? I suggest that perhaps you have not been sharing your wonderful meads sufficiently with her. A shandeh! Make more wonderful meads, share them with your wife, and your troubles will be over.

Remember that some say that mead is an aphrodisiac. You must make more meads for your wife!

 

[jfet]

She is afraid of the stuff. Ive tried to get her to sip on some. Ive even tried making a batch just for her. Shes all "Im going to go blind" . Ive told her that distilation is a whole different process. She was also preggy with my first son Samuel who was born on 3/5/06. So drinking was out of the question for 9 months and a little before we started trying just to be safe. Our 5th year together is today and shes been thinking she wants to try some so hopefully tonight she will get to try mead for the first time. Ill tell you guys If she does... (Do I really want this? What happens if she runs a raid on my stash) ;D I forsee more bubbling in the near future...

 

[Fwee]

First of all, congratulations on the new baby, Jfet!
May he stay healthy and strong!

Ill tell you guys If she does... (Do I really want this? What happens if she runs a raid on my stash)

With the addition of a new baby in the house, the chances of this happening are pretty good.

;D I forsee more bubbling in the near future...

Uh-huh... So do I.

 

[Miriam]

Chris,

Mazal tov to you and your wife on your little son. As they say here, may you have only pleasure from him. I make, for an apartment dweller, a lot of mead and wine, but I wouldn't say I'm obsessed...on the other hand, I adore babies! (Here I refrain from recounting the deeds and wonders of my two little grandsons).

As for your wife and mead, I am confident that after she has her first hesitant sip of some of your delicious melomel, she will drink a whole glass - then she'll be a goner. And it's always much nicer to share the mead; as Dr. Sigmund pointed out, this mead-sharing business could have some very pleasant results... Better clear some space for all those new carboys you're going to be needing .

Miriam

 

[pearlheartgtr]

I've been playing with mead since January and I have 3 batches bottled and 2 still perculating. All 1 gallon batches.

I'm sizing up the spare rooms for space and racks for 5-10 gallon carboys and buckets.

 

[jfet]

No luck yet. (sigh) 1 Gallon batchs are so nice. There isnt the weight of the 5 gallons of mead and carboy then again...Theres more air to mead ratio, less to go around, and more waste in my experiences. I currently have two 5gal, one 3gal, eight 1gal, and three 1.5 liters. One of the 5gal carboys someone had in there recycle waste bin along with a wine chiller. I was happy that night...

 

[GrantLee63]

Started another 5 gallon batch of Joe's No-Age Sweet yesterday. This is the FIFTH 5 gallon batch I've made since 02/18/2006. I also bought another 5 gallon carboy.

Again, your wife has nothing to worry about with you JFET ....

 

[ken_schramm]

Well now, there's clinical obsession and then there's practical obsession. I don't make any more than 50-60 gallons of mead a year these days, but I spend a lot of time on fruit trees and bushes, and gathering what I hope will turn out to be great mead making honey. My wife appreciates all of this to some extent, and resents it to some extent, on the other hand. But we all need some level of practical obsession to progress and expand the knowledge base. On grand levels, Pasteur had obsessions, Fermi had obsessions, Alexander Graham Bell had obsessions. On smaller levels, great chefs, winemakers, brewers and meadmakers have to have obsessions. Metiochre living leads to nothing more than further metiochre living.

Sorry for the absesce of late, but I had a family vacation, and this is a busy time for those in the fruit growing lifestyle.

KDS

 

[jfet]

Thanks everyone.

Ive got a question about the fruit in mead. Does anyone eat it after clearing? Does anyone squeeze it out? If I remember correctly the fruit is actually higher in alc %. Thanks again,
chris

 

[GrantLee63]

I just racked a multi-berry (raspberries, blueberries, marionberries) melomel this past Saturday that was fermenting for 2 weeks. I tasted the berries and they were not good at all because there was no sugar left in them !

I used EC-1118 and fermented the berries in the primary. I would guess that if you put your fruit in the secondary, and used a different yeast, your 'discarded' berries could actually be pretty good .....

 

[Tyred]

I don't think I'm too obsessed yet. Then again, I only have a few 5 litre demijohns. Still, on Tuesday I finally bottled my raspberry melomel.

This Friday I'm putting a three batches together. A quick pyment, a harvest mead and a straight (show) mead that will probably have a block of 85% cocoa mass dark chocolate put into it when it's near to completion (sort of like Joes Quick Chocolate mead).

Maybe I'm slowly building into an obsession, but I've still got a fair way to go.

 

[Fwee]

sort of like Joes Quick Chocolate mead).

Might you be so kind as to provide a link to said mead, please? I have yet to stumble across that one, and I'd very much like to take a look at it.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Dan McFeeley]

sort of like Joes Quick Chocolate mead).

Might you be so kind as to provide a link to said mead, please? I have yet to stumble across that one, and I'd very much like to take a look at it.

It's right here:
http://www.gotmead.com/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,103/topic,96.0

And here's the post:

Quick Chocolate Mead
Joe Mattioli

Take a finished semi-sweet or dry straight mead.
Add hershey kisses or a hersey bar.
Let sit for a week.
Okay to shake or stir at intervals.
Pour contents through a coffe filter into a new bottle.
Enjoy. It leaves a great chocolate aftertaste.
Works quite well.... just don't tell your friends you used the Joe's Quick Chocolate method.
It's quite good and see how easy it was.

Joe

 

[ken_schramm]

Ive got a question about the fruit in mead. Does anyone eat it after clearing? Does anyone squeeze it out? If I remember correctly the fruit is actually higher in alc %. Thanks again,
chris

I have taken a cup of "spent" cherries from a cherry liqueur after racking and thrown them in the blender with chocolate ice cream, dried malt and a little milk. They still had some cherry flavor, but weren't as flavorful as fresh fruit would have been. All ther same, it was tasty. As a rule, though, my spent fruit ends up in the compost heap. I haven't done anything with fruit from a mead ferment.

I have had bad luck with squeezing or pressing, very specifically with plums and raspberries. Bitterness was the offending characteristic. YMMV. I only do free run collection of the fermented must now.

Ken

 

[Oskaar]

I'm with Ken on this one.

I've squeezed fruit after the ferment and have not been super impressed with the runoff, or the flavor. To me once the fruit has been through fermentation it's time to let it go.

Cheers,

Oskaar

 

[GrantLee63]

Hey JFET !

Started yet another 5 gallon batch of mead - this one a Cyser. This is the SIXTH 5 gallon batch I've made since 02/18/2006. At this rate, I will be making TWENTY FOUR 5 Gallon Batches within a 12 month period !

Keep in mind that only one batch has finished - Joe's No-Age Sweet. Guess I'll be needing to buy a few bottles down the road. ;D

Again, reassure your wife that you are FAR from having an obsession ..... YET !