Hey everyone. As you can see from my username, my name is Adam, and I live in Ma.
A friend has been discouraging me from even trying to make a mead, because he personally doesn't like the taste, so I went out and bought a bottle of it the other day, and WOW! I love the stuff. The high alcohol, and nice sweet taste reminds me of a good port, and I like port! Of course honey is my favorite sweetener, so it only makes sense that I would love mead!
I decided to give it a try, and with all the recommendations here it seemed that the JAO would be the best to start with. I stayed to the recipe, but the one thing I did have to change was how to cut up the orange. I couldn't get the pieces into the bottle without making them just a bit smaller. True to the recipe, about an hour later it started to foam up, and bubble away. It's almost winter here in the north east, and my house will not see 70 again until late spring. I do keep a number of tropical trees, so I have a special "green room" in my basement that is set up with lights, heat and humidity. That room is the only one that will stay above 70, so I ended up putting it into that room. The recipe noted to keep it in a dark place, so what I ended up doing was taking an extra cardboard box that I had laying around, and turning it upside down over the carboy. It will be dark, and in that room will stay around 72 degrees, so I think it should do just fine. I do have to say, I had an extra packet of champaign yeast in the fridge, and I was tempted to use it, but I stuck to the recipe and I am anxious to see how it turns out.
I wanted to take a quick second here before I end this to thank all of the members who participate here for the great posts in the forum, and of course to thank the site admin(s) for the great job they do. This is a great place, and I'm sure I will be asking some questions.
Adam
A friend has been discouraging me from even trying to make a mead, because he personally doesn't like the taste, so I went out and bought a bottle of it the other day, and WOW! I love the stuff. The high alcohol, and nice sweet taste reminds me of a good port, and I like port! Of course honey is my favorite sweetener, so it only makes sense that I would love mead!
I decided to give it a try, and with all the recommendations here it seemed that the JAO would be the best to start with. I stayed to the recipe, but the one thing I did have to change was how to cut up the orange. I couldn't get the pieces into the bottle without making them just a bit smaller. True to the recipe, about an hour later it started to foam up, and bubble away. It's almost winter here in the north east, and my house will not see 70 again until late spring. I do keep a number of tropical trees, so I have a special "green room" in my basement that is set up with lights, heat and humidity. That room is the only one that will stay above 70, so I ended up putting it into that room. The recipe noted to keep it in a dark place, so what I ended up doing was taking an extra cardboard box that I had laying around, and turning it upside down over the carboy. It will be dark, and in that room will stay around 72 degrees, so I think it should do just fine. I do have to say, I had an extra packet of champaign yeast in the fridge, and I was tempted to use it, but I stuck to the recipe and I am anxious to see how it turns out.
I wanted to take a quick second here before I end this to thank all of the members who participate here for the great posts in the forum, and of course to thank the site admin(s) for the great job they do. This is a great place, and I'm sure I will be asking some questions.
Adam
