I was discussing this whole mead thing with my brother the other day and he reminded me of something I had long forget. We actually made a batch of mead in highschool. Once I've passed along the tale, you'll see why I repressed the memory.
As with all meads, the recipe called for honey. Since we didn't know any better, ours was your standard store-bought honey. I'll count this as strike 1.
We also needed a gallon container. I don't remember what was originally in our jug, probably water, but at least the plastic was clear enough we could see what was going on. Strike 2.
Seventeen or eighteen years ago when all this transpired we had no idea where to get brewers yeast, so bread yeast it was. Strike 3.
The clever folks who created the recipe invented a combination airlock/fermentation alarm. You simply put a balloon over the mouth of the jug. The CO2 inflated the balloon, when fermentation stopped the balloon gradually deflated, when the balloon was flat again, you knew it was done.
Being neophytes, we had no idea what to look for or expect. The sludge at the bottom of the jug was a mystery, but we figured it was like pulp in orange juice and shook it up before tasting.
It should come as no surprise that the vast majority of that gallon jug found it's way down the drain.
And now everybody knows the horrific truth about my first ever batch of mead. Think I'll consider this next one my first serious batch.
As with all meads, the recipe called for honey. Since we didn't know any better, ours was your standard store-bought honey. I'll count this as strike 1.
We also needed a gallon container. I don't remember what was originally in our jug, probably water, but at least the plastic was clear enough we could see what was going on. Strike 2.
Seventeen or eighteen years ago when all this transpired we had no idea where to get brewers yeast, so bread yeast it was. Strike 3.
The clever folks who created the recipe invented a combination airlock/fermentation alarm. You simply put a balloon over the mouth of the jug. The CO2 inflated the balloon, when fermentation stopped the balloon gradually deflated, when the balloon was flat again, you knew it was done.
Being neophytes, we had no idea what to look for or expect. The sludge at the bottom of the jug was a mystery, but we figured it was like pulp in orange juice and shook it up before tasting.
It should come as no surprise that the vast majority of that gallon jug found it's way down the drain.
And now everybody knows the horrific truth about my first ever batch of mead. Think I'll consider this next one my first serious batch.
It's very funny to think back to it now that I've done all this research about how to really do it.
