The Bar Towel

yo Derek, if you ever need an applewood fix, just let me know. 5min up the road from me, and we end up there often enough. i'm sure you could find some west coast goodies to send my way

I make 1 batch of mead per year. Staggered nutrient additions are critical. My personal favourite yeast for mead is Lalvin 71B-1122, lots of NHC winners also use this yeast. I wouldn't use an ale yeast.

www.lalvinyeast.com/images/library/71B_Yeast.pdf

markaberrant wrote:I make 1 batch of mead per year. Staggered nutrient additions are critical. My personal favourite yeast for mead is Lalvin 71B-1122, lots of NHC winners also use this yeast. I wouldn't use an ale yeast.

www.lalvinyeast.com/images/library/71B_Yeast.pdf

There's a good podcast on this at BeerSmith Home Brewing (8/17/2011- Making Mead with Curt Stock) I just did my first mead, used Lavalin EC-1118, the champagne yeast. I did 3 yeast nutrient additions over the first few days, agitating each time.

I might take you up that Russ! Do you know if they have any of the big (20%) sweet ones available? I loved that stuff, and haven't seen any others commercially available (most of them seem to be dry and more like a wine than a liquor).

Mark, do you stagger honey additions as well? How strong do you go?

I might just do a braggot, as the malt is full of nutrients.

Any thoughts on this?

7 lbs Gambrinus ESB
4 lbs Honey Malt
11 lbs Local Buckwheat Honey

US05?

IBU~40 (only bittering hops)
OG~1.1
FG~1.02
abv~10.5%

phirleh wrote:I just did my first mead, used Lavalin EC-1118, the champagne yeast. I did 3 yeast nutrient additions over the first few days, agitating each time.

I am not crazy about champagne yeast, very bland character and insanely dry. I only use it if I am going for a monster mead, say north of 1.150 - I made an 18% cyser with it a few years ago that was pretty good, though I still had to backsweeten it.

Derek wrote: Mark, do you stagger honey additions as well? How strong do you go?

I might just do a braggot, as the malt is full of nutrients.

Any thoughts on this?

7 lbs Gambrinus ESB
4 lbs Honey Malt
11 lbs Local Buckwheat Honey

US05?

IBU~40 (only bittering hops)
OG~1.1
FG~1.02
abv~10.5%

I don't stagger my honey additions, though I suppose you could. I shoot for 1.140 or so before adding any fruit. A mead below 1.120 will likely ferment very close to complete dryness (1.000). Mead is one type of drink where residual sweetness is pretty essential in my opinion, so I make them big and basically let the yeast kill itself with alcohol.

Braggot is tricky to nail the balance between malt, hops, and honey. I consider it a very advanced style. Your recipe seems reasonable, I'd maybe back it off to 30 IBU, but hard to say.

Derek wrote:I might take you up that Russ! Do you know if they have any of the big (20%) sweet ones available? I loved that stuff, and haven't seen any others commercially available (most of them seem to be dry and more like a wine than a liquor).

his straight mead is 20%... it was out of stock the last time I was in, but that's the only time I've seen it out of stock. there are sometimes others available, so i'll keep my eye out. some of the best mead made in north america, and a steal at under $13/bottle.

grub wrote:

Derek wrote:I might take you up that Russ! Do you know if they have any of the big (20%) sweet ones available? I loved that stuff, and haven't seen any others commercially available (most of them seem to be dry and more like a wine than a liquor).

his straight mead is 20%... it was out of stock the last time I was in, but that's the only time I've seen it out of stock. there are sometimes others available, so i'll keep my eye out. some of the best mead made in north america, and a steal at under $13/bottle.

next time your there ask if he still has any Dragon's Fyre

he doesnt display it in his store but he'll sell it if you ask for it, assuming he has any left

matt7215 wrote:next time your there ask if he still has any ---------

he doesnt display it in his store but he'll sell it if you ask for it, assuming he has any left

ssshhhhh!!!! don't let the secret out. that shit is insane good, and dangerous.

grub wrote:

matt7215 wrote:next time your there ask if he still has any ---------

he doesnt display it in his store but he'll sell it if you ask for it, assuming he has any left

ssshhhhh!!!! don't let the secret out. that shit is insane good, and dangerous.

i had it at the Grand River fruit beers, ciders, and meads tasting

rated it a perfect 5 on RB as well

http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/applewood- ... 738/54825/

matt7215 wrote:

grub wrote:

matt7215 wrote:next time your there ask if he still has any ---------

he doesnt display it in his store but he'll sell it if you ask for it, assuming he has any left

ssshhhhh!!!! don't let the secret out. that shit is insane good, and dangerous.

i had it at the Grand River fruit beers, ciders, and meads tasting

rated it a perfect 5 on RB as well

http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/applewood- ... 738/54825/

That was amazing stuff, I only had a 1oz pour of it at the tasting, but that stuff was great. Rob said they only made 40 bottles of it and 2 were at the tasting.

markaberrant wrote:

Derek wrote: Mark, do you stagger honey additions as well? How strong do you go?

I might just do a braggot, as the malt is full of nutrients.

Any thoughts on this?

7 lbs Gambrinus ESB
4 lbs Honey Malt
11 lbs Local Buckwheat Honey

US05?

IBU~40 (only bittering hops)
OG~1.1
FG~1.02
abv~10.5%

I don't stagger my honey additions, though I suppose you could. I shoot for 1.140 or so before adding any fruit. A mead below 1.120 will likely ferment very close to complete dryness (1.000). Mead is one type of drink where residual sweetness is pretty essential in my opinion, so I make them big and basically let the yeast kill itself with alcohol.

Braggot is tricky to nail the balance between malt, hops, and honey. I consider it a very advanced style. Your recipe seems reasonable, I'd maybe back it off to 30 IBU, but hard to say.

Thanks. I was thinking it'll be almost like a barley wine, but it'd be nice for some sweetness to come through, so I might aim for 30. That honey will cost $50!

I'm also thinking Nottingham yeast, as I have some to use up.

Derek wrote:Thanks. I was thinking it'll be almost like a barley wine, but it'd be nice for some sweetness to come through, so I might aim for 30. That honey will cost $50!

Derek, too bad you aren't still out here, we've found a local honey source for half that price. It isn't buckwheat, but it is very high quality. Have a massive Bochet that I made from it fermenting right now. Can't wait to try it.

Derek wrote:Thanks. I was thinking it'll be almost like a barley wine, but it'd be nice for some sweetness to come through, so I might aim for 30. That honey will cost $50!

$50 for 11lbs of local honey? I don't even spend that much on the crazy imported varietals I sometimes buy at a market in Calgary. The local honey here is about $2/lb when buying in decent sized amounts (15lb pails are the standard). Most of the local honey here is very bland, but I have found a source that has canola honey, which has surprisingly excellent aromatics, very fruity, citrusy and a little floral.

I also noticed you were planning to use Buckwheat, that is fine, but it has a very strong flavour. If there is some residual sweetness, you get some very nice carmel/toffee notes, but if dry it is very bitter and woody.

Yeah, I picked up the 'over-priced' honey for next weekend. I couldn't find Buckwheat any cheaper, and I really love the stuff.

I was thinking I'd just do a pale ale to get a healthy yeast cake going, but after the recent talk about 1845 and the pastmasters, I took a look in the freezer and decided to use up some supplies.

Sort of an 1850's export IPA?

7.6# Marris otter
3# Gambrinus ESB
1# Biscuit
0.75# Honey malt
Citra for bittering (~50IBU); 1 oz of Fuggles at 30, 20 and 10 minutes.

5.5 Ga @ ~1.068; pitched the Nottingham.

I'll see how it turns out, but I'll probably split the batch for dry hopping. Fuggles in one; homegrown mix in the other. Might even water down the homegrown for a more sessionable pale ale.