Mead Forum - Homebrew Korea http://www.homebrewkorea.com/forum/categories/mead-forum/feed.rss Tue, 18 Jun 13 22:00:59 -0600 Mead Forum - Homebrew Korea en-CA Cloves? http://www.homebrewkorea.com/forum/discussion/1449/cloves Thu, 21 Mar 2013 01:56:57 -0600 Fludbucket 1449@/forum/discussions 정향?

I saw something I thought was cloves yesterady but didnt want to buy them since I wasn't sure.
]]> Where to get a carboy http://www.homebrewkorea.com/forum/discussion/1382/where-to-get-a-carboy Tue, 20 Nov 2012 03:28:10 -0700 mmmmark 1382@/forum/discussions I'm looking for some 10L glass carboys. I've spent quite a while trolling Google/GMarket/Naver/etc.
Thanks!
]]> Honey on sale http://www.homebrewkorea.com/forum/discussion/959/honey-on-sale Mon, 29 Aug 2011 15:52:10 -0600 gordsellar 959@/forum/discussions


I think they're selling the stock they have to make way for the new stuff, and yeah, it's not super-fresh, but if you're unable to get out into the countryside to get truly fresh honey from an apiary (heaven knows I can't!), and you're planning to make something like a metheglin (spiced mead), braggot/bracket (honey-beers), or a melomel (fruited mead), the quality is likely to be fine.



(Now I've revised my mead-making plans slightly, in a good and exciting way... and plan on making a braggot as well.)]]> Braggot http://www.homebrewkorea.com/forum/discussion/1124/braggot Thu, 26 Jan 2012 23:08:59 -0700 Kunkemonster 1124@/forum/discussions Dandelion and Burdock Mead http://www.homebrewkorea.com/forum/discussion/1106/dandelion-and-burdock-mead Thu, 29 Dec 2011 12:27:08 -0700 hheyjoe 1106@/forum/discussions


(Not interested in my back story, skip the 1st paragraph)



I'll take this as a sort of introductory post. I'm Joe, from the UK. I've done some brewing in the past, but I've never tried to be much good at it. When I was 16, friends and I started buying up out of date beer kits for pennies and brewing them. Back then it was a step around the law and a damned cheap pint. We brewed in open buckets, went straight from fermentation to pressure barrels we'd blagged from a friend, and drank from the barrels. Kept that going a couple of years, and did some at uni too. Fast forward to Korea, and my first brew was ginger beer. An astonishing success, which turned out to be a pure fluke, never again repeated so successfully. I left it at that until I stumbled across the following article on 'dandelion and burdock', which I'd always liked, and my wife quite appreciated too when she was back in the uk - http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/sep/28/how-make-dandelion-burdock-beer. I followed the recipe, and was a bit disappointed with the result. I'm on my second batch. I have switched to to rich brown sugar, and upped the quantities of dandelion and burdock roots. The following batches I'll experiment with some additional flavorings (star anise, anyone?)



Having made up my second batch I stumbled accross this website: http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/brewing/fetch-recipe.php?rid=dandelion-burdock-beer



I know nothing of meads, but it has sparked an interest, so I've decided to give this recipe a try as a parallel to the second generation of the first recipe. The website above recommends champagne yeast, and a bit (okay, a bleeding lot) of searching here helped me identify Lalvin 1118 as a champagne yeast available in Korea (thus far I've been using the standard dry yeast available in korean 슈퍼s). I'm a bit stuck on 'yeast nutrient' though, so if anyone has any suggestions regarding that, I'd be pleased to hear them. If i wait till my second batch is out of fermentation, I should be able to boil up the leftover yeast and use that, but I'm not sure whether dead anorexic yeast from a pure sugar brew will bring much to provide nutrition to my next brew or not. I've heard tell of of zinc sulphate, but it sounds like hell trying to track that down in korea.



I'm determined to get my dandelion and burdock, so I'll be taking both recipes through several generations. I'll keep you guys updated, and I hope I can take the liberty of quizzing you for advice along the process,



Joe]]> Wild Fermentation http://www.homebrewkorea.com/forum/discussion/762/wild-fermentation Wed, 02 Mar 2011 14:49:39 -0700 BardicBrewer 762@/forum/discussions


I'm into wild fermentation. I want to talk about my first attempt at making alcohol in the form of wild fermented mead. My process was primitive. I made using honey water an old wine bottle, a cloth and a rubber band. One part water and one part honey and then I left it for 2 weeks. After 2 weeks, I tried some. It was delicious and still sweet. 3 weeks later I tried again.Very light alcohol. Still great. Then as an experiment I threw a packet of yeast in there and waited a week to try it finished. It tasted great still but hardly any sweetness. I used it straight and at night added one part boiled water and a little lemon wedge as a before bed tonic. I went through the wine bottle in a week and so now I'm off to find a better quality honey for better results.]]> Chestnut Honey Mead(s) http://www.homebrewkorea.com/forum/discussion/1057/chestnut-honey-meads Tue, 15 Nov 2011 12:59:12 -0700 gordsellar 1057@/forum/discussions


So I calculated it out so I could get a second, smaller (3L) batch of mead if I removed added about 700 grams more to the second, and then diluted the first with sterile water, and topped up the second. I ended up realizing my mistake late last night, chilling the over-sweet work in a sealed jug, and then spending my break between classes this afternoon fixing it. I was happy that I could fix it without having to go into my last big bottles of honey: I pulled it off just with the little bottles I had and wanted to use up.



So now both meads will be about 13% potential alcohol, though I think the yeast will die at about 12%, so they'll finish slightly sweet. Dessert-winey, though I may try dry the all-chestnut one out a bit more. The second mead is only partly chestnut, with some of the flavorful mixed-blossom honey (of the same type I used with the Mittelfruh Metheglin) and a little acacia honey. (Which is pretty plain and simple.) I think in the latter, I'll pitch some of the French Saison yeast, since its alcohol tolerance is around 12% too, and it might put a fruitier, spicier flavor into the mead. For the chestnut-only, I'm going with Trappist High Gravity again...



I guess it's time to get a braggot on the go soon -- I want time to age them all out a little at least!]]> Hop(ped) Metheglin http://www.homebrewkorea.com/forum/discussion/1055/hopped-metheglin Mon, 14 Nov 2011 13:18:02 -0700 gordsellar 1055@/forum/discussions


I read somewhere that monks in Eastern Europe (Cezch? Polish, I think!) made a hopped mead all the way back to the Middle Ages, so I figured I'd give it a try. So the went with a hopped mead with it, since I had about enough honey to get to about 1.100 OG on a 3L mini-batch. Since I'd put the must into an unsanitized jar, I had to boil it again, and I figured the hopping might make up for any loss of aroma resulting from having to heat/boil it again. Now, I realize I could have pasteurized it at a lower temp for a long time, but by the time I realized that, my heart was set on making a hopped mead.



I went with 1.5L of water and 500 grams of honey in the boil, along with my lowest alpha-acid hop on hand, 5 grams of Hallertau Mittelfruh, and boiled for 15 minutes -- long enough to get some flavor and theoretically some aroma, but not much bitterness -- since the honey is so fermentable there would be less to balance the hop bitterness. I added another 500 grams of honey after the water had chilled, and then strained out the hops and racked into a jug. When it was cold, I pitched Wyeast 3787 (Trappist High Gravity) onto it, and then kept it at a relatively low temperature. (I'd say about 18-20 degrees Celsius.) I did one or two nutrient additions, but then forgot and just let it go slowly. After about a month, when the activity seemed to stop, I cold crashed it and left it for a month. (I got busy!)



Well, I doubt this mead will qualify as "hoppy" to some of you, but I just racked it to secondary, and the sample I took was amazing! It's still quite sweet, but I don't know how sweet -- with 3L being all I have on hand, I'm not wasting any on the gravity meter. I can say it's a brilliant It got exceptionally clear when I cold crashed the primary for a few weeks, and I expect it will get even clearer in secondary. I think I could probably have doubled the hops (for flavor and aroma, yes, but also for the bitterness) without a problem: the yeast conked out while it was still somewhat sweetish. It's definitely in the range of dessert wines, though a pretty complex and nuanced one. The nose is all honey, but the flavor is a balance of honey and this spicy hint of Hallertauer.



I will probably rack this mead to a tertiary when I am getting ready to bottle it, and dry hop it with some more Hallertauer, or some other noble hop, at least if I can get a nice aromatic one in leaf form. (I daren't put pellets into a Carlo Rossi jug -- the mead will never clear, and I'll never rack it out cleanly. Maybe in a hop sack, but I still think it'll be hard to clear.)



I think this recipe could probably also produce the kind of mead a hophead would love. I have no trouble imagining a Citra or Cascade or Simcoe mead fermented with a yeast that goes up to about 12%, with some hops and half the honey boiled for 10-15 minutes or so -- in the hopburst fashion, like we explored in the 15 Minute Hop Challenge, except the hops would stand out so much more against the honey -- and then more dry hops at the end... if I had an ounce of whole hop Citra, I'd probably be planning a 5G (or at least 2G) batch right now, in fact. But I'm making another mead tonight -- chestnut honey -- and that's probably more than enough meadmaking for the moment.



Anyway, I highly recommend making a hopped mead to anyone who loves hops, wants to love mead, but hasn't made (or tried) a mead they loved. But temperature control is, I must repeat, key. Every mead I've made with good temperature control has come out tasting excellent straight out of primary, while the ones I've made without are a die roll.]]> Cyser, and an Update on the Bokbunja Melomel http://www.homebrewkorea.com/forum/discussion/787/cyser-and-an-update-on-the-bokbunja-melomel Tue, 22 Mar 2011 14:58:00 -0600 gordsellar 787@/forum/discussions


The new batch is a cyser, which basically is 2/5ths apple cider, 3/5ths mead. Problem is, the yeast I pumped had enough of the bokbunja pigment/juice left in it to stain the whole thing the same shade of purple. I doubt there will be much bokbunja flavor, though, so I can just chalk this up to being an interesting coloration effect. (I would have preferred a milder, cidery-colored mead, but what the hell, right?) Ah well. Next time, I'll set aside some time to wash the yeast and culture up a new starter without the purple staining.



The cyser has just started bubbling today, so I need to add some DAP to it tonight, I guess! (I'll add less than usual, as I'm hoping the nutrients in the apple juice and some of the dead yeast in the cake will supplement that.)



I do have a picture of what color the bokbunja melomel had as I racked it into the keg:





Racking the Bokbunja Melomel by mrgord, on Flickr



Looks pretty much like red wine, though it tastes nothing like it. As I mention in my post on the cyser, the bokbunja melomel had a very harsh flavor, but a lovely color and a very nice aftertaste. I'm guessing a year of bulk aging will probably transform that flavor into something transcendent, though! (It's hard to worry too much about something that won't be finished for a year or more. I may also toss in some boiled oak chips for a while (a week? two?) and then rack it into a second keg, for further clearing, at some point. There's a lot of time to think about, research, and try things.)



By the way, all of purple and berry-flavor that came from just 2kg of bokbunja. (In a 5 gallon batch of mead.) I'm thinking probably 1 kg in primary and 500 grams in secondary would be plenty for anyone who wanted to make something similar. Those who warn one that the berry flavor is largely lost when the berries are added in primary may be right for smaller additions, but for a large addition, I'd say the berry flavor is quite pronounced!



As for my next mead... when this ferments out, I'm going to go ahead and try make a metheglin (a "spiced" mead), inspired by some of the Dutch liqueurs at the Virgin Bar in Noksapyeong. Something with some spices and striking floral aromatics. Still working out how to achieve that exactly, but I'm guessing some of the stronger spice flavors will come from spices added earlier on, while aromas will come from stuff added nearer to the end of the mead's long stay in the keg. I'm hoping I can rack the current batch to secondary so that I can start the metheglin in a couple of weeks, as part of that batch will also be a birthday present for a friend, and will get a shorter aging period (I hope for it to be finished in maybe January, as his birthday is in February and he will likely be leaving in March.)



After that will probably be time to turn to making a sweet mead, since I have the yeast just sitting there, waiting to be used. Probably will gift at least some of that, but it also makes a nice after-dinner drink. And suddenly I'm not so annoyed that the starter kit I bought back when I started brewing came with a wine bottle corker, instead of a bottle capper. Guess I should start saving/collecting wine bottles, too.]]> Braggot (Brackett) Recipe Feedback? http://www.homebrewkorea.com/forum/discussion/966/braggot-brackett-recipe-feedback Wed, 07 Sep 2011 06:57:04 -0600 gordsellar 966@/forum/discussions


The rough recipe is here.



I'll only boil half the honey or less, adding the remainder at flameout, and that means hop utilization will be better... probably closer to the 30-35 IBUs effectively. I've read conflicting things about hopping braggots: some say you should hop conservatively (ie. don't hop against the honey, only the malt, and 30 IBUs is fine for most braggots) while others argue that heavily hopping even pure meads (no malt) at 80 IBUs or so can make a wonderful hopped mead, let alone braggot. I figure a more moderate hopping might help



I'm also trying to decide whether to keep the honey and malt both simple, or complexify them: I don't know if I'm feeling up to a decoction, but I have some Melanoidin malt I could throw in (a shortcut to the same end as a decoction, though), as well as some very dark and pungent date honey that would turn it brown and did nicely in the Quad and Dubbel I made. But I feel like, trying this new, maybe it'd be interesting to see how it would taste if I kept things simple for the first try?]]> Finings/Clarifiers http://www.homebrewkorea.com/forum/discussion/860/finingsclarifiers Wed, 18 May 2011 07:43:57 -0600 gordsellar 860@/forum/discussions


I've found few places that have information on finings for wines, which seems applicable to meads, but this was the page that seemed most straightforward to me, in terms of which clarifier is for what purpose..



As far as the finings I see listed there, gelatin and bentonite seem to be available in Korea (the latter here), which is good since the mead I want to clear seems to have a certain amount of protein, a certain amount of tannins, and probably a certain amount of yeast in suspension. So I'm figuring the best move will be to try the bentonite first and, failing that, try the gelatin. (I am guessing enough tannins are present as the wine seems a bit tannic to me, but if I can use bentonite alone, I'd be happier.)



I'm not sure whether to just rack off the lees into a new keg, or instead to run off the lees under pressure (the way we run sediment out of a keg when we first tap it). What would you do?]]> The yeast that w..i..l..l.....n..o..t......d..i..e..... http://www.homebrewkorea.com/forum/discussion/712/the-yeast-that-w-i-l-l-n-o-t-d-i-e- Wed, 19 Jan 2011 13:48:27 -0700 reverendbeer 712@/forum/discussions


Used some ale yeast...figured it'd finish around 4-4.5%. Pitched on 13 December. Yay! All is right and good with the world.



Except it's STILL GOING.



Yeast? Cheap-ass Coopers Ale yeast.



And where, you may ask, is this husky, pedestrian, working man's Ale yeast doing it's business? The bottom of the f&^*ing carboy, sirrah, with the finest, most delicate trub EVAR...I mean, you could make ceramic out of this shit. Seriously. Give me a kiln. I'll prove it.



So...my initial gravity of 1.050 should, I suspect, have, if I surmise correctly, and stop using so many commas, have completed by now.



EXCEPT IT'S STILL GOING.



Checked it on 26 December....26 DECEMBER...and it was at 1.026.



Haven't checked again...yet...but IT'S STILL GOING.



Anyway, I'm going to siphon off about a half gallon and throw in 4 lbs of raspberries and see where that leads me.



SWMBO doesn't like the dry stuff, so I think the rest will get bottled soon and pasturized...the cider forum on HBtalk has a sticky with instructions....



...



I've completely forgotten where I was going with this, now.



Oh, right....random thoughts, anyone? Anyone want some purportedly Cooper's Ale yeast that W..i..l..l.....N..o..t.....D..I..E....?



I'm going to check the SG again tomorrow night...I can't believe that there's anything vaguely dextrus/glucus/fructus (or however such things are spelled) left....except for the steady stream of tiny bubbles coming of of the yeast cake.]]> Mead Making Book Review http://www.homebrewkorea.com/forum/discussion/396/mead-making-book-review Fri, 23 Apr 2010 03:51:11 -0600 gordsellar 396@/forum/discussions


http://www.gordsellar.com/2010/04/19/the-compleat-meadmaker-by-ken-schramm/



I hope it's not considered gauche to link a review on my site, it just seems better than copying and pasting the content here.



My verdict is that it's a great starter book. Not quite as encouraging as the Papazian, whose unflagging optimism and encouragement might well be why I started on this hobby, and I wish the book had more recipes, but for someone with a little brewing experience, it's an excellent introduction.



I'll be trying my hand at the JAO recipe mentioned in the post, this one:



http://www.gotmead.com/index.php?option=com_rapidrecipe&page=viewrecipe&recipe_id=118&Itemid=459



... this weekend, though of course I'll have to set it aside for a good long time before I can actually try it out and see what the results are like. I'll start a new thread for that, as it seems like a good newbie mead for people to try.]]> Blueberry Mead http://www.homebrewkorea.com/forum/discussion/636/blueberry-mead Mon, 22 Nov 2010 02:53:31 -0700 Kunkemonster 636@/forum/discussions

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