It all started with my bf's SCA past - apparently he used to brew up a fair amount of mead back in the day. Since we finally got our own place he asked if it would be ok if he started a batch of mead. OK????? Of course it would be ok! After a few visits and book purchases from Heart's Home Brew, I became intrigued. Granted, I'm one of those people who jumps at the opportunity to learn something new - especially something that I knew ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about. I started reading the books here and there and gradually got up to speed on the terminology of brewing.
The next time we went to Heart's I finally knew what questions to ask and before I knew it, had purchased my own brewing toolkit - a primary fermenter (ie 5 gallon food-grade plastic bucket with a special lid that accepts a rubber stopper and fermentation lock), secondary fermenter called a "carboy" (glass 5 gallon bottle basically), a rubber stopper to hold the fermentation lock, a fermentation lock (fill with a liquid so that CO2 can come out, but nothing can come in), pectic enzyme, campden tablets, Reisling grape concentrate, wine yeast (Red Star Premier Curve), and of course more books. I'm borrowing the following items from my bf, who had already purchased them - large bottle of amberdyne sterilizing solution, yeast nutient (Fermax), racking cane (stiff bit of tubing that makes siphoning your brew out of a fermenter easier), tubing, long stirring rod, funnel with screen.
I decided to start with a recipe for "Dry Ginger Wine" from Making Wild Wines and Meads by Pattie Vargas & Rich Gulling. This called for fresh ginger root, white grape juice concentrate (the reisling stuff I got from Heart's), bananas, yeast, pectic enzyme (helps break down the fruit pectins so you have a less-cloudy wine), yeast nutrient (fermax), orange juice and sugar.
Before this however, I wanted to observe and help out with my bf's mead. Just so I knew what to expect and how to prepare for it.
The next time we went to Heart's I finally knew what questions to ask and before I knew it, had purchased my own brewing toolkit - a primary fermenter (ie 5 gallon food-grade plastic bucket with a special lid that accepts a rubber stopper and fermentation lock), secondary fermenter called a "carboy" (glass 5 gallon bottle basically), a rubber stopper to hold the fermentation lock, a fermentation lock (fill with a liquid so that CO2 can come out, but nothing can come in), pectic enzyme, campden tablets, Reisling grape concentrate, wine yeast (Red Star Premier Curve), and of course more books. I'm borrowing the following items from my bf, who had already purchased them - large bottle of amberdyne sterilizing solution, yeast nutient (Fermax), racking cane (stiff bit of tubing that makes siphoning your brew out of a fermenter easier), tubing, long stirring rod, funnel with screen.
I decided to start with a recipe for "Dry Ginger Wine" from Making Wild Wines and Meads by Pattie Vargas & Rich Gulling. This called for fresh ginger root, white grape juice concentrate (the reisling stuff I got from Heart's), bananas, yeast, pectic enzyme (helps break down the fruit pectins so you have a less-cloudy wine), yeast nutrient (fermax), orange juice and sugar.
Before this however, I wanted to observe and help out with my bf's mead. Just so I knew what to expect and how to prepare for it.
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