Danno > wrote:

> Am watching my first 4 litres of mead bubble nicely on the kitchen table,
> would have liked to have used my shiny new 23l carboy(s) to do it, but the
> cost of the honey seemed too high to warrent the experiment.

Small first batches are a good idea. There is nothing more frustrating
than pouring out 5 gallons of brew after waiting a year.

How much did you pay for the honey? In the US, if you're paying more
than about $24/G you're paying too much.

> My initial foray
> seems to be going well so far, but am wondering if I can exchange some of
> the honey with sugar? I was thinking of using a plain brown sugar in place
> of a few kg of honey, otherwise, just a basic honey wine.

You certainly could, though it feels intrinsically 'wrong' to me. I've never
tried brown sugar against a honey base so I'm not sure how it would taste.
(Now against cider... mmmm, brown sugar, how come you taste so good?)

BTW, there's also a rec.crafts.meadmaking if you are looking for the
more mead-y than wine-y folks. Also, check out www.gotmead.com.

-- WB