Newb, Hiya and Question(s)
 

Greetings!
Have been recently turned on to the wonders of home fermentation, glad
to find this newsgroup is active! Will likely lurk for a while, but have a
question of two...
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. 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.
Also, the brewer's store I purchased my hardware from sells sugar, and it
is more like icing sugar than granulated sugar. Is fine powdered sugar
important when fermenting mead/wine?
TIA,
Dan.

--
Solar-powered Linux: Slackware 10.0, 2.6.10, Averatec 3250H1
RLU#272755

Danno,
It's yours, in all honesty you can do anything you want to it. I make
meads and never used brown sugar. It would no longer technically be a
mead but it might go very well, anything other than honey makes it
something else. That's not a bad thing though. It's just like
cooking, add what you like and leave out what you don't. The first
time maybe just use honey to see if you like it like this. The
proportions of brown sugar to honey are different though. I can't say
for certain, but you will probably want to add 1.25 the amount of brown
sugar than honey to get the same sweetness.

The sugar you saw in the store was more than likely corn sugar, it's
usually used as either an adjunct to beer making or to 'prime' bottle
fermented beer, it ferments well and is very predictable. It's not
necessary in wine, plain old cane or beet surar from the grocery store
is usually used in winemaking.

Joe


Danno wrote:
> Greetings!
> Have been recently turned on to the wonders of home fermentation,
glad
> to find this newsgroup is active! Will likely lurk for a while, but
have a
> question of two...
> 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. 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.
> Also, the brewer's store I purchased my hardware from sells sugar,
and it
> is more like icing sugar than granulated sugar. Is fine powdered
sugar
> important when fermenting mead/wine?
> TIA,
> Dan.
>
> --
> Solar-powered Linux: Slackware 10.0, 2.6.10, Averatec 3250H1
> RLU#272755

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

lid wrote:
> 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

I agree. Often if you buy direct from a beekeeper, either at his place
of business or a farmers market, you will get a better price than from a
store (plus you are supporting your local beekeeper, and the honey you
get from him will most likely be a quality than that bought in a store).
Beekeepers are interesting to talk to and you will learn things from
them about honey, also you may get a deal on honey they can not sell to
the public (crystalized, already fermenting, bad colour, unpopular
flavour etc). Honey prices are high right now because it the beekeepers
have had problems with mites and a bad winter last year (at least around
here, it was so cold that many beekeeper lost most of their hives). Who
knows you may even decide to take up beekeeping.

You might also be interested in the Mead Lovers Digest
(www.talisman.com/mead) which is sent by email, it has lots of
information on honey, brewing, mead, recipes, etc.
Ken

"Danno" > wrote in message
.. .
>
> Greetings!
> Have been recently turned on to the wonders of home fermentation, glad
> to find this newsgroup is active! Will likely lurk for a while, but have a
> question of two...
> 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. 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.
> Also, the brewer's store I purchased my hardware from sells sugar, and it
> is more like icing sugar than granulated sugar. Is fine powdered sugar
> important when fermenting mead/wine?
> TIA,
> Dan.
>
> --
> Solar-powered Linux: Slackware 10.0, 2.6.10, Averatec 3250H1
> RLU#272755

Be careful about the idea of using brown sugar. It can impart flavors that
would be considered off. There are a few wines where brown sugar can be
used in small amounts to gain these flavors. I make a peach wine where 1 lb
of brown sugar in a gallon adds something. But in general, consider the use
of brown sugar an experiment that may or may not turn out. If you are new
to the hobby, use conventional recipes first and then experiment later. Get
some successes under your belt before you disappoint yourself with failures.

Buying honey in small jars is expensive but a gallon will make a 5 gallon
batch and local honey can be bought for $25 per gallon in most areas. I
will pay $35 for specialty honey from another area for a special batch.
Even at $35 that is only $1.50 to $1.75 per bottle.

If you are playing around with mead you might want to check out the
rec.crafts.meadmaking group. It is a sort of sister group to this one but
specializes in mead. There are subtle differences.

If you are really out to make a good CHEAP wine (nothing wrong with that),
then go to Jack Keller's site http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/ and find his
recipe for Welch's Niagara White Grape Concentrate wine. Yes this is the
can's of frozen grape concentrate you buy in the store. You can make a
truly excellent white wine that is ready in 2 or 3 months and costs
considerably less than one dollar a bottle.

Ray

The tip on getting to know a beekeeper is a good one. I get a 5 gallon
pail for $50 to $60 US. I knew I was getting it cheap but did not know
how cheap...

It makes great mead.

Joe

> Buying honey in small jars is expensive but a gallon will make a 5
gallon
> batch and local honey can be bought for $25 per gallon in most areas.
I
> will pay $35 for specialty honey from another area for a special
batch.
> Even at $35 that is only $1.50 to $1.75 per bottle.
>
> If you are playing around with mead you might want to check out the
> rec.crafts.meadmaking group. It is a sort of sister group to this
one but
> specializes in mead. There are subtle differences.
>

On 2005-02-22, Danno > wrote:
>
> Dan.
>

Thanks for the posts everyone, I'm well on my way to my first racking.
There's gotta be a few local bee aviaries around here...

--
Solar-powered Linux: Slackware 10.0, 2.6.10, Averatec 3250H1
RLU#272755