Couldn’t agree more. I made my first mead in 1989 under my grandmother’s tutelage. She was draconian about cleanliness. She didn’t know about hydrometers but carefully weighed out her ingredients and double-checked her must using a scrubbed egg as her version of a hydrometer. She was an amazing cook and as a result knew about balance of flavour and spices. As soon as we got access to wine yeasts, she got excited and had me buy different kinds. She told me never to start a mead in Summer (European homes rarely have air conditioning) unless you have a cellar. She absolutely forbade me to crack open a bottle of mead unless it was 6 months old, and then only to gauge its progress. She would never compromise on the quality of her ingredients. She didn’t know about additives like bentonite but knew how to use gelatin and egg whites, had me boil up fruit skins and barks for tannins, and encouraged me to learn about them once they became available to us. She taught le to taste, analyse, taste again, and to understand how a batch evolves. She mourned her mother’s ageing barrels which she had to leave at the family farm when she fled during WW2 and I dedicated my first oaked mead to her because sadly, she’d passed by then. When I got access to better fermenters, bought hydrometers, learned more about additives like pectic enzyme, she was right there getting excited along with me. She would never even consider buying fancy filtering equipment (neither do I but if it floats someone’s boat go right ahead) but if there was something that might improve flavour and preservation, she would push me to go for it. She always, ALWAYS insisted on me taking notes. Not just the recipe, but the fermentation conditions and tasting notes over time. Not just for repeatability but as a learning tool. I can still hear her tell me “If you put crap in, no matter how much effort you invest in it, you can hardly expect your mead to become anything above acceptable. You want good. You want excellent.” I don’t compete. But my colleagues have mourned me being on sick leave for 11 months and one of the reasons is that ever since I got hired, I bring several bottles of mead to the office BBQ’s and team building events. My neighbours often offer me fruit, honey, and empty bottles because they know they get some of the mead I make with the ingredients and at least some of the bottles return filled. My friends, some of whom earn their keep in high end restaurants as chefs and sommeliers, drop heavy hints at what they’d appreciate for me to bring when I come over to their place for food and drinks… or they overtly offer to cook if I bring the drinks. Then they proceed to asking what I’ve got in mind so they can adapt their menu. All thanks to Grandma. Now I’m teaching my daughter and her boyfriend. They’re both interested in the craft and are around the same age as when I started out. I’m forever grateful to my grandmother for teaching me and for being so adamant about good practices, about being open to new methods, and for getting me into what my ex believed was “a crazy-ass hippie hobby.” Thank you for posting this video. If there’s just one small piece of advice I’d add to yours, it’s one of the things Grandma would demand of me over and over again: “Taste it. REALLY taste it. What do you taste? What do you like? What don’t you like? What is this batch telling YOU? What is it asking of you? Because once it’s in the bottle your work is done. But your mead isn’t.” Her goal was to have me refine my palate, learn to trust my senses, check my notes, learn to predict how a batch is going to evolve, how to tweak it if necessary. I hope your video encourages a lot of beginner mead makers and does give them a jump start to making really good meads. A good mead you’ve made yourself is the best encouragement to sticking with the craft. Greetings from Belgium.
Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback, all the way from Belgium! I don't have the best camera equipment and computer, so it's hard for me to put together decent videos, but I thought this was an important skill to share. And thanks for the added tips! Your grandmother sounds like she was an amazing woman, and I'm glad she had such a positive impact on your life. My grandmother also has a hand in starting me in gardening and homesteading 25 years ago, when it really was still a "hippie" movement. But I am very glad for the knowledge and good memories! Thanks again for writing, and sante/proost! :)
Thanks for sharing some great content! Pro tip number four is wrong! Never boil your honey, period!!! For quick easy clearing use a product like Super Kleer. Something that’s going to drop both the positive and negative charged particles. Congratulations on your sobriety that is super cool!
Some mead makers PREFER not to boil honey must, but I assure you, it is not "wrong" to boil must. I think you're referring to boiling straight honey, which is too thick to boil straight. Must is the mixture of honey and water that mead is fermented from. I apologize if I wasn't clear about that. But in my experience it is essential to boil the must once you've added the water and honey together. Happy brewing!
@@theroaminghomesteaders I am an accomplished mead maker. Boiling your honey will drive off flavors and aromas that could be in the final product. You seem sincere. Please do some research and revise this video so you don’t lead new mazer’s in the wrong direction.
Cheers friend we just subscribed after your video found us , we home brew beer , grow some hops, make mead and different wines and others on channel . Stay thirsty and make good mead.
Couldn’t agree more. I made my first mead in 1989 under my grandmother’s tutelage. She was draconian about cleanliness. She didn’t know about hydrometers but carefully weighed out her ingredients and double-checked her must using a scrubbed egg as her version of a hydrometer. She was an amazing cook and as a result knew about balance of flavour and spices. As soon as we got access to wine yeasts, she got excited and had me buy different kinds. She told me never to start a mead in Summer (European homes rarely have air conditioning) unless you have a cellar. She absolutely forbade me to crack open a bottle of mead unless it was 6 months old, and then only to gauge its progress. She would never compromise on the quality of her ingredients. She didn’t know about additives like bentonite but knew how to use gelatin and egg whites, had me boil up fruit skins and barks for tannins, and encouraged me to learn about them once they became available to us. She taught le to taste, analyse, taste again, and to understand how a batch evolves. She mourned her mother’s ageing barrels which she had to leave at the family farm when she fled during WW2 and I dedicated my first oaked mead to her because sadly, she’d passed by then.
When I got access to better fermenters, bought hydrometers, learned more about additives like pectic enzyme, she was right there getting excited along with me. She would never even consider buying fancy filtering equipment (neither do I but if it floats someone’s boat go right ahead) but if there was something that might improve flavour and preservation, she would push me to go for it.
She always, ALWAYS insisted on me taking notes. Not just the recipe, but the fermentation conditions and tasting notes over time. Not just for repeatability but as a learning tool.
I can still hear her tell me “If you put crap in, no matter how much effort you invest in it, you can hardly expect your mead to become anything above acceptable. You want good. You want excellent.”
I don’t compete. But my colleagues have mourned me being on sick leave for 11 months and one of the reasons is that ever since I got hired, I bring several bottles of mead to the office BBQ’s and team building events. My neighbours often offer me fruit, honey, and empty bottles because they know they get some of the mead I make with the ingredients and at least some of the bottles return filled. My friends, some of whom earn their keep in high end restaurants as chefs and sommeliers, drop heavy hints at what they’d appreciate for me to bring when I come over to their place for food and drinks… or they overtly offer to cook if I bring the drinks. Then they proceed to asking what I’ve got in mind so they can adapt their menu.
All thanks to Grandma. Now I’m teaching my daughter and her boyfriend. They’re both interested in the craft and are around the same age as when I started out. I’m forever grateful to my grandmother for teaching me and for being so adamant about good practices, about being open to new methods, and for getting me into what my ex believed was “a crazy-ass hippie hobby.”
Thank you for posting this video. If there’s just one small piece of advice I’d add to yours, it’s one of the things Grandma would demand of me over and over again:
“Taste it. REALLY taste it. What do you taste? What do you like? What don’t you like? What is this batch telling YOU? What is it asking of you? Because once it’s in the bottle your work is done. But your mead isn’t.”
Her goal was to have me refine my palate, learn to trust my senses, check my notes, learn to predict how a batch is going to evolve, how to tweak it if necessary.
I hope your video encourages a lot of beginner mead makers and does give them a jump start to making really good meads. A good mead you’ve made yourself is the best encouragement to sticking with the craft.
Greetings from Belgium.
Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback, all the way from Belgium! I don't have the best camera equipment and computer, so it's hard for me to put together decent videos, but I thought this was an important skill to share. And thanks for the added tips! Your grandmother sounds like she was an amazing woman, and I'm glad she had such a positive impact on your life. My grandmother also has a hand in starting me in gardening and homesteading 25 years ago, when it really was still a "hippie" movement. But I am very glad for the knowledge and good memories! Thanks again for writing, and sante/proost! :)
Thanks for sharing some great content!
Pro tip number four is wrong! Never boil your honey, period!!!
For quick easy clearing use a product like Super Kleer. Something that’s going to drop both the positive and negative charged particles.
Congratulations on your sobriety that is super cool!
Some mead makers PREFER not to boil honey must, but I assure you, it is not "wrong" to boil must. I think you're referring to boiling straight honey, which is too thick to boil straight. Must is the mixture of honey and water that mead is fermented from. I apologize if I wasn't clear about that. But in my experience it is essential to boil the must once you've added the water and honey together. Happy brewing!
@@theroaminghomesteaders I am an accomplished mead maker. Boiling your honey will drive off flavors and aromas that could be in the final product.
You seem sincere. Please do some research and revise this video so you don’t lead new mazer’s in the wrong direction.
Cheers friend we just subscribed after your video found us , we home brew beer , grow some hops, make mead and different wines and others on channel . Stay thirsty and make good mead.
Thank you for watching and subscribing! We appreciate the shout out and hope to bring more great content in the future! :)
Where is the recipe?
At the bottom of the video description. Enjoy!