Group dead?

I have seen a couple but I hope things liven up. A newbie here who has just bottled my second beer and am fermenting my third. Looking to make a holiday brew from a kit with some additional spices next. Starting to get interested in all-grain also. Found a 10 gallon cooler at a yard sale yesterday and am making plans to retrofit it for brewing.

Rick

My 5th (a honey porter)is in secondary now...and I'd love to get into AG, but don't have the space right now.... I DO have a 2 car garage that hasn't had room for a car in 20 years, so at least I've got 'potential' space!

My third is in secondary and is a Honey Hefe Weizen. I have a great space so I am lucky. It is an abandoned basement laundry area (laundry is now 1st floor) so sink, drain etc. is all there. I've been cooking beer on the back porch but I am considering a vent system to bring it all inside.

I've been brewing for a while. I haven't done much over the summer but I do have a mead that's waiting to be bottled soon. Friends gave me some apples and crabapples that I intend to juice and make cider on the lees of the mead. Should be fun. I also make beer but not all grain yet.

"Akbar" mashed a fist into the keyboard:

A word of advice concerning cider - allow plenty of time for maturation.

In my experience, at least 12 months is required. Treat cider more like wine than beer for best results.

Mead! I've never even tasted it, but the mention of it makes me thirsty..... been reading about meadmaking, and everything seems straightforward enough... the only problem I might have is... patience! I'd like to start with a traditional still, then a blackberry..

If you're thinking about mead you have to jump over to the meadmaking group. Therer are a LOT of people who are more than happy to help out, including me.

I had only tasted one commercial mead before I tried making one and the one I had was terrible. My homemade is MUCH better. I found an easy beginner style recipe on the newsgroup. You want, I'll post it.

Patience is helpful thiough not required. A frequent poster there, Dick Adams rarely ages his and it hasn't killed him yet.

I also do beer and wine, just depends on mood and time frame.

The main reason there hasn't been much traffic is that most of us have been brewing more than reading...

rec.crafts.brewing is a little more active ... There are also the groups alt.homebrewing too. Put them all into your newsreader!

Derric

Hi, Derric. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of activity on any of the brewing newsgroups. I think the sporge flood on r.c.b. was a little bit of a set-back, and people are still busy with a lot of things. I know that a lot of brewers slow down during the hot weather, although I've brewed a number of batches over the summer. Things should start picking up pretty good very soon. We're approaching what I've always considered peak brewing season -- at least for me. Also, beside the suggestion about the other brewing newsgroups, I think you will find a lot of activity on non-usenet brewing forums -- private bulletin boards and mailing lists. I'm subscribed to over 30 mailing lists, so even when one slows down I can almost always find some good activity.

Cheers.

Bill Velek - PERSONAL sites =

&

720+ homebrewer group just for Equipment: 330+ just for Growing Hops/Herbs/Grains: NEW group just for Homebrewing Supplies: Join 'Homebrewers' to Help Cure Disease:

While vacationing (camping) I've been enjoying an APA, American Brown, and an Irish Red Rye. At home I have an Oak Aged Bourbon Porter aging but I haven't had time to schedule a brew session.

Wild

I want it.

Bob

You got it. Exactly as I copied it from the webpage. It isn't mine, I'm not taking credit.(Standard Disclaimer so the owner doesn't get pissed)

I changed the yeast to WLP720, I've been doing this kind of thing WAY too long to use bread yeast. I also used nectarines, oranges and blood oranges for the fruit.

I made a 3 gallon batch, it's still young, but it's GOOD.

The simpler, the better.

And now, the recipe...

Joe Mattioli created this recipe for the newbie mead-maker. However, even well-seasoned mead-makers enjoy making and drinking it. This will yield a melomel ready in eight weeks or so (although mine took longer, about 12; I think because I made it at the end of the winter and it was sitting in a cold kitchen). The recipe departs from all accepted wisdom, but follow the instructions exactly and I promise that you will have a delicious product at the end. Note that, as we have been discussing, this quick recipe results in a sweet mead. Thanks to Joe for permission to post.

Joe Mattioli's Ancient Orange and Spice Mead

It is so simple to make and you can make it without much equipment and with a multitude of variations. This could be a first Mead for the novice as it is almost fool proof. It is a bit unorthodox but it has never failed me or the friends I have shared it with. (snip)...it will be sweet, complex and tasty.

1 gallon batch

3 1/2 lbs Clover or your choice honey or blend (will finish sweet)

1 Large orange (later cut in eights or smaller rind and all) 1 small handful of raisins (25 if you count but more or less ok) 1 stick of cinnamon 1 whole clove ( or 2 if you like - these are potent critters) optional (a pinch of nutmeg and allspice )( very small ) 1 teaspoon of Fleishmann's bread yeast ( now don't get holy on me--- after all this is an ancient mead and that's all we had back then) Balance water to one gallon

Process:

Use a clean 1 gallon carboy

Dissolve honey in some warm water and put in carboy

Wash orange well to remove any pesticides and slice in eights --add orange (you can push em through opening big boy -- rinds included -- its ok for this mead -- take my word for it -- ignore the experts)

Put in raisins, clove, cinnamon stick, any optional ingredients and fill to

3 inches from the top with cold water. ( need room for some foam -- you can top off with more water after the first few day frenzy)

Shake the heck out of the jug with top on, of course. This is your sophisticated aeration process.

When at room temperature in your kitchen, put in 1 teaspoon of bread yeast. ( No you don't have to rehydrate it first-- the ancients didn't even have that word in their vocabulary-- just put it in and give it a gentle swirl or not)(The yeast can fight for their own territory)

Install water airlock. Put in dark place. It will start working immediately or in an hour. (Don't use grandma's bread yeast she bought years before she passed away in the 90's)( Wait 3 hours before you panic or call me) After major foaming stops in a few days add some water and then keep your hands off of it. (Don't shake it! Don't mess with them yeastees! Let them alone except its okay to open your cabinet to smell every once in a while.

Racking --- Don't you dare additional feeding --- NO NO More stirring or shaking -- Your not listening, don't touch

After 2 months and maybe a few days it will slow down to a stop and clear all by itself. (How about that) (You are not so important after all) Then you can put a hose in with a small cloth filter on the end into the clear part and siphon off the golden nectar. If you wait long enough even the oranges will sink to the bottom but I never waited that long. If it is clear it is ready. You don't need a cold basement. It does better in a kitchen in the dark. (Like in a cabinet) likes a little heat (70-80). If it didn't work out... you screwed up and didn't read my instructions (or used grandma's bread yeast she bought years before she passed away) . If it didn't work out then take up another hobby. Mead is not for you. It is too complicated. If you were successful, which I am 99% certain you will be, then enjoy your mead. When you get ready to make different mead you will probably have to unlearn some of these practices I have taught you, but hey--- This recipe and procedure works with these ingredients so don't knock it. It was your first mead. It was my tenth. Sometimes, even the experts can forget all they know and make good ancient mead.

A little more advice, don't use a carboy, the fruit is a B***H to get out of it. Don't ferment it as hot as the recipe suggests, it's ok to wait awhile longer. It's also a good idea to either crush or cut the raisins, they're the yeast nutrient.

And the most important advice, HAVE FUN!!!