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  1. - Top - End - #91
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    Default Re: Socratov's brewing log

    Quote Originally Posted by Flickerdart View Post
    Currants are weird and I don't like them. Gooseberries, on the other hand...
    those I can get at the end of summer. Though fruits des boix are great and might couple well with honey. Even better, I can find them frozen in the supermarket. So it might be quite easy to do...
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  2. - Top - End - #92
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    Default Re: Socratov's brewing log

    Sampled my Southern English Brown last night. Not bad. Could use more time to mature, but it was fairly passable.

    Sampled my Whiskey Scottish Heavy last night. A little flat and disappointing. I am hoping more cold crash will clear things up and could stand to improve with better carbonation.
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    Default Re: Socratov's brewing log

    Brewer's Log: 19th of May, 2015.

    Return of the Brewer

    First of all I'd like to thank Haruki-kun for allowing me to continue this thread.

    Second, well, I guess you know what's coming next: a new mead.

    No pictures this time since my phone camera has a conflicted sense of work: sometimes it does, most times it doesn't. Bu tI'll try to describe it to you.

    So I got myself some honey, The yeast and yeast food (very nice when fermenting sugary mixes) I already had, but opne thing was missing: my secret ingredient to completely change the flavour. I chose to go with what we Duchies call 'Boerenjonges'. This is a thing where we put raisins in a jar of Genever (the stuff the English tried to copy by making gin) and be done with it. Well, I took a jar and threw it into my brewing set-up.

    Speaking of which, the jig I made is slightly failing and I might start doing some plumming. In no way closer to a metal sort of jig I think I will continue this way and instead mod this thingamajig. I'll keep you posted.

    But onto the mead. I have decided to call it Loki's Trickery for the fact that I used non-Norse ingredients (raisins, genever) to make a fairly Norse drink. The mead has clarified a little bit to the point where it's still cloudy, but not because of the yeast. I poured off the mead and kept the Yeast in the bottles and see that the bottled mead stays a cloudy yellow. In my previous attempts the cloudyness went away after a certain time, but this time it seems to persist (one month in), which should prove interesting. I also haven't tasted it yet. I know, shocking. I've smelled it though, but currently it hasn't really revelaed any secrets yet. I mostly smell standard mead smell. But I'm willing to give it time for now.

    Any questions, besides 'moar pictjurs', will of course be answered. Ask if I know the answer I will gladly share it.
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  4. - Top - End - #94
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    Default Re: Socratov's brewing log

    Quote Originally Posted by Socratov View Post
    Second, well, I guess you know what's coming next: a new mead.
    Socratov Wars Episode IV: A New Mead.
    Quote Originally Posted by Inevitability View Post
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    Quote Originally Posted by Artanis View Post
    I'm going to be honest, "the Welsh became a Great Power and conquered Germany" is almost exactly the opposite of the explanation I was expecting

  5. - Top - End - #95
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    Default Re: Socratov's brewing log

    Quote Originally Posted by Flickerdart View Post
    Socratov Wars Episode IV: A New Mead.
    If I ever tire fo using the Norse gods for my brews I'll use the Star Wars universe
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    Default Re: Socratov's brewing log

    Brewer's log, date 23rd of May 2015

    Sköll and Hati Hróðvitnisson

    My oh my, what a treat, such long a wait and then not one, but two new brews. It's almost like the BBC's rendering of Sherlock releasing a new season. (Let's hope my comments and activities won't dry up in the mean time).

    So, today I've started brewing something dark, so of course I had to name it after the wolves who, during Ragnarok, woudl devour the sun and moon to plunge Midgard into utter and total darkness.

    I have started out by making the base of my mead a bit sweeter, going for 2kg of honey for a 5L batch. To experiment a little I have added 50/50 clear and flower honey. To make the mix black I have added a lot of tea. Some ofyou might knwo that I love both tea and coffee and when drinking tea I absolutely adore two teas in particular: Lapsang Souchon Formosa (Taiwanese smoked lapsang) and Lady Grey (Earl Grey with some dried lemon peel and dried blossoms). This should make for a smokey, slightly bittersweet mead. I still have no working camera sinc emy phone appears to be unable to open the camera app (yeah sent reports to HTC, but no answer as of yet, and no resetting to factory values and restarting with a clear cache do nothing).

    Also new is the thermometer I use. For Christmas I got a meat thermometer, but it works just as well for temperatures below 70C. Now I can see if the mead has cooled enough to add the yeast.

    Speaking of cooling, why did I heat the mixture anyway? Well, if you want the tea to do it's job you need to leech out the great stuff. So by heating hte mix I can quickly leech some flavour of the tea and by cooling I can leave some flavour to be extraced over the next few weeks.

    Then last, but not least, I have fixed my setup a little. I found that I had problems with sealing my barrel at the point where the tube goes through the lid. A couple of euros later and I had secured the tube through some plumbing hardware. I'm desperate to see how this goes. I did not use the best hardware, but I used something that woudl at least help a little. So... Let's see how this goes.

    I will keep you posted.
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  7. - Top - End - #97
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    Brewer's log, 30th of May, 2015

    Smell that funky liquid white boy!

    So, I found it was time to go towards the filtering of Sköll and Hati Hróðvitnisson. So I gathered my sieve, a polo shirt to filter out all the tea and gunk, a rather large soup pan (easily holds about 6-7 L of liquid, so my 5 L set-up fits just fine). I actually did not knot know what to expect. Since I upped the dosage of yeast food and the dosage of honey, I was expecintg all kinds of alcohol results. Vapours rising and all that, but when I opened the tank I smelled a real funky and slightly disturbing pungent smell. I was not amused just yet. Nor discouraged.

    So, I sieve the brown ruddy liquid through my sieve and an old poloshirt, to filter out all the bad stuff. When I have removed all of the tealeaves and gunk (still no camera, but believe me, that stuff was like mud and tea leaves thrown together to steep). I dip my finger in the mead to taste it and it tastes pleasantly sweet and tea-ish. Going for the flavour I really did achieve what I set out upon and seeing how all mead up until now has improved with time, this might be a contender for a top spot next to or even above my apple mead (seriously though, that stuff is freaking awesome and if you haven't, follow my recipe to make it).

    This time I neglected to make use of my bentonite to clear the mead. The mead was not very fizzy and after straining through my poloshirt (be sure to squeeze the liquid out) it was comparable to my other projects after using bentonite (as a bonus I have less losses). So, now I have poured it back into the fermentation unit with some fresh yeast to ferment further until it's ready for botteling.

    So, that's it for now. I'll keep you posted. In te mean time, anybody else been busy creating our beloved solution?
    Last edited by Socratov; 2015-05-30 at 12:58 PM.
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  8. - Top - End - #98
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    Default Re: Socratov's brewing log

    Well, reading this after stumbling across it has me in the mood to brew a bit. Especially mead, that stuff truly is the drink of the Gods! I may have to try one of your recipes as they sound fantastic. Looks as if it would be a fantastic learning experience.
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  9. - Top - End - #99
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    Default Re: Socratov's brewing log

    Quote Originally Posted by blacklight101 View Post
    Well, reading this after stumbling across it has me in the mood to brew a bit. Especially mead, that stuff truly is the drink of the Gods! I may have to try one of your recipes as they sound fantastic. Looks as if it would be a fantastic learning experience.
    Happy to inspire!

    I'd say the simplest recipe is the standard dry mead, and currently the best taste is (personally and thus far) the apple mead. I mean, imagine drinking apple pie... yeah, It's like that.
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  10. - Top - End - #100
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    Default Re: Socratov's brewing log

    If only the waifu wasnt allergic to apples! Of all the things, I tell you.

    That cherry sounded delicious, same with skoll & hati, especially with the Lady Grey. Heck, I learned a ton just reading through your logs already. It does sound an especially good project if we can get some of the local honey (unpasteurized FTW!)

    The wife will have to read the logs next, hopefully she is inspired to create like this too!
    My opinion and a dollar will get you a cup of coffee at the 7/11, most others want the dollar too :P

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    Default Re: Socratov's brewing log

    Quote Originally Posted by blacklight101 View Post
    If only the waifu wasnt allergic to apples! Of all the things, I tell you.
    Indeed. Of all the things...
    That cherry sounded delicious, same with skoll & hati, especially with the Lady Grey.
    it was and Sköll and Hati will need to wait until quality assurance since I've been refermenting them to produce a drier mead.
    Heck, I learned a ton just reading through your logs already. It does sound an especially good project if we can get some of the local honey (unpasteurized FTW!)
    Thanks! glad to be of service. Also, I'm very jealous you have a good source of unpasturized honey. That is just some wicked stuff.

    The wife will have to read the logs next, hopefully she is inspired to create like this too!
    By all means, spread the word

    Oh, and just as an aside: I usually ferment with champagne yeastwhich is known for producing some really dry stuff. If you want to produce a sweeter mead you might want to look at yeast meant for sweet wines or something...
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    Brewer's log 17th of june, 2015

    Moon and sun can rest assured again!

    So, I just bottled my stuff. I stopped bubbling a long time ago so I put it away on bottles to settle a little more and today I poured it over into their final recepticles (nope my phone still refuses to make picutures). It looks awesomely brown, almost like how a nice cup of tea is supposed to look. It looks like it clears quickly so, maybe I'll sneak off with my gf's phone to make some pictures. In teh meantime they will enjoy some peace and shadow on my cabinet.

    I can hardly wait, both to dirnk this batch, as well as to harvest some elderflower and make yet another batch.
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    Udate

    So,m a few weeks along and I see that my dark mead has cleared up to a ferfectly clear brown-orange colour. Now all I need to do is wait for a couple of months and I'll be able to declare my latest batch a huge success (or not)
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    Default Re: Socratov's brewing log

    My roommate got me this thing for my birthday. What other stuff do I need to buy to make mead in it?
    Quote Originally Posted by Inevitability View Post
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    Quote Originally Posted by Artanis View Post
    I'm going to be honest, "the Welsh became a Great Power and conquered Germany" is almost exactly the opposite of the explanation I was expecting

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    Quote Originally Posted by Flickerdart View Post
    My roommate got me this thing for my birthday. What other stuff do I need to buy to make mead in it?
    Well, depending on whether you have yeast and yeast nutrient left you need honey, yeast, yeast nutrient and any additives you want to add. That should pretty much be it. Please note that the yeast you use heavily influences what hte end-product will taste like... (I advice a wine yeast)
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    Default Re: Socratov's brewing log

    I've got my first batch of mead brewing in a 5L jug right now. It's been brewing vigorously for a week now (I wish I could say that I was inspired by this thread, but I didn't read this thread until a few days after brew day). I've wanted to try it for a long time but always assumed it would be impossible due to weather conditions (I'm in the tropics and it's hot every day) and supplies (no malt or yeast available in shops here).

    Then one of my friends shared a link on Facebook to a "how to brew mead" article and said they'd like to try it at some point. I was inspired to do some research and find a way. Most recipes I found say things like "use a yeast like Lalvin 1118", which is totally useless to me. I can't even find a packet that just says "yeast". There's no way I'm going to be able to choose from so many different yeasts that I need to specify the strain by name and a 4-digit ID number.

    I found an old 17th or 18th century recipe that predates microbiology and knowledge of the existence of yeast or yeast nutrient. I'm using a scaled down version of that because I don't have a barrel to brew in. It seems to be working but I don't know how well it will work without specially bred yeast. It might turn out rather light and weak. I'll add an update when it's ready.

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    Default Re: Socratov's brewing log

    Quote Originally Posted by Socratov View Post
    Well, depending on whether you have yeast and yeast nutrient left you need honey, yeast, yeast nutrient and any additives you want to add. That should pretty much be it. Please note that the yeast you use heavily influences what hte end-product will taste like... (I advice a wine yeast)
    Oh okay, so the equipment I need is all there?
    Quote Originally Posted by Inevitability View Post
    Greater
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    Quote Originally Posted by Artanis View Post
    I'm going to be honest, "the Welsh became a Great Power and conquered Germany" is almost exactly the opposite of the explanation I was expecting

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    Quote Originally Posted by Xuc Xac View Post
    I've got my first batch of mead brewing in a 5L jug right now. It's been brewing vigorously for a week now (I wish I could say that I was inspired by this thread, but I didn't read this thread until a few days after brew day). I've wanted to try it for a long time but always assumed it would be impossible due to weather conditions (I'm in the tropics and it's hot every day) and supplies (no malt or yeast available in shops here).
    Tropics? Cool. Well, your first and foremost problem would be the type of yeast. You will obviously need a type of yeast that can handle high temperatures.

    But it appears you have found some and had it delivered through teh wonders of the internet. So, congratulations!
    Then one of my friends shared a link on Facebook to a "how to brew mead" article and said they'd like to try it at some point. I was inspired to do some research and find a way. Most recipes I found say things like "use a yeast like Lalvin 1118", which is totally useless to me. I can't even find a packet that just says "yeast". There's no way I'm going to be able to choose from so many different yeasts that I need to specify the strain by name and a 4-digit ID number.
    hehe,. yeah, with all the types available it can be quite daunting to find a good yeast. and in many cases the yeast would not work for you anyway.

    I found an old 17th or 18th century recipe that predates microbiology and knowledge of the existence of yeast or yeast nutrient. I'm using a scaled down version of that because I don't have a barrel to brew in. It seems to be working but I don't know how well it will work without specially bred yeast. It might turn out rather light and weak. I'll add an update when it's ready.
    That is so cool! Please keep me up to date since this is really cool.

    Quote Originally Posted by Flickerdart View Post
    Oh okay, so the equipment I need is all there?
    Pretty much, yeah. I'd clean them out with soda if I were you, but otwerise all you need now are ingredients...

    In other news, I'll be starting yet another batch soon with strawberries and passionfruit. I'll keep you guys posted.
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  19. - Top - End - #109
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    Default Re: Socratov's brewing log

    Freyr's Nectar

    Freyr was thought of a the male norse sex god, as well as the god of sunshine, good crops, sacral kingship, virility and proserity. Freyr, in the form of Yngvi-Freyr, is also thought of to be the ancestor of the Swedish royal family. So how to better honour him by making a strawberry (in Dutch also called kings of summer) and passionfruit (*wriggles eyebrows*) mead? My phone's camera is still out of business so I'll have to rely on my storytelling powers to teach you this one (I have high hopes for this brew).

    For about 5L of mead:

    I start with about 1 kg of strawberries, cut off the crowns and put them in a pan large enough to hold a volume of 1L. Then I'll add the insides of 8 passionfruits (the goopy bits that is). In comes about 2 kg of honey. Protip: use one of the pots to brew a cup of tea, let it cool and use the honey/tea as a starter for your yeast once the correct temperature has been reached. Now add water until you get to about 4L of honey/strawberries/passionfruitgoop/water and heat it up while stirring. The stirring is to prevent the honey form caramelising (or rather: burning). Once you get the mixture to simmer, try and sq2uash the strawberreis a bit. This will increase the surface area of hte strawberries to give of flavour and scent. By now the contents of your pot should look like someone tried to swallow passionfruits and strawberreis with minimal chewing, and regurgitated them back into the pot. Gross, I know, but this will tell you you're doing it right. Set the potto cool and get your yeast. Your packet of yeast should come with instructions, detailing how to start it and so on. Follow these instructions by cooling/heating your honeyed tea to the correct temperature and pitch in the yeast. mix frequently untill all the grains of yeast have dissolved. When your mixture has cooled enough (see yeast packet for target temperature) pour it into your fermentation unit. then add the yeast, close the lid and add the waterlock. Put your fermentation unit at a palce of constant temeprature and little natural light and wait until the bubbling stops. Also, don't forget to shake things up form time to time. This will help the yeast eat all that delicious sugar and turn it into even more delicious alcohol.

    Soon I'll tell you how to filter and such. If you want a more detailed instruction, with includced pictures, look at this post...
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    Quote Originally Posted by Socratov View Post
    But it appears you have found some and had it delivered through teh wonders of the internet.
    Nope. Like I said, there's no yeast available so I looked for a recipe without yeast. People brewed mead and wine for thousands of years before they knew yeast existed. I'm using an old recipe from a guy who knew how to write his recipe down but didn't know what yeast or yeast nutrient was.

    His recipe works but he didn't know why it worked. I can see how it works but I have the benefit of modern science. He had to figure it out through trial and error (and I'm glad he did).

    It seems the primary fermentation is slowing down to a slight fizz, so I'm planning to rack it on Friday. That will be the first time I crack the seal on my makeshift airlock and the first chance I get to taste it. It smells good through the airlock, so my hopes are rising. I'll update after racking into secondary.

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    Well, that was unexpected.

    I just couldn't resist, so I started a second batch a few days ago with a different recipe. I'll get to that later, but first, let me tell you about the first batch. As I mentioned before, I have no access to homebrew shops of any kind, but I wanted to try my hand at making some mead. I live in Vietnam and there are several craft breweries here, but they import their supplies directly from Europe or America for their own use. There are no homebrew shops as far as I know (although I think there are a group of Germans who have their own homebrewing club around Saigon). I searched online for recipes for "mead without yeast" and found the 17th century cookbook of Sir Kenelm Digby (available on Project Gutenberg). Nobody knew about yeast in the 17th century. They just knew that if you let the wort sit exposed to the air, it would start fermenting and then you could seal the barrel and let it go. Wild yeast seemed the answer to my problem. Considering that there are bakeries on every street and enormous macrobreweries cranking out millions of liters of lager downtown, I suspect that Saccharomyces Cerevisiae is everywhere here.

    I looked through Sir Kenelm's recipes and put together something that I thought would work. It did. I was just hoping to get something as strong as beer (around 5 or 6% ABV), but it went well beyond that. I can't tell exactly because I don't have the proper instruments to measure it, but I can estimate that it's about 16% ABV. I had about 200ml left after bottling and didn't want to leave it in a mostly empty bottle, so I put it in a coffee mug and drank it. Comparing the numbness in my face to the 300+ varieties of beer I've had in past few years, I'd have to say it ranks up there with a barleywine or a particularly strong Belgian quadrupel.

    Here's my recipe:

    Mangled Honey
    Into a 5L bottle, I poured two 650mL bottles of honey produced by bees that collect nectar from wild flowers in the U Minh jungle (the name means something like "Deep Dark"). I also chopped up a sweet almost-overripe "xoai cat" varietal mango from the "9 Dragons" region of the Mekong river delta and dumped that in there too. Then I added a couple handfuls of golden raisins that I had let sit in a dish overnight on my balcony. I filled the bottle to within a hand's breadth of the top with water (to leave room for foaming and frothing yeast) and put the cap on. Then I shook it vigorously for 5 minutes straight to mix and aerate the sweet solution. Then I took off the cap and attached my super high-tech sophisticated airlock mechanism: a balloon with a pinhole in it. I wasn't sure if it would even work, but after about 20 or 30 minutes the balloon was inflated and the liquid was fizzing. I started it last week on Monday and it was almost completely finished fermenting on Wednesday this week. I had to wait until today (Friday) to bottle it. The mango chunks were soft lumps and the golden raisins (which had served as yeast nutrient and a possible source of wild yeast) were big squishy zombie grapes. I siphoned the cloudy brown liquid off and bottled it in several empty resealable beer bottles (like Grolsch makes) that I had been saving. I also had a sample mug with the leftover bit that wouldn't fill a bottle.

    It tastes great already. It's very full-bodied and smooth, but with a definite alcoholic warming sensation in the back of the throat. It has a spicy, yeasty character that makes me think of Belgian ales, like a sweeter version of Kwak. I can't wait to see how well it ages.

    The second batch which is still brewing now (and still audibly hissing) is a bit more of a departure from traditional meads. I used the same honey, water, and raisin base, but I also added 1L of pomelo juice that I got from a street vendor with a juicing machine and some black peppercorns from Phu Quoc island. That one smells pretty good, but I don't have a clever name for it yet.

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