While doing this, I was pondering about how if my bees had lived that I would have loved to have made some mead as it would be cheaper than buying the 20 dollar bottle at the store...yikes! I mentioned this in passing to my friend Kim and he said he had some brewing materials in the shed that I could use if I ever wanted to make some.
What?! Heck yes!! So, off to the races...like everything I do, I guess. I proceeded to clean up two 6 gallon fermentors and some other equipment. The only thing I would need would be a hydrometer and another stopper. While ordering those, I noticed a great deal on a pumpkin ale so I figured what the heck...I would start the mead in one and the beer in the other. One would be ready by Thanksgiving and the other by Christmas or New Years.
The mead was easy and took about 20 minutes to ready. The 17 pounds of honey came from a coworker who has an apiary and the other ingredients I had in the cupboard. I heated up the honey and added the ingredients and then pitched the yeast and swirled a few times...off it went to bubbling. I stuck it in the back room so it would be out of the way for a couple months or until ready to bottle.
The mail came in the following week and I mixed it up with my son who also had a little chemistry project to do for school at the same time. We helped each other and learned how to mix and create! The ale was a little more complex requiring some timing on the boil and trying not to overheat and boil-over was a constant battle requiring watching the pot boil for over an hour.
But, all went well and they are both fermenting and looking good! I have tried the ale as a test and it is coming along nicely, although I don't think it will be ready for Thanksgiving unless it backs down a little on the sour notes. I have some faith that it will turn out great!
Here are some pics of the fun. Enjoy!
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| The Mead |
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| Jared getting his project done :-) |
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| And, of course, some of my fall roses going strong :-) |
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