Sleipnir's Breath - A semi-sweet mead made with honey and a mix of fresh mint from the Brimming Horn garden. It is named in honor of Odin’s eight-legged steed, since it contains a favorite treat of horse’s everywhere.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Friday, July 8, 2011
Horns
Thor Horn
I'm sure some of you knew that Jon and I were artists as well as being a meadmaker and all around organizational mind. If you didn't well we are - I'm a college trained artist and art historian, though in this job market that doesn't leave me with many opportunities at Jon at one time was an apprentice tattoo artist. To get to the gist of this post anyway is the fact that not only do we make mead to fill horns with but we also decorate and carve horns. We take commissions and have horns for sale here and there when the fancy strikes. We have some upcoming horns for Frigga and Odin that will be posted soon as well! If you'd like to see some examples of our work click on the jump!
Monday, May 30, 2011
Joe's Ancient Orange
This mead can be made from ingredients found in your own kitchen cupboards and if made EXACTLY like the recipe states comes out pretty tasty each and every time. It should be made exactly as stated the first time you make it, as everything is perfectly balanced to get a sweet, drinkable mead with the perfect amount of acid. Once again DO NOT CHANGE ANYTHING, make it exactly as stated. Once you have this recipe down go ahead and play with other fruits, bigger batches, etc. Read the forums at Got Mead? for more ideas and tips.
Joe's Ancient Orange Mead/Joe Mattioli's Foolproof Ancient Orange, Clove, & Cinnamon Mead
1 gallon batch
Ingredients
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 )
Joe's Ancient Orange Mead/Joe Mattioli's Foolproof Ancient Orange, Clove, & Cinnamon Mead
1 gallon batch
Ingredients
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
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. Enjoy, Joe
Monday, May 9, 2011
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Mazer Cup Results
Our Basilisk mead, a semi-sweet mead made from Sweet Basil and Lime Basil we grew ourselves won the gold medal in the Metheglin category at the Mazer Cup International. We are ecstatic! Jon knew the moment he tasted Basilisk that it was a mead that would win competitions. We are glad to have that confirmed! Now we wait for our score sheets and the lovely, shiny gold medal and miniature Mazer Cup to get mailed to our house!
This year's Mazer Cup was the largest mead-only competition ever held with over 500 entries between the homebrew and commercial competitions. Homebrew had 277 entries across all categories! Needless to say we are very proud to take home a gold medal and participate with such amazing and passionated meadmakers from all over the world!
Monday, March 7, 2011
Class
Just to give y'all a quick heads up, Jon will be teaching a Beginner's Meadmaking Class at Delmarva Brewing Craft ( brick and mortar store of Xtreme Brewing.com) in Millsboro, DE on Saturday April 9, 2011 at 2pm. If you wish to attend you MUST sign up at the store or through email.
Education - To heat or not to heat?
Heating the must is really a matter of preference to each individual meadmaker, but in this modern day and age it is not necessary and needlessly complicates the process. Here are the three methods:
Boil Method
The boil method is the most traditional method of making mead. Most historical and period recipes call for boiling as our ancestors were not as advanced in their honey gathering techniques and had bits of bees, comb, wax, and pollen to be skimmed off. Boiling does completely sanitize the must and dissolve the honey into the water. However, this method has many drawbacks, the honey could burn while being boiled and by boiling the honey the meadmaker loses the character of the honey. The unique flavors and smells derived from the flowers the honey was collected from are boiled away and it loses valuable proteins and enzymes as they are boiled, then skimmed off with the “scum” that is being removed. The meadmaker must also wait until the must is completely cool before yeast can be pitched and fermentation started leaving the must open to contamination.
The Pasteurization Method
Pasteurization is a process where the meadmaker heats and maintains the must at a temperature for an extended period of time to kill off wild yeasts and bacteria without boiling. This process also thoroughly dissolves the honey into the water and makes it easier to skim off bee bits, pollen, wax, etc. Pasteurizing the must also allows the mead to clear quicker and more easily and less of the honey character is lost. The must also cools faster which allows for quicker pitching of yeast and less chance of contamination. However, the meadmaker still loses a lot of the delicate characters of the honey they are using and destroying some of the desirable complexities and beneficial enzymes and proteins. The time it takes to cool still leaves the must open to contamination.
The No Boil Method
Honey is a substance high in sugar and low in water which makes it nearly impossible for yeast to take hold and survive in straight honey. This means that most honey will not have any wild yeasts present and those that are will be overwhelmed and killed off by the influx of yeast added by the meadmaker. Not boiling the honey minimizes the loss of beneficial enzymes and proteins and the mead being made retains the true floral flavor and bouquet of the honey varietal used. This method is easy and quick, no heating, no boiling, and no waiting for the must to cool, which means the yeast can be be pitched immediately and fermentation begun. The honey is harder to dissolve into the water in this method and the meadmaker has to be sure to stir all of the honey into the water and aerate the must intensely. There is a very small chance of contamination and that comes mostly from the water source and the meadmaker must be sure to remove the chlorine from chlorinated water or use distilled water in the mead.
Here at The Brimming Horn we choose to use the No boil method. We take pride in the delicate flavors and bouquets of the honey we use and want our mead to showcase its main ingredient in all its glory.
Boil Method
The boil method is the most traditional method of making mead. Most historical and period recipes call for boiling as our ancestors were not as advanced in their honey gathering techniques and had bits of bees, comb, wax, and pollen to be skimmed off. Boiling does completely sanitize the must and dissolve the honey into the water. However, this method has many drawbacks, the honey could burn while being boiled and by boiling the honey the meadmaker loses the character of the honey. The unique flavors and smells derived from the flowers the honey was collected from are boiled away and it loses valuable proteins and enzymes as they are boiled, then skimmed off with the “scum” that is being removed. The meadmaker must also wait until the must is completely cool before yeast can be pitched and fermentation started leaving the must open to contamination.
The Pasteurization Method
Pasteurization is a process where the meadmaker heats and maintains the must at a temperature for an extended period of time to kill off wild yeasts and bacteria without boiling. This process also thoroughly dissolves the honey into the water and makes it easier to skim off bee bits, pollen, wax, etc. Pasteurizing the must also allows the mead to clear quicker and more easily and less of the honey character is lost. The must also cools faster which allows for quicker pitching of yeast and less chance of contamination. However, the meadmaker still loses a lot of the delicate characters of the honey they are using and destroying some of the desirable complexities and beneficial enzymes and proteins. The time it takes to cool still leaves the must open to contamination.
The No Boil Method
Honey is a substance high in sugar and low in water which makes it nearly impossible for yeast to take hold and survive in straight honey. This means that most honey will not have any wild yeasts present and those that are will be overwhelmed and killed off by the influx of yeast added by the meadmaker. Not boiling the honey minimizes the loss of beneficial enzymes and proteins and the mead being made retains the true floral flavor and bouquet of the honey varietal used. This method is easy and quick, no heating, no boiling, and no waiting for the must to cool, which means the yeast can be be pitched immediately and fermentation begun. The honey is harder to dissolve into the water in this method and the meadmaker has to be sure to stir all of the honey into the water and aerate the must intensely. There is a very small chance of contamination and that comes mostly from the water source and the meadmaker must be sure to remove the chlorine from chlorinated water or use distilled water in the mead.
Here at The Brimming Horn we choose to use the No boil method. We take pride in the delicate flavors and bouquets of the honey we use and want our mead to showcase its main ingredient in all its glory.
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