Wintermede

I spoke with the winemaker at Bemrose Estate today. He was a delightful guy who loves mede and enjoys running around to shows around New Zealand. We saw him at the Jousting festival in upper hutt. Matt has a good thing going, he was licensed to sell cups of mede ... yum.

Well this is what I learned ...

150g of raw honey per liter of fermented honey to sweeten the Wintermede.

1/10g of reconstituted skim milk powder per litre of above as finnings

(warm up the mede, stir vigorously while pouring the milk in)

He has a yeast which ferments out to 12.5% alcohol (I never asked him which one) so he doesn't have to use all the sorbates.

The wintermede uses some stronger honeys than the summermede which has 25g/honey per litre.

Remember this boy for your first racking of the mede is in one week!

Good to Ugly

It is not as nice as when we first had it. Cold and Wet

It is full bodied when you drink it, the aftertaste was unfortunate.

We think the grain may be at fault in this one which is quite annoying as we have used it in two other brews. Well the good news is that it didn't start to taste bad for a few weeks. So if we drink the stuff fermenting now fast we should be okay!

Clone of a clone of a clone of an Eipic Clone

Coopers Real Ale
400g of Spray Malt (DME)
1Kg of Dextrose
9g Southern Cross @ 60 Min
16g Southern Cross @ 10 Min
16g Southern Cross @ 1 Min
32g Southern Cross @ Racking for four days

SG at racking was 1.10

Clone of an Epic Clone

Okay finding what one needs down here in NZ can be frustrating from time to time ... with the exception of information the web is a beautiful place for that. I have found and plan on making an Epic IPA clone, but until we get all the ingredients (see first comment) I have to wait. Being the impatient man that I am I thought I would try something in line with my goal and learn.

Today I put down a clone of a clone. My research shows me that one can take an all grain recipe and with some simple multiplication change it to an extract recipe. I also figured out how to substitute Hops of various Alpha ratings. Taken together I was able to create a reasonable (I hope) facsimile of Epic IPA.

171g of Crystal Malt steeped for 30 minutes

Bring tea to a boil

add 1 Can of Coopers Ale and bring to boil again

add 1Kg of Dextrose and bring to a boil again

add 9g of Southern Cross for 60 minutes

add 15g of Southern Cross for 10 minutes

add 1/2tsp of IRish MOss

add 15g of Southern Cross for 1 minute

Put in primary with water

Let cool ... a long time took overnight

Pitch yeast

OG=1035

add 30g of Southern Cross in secondary for 4 days (have not done this yet!)

Mead

2 Kilo a real nice honey

2 US gallons of water

2 3/4 tsp citric acid

2 1/2 tsp yeast nutrient

EC-1118 yeast

Boil honey and half the water for 30 minutes

Skim off all the foam

Add the rest of the water

Let wait to cool to room temperature

pitch yeast

OG 1085

Another attempt at something grand ...

1.7Kg of a Coopers Kit

125g of Crystal Malt Steeped for 30 minutes

525g of Sugar

1Kg of Spray Malt

18g of Motueka at Start

11g of Southern Cross at End

1tsp of Irish Moss

OG 1045

Hoppy brew

Coopers Lager 1.75Kg

500g Spray Malt

500g Sugar

Start 45m End

Motueka 14g 14g 14g

Irish Moss 3/4tsp

Viva Mexico

We put down a Corrona knock off.

One can of Cooper Cervesa

500g of Spray Malt

30g of Perle Hops at full boil (A 6.25)

Go through the usual gyrations forgot to record the OG :)