The Mead House

Scot Shaar, American Homebrewing Association (AHA) National Meadmaker of the Year, 2017 is our guest this episode. He's a distiller by trade, making mead is his hobby. Also this episode, Ryan sat down with James Spencer and Steve Wilkes of BasicBrewing Radio at HomeBrewCon 2017 and tasted 6 of Ryan's meads, and a tale of two honey's, surprising results in caramelizing two batches of honey for the same amount of time yet yielding two completely different results.

Ryan and JD had a chance to sit down with Eric Lowe from the Texas Mead Cup, Susan Ruud of Hoppy Halloween and Andrew Adams of Orpheus Meadfest for some brief discussions on their competitions. It's not too late to get in on any one of these, so get your project packaged up and submitted!

Susan Ruud from Prairie Rose Meadery in Fargo, North Dakota joins us as Mississippi opens the show! JD, Aaron, Jeff & Ryan dig into barrel aged honey and discussions on a Chocolate Cherry mead recipe. Don't forget to subscribe using your favorite podcast player such as Podcast Addict, or iTunes.

Chris leads a discussion about some of the finer points of fermentation starting with the yeast. Jeff takes the next segment into the world of Brettanomyces after learning about JD's Mars project, and finally, ever use extract flavorings in mead? Beer brewers do, JD explores the idea of replacing fruit, juice & puree with extracts. Enjoy the show and don't forget to subscribe with your favorite podcast player!

Carlos Bassetti joins us from Superstition Meadery in Prescott Arizona, and what's that growing in one of JD's carboys? Science session with the boys in this episode of The Mead House!

Ash Fishbein joins us from Sap House Meadery, a discussion on keeping your mead cool now that summer is here, and what the crew thinks about conical fermenters. For 20% off enter MEAD HOUSE at Sap House Meadery. Good until midnight tonight.

Ryan returns from HomeBrewCon 2017, we pick up where we left off finalizing our "cocktail inspired mead" homework that Ryan assigned each of us a few weeks ago, and JD has another DIY project he explains at the end of the show! Enjoy!

Bonus episode! 2 hours with JD, Ryan, Mississippi, Jeff and Aaron! We spent some time with Michael Sedlecek and Megan Wannarka from Worker-B tasting 9 different honey's; Basswood from Minnesota, Printemps from Quebec, Honeytrees from Kentucky, Autumn Gold also from Kentucky, Cranberry from Wisconsin, Eucalyptus from Tasmania, Meadowfoam from Oregon, Buckwheat from Quebec, and Carrot from Oregon.

Tonight we review a few meads sent to us by Ryan, mead cocktails, and much more! Enjoy the show!

Brainstorming episode! Started out talking freeze-dried fruits, and moved into some brainstorming for some fresh ideas on mead making. We covered the list of ingredients including Magnolia flowers, cucumbers, lemons, basil, nutmeg and a few others. Enjoy the show!

Mississippi Chris joins us tonight after being AWOL for a couple weeks. Tonight, we discuss a question that a listener submitted about using enzymes in melomels to break down fruit, we also talk about another ingredient that's picking up notice in mead making, hops. Jeff & Ryan run us through setting up and hosting your own small mead tasting.

Aaron returns from his adventure to South Carolina, and on the way stops in at Schramm's meadery to have a sip of the infamous Heart of Darkness $100 a bottle mead! Ryan enters one braggot in two separate competitions, one for mead, the other for alternative beer and medals! We go around the table with projects the boys are working on, JD has a "leftover" braggot recipe he solicits ideas for. JD also mentions an ancient mead recipe his sister found in a 1747 cookbook, "The Art of Cookery made Plain" by Hannah Glasse: Take five gallons of water, add to that one gallon of the best honey; then set it on the fire, boil it together well, and skim it very clean, then take it off the fire, and set it by; then take two or three races (not sure what that is) of ginger, the like quantity of cinnamon and nutmegs, bruise (mix) all these grossly; and put them in a little Holland bag in the hot liquor, and so let it stand close covered till it be cold; then put as much ale-yeast to it as will make it work.  Keep it in a warm place, as they do ale; and when it has wrought well, tun (typo? not sure) it up; at two months you may drink it, having been bottled a month. If you keep it four months, it will be better.

Award-winning mead maker,Tom Repas, joins the show and shares some of his knowledge about mead making. The crew also answers a question about honey from listener Ben Duthu. Enjoy the show!

Tonight we respond to a couple of listeners. Angie shares her concerns about the amount of honey used in a braggot for competition, and David asks about aging, bottles vs. carboys. Enjoy!

BONUS EPISODE! The boys review a couple more offerings from JD, Mississippi Chris finally gets his Mazer Cup score sheet and says, "I wanted to make a close copy of Ken Schramm's Heart of Darkness which everyone could make using readily available ingredients and without the need to grow your own orchard. I bought some frozen fruit from Walmart along with some juice and concentrate, used some honey that JD sent me, put it in a plastic bucket from Lowes and ended up with a world class example of a mixed fruit melomel.  Mission accomplished." Plus, projects we're planning and idea sharing. As a reminder, the show will be on hiatus for the next 2 weeks, we'll see you back here on April 25th! Thanks for listening!