Mead and Cider (and Peary too) Mmmmm

**jkane** · 5th November 09, 01:50 PM

Originally Posted by Ayin McFye

As long as we stay under 200 gallons a person a year we don't need to get our license yet.

I am not sure about Arizona law, but federal says 100 gallons per adult with a maximum of 2 adults per household. But ... you may NOT sell even a drop of it without a federal liquor license. You may have been mislead in the understanding of what requires a license. As long as you are making less than 200 gallons, have 2 adults living at that address, and only share your alcoholic beverage with others for free, you are fine. If you decide to accept money for it, the feds will want their tax on it for any amount.

Each state can restrict that further, and could likely allow you to sell without state tax, but federal law stands alone with collection of federal taxes. There is no state that I have ever heard of that had a federal exemption!

I would love to come down and share a couple bottles with you. ;) Was down there a couple years ago, and likely won't make it back for at least a couple more. I'll keep your name on hand if I ever do make it back. :-)

Same goes for up here in Wisconsin! I'd love to share a bottle with someone who really loves meads. :-)

**MMorgan** · 5th November 09, 04:39 PM

being an avid brewer a mead is the one thing i have not gotten to do yet.... mostly due to the price of bulk honey lol

i am very jealous of all of you and your meads!!!!!!!

that being said a do have a very nice apflevien (apple wine) thats basicaly just a really big hard cider... 5 gallons o cider and 2 pounds brown sugar pushing 10% and it is very lovely.....

**NewEnglander** · 5th November 09, 04:43 PM

Originally Posted by MMorgan

being an avid brewer a mead is the one thing i have not gotten to do yet.... mostly due to the price of bulk honey lol

i am very jealous of all of you and your meads!!!!!!!

that being said a do have a very nice apflevien (apple wine) thats basicaly just a really big hard cider... 5 gallons o cider and 2 pounds brown sugar pushing 10% and it is very lovely.....

If you want to try a super simpler mead for beginners, check out the link to Joe's Ancient Orange Mead that I posted a few posts back. I've made it a few times and it's always come out well, if you follow the directions exactly.

**MMorgan** · 6th November 09, 07:13 AM

Originally Posted by NewEnglander

If you want to try a super simpler mead for beginners, check out the link to Joe's Ancient Orange Mead that I posted a few posts back. I've made it a few times and it's always come out well, if you follow the directions exactly.

i will look up the recipe but like i said its the costs o the damned honey around here more then anything

meads dont scare me lol about as simple as it gets.... take a bunch o honey and some water and throw in some nutrients pitch yeast and leave it alone

..... not nearly as complicated as doing a three step triple decoction mash

**jkane** · 6th November 09, 08:05 AM

Buying honey in pints is very expensive. Find a bee keeper, or go to a farmers market. Talk to the keeper. Tell them you want to make a mead, nto spread it on your toast. ;) They will usually have an interest in that idea. When you start buying a gallon at a time, the price starts to drop drastically. I find that 5 gallons is the next big price drop. That is why we make 4-5 batches at a time. 5 gallons of honey is 4 batches of mead! You should be able to get it down to $3.00 a pound. Some will even go down to $2.00 a pound if you sweet talk them. Offer a couple bottles of the final product. That greases the skids sometimes too. That's how I get cranberries! I pay the grower with mead.

Franklin Ohio? As in just south of Dayton? We'll be driving through there on the way to my wife's family late next month. Well, maybe not quite. We usually take 35 east instead of heading through Cincinnati and down along the river. That is a nicer drive, but takes much longer. She has sisters in both Dayton and Cincinnati.

**NewEnglander** · 6th November 09, 08:32 AM

I've found mesquite honey at Trader Joe's in larger containers (3lbs, perhaps) at a decent price.

**jkane** · 6th November 09, 12:52 PM

I usually don't endorse places, but why not ... This is where we got the honey from this year. They ship too. They let us sample each honey before buying so we could know what it taste like. They met my wife and I at work over lunch with samplers. Really nice people!

http://www.luscioushoney.com/MeadMakers.htm

$45 for 15 lbs. Not that much more than a 5 gallon batch of beer after paying for all the hops at today's prices!

**Madadh** · 6th November 09, 01:25 PM

I use the bee folks at http://www.beefolks.com. They ship and the prices are not too bad.

**NewEnglander** · 7th November 09, 07:03 PM

So I picked up a gallon of fresh cider at the farmers' market today and want to make it all alcoholic and stuff. I tried this same sort of thing last year and got a thin, sour vaguely apple-flavored beverage. Not that it stopped me from drinking it. Last year I also bothered to order Wyeast Cider yest, for all the good it did me.
This year I just want to dump in some of the dry yeast I have kicking around in the fridge. Here are my choices:
Lalvin ICV D47
Lalvin 71B-1122
Lalvin K1-V1116
Lalvin EC-1118
Danstar Windsor

Which one should I go with???

**jkane** · 9th November 09, 10:33 AM

Cider is thin vaguely apply stuff. It's what happens when the sugar is all gone! Some people add more sugar because apple juice is only about 4-5 % alcohol to begin with. The yeast will eat all of that leaving only dryness behind.

Another way to sweeten is to use potassium sorbate when it stops fermenting to kill the yeast. Then add more fresh cider to sweeten it before serving.

I'd use the D47 or the 1118, but that's just me!