Brewbabble!

[lwood]

Last night, my Brew Crew (plus a friend who was randomly at our Secret Lab to watch movies...mwa ha ha ha!) and I halved and pitted twelve pounds each of Elephant Heart plums and sugarplums for to add to our six gallon batch of melomel (that's "mead with fruit in").

Honey is twenty-four pounds Berkeley/Oakland wildflower from Bee Healthy Honey, water five gallons from Crystal Geyser's springhouse at the foot of Mount Shasta, yeast is Lalvin 71B-1122, plums from Full Belly Farm--today was decreed Plum Day because theirs were $2.00 a pound when everyone else's at the farmers' market was $3.25-$4.00.

I fear it may be summat oxidized--there's some "off" flavors that I can't quite write off as "young mead", and some reason to suspect I made a couple "cocky sophomore" mistakes. Still...time will tell, and if there were ever a time to trust in patient cultivation, it would be with a brew in Frigg's honor.

Next up in my vague Brewing Plans are:

braggot

Another simple braggot from Jim Smith's recipe, for Lo, it is Tasty.

Honey porter for Thor

We have some tanbark "oak"^* honey, and while it's enough to make a mead, the consensus 'round these parts is that Thor is more a dark beer kind of guy--so honey porter it shall be, although we shall oak up the beer a bit. As local UPG also suggests that Thor is fond of "chocolate chip cookies with nuts in", and that's a porter-compatible kind of thing, it'll probably have a handful of cocoa nibs and maybe some walnuts or summat.

Metheglin for Odin.

We also have some sage honey on hand, and Odin is definitely a Mead Guy. Part of bearfairie's homework, as an herbalist and fledgling Odin Pom-Pom Girl, is to come up with an ingredient list...with nothing necessarily off the table and a vague handwave toward the more inspirational and ecstatic parts of Himself.

Yule Mead

Also in the collection is toyon honey, also known as California Holly. I suspect we'll get to brewing with this around Yule (duh). In Hrafnar, we like to honor Thor, Odin, and Freyr as Yulefather, so this should speak some to each of them. Why, look! I've already got work underway for two outta three!

Note to Self: Work out something Freyrish for the Yule Mead. Bacon? (Caput apri defero // Reddens laudes Domino!) Resist the urge to add yohimbe, what are you, twelve?

Further Note to Self: Consider bacon hefeweizen for Freyr. IT COULD HAPPEN.

^*Note to Readers: Tanbark oak is not a true oak. It makes acorn-looking nuts and has leaves that look like other oak leaves, even though they are arranged improperly on the stem. It's that old-timey free-associative medieval-style logic at work. That Is My Story and I'm Sticking To It.

Comments

[witchchild]

and it sounds like it will all add up to awesome and delicious!

[lwood.livejournal.com]

I hope so!

-- Lorrie

[baldurrising.livejournal.com]

Do some research into Rauchtbergers- smoked ales that are basically "bacon beer." That may help with the Freyr plans.

And you will send me a case for my seal of approval, right?

[lwood.livejournal.com]

I could always dribble in some liquid smoke as a test run. 8-)

If it's any good, I'll send it around. If it's not, I'll find a suitable mound and honorably "kill" it.

-- Lorrie

[murstein.livejournal.com]

While I've yet to brew with some of the ingredients you list, I Has A Librararary, and thought I'd look at recipes others were happy enough to publish.

Papazian's The Complete Joy of Homebrewing, Third Edition includes a reprint of an old recipe for Cock Ale. While they're talking about a male chicken, it seems worthy of perusing during recipe formation on at least two levels, eh?

Mosher's Radical Brewing says of cocoa:

Pretty delicate flavor, takes quite a bit to be noticeable.

Looking through the published recipes I have on hand, I see that the low end seems to be about 6 ounces (which is less than I figured "quite a bit" meant).

I know that one of my back-issues of Zymurgy, from a couple of years or so ago, has a beer recipe that centers around table nuts. If I think about it, while I'm playing hookey from work recovering from surgery tomorrow, I'll see if I can find it.

[lwood.livejournal.com]

While flipping through Schramm in the light of day (as opposed to the ravings of 2AM), he points out that a there are a couple herbs and spices that he doesn't use because, being oily, they leave hard-to-remove films on the equipment--which is a practical reason not to attempt bacon beer, and might argue summat against nuts in beer.

Cocoa nibs would take a lot to be noticed in a dark beer, but as there are "double" chocolate stouts out there (dark-roasted barley + chocolate), it's certainly feasable.

Thanks for looking when you do!

-- Lorrie

[desika.livejournal.com]

I'd love to hear how the plum melomel turns out.

I tried to make peach melomel for Freya last year and it all went horribly, horribly wrong...

[lwood.livejournal.com]

Oh? dr_beowulf had a peach melomel that not only turned the airlock into a projectile, but also decorated the ceiling and walls of his bathroom with gooey peachy goodness. 8-)

I'll be sure to mention how, and if, the plum turns out. If it's noticeably off to humans, I suppose I can always "kill" the batch by pouring it out into a salt marsh as a direct offering to the Beloved.

[desika.livejournal.com]

Mine just went very off. I ended up with gallons of cloudy liquid that smelled and tasted vaguely like rotten fruit. Not sick-making, but not at all pleasant.

[lwood.livejournal.com]

Eew!

*makes evil-eye-aversion gestures*

-- Lorrie

[faeryl.livejournal.com]

>Resist the urge to add yohimbe, what are you, twelve?

*laughs uncontrollably*

Um, erm, *wipes eyes* Maybe you could throw in a pinch of Damiana instead?

[lwood.livejournal.com]

If you're going to go with ithyphallic herbs (she said delicately)...may as well go with the ones that are widely known. ;)

-- Lorrie

[bearfairie.livejournal.com]

sigh. the problem with yohimbine is that, in excess, it may cause...priapism. well that, and the active constituents extract into alcohol. Meaning the drink will most likely get more... well... *potent* ...ahem... over time.

(damiana is lovely stuff, btw... mildly hallucinogenic for some folks if prepared right...)

[lwood.livejournal.com]

....it is a Freyr concoction. *evil seiðkona grin*

[wolfs-daugher.livejournal.com]

okay, I have been tripping over plum brandy, plum saki, plum vinegar, and plums for the last day and a half. And now this.

Methinks my Lady is trying to get my attention.....

*looks hopefully and longingly inward*

ttyl...

Sparrow

[lwood.livejournal.com]

Gods' speed...

-- L

[medancer.livejournal.com]

Would be curious to try a sip of the metheglin, if there would be one to spare.

(when I open my place, I so want to sell your meads.)

[lwood.livejournal.com]

*grin* A sip you may have and, if the Old Man lets and the ingredients won't disturb you, perhaps a bottle.

However, the procedures to sell alcoholic anythings are a right pain in the arse--both for me to make and you to resell. Get the regular business license going first, then we'll see. ;)

-- Lorrie

[thorn-and-calyx.livejournal.com]

These all sound lovely! I have an extra copy of Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers that includes a bunch of recipes for meads, melomels, metheglins, and such, along with some psychotropic stuff. Want?

[lwood.livejournal.com]

Hee! I have that one too because, um, it's LORE™!

*goofy grin*

But, the South Bay's proto-kindred (with pseudopods) is spawning a couple folks who would like to learn to brew. I'm sure they'd appreciate the leg up on the book collection.

So--yes, please, slide it my way? I'll make sure it has a good home.

-- Lorrie

[bearfairie.livejournal.com]

*ping* did someone say extra copy of Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers? and the south bay proto-kindred?

*ears up, tail wagging*

[lwood.livejournal.com]

But yoooooou can't have beeeeeeeer!

So if it ever turned up, you'd have to share it with ninevirtues and Jer. *nod*

But she's right: the author doesn't shy away from herbs for bringing the woowoo.

-- Lorrie

[thorn-and-calyx.livejournal.com]

It will turn up, it will! I'm not sure when I'll have a chance to see you again, but I can always send it along via the illustrious DLP. I'll toss it in my car so I have it with me just in case. Mmmm, more shelf space.... doesn't that mean a trip to the book store?

[lwood.livejournal.com]

Suits, thanks!

And yes, of course it does...

-- Lorrie

[bearfairie.livejournal.com]

:) yes yes, I know, I know. There will be time made for himself and I to sit down and discuss your metheglin. Sometime in the next week hopefully (assuming things calm down some here...).

I have some black oak honey from either Spain or France, I forget which. It's expensive as hell but they do sell it at Rainbow Grocery in SF if you wanted true oak honey (even to just throw a spoonfull in). I'll happily bring over a bit of mine if that's useful for you.

also, bacon beer = eew. :) I suppose...it's a bit of a stretch and not traditional in any tradition, but the grain amaranth (when found wild) is also known as pigweed, and contains cholesterol lowering and hormone balancing plant sterols. as a grain it could maybe be used alongside or in place of barley for brewing? maybe? I don't know enough about brewing to know if this is feasible or not. But pigweed beer sounds better to me than bacon beer :)

[lwood.livejournal.com]

As your time permits, of course, but wouldn't it be nice to have an ingredient list to submit for approval by, say, the Odin devotional on 30 Septemer? Just a thought. ;)

As for black oak honey, yesplease.

Bacon...maybe not in a hefeweizen, now that it's NOT 2 AM. But as a smoky companion in a dark beer, it has potential.

-- Lorrie

[dfreybur.livejournal.com]

Because of the grain harvest association for Frey I'd rather go with ale than mead.

Because Thor likes darker beers more than lighter beers I'd think in terms of a dark beer.

Going with The Wander theme for Odin I'd want an ale made from more than one grain.

Being wheat intolerant myself I don't recommend wheat beers so give an ancestral objection - That wheat stuff is a sorthron conspiracy by the monotheists. They bring their monks, their missionaires, their armies. They even bring their grain. The stuff makes wimpy fluffy puffy sothron breads so no way it should be added to beer. If it makes pasty light bread why should it be added to beer? Barley makes thick heavy beer and wonderful beer and see what that says about adding wheat to beer. So what other grain makes thick heavy substantial northern bread? Rye!

Thing is I've had rye beer on exactly one occasion in the past. Sweet to the point of offensive. But wine is often described as sweet and many folks think mead is supposed to be sweet because it's made from honey (Sorta like salt is supposed to be poisonous because it's made from toxic chlorine gas, so clearly I don't get it). Anyways, adding a tad of rye might make sense for a Yule beer.

That's the line of reasoning I went through at mention of a single brew for the 3. I'd rather have a big booming stout beer for The Thunderer, a dry mead made from honey of several regions for The Wanderer, a stand up and take notice highly hopped top fermenting porter ale for Antler Guy.

But what's in the Mr Beer right now is a nut brown ale. Nice stuff not not all that carefully planned.

[lwood.livejournal.com]

Starting from whole grains means sparging, which is a beer-geek thing that I have yet to indulge in--and it wouldn't be far along that road before I would start hearing the call of my Ozark ancestors and consider makin' a bit of moonshine, I tell you whut.

-- Lorrie