SC - Brewing Pyment (long)

[Tyrca at aol.com]

    Some of this comes in with the basics of mead-making, so some of you will
want to skip these simple steps.
    A normal 5 gallon batch of mead is usually about 12-15 lbs of honey.  For
Pyment, I used 84 oz of grape juice concentrate.  This means that I bought 7
cans of Welch's 100% white grape juice in frozen concentrate. I also added
some nutmeg, rose water, and yeast nutrient.  More on all of that later.
I usually use my 20 qt stainless steel pot just to avoid aluminum
contamination.  But it doesn't affect the outcome.  First of all, put 12 lbs
of honey  and just enough water in your pot to keep the honey from scorching.
 Since I use an electric range, I use a piece of coathanger right on the
burner, under the pan.  This also keeps the honey from scorching.
    Heat the honey but do not boil, as it is easy to burn it, and make it
useless.  As the honey warms, a foam forms on top.  skim this off, and keep
skimming as long as it rises.  This foam is mostly albumen (protein) from the
honey, and keeps mead from clearing, so it is important to remove it.  If the
foam starts to be brown, turn the heat down, your honey is getting too hot.
    After a few minutes (5 to 15, depending on your honey and equipment) the
foam stops rising, and you are ready to start brewing.  Make sure that your
carboy (the big glass bottle we use to brew in) is clean and sanitized.  I
wash it out, and then leave bleach water sitting in it until I am ready to
use it.  This is not totally sterile, but at least keeps most bacteria and
wild yeast away from my mead.
    To make sure that the hot liquid does not crack the carboy, put your 
In a message dated 97-10-30 16:20:05 EST, you write:

<< 
 Tyrca, 
 Any chance you'd be willing to put out fairly detailed instructions (ie:
 explain equipment used, and how, ingredients and amounts, steps and
 lengths of time they took) for these?  They sound wonderful, and I would
 love to duplicate them, or possibly just understand the process, so I
 could make something similar.  Merci 
 Angelique
  >>

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