SC - Galingale Mead

[Jeff Heilveil]

Salut!
Sorry for the wait on this one, I needed to check some things out with
Madog so I was sure to give you the right information.  The following mead
is good at 3 months, better at 9 and Barely surviving to be 1 yr...

15 LBS honey.
1 OZ galingale (brayed)
1 Tbs. walnuts
1-2 Tbs Lemon juice.
Water to full to 5 gallons.

We boil the water, let it cool a bit and then add the honey.  We heat the
honey enough to get some of the scum out (we use honey from the U of
Illinois Apiary, Great taste, real cheap.  IF you are near Champaign, let
me know if you want some.  It's about 1/pound, or $40 for a 5 gallon
bucket.).  Don't let it boil or you loose the aromatics.  Pour into
carbouy.  Add the galingale for flavor, the nuts for tannin (if you're
allergic to walnuts, you can use acorns), and the lemon juice for acidity.
Then next morning add yeast.  Madog likes to use a champaign yeast, I
prefer a wine yeast.  Let it go for a month, rack it to a new carbouy, let
it sit for two months and bottle it.  Like all the Meads we make, it
should be served at room temperature.  CHilling it seems to dampen the
flavor and bring out a harsh ketone-like taste.  You might also add 1oz
cardamom seeds, lightly crushed as well.  That worked out nicely.

Cu drag,
Bogdan


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Jeffrey Heilveil M.S.		      Ld. Bogdan de la Brasov, C.W.
Department of Entomology	A Bear's paw and base vert on field argent
University of Illinois		    	  
heilveil at uiuc.edu			     
office: (217) 244-5115
home: (217) 355-5702		       
ICQ: 34699710 	             

Once one dismisses the rest of all possible worlds, one finds that this is
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