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Monk

Mead Update

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Recipe:

6.3 lb local, fresh, wildflower honey

5 gal spring water

yeast nutrient according to directions

boiled bread yeast packet for more nutes

one tube White Labs European Ale yeast

I used a no heat method(except for killing the bread yeast with a little boiling h2o.) The fermentation is cruising along well now at the 4 day mark. As soon as I get to 2 bubbles or so per minute, I'll rack into two separate 3 gallon carboys. One will be for plain mead the other will contain an everclear extract of 15 g. saffron and 25 g. sceletium tortuosum powder with 1 lb more honey to get the yeast to mix/dissolve the actives. Not sure that's gonna taste too good, hence the split. Either way, it'll feel good :wink:

Edited by FeloniousMonk

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Out of interest, what sort of effects do you expect from these brews? Will they have a 'visionary' effect, or just a buzz?

Certainly sounds like a mean brew, as does the one in your other thread! :)

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I might give this a go! Have been curious about mead for a bit now.

What temps does the European Ale yeast like FM?

Also where did you source the recipe from?

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Great work,

I guess someone has done it before somewhere but it is a great idea. "Spiced Mead" certainly does throw up some interesting conotations.

Keep us updated with flavour and effects, Thanks.

Cheers....................Bongchitis

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This mead doesn't come from a recipe other than my own experimentation with these substances. I posted some of the combos pretty recently. The saffron/sceletium combo was great, so here it goes. I was inspired by all of Ratsch's info on the ancient (more) psychoactive wines of the Romans, Greeks, South Americans etc.

Ace, I don't think it will be "visionary," but one can hope :lol: Check out my recent posts on these combos for details. That being said, the brewing process will undoubtedly change things a bit, so I'll follow up when I test.

Harry, the European ale yeast likes it to be 60-75 deg F, I believe. I am still using the outdated American temp system as you can see and don't know what that translates to in Celcius :rolleyes:

Bongchitis, yeah it will sure as hell be "spiced" with 15 grams saffron in about 25 bottles worth of brew. I hope it will be drinkable. Even if it's not, I'll drink it.

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By the way, ladies and gentleman, I need a name for this one. I was thinking Buddha' Robes (for the color,) or Mellow Yellow (it will be anything but mellow,) Hottentot Crocus Crack etc.... Any other suggestions would be appreciated. :)

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That makes it 15.5 to 23.8 deg C.

Is there any particular reason why you chose this yeast or will any ale yeast do? I can't seem to find to much on the euro ale yeast, might go down and check the local brew supply and see what he has.

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It would be best to use wine yeast for mead. Normal beer yeasts tend not to fully ferment higher alc drinks like mead. You might end up with a really sweet / syrupy drink. Which could be a good thing?

Also, I have never done it before but from what I know about it, it is probably a good idea to at least pasteurize the honey in the oven before using it. While the honey is thick the nasties in the honey can't reproduce due to osmotic pressure - but as soon as you add water and dilute the honey the nasties can grow.

I refer to them as nasties but more specifically they are bacteria, wild yeasts and other fungi.

Just as a historical thing - spices meads are called ‘Metheglin!’

Jim

:)

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Harry, I just chose that yeast because it is supposed to brew without creating very much flavor alteration. I'm sure any ale yeast will work. Watertrade, I'm brewing from a must that contains about half the normal quantity of honey as meads using wine yeasts. High gravity meads normally require long aging periods to smooth out the alcohol flavor. I just racked tonight and this shit tastes great! Because the European ale yeast is only about 60-70 percent attenuative(leaves some sugar,) the brew was only semi-dry with a gravity of 1.020. It's probably around 5 percent alcohol as the rule of thumb is 1 lb of honey gives 1 percent ABV in a 5 gal. brew. I added a little over 6 pounds with 60-70 percent fermented.... As I said, it is mild in strength, but tastes great. Kind of cider-like but with a honey perfume instead of apple.

One of the 3 gal carboys I racked into contained 15 grams saffron stigmas and around 13 grams sceletium tortuosum powder. Also in this carboy was 1 qt. of organic pear cider. I thought pear would pair well :P with saffron and give the yeasties some more food for mixing/extracting.

The other 3 gal carboy had this kick ass freeze dried pineapple from the east of thailand that I got from Trader Joes. It's very perfumy and the amount I put in is equivalent to 2 lb. fresh. This carboy should ensure I get something tasty out of the deal, not just a "fade your ass" brew.

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Sounds fantastic.

My vote is for "crocus crack."

:drool2:

Good to know btw that low gravity meads can run through primary and secondary rather quickly. I've been using 3 kilos of honey to boost my pale ales, then I dry hop the shit out of them with cascade hops. I have been leaving them in secondary for a month, for hops flavor and honey mellowing. It is by far the best beer I've ever brewed. 11% baby!

I wonder which hops, if any, would complement saffron, or sassafrass for that matter?

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Okay. Here's the update. I racked the Hottentot Crocus Crack from secondary to tertiary with a hop bag over the siphon tube to filter out the saffron threads etc. At the end, I siphoned a little into a glass-about 4 ounces. The smell and taste of saffron is overwhelming. Something must be done to make it more palatable. Perhaps sulfite/sorbate and backsweeten. Pisgah, please note that in the future I'm going to shoot for more like 9-11% alcohol as in my root beer. This low potency stuff has no oomf(flavor or buzz from alcohol.) The brew is potently psychoactive, I am pleased to say, though. From this low dose, I'm distinctly intoxicated. Doing the math, 15 g saffron and 25 g scelly per ~10 L should mean that I had just under 200 mg saffron and around 300-350 mg scelly stuff, assuming 100% extraction(absurd.) Nonetheless, it is nice. :P

The pineapple melomel tasted terrible at last racking-too dry and acidic at the same time. I bottled tonight, mixing 4 oz. lactose(non-fermentable sweetener,) 4 oz. maltodextrin(body,) and 1/4 cup honey for priming sugar to the two gallons I bottled. The smell and taste of pineapple have come out of nowhere and are starting to make a stand, which is good and the lactose makes it taste a little like a creamsicle. I'm rambling now in my current state of mind and must force myself to stop :rolleyes::wacko:

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So I racked the HCC onto enough sugar soln. to carbonate and bottle conditioned it for the last two weeks. Over the last two day, I've been bioassaying it. The flavor is vile. It must be loaded into shot glasses and pounded. I suppose the overall flavor could be improved by a more experienced brewer, but it would not be worth the trouble, IMO, to bring it from a .5 to a 2 on a scale of 1-10. It is surprisingly potent, though, with intoxication and stimulation at the 2 oz. dose! 6-8 oz. is better for a whole night of stimulation/euphoria or as a pregame to going out to a bar as we did last night. A peculiar thing happened in this situation: With my 4 pint buzz on, I would go through 5-15 minute periods of seeming sobriety (but with the aforementioned stimulation/euphoria :scratchhead: ,) followed by 1-5 minutes of serious, but pleasant, delerium. I have never before experienced anything like that and I found it entertaining :P I have 19 pint bottles left, but due to its flavor and my mates aversion to it, I expect the brew to last some time :lol: A true witches brew with a flavor to match! I'm just glad the root metheglyn turned out to be quite palatable :lol:

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With my 4 pint buzz on, I would go through 5-15 minute periods of seeming sobriety (but with the aforementioned stimulation/euphoria :scratchhead: ,) followed by 1-5 minutes of serious, but pleasant, delerium. I have never before experienced anything like that and I found it entertaining :P

sounds like scelly euphoria,

good work obviously the saffron must have potentiated it a lot.

i'm looking forward to mixing the two aswell.

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Yeah, ph, it's a lot like oral scelly effects, but enhanced in a loopy kinda way. I think the scelly alone has potential as a performance enhancing, additive for brewing that doesn't taste too bad, but the saffron is better off on its own. It single handedly produced an unpalatable beverage. I'd be fascinated in brewing or hearing about anyone else brewing a scelly ale. Then I'd just chew the saffron after a pint. Good times. :)

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is there any reason you went for this particular combination? does the saffron potentiate the sceletium?

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Hi Frank, the original bioassay of this combination can be found here: Saffron/Scelly bioassay

That should explain the desire to combine them into one beverage.

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OK, so several different people have tried this brew and the concensus is that they either love it or won't drink it ever again :lol: I, personally, think it's great and most other friends that have any experience with psychoactives other than booze are also quite fond of it. I'm going to somewhat retract my previous statement about the saffron not belonging in a brewed beverage. I think this combo could work great, but it should be in something more concentrated like a wine. I feel that flavor of a wine would blend better with these herbs and keep the saffron compounds in solution. As it stands now, the safranal/crocin partially precipitate with the dregs of each bottle being much more orange than the rest of the brew. Also, after going flat I actually prefered the taste without carbonation. At the 8-16 oz dose, this is a great companion to a night of drinking especially if one is tired or worn out from the week. Energy, positive feelings, reduced anxiety and talkative empathy? All right! I'll definately continue to make beverages along these lines in the future.

FM

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good to hear updates....i'm getting ready to try brewing some, but looking for a good source of cold-pressed honey that isn't eucalypt, which is most common here locally. looking to use cardamom, black cardamom, nag keshar (mesua ferrea), tej patta (cinnamonum tamala), cassia, pippali & saffron, and probably raisins ... maybe some other things like arjuna (terminalia arjuna) for heart health, etc.

i doubt it will have the same empathic qualities of your brew, but thanks for the inspiration : )

Edited by coin

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coin, I'm so glad I inspired you! Please allow me to share what I have realized about mead thus far. The best quantity of honey to add to 5 gallons is around 8-10 pounds. At this rate, the aging process is much quicker and yet the flavor is not watered down. Adding all those delicious herbs (I only recognize half of them, but they sound great in a beverage,) will do a couple of things. It will add many micronutrients to make the fermentation proceed much more vigorously than a plain mead (though I would still use a yeast nutrient in addition) and they will add tannins to smooth out flavors/quicken aging. Also, I highly recommend using an ale yeast that can tolerate the high gravity, even though this is quite contrary to typical mead making wisdom. With these, as opposed to wine/mead/champagne yeasts, the finished product will have just enough residual sweetness and, for some reason, proceed to drinkability much quicker. Also, according to my experience and that of Ken Schramm of The Compleat Meadmaker, the best, most aromatic, early ready meads come from using extremely fresh honey (find an apiarist) with a 'no-heat' method. This means making a small boiled wort for your herbs, diluting to warm with chilled water, mixing your honey til dissolved, and diluting further to 5 gallons. If you then pitch an adequate quantity of vigorous yeast, there is almost no risk of infection. I've done it several times this way, with very careful sanitation otherwise, and have seen no problems or infection. Anyway, that's just my 2 cents that go somewhat against the grain of conventional mead making. Take it or leave it, I suppose. By the way, I'd like to know more about nag keshar, tej patta, pippali, and arjuna. Got any good links for info? Isn't 'Tej' a type of mead from somewhere? Interesting. Have fun and happy brewing!

FM

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By the way, I'd like to know more about nag keshar, tej patta, pippali, and arjuna. Got any good links for info? Isn't 'Tej' a type of mead from somewhere? Interesting.

FM

Pippali is Piper longum. I assume this one will tickle your interest most :P

Nagkeshar is Mesua ferrea, "Cobras saffron"

Arjuna (or Arjun) is Terminalia arjuna.

Tej Patta is Cinnamomum cassia, although afaik sometimes you can substitute with bay leaves.

These are all sacred Ayurvedic plants, from the names I am sure you get some gist of what coin is aiming at. I will refrain from going in depth because my knowledge on the issue is not so great, you can find plenty of info by searching their binomial names there are even lots of research papers on testing their efficiacy in medicinal use.

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thanks apo :) yep, all botanical names have been given now i think

tej patta - cinnamomum cassia/cinnamomum tamala is "tej patta" / "tej patra" / cassia leaves / "indian bay leaf" ... i.e. the leaves of the cassia tree (dalcini leaves -- "chinese wood leaves" - leaves of chinese cinnamon = cassia) .... the tree from which cassia bark and cassia leaves are derived can be the same, but i presume in this day & age that different varieties may be grown & chosen to select a superior product of each (ie i'm not sure if cinnamomum cassia and cinammomum tamala are synonomous...maybe apothecary can clarify)

sometimes bay leaves are cited as a substitute ..because they kind of have similar qualities (and look somehwat similar if you squint) but in some applications are not a suitable substitute (ie most applications if you are a hindustani cook)

the combination of cardamom + tej patta + dalcini bark is known as "trisugandha" meaning literally "three good smells"/"thee aromatics"

dalcini ("chinese wood"/cassia) bark is definitely a suitable substitute for cinnamon bark & vice versa (for medicinal applications), though many chefs will debate this based on flavor, as cassia is often used as a cheaper substitute for true cinnamon (in ground form where the average consumer can't tell the difference...they may be combined) ... yet while cinnamon has a "superior" flavour over cassia..it is cassia's flavour that often slots into indian cooking more easily because it is not as assertive

add nagkeshar (mesua ferrea / cobra's saffron) to trisugandha, and it is known as "chaturjata" ("four together"/"four interwoven" [hard to translate]) ... it is a combination that has different properties to trisugandha, but they both have the purpose of lending delightful fragrance and enhancing bioavailability of medicinal formulas.

you can take a herb like gotu kola, brahmi, tulsi, etc and add these three or four herbs plus some sugar or honey and it will become a lot more tasty...it is often added as a standard to the medicinal wines i have mentioned

"tej" often refers to light, heat, brightness, cognition, clarity of vision -- so it wouldn't surprise me that some regions use this root to refer to their honey ferment beverages...honey is considered as heating, fermented products even more, and alcohol very much so

in ayurvedic medicine it is said that raw honey (cold pressed/naturally extracted honey) is nectar, but cooked honey is poison (ie heated honey is like a hardened toffee that clogs the micro circulatory channels)

you can find plenty of info about arjuna (sanskrit name) by doing a google search ;) (arjun is just hindi name because they drop the last vowel)

Edited by coin

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Hehe, you guys caught me being lazy again :P Thanks for the pointers, I'll do some research. By the way, I found this:Wikipedia Tej Article

Cool stuff.

in ayurvedic medicine it is said that raw honey (cold pressed/naturally extracted honey) is nectar, but cooked honey is poison (ie heated honey is like a hardened toffee that clogs the micro circulatory channels)

I love this! I guess this means you're gonna try that 'no-heat' method, huh? :lol: As long as the honey is super fresh, there should be no problem. That combo of herbs sounds fascinating and tasty! Please let me know how it's proceeding. I've got about four recipes on deck, but I'm always changing my mind and that sounds flippin' good. Hopefully, this weekend I'll brew up a new/improved batch of hard root beer (which is now all gone) and my Egyptian Ethnobeer (with or without the mandrake-I'm not sure yet.) Again keep us posted and above all, have fun. :)

FM

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yes, i will definitely be doing the no-heat method

here is a pic of "indian bay leaves" - (being cooked in ghee)

gallery_36_2_65346.jpg

Edited by coin

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Nice. Also, I forgot to mention a couple of things. I really enjoyed the connections you drew between the different uses of the word 'tej.' It somehow motivates me to get off my ass and make some more mead (methegyn)! One other thing, I've read of folks putting herbs (especially Cinnamomum cassia) in their primary or secondary and getting horrible results. The lesson gleaned is that the alcohol & time cooperate to pull out way too much of the bitter components. I would stick with a brief boil or just putting them in at flameout and covering to produce a nice herbal effect. I, personally, think I used way too long of a boil for my Root Metheglyn: 90 minutes with herbs in. It smelled great during the process, but too much aroma was blown off. It was, as they say, for the neighbors. Next time, I'm going to follow the same routine as beer brewers with hops. I'll throw about half of each herb in at the beginning of a 45 minute boil for bittering, then the other half at the last 5 minutes or at flameout for more aroma. I think I'll get much more root beer flavor this way. Hooray for brewing! You got me excited again, coin :wink: ...about beverages, I mean.

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