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Ask the Meadmaker: No Nap Nora

3/31/2019

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In which Ricky the Meadmaker answers questions about using baking soda to carbonate, what kind of siphon to use as a homebrewer, the source of a white scum on the top of fermenting mead, smoky mead, and more!
Further Reading:
Meadmaking Essential Equipment
More on Smoky Mead in Ep. 106

Episode Transcript:

​You want to know how the Viking baby is doing? The Viking baby is doing so well that she's a toddler now and got a new title. The no-naptime Nora.

Welcome to Ask the Meadmaker, where I, Ricky the Meadmaker and the Viking toddler answer your questions about mead making, mead drinking, mead brewing, and really any question you're willing to send us.

Can you carbonate mead with bicarbonate of soda?

Our first question comes from Edward who wants to know if you can carbonate mead by just putting bicarbonate of soda in there? Baking soda. The answer is potentially. It would nullify the acid making a very flat and bland and probably salty mead. But theoretically, it could be done. 

which type of siphon for making mead?

Joey has a question that's very useful for new home meadmakers. Do I recommend pump siphons or the old-fashioned kind? I recommend the pump kind because the other kind are frustrating. 

white scum on top of mead?

Vernon wants to know why every time he ferments with honey a white scum forms on the top of the batch. That could be a lot of different things. If it's raw honey, true raw honey, it could theoretically be wax.

If you are not sulfiting initially, it could be yeast and bacteria. Or, even if you are sulfiting, it could be the yeast you're pitching.

Sometimes it just forms a layer on the top that you can't really see when it's a darker beer. 

pig's blood as mead binding agent?

​Nora has moved into the director's chair for this question. And I'm glad because I wanted to answer Michael's question all by myself. Michael has heard about pig's blood. Powdered pig's blood, used as a binding agent and he wanted to know not my thoughts, but my feelings about it. My thoughts and feelings are both negative, but I feel that it's a really, really bad idea. 

How to get smoky flavors in mead

​Our last question this week comes from Bullish Group. I am sorry, I am sorry that it has been two months since you sent your question and I haven't answered it yet. You had to repost it 4,300 times. It's a great question. But I am a busy man.

Anyway, he has a great question. "How would I get smoky flavors in mead?" And I will tell you what my trick is. And it's not the one that I recommend for every mead or for everybody, but I like to use lapsang souchong. I make a strong, smoky tea and add that.

The reason it's not good for everything is it does add a bit of tannin and it also has the issue that it adds caffeine to your mead which you may not want. But there are a lot of options, such as adding liquid smoke, people do that with beer, or if you are a homebrewer you could add a smoked malt. But really the possibilities are endless.

The one thing I wouldn't recommend is attempting to light a fire at the bottom of your batch of mead. So, I hope that answers your question. 

​Keep sending them and I'll get to them as soon as possible. Cheers. 

[OUTTAKES. NORA TRIES OUT THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND EXPLORES THE STUDIO] Camera. Yeah, and light. Okay, ready? Ready for me to answer another question? 
Bye, Nora! Where are you going?
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Thursday Fun Fact 3-28: Last Days

3/28/2019

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Thursday Fun Fact 3-28 - Groennfell Meadery - Friday and Saturday are the last days our Tasting Room will be open in Colchester, except for one last surprise in a few weeks!
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Thursday Fun Fact 3-21: Moonshine Meadery

3/21/2019

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Thursday Fun Fact 3-21 - Groennfell Meadery - We're so excited to see that India's only meadery, Moonshine Meadery, has survived its first year in business! Whenever we get cocky, we remember that you're literally the only craft meadery in a country of 1.3 Billion People.
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Ask the Meadmaker: In the Woodshed

3/17/2019

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​In which Ricky the Meadmaker answers questions about temperature control, cocoa powder, nutrition labels, morons, and more!
Further Reading:
Why So Hot?
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Event Suggestion Form

3/12/2019

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With only a few weeks to go before we shut the tasting room for the move, we got to thinking about where we were going to get to see our Meadiacs!

Rather than taking multiple stabs in the dark, we realized we can just ask you!

Is there an event that you think we should pour at? Just fill out this handy form, and we'll do our best to be there!
​
The form works for VT, ME, and Mass!
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Thursday Fun Fact 3-7: Shipwrecked

3/7/2019

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Thursday Fun Fact 3-7 - Groennfell Meadery - Over the past few years, brewers in the US, Europe, and Australia have been recreating beers with yeast collected from shipwrecks. This seems like an awful lot of work.
​We're not saying we wouldn't do it, just saying it's A LOT of work for something that usually amounts to a one-off experiment.
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Ask the Meadmaker: Non-monetized Mead

3/3/2019

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​In which Ricky the Meadmaker answers questions about braggot recipes, adding oxygen without introducing microbes, when to add more yeast to a stuck fermentation, making a guacamole mead, and makes a clarification about methanol in fermented beverages.
Further Reading:
Developing a Mead Recipe
Your First Batch of Mead
A Stalled Batch and What We Did About It
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    Groennfell Meadery is Vermont’s premier craft meadery. Inspired by Old Norse legends, brewed with extraordinary ingredients, Groennfell’s meads are unlike anything you’ve had before. Crisp, clean, and astoundingly drinkable, the only way to explain any one of Groennfell’s meads is to try one yourself.

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