I am just starting to get into home brewing with a college buddy of mine, and we are both really interested in making mead. I've got tons of honey. Quite literally too, my father and I raise bees. I think that there is 500 lbs or so in my parents basement.
Anyways, I will be getting married in January and I think that this would obviously be the perfect time to drink our home-brewed mead (after all that's where the term 'honeymoon' comes from).
I looked at the recipes listed in the Papazian book (Appendix 5), and it mentioned that it can be had in as little as 6 weeks, but I also noticed that people tend to age their mead for years before drinking it so as to mellow the flavors.
Is there still time before January to get a really good batch of mead? Chances are we wont be finished with our current experiments until June, so we would only really have 6 months.
Also, any favorite recipes, especially for such an occasion?
Edited to Add: I've been reading more and it does sound doable, although the mead would taste better if I gave it longer (I tried to see about pushing the wedding date, but she was having none of that
). I would still like any suggestions/input from any experienced mead brewers out there. I think that now I will maybe make 2 batches, that way one can be drunk at the wedding while the other ages. I figure we can open up a bottle or 2 of "Wedding Year" mead every anniversary for the next 10 years or so.
Anyways, I will be getting married in January and I think that this would obviously be the perfect time to drink our home-brewed mead (after all that's where the term 'honeymoon' comes from).
I looked at the recipes listed in the Papazian book (Appendix 5), and it mentioned that it can be had in as little as 6 weeks, but I also noticed that people tend to age their mead for years before drinking it so as to mellow the flavors.
Is there still time before January to get a really good batch of mead? Chances are we wont be finished with our current experiments until June, so we would only really have 6 months.
Also, any favorite recipes, especially for such an occasion?
Edited to Add: I've been reading more and it does sound doable, although the mead would taste better if I gave it longer (I tried to see about pushing the wedding date, but she was having none of that
). I would still like any suggestions/input from any experienced mead brewers out there. I think that now I will maybe make 2 batches, that way one can be drunk at the wedding while the other ages. I figure we can open up a bottle or 2 of "Wedding Year" mead every anniversary for the next 10 years or so.
