Just a rant

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tooomanycolors

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Ok so it seems like more and more often I see a post with a title similar to "Help did I ruin my mead?" And in said threads often it says I made this mead last night, two days ago, etc., I understand that this may be an issue with the beer variety of beverage making but with mead a fermentation may not begin with vigor for a few days. It doesnt matter what the package for your yeast says, ie will start in 15hrs, it doesnt matter. As much as I like to deny it a fermentation is a sciency process, reliant on nutrient, oxygen, pH, and probably some other things, personally I think my apt is blessed by yeast gods and Ive gotten some 1.100+ meads started without nutrients and they are fine.

So if your mead isnt bubbling like a flute of champagne in 20minutes, calm down wait at least 3-4 days then post and remember to show what your recipe and process was. If you post a picture like the one recently done, a layer of separation between dark and light is most likely honey separating out of solution, this is not a big deal just let it go and the little yeastys will get it, theyre cool like that.

Next issue, if you want a recipe for something do a search, look in the mead threads, look in the recipe section, or modify an existing recipe for something. Then once you have a recipe post it if you want, ask for input. In the last 4 days there have been at least 3 posts of strawberry melomels, great guys for posting your recipes but some of these are also requests for recipes... If you have a question on a recipe ask, but first post what you are thinking, ie BK's root beer mead or my triple and lambic recipes. The idea for my 2 braggots came after a couple months of solicting ideas because frankly I couldnt find any trace of someone doing a lambic mead before, but I never asked for a lambic mead recipe.

This is perhaps my biggest problem with some of the posts, and this one comes from certain "I started a mead" threads. You do not, repeat do not, and one more time do not need to boil honey. If it is completely raw great dont heat it, the wax and other goofy **** will fall out during fermenation, it wont do anything bad to you. You can heat your water to ~150F and dissolve you honey of you can say screw it and use cold water and mix the **** out of it, but dont boil the honey. Honey is a delicate substance and heat turns it into nothing better then freaking corn syrup, so moral of the story DONT BOIL HONEY

One last thing, if you dont like this then respond, I dont care, I can take it. If you agree then say so, if you want to add something then add it.

Think of this as a free thread to vent on anything mead forum related, except for my lack of updates on the lambic:ban:
 
Agreed, I am relatively new to brewing, but I like to sit back and collect info from the more experienced brewers. When I see someone asking a question I know the answer too, whether from my own experience or because I have seen it answered many time, I give me answer. If more people just relaxed, didn't panic, and actually looked for answers, then there would be a lot less questions and a lot more happy brewers.

Having said that, I love to see others' progress. I like to see pictures of how a batch turned out. Or a thread about your first unique recipe, whatever. But when you are asking a question that has either been asked or answered in a thread that is still on the first page, you will annoy me.
 
I am quite new to brewing but have been doing a looot of reading in here. I most definately agree that the ambiguouse posts of , did i ruin my mead and, i started a mead, have been getting a bit too redundant. ive learned to relax and search, almost any question you could want answered is in here somewhere, but admitedly that search can get a bit daunting with the shear number of posts, and to a new poster or new viewer of the forum it can get a little confusing. i noticed there is a new beer brewing thread, maybe tossing up the same thing in with the wine mead and cider group would help consolidate these posts.
 
Hey toomany I couldn't agree more; I'm amazed at the patience and restraint displayed by some of the old hands here when the same old questions get thrown up time after time, clearly showing that bleat first is the rule, then, maybe, read and research.
I case a few boards and this has got to be the most patient I've seen.
That's really, really a fantastic attribute and I applaude those here who so freely share their time and patience. :mug:
 
Learn to search you n00bs gawd!!! I'm sick of your incessant questions! :fro:

As pete does, I am on a few other non-brewing forums and lets just say this was nicer than I am used to. People normally getting eaten alive for repeating questions or asking foolish things.
 
Before I found this forum, I had given to me as a give "The Complete Mead Makers Guide Book." It was a wonderful book and does go over not boiling honey but does say to heat to 140-150 for 5 min to pasturize it but also mentions that this is not neccessary all the time but a good yeast will work as well. It also mentions the campden tablets and other methods. I personally have not had any problems. Mostly I like this forum because it's free, unlike gotmead.com, and helps with issues beyond the basics that I couldn't find covered well in the book. All the other mead making books I have found did not compare to the detail of it. Most were just fluffy books that did not go over much of the process and what can go wrong, and the whys of mead making. Even a Noob like me was able to answer several questions here. Having made only 5 completed batches of mead and 5 in the carboy now. I personally haven't mastered the OG thing though with the current 5 batchs I have in the carboy I have been taking gravity mesurements at each racking, it does get a bit confusing when the first racking is prior to adding fruit or other items.

Batches in carboy:
Pumpkin Spice: pumkin, Whole nutmeg crushed prior to use, 2 small 1 1/2 inch cinamon sticks and 2 vanilla beans split about 7 inch long grade A.
Pear Nutmeg
Vanilla Almond: about 1 pound of sliced almond and 5 vanilla beans
2 batches of my sweet show mead. I like it desert sweet so I use 20 pounds of honey to a 5 gallon batch, which usually turns in to a 6 gallon batch If I use fruit.
 
I agree pete, this forum does have some of the most patience ive ever seen. i dont cruise too many other sites, but enough to know how nice everyone is here. i have caught myself checking out a thread just to see if someone will get flamed for asking the same question that was just asnwered three times in a row, but the restraint of the vets of this forum seems to win out. it really is nice to see but there are times where i want to bash my computer screen in with my corker.
 
I hate how Malkore seems to never be around any more. He always gave such sage advice with very little attitude.

I will however, Encourage everyone to maintain the somewhat higher standards in the wine / mead forum. The beer forums have gotten a touch unruly here these last few months...people getting very defensive, others taking cheap shots when and where they can. Yes, I'm guilty. But I'm really trying to change my ways.
Anyhooooo. I still look to the mead forum as a place for the free flow of ideas among the more refined.
That is why I never feel bad about posting after Toomanycolors. It's all a free exchange of ideas. And, at least in the threads I start, I'll take every opinion and idea that I can get.
I have gained some serious inspiration from some of you guys, and I've also (at Risk of sounding like Yooper) come to think of many of you as friends.
Toomanycolors, Tusch, Summersolstice....You guys are like the buddies I would go and hang out with at the local drive in!
EVERYONE that was in on the "Leap Year Mead" Project....You guys are in it! We are all friends here!
I look forward to seeing the n00bs show up and make something good that they will love. New potential friends show up every day. Flame them enough to keep them in line....but don't run them off. You never know when someone will lend you inspiration for your next brew.
 
I'd be one of those n00bs referred to here...
Normally i would ask the guy that showed me how to brew for advice. He did a special workshop for some of us n00bs. He showed us what i think is a less scientific and a more artistic method of brewing. Unfortunately he's out of the country at the moment and when i noticed things happening that were not according to what I've observed and when in addition i did other things wrong.
I did research online first and (ok I'm not the best at searching things out) didn't find anything about the things i was observing... of which the lack of bubbling after 15 hrs was the least of my worries.
This is why i turned to here and even though i did get 1 or 2 snide remarks. I got my questions answered and I'm very thankful for that.
So... Thank you for being patient and helping, this n00b will stick around to learn more
 
New potential friends show up every day. Flame them enough to keep them in line....but don't run them off. You never know when someone will lend you inspiration for your next brew.

Couldn't have said it better. I may be annoyed by the things I mentioned, but I don't want that to scare anyone away from being involved. Ask all the questions you want, but maybe search the forums first. Because either a) you will find the answer you are looking for, or b) you can ask your question in a thread already discussing the subject.

this n00b will stick around to learn more
Glad to hear it. So will this noob.
 
Anyhooooo. I still look to the mead forum as a place for the free flow of ideas among the more refined.

Ouch that hurts.

bangHeadAgainstWall.gif
 
...I'm amazed at the patience and restraint displayed by some of the old hands here when the same old questions get thrown up time after time...
The main reason for preparing my mead FAQs was to help offset repetitive answers to questions that will always be asked, because there will always be new brewers coming down the pike.

After several years as a moderator, it became much easier to point them to the FAQs, ask them to read them, and then ask their question(s). Moreover, I'm not a typist... :D

Personally, I only get upset when a forum member is too lazy to spend a few minutes reading, and expects to be "spoon fed" (some actually admit this...). Often, it is evident if that is the case.
 
Personally, I only get upset when a forum member is too lazy to spend a few minutes reading, and expects to be "spoon fed" (some actually admit this...). Often, it is evident if that is the case.
While I'm a BIG FAN of stickies....and I refer to them a lot. But when I came here, I was a rank n00b....not at brewing....but at web forums. I'd never been part of one like this.
One of the things that kept me at HBT was peoples willingness to spoon feed me though. I'd been to and on a few other forums, but not enough to learn how to search, let clear alone how to search effectively. I still have issues with the search function some days :cross: But the fact that no matter how stupid of a question I asked....>I always got a real answer....That is what got my $$ and kept me here.
 
there are times where i want to bash my computer screen in with my corker.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

anyway Im glad there are some other people here who share my feelings at least on some of this. I made this post last night after an evening of cigars and a keg of homebrew cider at a local shop here and before I made a presentation for my ceramics class <--- that sucked. Im in a better mood now and will resume helping people with what I know.

And BK I am going to get the last word eventually, haha
 
Definately dont want to forget to say THANK YOU to all the HBT and brewing vets that are taking their time here, i have been helped quite a few times with my n00b questions and hope to be able to help others as effectivly as ive been helped.
 
The main reason for preparing my mead FAQs was to help offset repetitive answers to questions that will always be asked, because there will always be new brewers coming down the pike.

Ouch... I just posted on how I read those very informative FAQ's, got inspired, over steeped my comfort zone, and started freaking.
More over everything else and my nice little mead became the focal point.
I have been making meads for over a decade on and off, and I think I have learned more from the forum specifically on mead making than I did reading volumes of the mead news group around 15 years ago.
Truly this collection of knowledge and understanding is something unique. :mug:
 
...Encourage everyone to maintain the somewhat higher standards in the wine / mead forum. The beer forums have gotten a touch unruly here these last few months...people getting very defensive, others taking cheap shots when and where they can.

Ya know I was thinking about this very thing the other day. I'll use the fishing analogy:

extract brewers = catfisherman using stinkbait
allgrain = bass fisherman
mead = fly fisherman
 
...I'll use the fishing analogy:

extract brewers = catfisherman using stinkbait
allgrain = bass fisherman
mead = fly fisherman
Interesting... So what analogy do you have for someone who makes mead as well as all-grain beer, cider, and wine...? :)
 
As pete does, I am on a few other non-brewing forums and lets just say this was nicer than I am used to. People normally getting eaten alive for repeating questions or asking foolish things.

Just so you know, I do have a wiseass streak, and so my jab was in jest. I really do like to help.


Unless it's BigKahuna asking. Man that guy is beyond help.
 
Interesting... So what analogy do you have for someone who makes mead as well as all-grain beer, cider, and wine...? :)

an all around damn good brewer, just like someone who fishes for catfish, bass, and also fly-fishes is an all around good fisherman

Not trying to label anyone - just saying... :D
 
No worries I took it in jest Evil, was just using it as an example. I really want to rip into a few people sometimes, but I end up not saying anything since I'm still a newb here myself and I like how generally amiable it is around here.
 
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