Paging Bray... Mr. Bray to the white courtesy phone please...

[Requiemm]

As a long time lover of mead, (side effect of having acted in a renaissance festival for a few years), I have been enjoying reading your recipes. I finally was able to get my basic brew kit and have produced 5 gallons of pretty decent Caramel Apple Cider so now my thoughts turn to mead.

However, due to recieving a beer flight set for Father's day, I am not making 1 gallon of mead. I'm planning on starting 6 individual gallons at the same time! Listed below are the meads and some relevant questions, if you wouldn't mind...

Flight 1 - Basic BOMM
- No questions here

Flight 2 - Cyser BOMM
- Not a question, but i believe the picture that goes with this recipe was erroneously placed with the Szechuan BOMM recipe.

Flight 3 - Herbal Ginger
- Source for the galengal?
- Dried, fresh, grated ginger?
- Source for the Marshmallow root?

Flight 4 - Dragon's Blood
- Source for dried china ginger?
- Source for dried sorrel sepals?

Flight 5 - Lazy T'ej BOMM
- Source for the source for the gesho inchets?

Flight 6 - Meadowfoam BOMM
- Good homey source ?

Aside from that, any other tips?

 

[loveofrose]

Dr. Bray here...

www.mountainroseherbs.com
For dried galangal, dried ginger, and marshmallow root.

Penzeys Spices
Dried China ginger

Amazon
Dried Sorrel
Gesho (Sticks, not leaves) -Subject to availability. When you see it, buy a lot! I do!

Meadowfoam
Hmmm. This one is tough. I generally have to search for a while. Sometimes you can't find it. Warning: Beefolks Meadowfoam is not good. Try northwestern USA beekeepers (Oregon). If it is good, it is not cheap!

Other tips:
Never be afraid to fail!

If you can't find Meadowfoam, do the Szechuan BOMM. It is a real crowd pleaser.

PS - I respect your ambition!

 

[bernardsmith]

How is meadowfoam from the Flying Bee Ranch? That's my source for many kinds of varietals.
http://www.flyingbeeranch.net/

 

[Requiemm]

First of all, I apologize for using the wrong honorific Dr. Bray!

Secondly, in the herbal ginger do you use the ginger root or the ginger root powder?

Bernardsmith, looks like they are out of meadowfoam for now.

 

[loveofrose]

Flying Bee Ranch has good Meadowfoam honey...when they have it.

I use dried ginger root pounded a few times in a mortar and pestle.

 

[Requiemm]

Yet another question...

Is there a way I can make or expand a starter so I can use 1 smack pack of 1388 for all 6 flavors? It's not a money issue, but a control one. If I use the same honey, water, fermentation location, and start time then any and all differences will be just the recipe flavors.

 

[loveofrose]

Sure. Make a 2 liter starter and split it equally. Say 300 ml per gallon.

 

[biochemedic]

Getting back to the Gesho, there is an online Ethopian specialty place called Brundo. I ordered from them once a few years ago. The gesho is a bit buried in their site; you need to click on the "Ethiopian spice store" link on the bottom of the page. They have both inchet and ketel...