Schramm's Mead

[Michigander1]

These are great pictures, man. Cheers!

From Google. I can't put down my Agnes long enough to take a picture.

 

[cosmicevan]

These are great pictures, man. Cheers!

It's a GREAT glass. Holds a full 375 bottle with plenty of room to aerate and swirl

 

[rfraga7]

These are great pictures, man. Cheers!

The top picture if from my Instagram account. You guys should all follow me. More followers = more street cred. rfraga7

 

[trickytunadicky]

The top picture if from my Instagram account. You guys should all follow me. More followers = more street cred. rfraga7

I get the weirdest follows on IG. You #talkbeerdotcom?

 

[BoatsAndHoes]

Thanks for the delicious pours and take home bottles today. Beautifully run release. Hope to be back soon!

You mead people are too nice. I need more scowls and angry pours


Much Love,
Ohio

 

[Naegerbomb]

Thanks for the delicious pours and take home bottles today. Beautifully run release. Hope to be back soon!

You mead people are too nice. I need more scowls and angry pours


Much Love,
Ohio

Thanks for the kind words - as always, we wish we could run our next release even more smoothly than this one. If you have any suggestions or just want to chat, you can always drop me a line: [email protected]. Cheers!

 

[Indytruks1381]

Naegerbomb I am about to make my first batch of mead. I am all set with staggered nutrient additions based on Ken's articles and book, but I want to know about the aeration that he suggests every 12 hours when adding the nutrients. I have read plenty of home meadmakers opinions, but want your opinion. Is it best to just stir the must for 2-3 minutes every 12 hours, or should I use pure O2 and an aeration stone? I have the O2 and stone for brewing, but I am not sure the best method for mead. I feel like adding O2 every 12 hours may leave me with a mead with too much O2 reducing the longevity.

 

[Naegerbomb]

Naegerbomb I am about to make my first batch of mead. I am all set with staggered nutrient additions based on Ken's articles and book, but I want to know about the aeration that he suggests every 12 hours when adding the nutrients. I have read plenty of home meadmakers opinions, but want your opinion. Is it best to just stir the must for 2-3 minutes every 12 hours, or should I use pure O2 and an aeration stone? I have the O2 and stone for brewing, but I am not sure the best method for mead. I feel like adding O2 every 12 hours may leave me with a mead with too much O2 reducing the longevity.

I have no experience with using pure O2 in meadmaking. I know that many folks do use it - and it certainly is useful when you get to larger and larger batch sizes. Currently, I'm investigating the use of pure O2 via my mead reactor project. If you would like to participate, please check us out here. We (I) need all the help we can get - and 'every data point counts'. My next step is to get the dissolved oxygen (DO) sensor integrated and start playing around with oxygenation of honey musts. I bought a large oxygen cylinder and medical-grade regulator capable of very fine metered adjustments - so this part of the project could be very cool.

As with most questions regarding meadmaking, any answer I could give depends greatly on you and it depends on your recipe and process. Is it a fruit mead? Is it a spiced mead? Is it a traditional? What yeast strain are you using? Different yeast strains have difference nutrient and oxygen requirements and different ingredients will provide differing amounts of nutrient. For a fruit mead, the act of punching down the cap (pigeage) for the first 4 to 5 days can and will provide all the oxygen you need. Transferring your mead from primary-secondary-tertiary also introduces a small amount of oxygen. What is the intended starting and ending gravity of your mead? Temperature and brix level affect the amount of oxygen that can physically be dissolved in the solution. For a short mead, you may not need to oxygenate more than once via physical methods. I wish I could be more helpful - what is your intended recipe/process?

 

[psykosis]

My eyes just crossed.

 

[trickytunadicky]

My eyes just crossed.

wait till you as him about broccoli.

 

[psykosis]

wait till you as him about broccoli.

That day will never come, for I am broccoli's sworn life enemy and it mine. Our battle started early in my life, and I remain wary of its many tricks and illusions to try to get me to consume it. It's partnership with Chinese food has been particularly dangerous.

 

[Naegerbomb]

wait till you as him about broccoli.

I don't know much about broccoli, but I can say with certitoot that it doesn't pair well with B. Nektar Peach Kill All the Golfers

 

[BoatsAndHoes]

I don't know much about broccoli, but I can say with certitoot that it doesn't pair well with B. Nektar Peach Kill All the Golfers

Sorry James, it was there and I took it. No ragrets

 

[Jb123]

Hilarious song

 

[Michigander1]

Sorry James, it was there and I took it. No ragrets

Dana kind of looks like Ken Schramm there...

 

[trickytunadicky]

Dana kind of looks like Ken Schramm there...

I could see Ken belting a few lines of Choppin Broccoli after some scotch.

 

[Naegerbomb]

Sorry James, it was there and I took it. No ragrets

This person gets me.

 

[trickytunadicky]

This person gets me.

Needs more keytar.

 

[trickytunadicky]

Naegerbomb Srs question when you have a moment: I know some of you just took and passed the mead judging exam (congrats!), and I was wondering what you used for study materials. I was looking online for a sensory kit and could only find the beer kit offered through BJCP/Siebel.

 

[psykosis]

I don't know much about broccoli, but I can say with certitoot that it doesn't pair well with anything. Ever. Neverever.

Ftfy

 

[psykosis]

Oh, and congrats on passing the judging exam!

 

[Naegerbomb]

Naegerbomb Srs question when you have a moment: I know some of you just took and passed the mead judging exam (congrats!), and I was wondering what you used for study materials. I was looking online for a sensory kit and could only find the beer kit offered through BJCP/Siebel.

Thanks a ton. If I may toot my own horn here, yes: in the last ~6 months or so a few of us studied and passed the mead exam. There were previously only two BJCP Mead Judges in the state of Michigan (part of the reason why the quality of judging has been so low in Michigan prior to this point - those two people were overworked and unrecognized judging had to be accepted for most competitions. Out of the newest group of 12 folks, 12 passed - and 6 of them work for Schramm's Mead (quick shout out to Dominic from Cellarmen's, who was the only other commercial guy that I know of that is a BJCP Mead Judge in Michigan now).

We used BJCP study materials, and we opened a lot of bottles (we scored them on official scoresheets for practice, and we continue to do so with commercial and home meads whenever we can). There are very very expensive sensory kits that you can get for beer and wine, but these are largely unnecessary. There is a ton of ****** mead out there - lots of mead with off-flavors actually does make it to the shelf. Additionally, you can dose good mead and tinker with it in many ways to replicate off-flavors, making these expensive kits nearly unnecessary except at the master level (we may purchase one in the near future and you can use it anytime, along with our collection of honey varietal samples). Also, you know a couple people now that can help you study!

Oh, and congrats on passing the judging exam!

Thanks! Cheers, -James

 

[trickytunadicky]

Thanks a ton. If I may toot my own horn here, yes: in the last ~6 months or so a few of us studied and passed the mead exam. There were previously only two BJCP Mead Judges in the state of Michigan (part of the reason why the quality of judging has been so low in Michigan prior to this point - those two people were overworked and unrecognized judging had to be accepted for most competitions. Out of the newest group of 12 folks, 12 passed - and 6 of them work for Schramm's Mead (quick shout out to Dominic from Cellarmen's, who was the only other commercial guy that I know of that is a BJCP Mead Judge in Michigan now).

We used BJCP study materials, and we opened a lot of bottles (we scored them on official scoresheets for practice, and we continue to do so with commercial and home meads whenever we can). There are very very expensive sensory kits that you can get for beer and wine, but these are largely unnecessary. There is a ton of ****** mead out there - lots of mead with off-flavors actually does make it to the shelf. Additionally, you can dose good mead and tinker with it in many ways to replicate off-flavors, making these expensive kits nearly unnecessary except at the master level (we may purchase one in the near future and you can use it anytime, along with our collection of honey varietal samples). Also, you know a couple people now that can help you study!



Thanks! Cheers, -James

Our homebrew club hosts a local competition (not that I have time to attend regular meetings with grad school, but I have volunteered the last 3 years as a novice judge). I want to learn it for myself, but if I can help the club expand to mead judging, I would actually like to either talk the club into a group buy on the kit so we can look at opening the competition up to mead ( ohai Gonzoillini). I am well aware there are meads I could pick up which have off flavors, but matching certain meads to the specific off flavors without knowing them ahead of time, not so much. I have a neutral semi-dry or two that would be a good base for dosing.

Will totally take you up on honey samples. I have... two kinds of star thistle and fireweed.

 

[Gonzoillini1]

Our homebrew club hosts a local competition (not that I have time to attend regular meetings with grad school, but I have volunteered the last 3 years as a novice judge). I want to learn it for myself, but if I can help the club expand to mead judging, I would actually like to either talk the club into a group buy on the kit so we can look at opening the competition up to mead ( ohai Gonzoillini). I am well aware there are meads I could pick up which have off flavors, but matching certain meads to the specific off flavors without knowing them ahead of time, not so much. I have a neutral semi-dry or two that would be a good base for dosing.

Will totally take you up on honey samples. I have... two kinds of star thistle and fireweed.

As a club purchasing the off flavor kit is an affordable option, and nearly everyone has "enjoyed" dosing light beer with the off flavors to really understand what some of the terms mean.

Still think we are a ways away from offering mead / cider / perry judging though.

 

[trickytunadicky]

As a club purchasing the off flavor kit is an affordable option, and nearly everyone has "enjoyed" dosing light beer with the off flavors to really understand what some of the terms mean.

Still think we are a ways away from offering mead / cider / perry judging though.

By the time I have a chance to pull anything together another year or two will have passed. Just planning ahead.

 

[Indytruks1381]

As a club purchasing the off flavor kit is an affordable option, and nearly everyone has "enjoyed" dosing light beer with the off flavors to really understand what some of the terms mean.

Still think we are a ways away from offering mead / cider / perry judging though.

I did a class with my local club and we bought a dosing kit, butyric, never forget. Buhhhhh

 

[cfh64]

Naegerbomb how far out is Raspberry from being released? I'm about ready to get full on dt's if it's not ready soon. Also, if you don't mind sharing, what is your next planned release to the public? Thanks in advance

 

[Jas45678]

Naegerbomb how far out is Raspberry from being released? I'm about ready to get full on dt's if it's not ready soon. Also, if you don't mind sharing, what is your next planned release to the public? Thanks in advance

Raspberry is available now, new batch came out a week or two ago.

 

[cfh64]

Raspberry is available now, new batch came out a week or two ago.

************! That's great news for me and bad news for my wallet. I dunno how I missed it, that's one of my top two favorites. Thanks for the info.

 

[Jas45678]

My favorite of the regular line up