You don’t “brew” mead!!!!!

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Yooper

Yooper

Ale's What Cures You!
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Fight me. :)

I don’t know when it happened exactly, but with the explosion in homebrewing and mead making (and wine and cider too of course), I get so many messages here and on another forum that people start with “Brewing mead tomorrow!”.

I guess we’re using “homebrewing” as a catch all now for fermentation so I suppose you brew sauerkraut, wine, and cider too?

Weird to me. I brew coffee. I brew beer. To me, “brewing” denotes a hot (brewing) process. I don’t brew wine. Or sauerkraut or pickles.

Whew. I feel better now!
 
shoengine said:
So, in that line of reasoning, if you make a no-boil beer, you aren't brewing beer?
Click to expand...


honestly i've never really considered extract brewing to be "brewing"....someone else did the actual brewing for you, condensed it for shipping, then you water it back down, and add the yeast to it....

which is fine, but still.
 
bracconiere said:
honestly i've never really considered extract brewing to be "brewing"....someone else did the actual brewing for you, condensed it for shipping, then you water it back down, and add the yeast to it....

which is fine, but still.
Click to expand...
Kind of like brewing up a glass of Country Time lemonade, eh?

If I remember correctly the etymology of brew comes from the word for boil or steep. I mean, technically you don't brew beer, you brew wort. Brewing is only one of the parts of the process (growing, malting, brewing, fermenting). The fermentation process is essentially the same between mead, wine and beer (not kumbucha, that stuff is just weird!), but we're lazy creatures and we abuse words and their meanings.
 
Yooper said:
Fight me. :)

I don’t know when it happened exactly, but with the explosion in homebrewing and mead making (and wine and cider too of course), I get so many messages here and on another forum that people start with “Brewing mead tomorrow!”.

I guess we’re using “homebrewing” as a catch all now for fermentation so I suppose you brew sauerkraut, wine, and cider too?

Weird to me. I brew coffee. I brew beer. To me, “brewing” denotes a hot (brewing) process. I don’t brew wine. Or sauerkraut or pickles.

Whew. I feel better now!
Click to expand...


I has always annoyed me as well.
Also when people saw that they are going to brew a batch of cider.
 
Yooper said:
Fight me. :)

I don’t know when it happened exactly, but with the explosion in homebrewing and mead making (and wine and cider too of course), I get so many messages here and on another forum that people start with “Brewing mead tomorrow!”.

I guess we’re using “homebrewing” as a catch all now for fermentation so I suppose you brew sauerkraut, wine, and cider too?

Weird to me. I brew coffee. I brew beer. To me, “brewing” denotes a hot (brewing) process. I don’t brew wine. Or sauerkraut or pickles.

Whew. I feel better now!
Click to expand...
https://tse2.mm.bing.net/th?id=OGC....=x2VO2/9IKL6qTVKPIZrVaBXvnfgAmQEVLq7g1a+mw2o=
 
shoengine said:
So, in that line of reasoning, if you make a no-boil beer, you aren't brewing beer?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I guess so. I brew wort, which makes beer, but a no-boil beer would be making beer I guess!

I’ve made wine (and mead and cider) for 30+ years, and no one until recently told me they brew wine as well. I got a PM today on another forum asking me about “brewing mead” and that’s what made me laugh. I ferment all sorts of things, but only brew beer.
 
shoengine said:
Kind of like brewing up a glass of Country Time lemonade, eh?

If I remember correctly the etymology of brew comes from the word for boil or steep. I mean, technically you don't brew beer, you brew wort. Brewing is only one of the parts of the process (growing, malting, brewing, fermenting). The fermentation process is essentially the same between mead, wine and beer (not kumbucha, that stuff is just weird!), but we're lazy creatures and we abuse words and their meanings.
Click to expand...
Best explanation EVER!!
 
Hahaha..... All this time I have said I make mead, but now you are telling me I brew mead. I boil to extract the flavor from the hibiscus, so technically it would be a brew. I certainly don't ferment it, that job belongs to the yeast.
 
DBhomebrew said:
It's just mistaken language. People never having done anything like it, all of a sudden showing interest. You don't knock people for their ignorance in a 101 class.

I can't stand the use of 'irregardless'.
Click to expand...

That’s the thing, though. So who is telling people that they “brew” mead/wine/cider? I love when people want to learn, and I teach a lot of beginner classes, but where does the “I want to learn to brew mead” come from?

I make soap, and teach soap classes. People want to learn soapmaking, or to make soap. Wine makers should want to learn to make wine, or cider for cider makers -where did they decided that “brewing cider” was a thing?
 
Yooper said:
That’s the thing, though. So who is telling people that they “brew” mead/wine/cider? I love when people want to learn, and I teach a lot of beginner classes, but where does the “I want to learn to brew mead” come from?

I make soap, and teach soap classes. People want to learn soapmaking, or to make soap. Wine makers should want to learn to make wine, or cider for cider makers -where did they decided that “brewing cider” was a thing?
Click to expand...

I couldn't venture a guess where their mistaken vocabulary comes from. But the better 101 surveys I've had the pleasure of experiencing started off with a basic rundown of what 'x' is and isn't. Getting everyone off on a common footing. From what I've gathered of your online presence, I'm sure yours does too.
 
I always attributed the overuse of 'brewing' to beer brewers branching out to other things. Reading peoples posts you can often tell whether they started in beer or wine and are trying 'new waters' as it may be... I have seen someone refer to unfermented wine as a wort. But I don't think I ever saw a beer must... People fall back to terminology they are familiar with.

Also funny is when someone gets self righteous about making hard cider with with only fresh cider, no "apple juice" when the person they are talking to is in Europe, where when you press apples you always get juice, and cider is always alcoholic.
 
The only constant in language is change.

There are linguistic hills I'm willing to die on ("irregardless" and the cot/caught merger are two of them*), but I don't expect to win.

Maintaining a narrow definition of "brew" isn't one of them.


=============
* Also, which and witch are not homophones. Neither are are and our. I'll die fighting those too, but (again) I don't expect to win.
 
bracconiere said:
honestly i've never really considered extract brewing to be "brewing"....someone else did the actual brewing for you, condensed it for shipping, then you water it back down, and add the yeast to it....
which is fine, but still.
Click to expand...
Maybe this would be right for some pre-hopped no-boil kit or something, but using LME is brewing. All you get out of is mashing grain. Mashing is extracting sugar, not brewing. With either method you still boil wort, add hops to schedule, cool, pitch and ferment. Never understood the idea that you gotta start with grain to be really brewing. Extract is a shortcut, sure, but it’s also a means to some great beer.
 
Yooper said:
So who is telling people that they “brew” mead/wine/cider?
Click to expand...
I did a couple of web searches using a couple of different search engines. There is at least one professional mead maker site that shows up on the first page of search results that talks about "brewing" mead.

grampamark said:
inner pedant.
Click to expand...
Sooner or later, the meaning of the words may matter. Or not.

Snuffy said:
using LME is brewing
Click to expand...
Yup.

Late in the evening, after bubble counting has ended, if one quietly listens to the yeast in the fermentation vessel, there are stories being told of a "next level" to homebrewing, beyond all-grain, where there are no levels, just ingredients. :yes:
 
Yooper said:
Fight me. :)

I don’t know when it happened exactly, but with the explosion in homebrewing and mead making (and wine and cider too of course), I get so many messages here and on another forum that people start with “Brewing mead tomorrow!”.

I guess we’re using “homebrewing” as a catch all now for fermentation so I suppose you brew sauerkraut, wine, and cider too?

Weird to me. I brew coffee. I brew beer. To me, “brewing” denotes a hot (brewing) process. I don’t brew wine. Or sauerkraut or pickles.

Whew. I feel better now!
Click to expand...

I got a helluva lot of dislikes on Reddit when I pointed out to someone that mead is made, not brewed. Meadmakers seem more hoity toity than homebrewers of beer. They can suck it.
 
Yooper said:
Fight me. :)
. I brew coffee. I brew beer. To me, “brewing” denotes a hot (brewing) process. I don’t brew wine. Or sauerkraut or pickles.
Click to expand...
Yeah, every time I see someone say they are "brewing" a cider or mead, I cringe, but I stop myself from saying anything because I don't want to come off as a total DICK.
OK, its too late for that, I AM A TOTAL DICK and I accept that.
But the fact remains that cider, mead and wine aren't "brewed", and if someone asks a "brewing" question about those things, I'll just try to forget about their faux pas and provide whatever help I can.
Life's too short to sweat the small things....
:mug:
 
Snuffy said:
Mashing is extracting sugar, not brewing.
Click to expand...



hmmm, i thought it was holding the sprouted barley at the right temp, to MAKE sugar? thus brewing? i mean i just did a couple 100% Victory batches. i'm not sure if it was a glorified steeping batch or not. because maltsters don't like revealing their secrets, and i don't know how it's actually made.

so honestly i don't know if i brewed beer or just extracted sugars? but i got an OG of 1.056 and cheated a bit by adding a lb of table sugar for my target of 1.060
 
Mashing is steeping so brewing. These are useless arguments though. The point is that if someone says they are "brewing mead" you know exactly what they mean. Even someone who doesn't brew beer would know that. It's not technically correct, but I mean, whatever is?

I remember getting into an internet argument with someone that said that Blackberrys (the phone) wasn't a smartphone. My point was that it, along with Palm, invented the Smartphone. The argument back was that it wasn't modern anymore so it couldn't be a smartphone. You just can't win.
 
Yooper said:
Fight me. :)

I don’t know when it happened exactly, but with the explosion in homebrewing and mead making (and wine and cider too of course), I get so many messages here and on another forum that people start with “Brewing mead tomorrow!”.

I guess we’re using “homebrewing” as a catch all now for fermentation so I suppose you brew sauerkraut, wine, and cider too?

Weird to me. I brew coffee. I brew beer. To me, “brewing” denotes a hot (brewing) process. I don’t brew wine. Or sauerkraut or pickles.

Whew. I feel better now!
Click to expand...
Not going to fight you, because I agree with you as an occasional wine maker and mead maker myself!
 
Interesting! I rarely say "brew" tea when I'm having it..I say "make tea".
I also usually say "make a cup of coffee".
Funny since I usually associate things that are brewing with a large stirring stick...as if brewed beverages would burn on the pot if not stirred.
Though as I always tell my wife when I'm going to "brew beer"...not "brew wort" as I'm sure she'd look at me funny
 
shoengine said:
The point is that if someone says they are "brewing mead" you know exactly what they mean. Even someone who doesn't brew beer would know that. It's not technically correct, but I mean, whatever is?
Click to expand...


i'd just say i was going to ferment some honey water......

(but that's an irrelevant response)
 
DBhomebrew said:
It's just mistaken language. People never having done anything like it, all of a sudden showing interest. You don't knock people for their ignorance in a 101 class.

I can't stand the use of 'irregardless'.
Click to expand...
Bone or debone? Bunk or debunk? I read a reed book today, but I read a red book yesterday.

Regardlessly!
 
What’s wrong with this picture?

43DA2E9E-4201-4131-A72B-7D81C494E344.jpeg
 

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