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Post by steev on Jun 7, 2017 19:16:16 GMT -5
What would you pay per pint of honey-pot ant squeezings?
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Post by blueadzuki on Jun 7, 2017 20:03:30 GMT -5
Dunno. I suppose it depends on what the ants were fed.
For personal reasons (mostly involving nostalgia) I'd also like to find horehound honey.
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Post by steev on Jun 7, 2017 21:43:50 GMT -5
I think the storage-ants are fed for storage whatever the forager-ants bring back to regurgitate; prolly mostly leaf-hopper "exudate/excrement", here in Oakland. They're actually sweet to eat, no hint of formic acid.; South-West Indians relish(ed) them; I've no idea what they were fed in most of their range (the ants, that is).
Horehound, yes; got that a lot as cough-drops as a kid; it's a flavor rich in more than taste.
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Post by blueadzuki on Jun 7, 2017 22:10:25 GMT -5
See that's the difference I LIKE the taste of horehound slugs (yes, that technically what those horse-pill size throat drops are called) so I suck them by choice (I think my sweet tooth must have gotten stuck in 1892, I like Blackjack gum as well.) Well, I USED TO, and if I get the right kind, could again (I seem to recall Vermont Country Store sold a sugar free version). Has to be safer than "Mad Candy"*
Hmm, that would mean they are basically sapin based, same as my forest honeys. Interesting.
*Something I bumped into in Chinatown a few years ago. Nutmeg flavored candies which I bought thinking they meant nutmeg fruit (which I have had as syrup, it tastes sort of peachy) but turned out to be nutmeg flavored....with enough myristicine in them that two would give you a headache, and I suspect beyond that you'd be in hallucination/health risk territory.
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Post by steev on Jun 8, 2017 0:56:28 GMT -5
I also like horehound lozenges; regrettably, they're not so commonly available; there is a candy-store in Columbia, Cali, the Gold Country, that carries them because they deal in "Gold-Rush" candies; it's sad that such a tasty and useful product would fade from use for no, discernible to me, reason. I don't think even Smith Brothers throat lozenges are available; what a travesty! Really, they had nothing to recommend them except their efficacy.
Blackjack gum; yes; tasty and at least as useful as Juicyfruit or any other mastication product (I recommend a cud of whole-grain or jerky-sinew to keep the saliva flowing).
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Post by blueadzuki on Jun 8, 2017 5:43:06 GMT -5
Ironically, Michael's Crafts carries the Claeny's Candies brand here, I imagine that, if there is one around you, so do they (I tried to check if there was, but their system works on zipcode) A.C. Moore crafts too (actually they do one better, they carry the Sassafrass one as well, which Michael's doesn't) And similar to your Gold Country, every Cracker Barrel around here has them.
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Post by mjc on Jun 8, 2017 7:17:19 GMT -5
Don't bother with the Sassafras...it's not worth it.
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Post by blueadzuki on Jun 8, 2017 11:43:35 GMT -5
Well, the next wort's in the jug and yeasted. This one was a lot tougher than I thought. I have NEVER seen honey crystallize so hard(it was like one solid lump) or that was so resistant to heat softening (it was functionally molten by the time I got it out, much hotter and the glass jar would have probably shattered.)
This Zapotec honey fits very well with my dictum (that much as the best hard cider and wine is made from apples and grapes you would not want to eat raw, the best mead is made from honey I would not eat as is) It has a taste that, HOPEFULLY will make a very nice note (if it is winey like I think. If my taste buds were not on point and it actually tasted like olives (like I first thought) that could be a problem.
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Post by khoomeizhi on Jun 8, 2017 18:18:48 GMT -5
i guess i'm testing your dictum too - i have a buckwheat mead going...really smells like manure (cow? human? really somewhere in between)...the honey itself is raw - so opaque and more...smeary than most honey. eeesh. about a month until first racking, i guess we'll see.
i've heard that of east coast vs buckwheat honey, one is delicious and one is more barnyard, but whichever one is supposed to be nicer isn't the one i found.
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Post by blueadzuki on Jun 29, 2017 7:19:18 GMT -5
6/29/17
I may have to toss the Zapotec one, I think something went wrong. Not only is the bubbling REALLY slow (by now, the stopcock should be doing a bubble a minute or so; it's basically still) but the wort has developed a smell that can only be described as varnish. I think this honey is not compatible for fermentation.
Speaking of honey I'm sure that someone else out there has read the National Geographic article about the Nepalese "Mad Honey". According to them, the honey gets it's "madness" from being from Rhododendron flowers. Thing is, I have SEEN rhododendron honey for sale, at Balducci's, right next to a lot of other honeys in the cheese section. What do you think the odds are that this stuff is also hallucinogenic? A part of me says that the odds that a supermarket would be selling stuff like that is remote, and they must be using some sort of filtering process on the honey (or it only works with certain species of rhododendron). But I honestly don't know.
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Post by blueadzuki on Oct 24, 2017 19:04:33 GMT -5
10/24
Thought I should give a report
Zapotec your Brains (the Mexican one I mentioned last time)- I managed to get it to work again via dilution. Became probably one of my best. Even my cousin likes it (I've been commissioned to bring some to Thanksgiving for after dinner)
Pining Away (Pine Honey, local) - Worked but came out sort of thin and sour. Not even cold distillation (freezing, and then chucking out the ice) helped much
Bow Wow! (Apple Blossom Honey)- Worked great but as I could only get my hands on 2 oz of honey, the resultant mead was only about a cup and was totally used up at the Labor Day barbecue.
Fir-ry Tongue (Greek Fir honey)- Also worked well, though I only got one bottle out of it
Son of a Beech (New Zealand Beech honey)- Came out well, but then air got in and made it "fall" (all the cloudiness fell to the bottom); it tasted spoiled after that so I chucked it.
The Coriander Power (Coriander Honey) - NO, tastes TERRIBLE
Bam-Booze (Bamboo Honey) - This fell too, so I assumed it had also spoiled (in general if the stuff goes clear, it usually doesn't taste good anymore (No I don't filter) But it still tasted okay, so I siphoned out the sediment, and it is currently the "House" mead (there wasn't enough left after the explosion incident to make re-bottling it worthwhile.
Bushman's Holiday (Australian Wildflower honey) - In progress
The current "problem child" I am working with is Little Brown Juglans. This is a pseudo-mead made from a sugar syrup with the essence of young walnuts in it. It's basically having the same problem the Zapotec had; so much sugar that the yeast it not finishing it's job and the stuff is still too sweet (though in this case it isn't a matter of the yeast not working as it dying from the alcohol content before it finishes it's job). I've diluted it and giving it a fresh yeast shot, hopefully that should solve the problem. I can always freeze distill it if it gets too weak from the dilution.
The next project is post Thanksgiving. My cousin says he is willing to lend me his old 5 gallon system (he scaled up for his wine) so I can do a bigger batch. I have 4 pounds of Portuguese forest honey waiting which should make about 3 gallons (I know Paqeuboat likes to go 1:1 honey to water, but I find 1.25 or even 1.5 honey seems to work better for me (and the fact I have to freeze distill so often means even that may sometimes be low)
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Post by fliver on Oct 24, 2017 22:20:35 GMT -5
The first one yielded one and a half bottles (I got the size of the jug wrong, it's 0.5 gallons NOT 5) That means I had to cork one bottle that was only half full (that's the downside of using re-purposed bottles, I don't have much control as to what sizes I have yet (at least until I build up a goodly supply) I read a book about "country wines" that said that if you have a partially filled bottle then fill that bottle with some wine/mead from another batch. They recommended that when you are bottling you should bottle more than one batch. Who knows, you might find a combination that works. |
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Post by steev on Oct 24, 2017 23:47:31 GMT -5
Making booze is an inexact science (Buttweiser not withstanding: cheesy corporatist industrial hooch). Making real booze is an avocation, requiring lots of experimentation (and sampling); one must be committed to the craft to have any hope of a good outcome; it's a dirty job, but someone has to do it, and we must honor those in the trenches of our battle for a decent drink.
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Post by blueadzuki on Oct 25, 2017 0:55:59 GMT -5
The first one yielded one and a half bottles (I got the size of the jug wrong, it's 0.5 gallons NOT 5) That means I had to cork one bottle that was only half full (that's the downside of using re-purposed bottles, I don't have much control as to what sizes I have yet (at least until I build up a goodly supply) I read a book about "country wines" that said that if you have a partially filled bottle then fill that bottle with some wine/mead from another batch. They recommended that when you are bottling you should bottle more than one batch. Who knows, you might find a combination that works. The problem is that I can't RUN more than one batch at a time. I only have one jug. And the bottles never seem to mature at the same rate. Nowadays (after batch 1) I usually just take whatever is leftover after the last full bottle and put it in the decanter for immediate drinking. Or I use a smaller bottle (or will, if I can find someone that sells corks sized for a champagne "split") |
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Post by steev on Oct 25, 2017 1:33:24 GMT -5
I'm confused (usually); if you have only one jug, how do you have multiple bottles? I'm thinking you're not brewing, but playing at brewing, not being a drinker, so I don't quite get why you bother; I realize you enjoy messing with your cousin, but isn't this a lot of trouble? It's pretty esoteric, all things considered, but whatever bloats your goat, eh?
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