My attempt at Mead.

The time has come once again for me to make a 5 gallon batch of Honey mead.  As I am still new to doing this specific thing I understand it is not that hard.  I think if you were looking for the easiest thing to brew from home and fairly in Expensive.  If you already have the equipment to do it all you have to purchase is the yeast and the honey.  I like to make sure I use the brewing yeast found on http://beerbrewersdepot.info.  I understand I may be a little crazy for waiting for a product to come in but it gives me the warm and fuzzies about the end product.  You could just go to the store and get some regular old dry yeast and I am sure it would work just fine.  The site I go to has what I need now that I am no longer near the local store I had near me before I moved here.  I will warn you now, I like to try to make sure I get everything in order before I do a batch of mead, so I do not mess up.  Remember you are going to be putting this thing away for 5-6 months while it does its thing.  So I want to give my mead the best possible chance to be good.  I have no doubt though if you wait 5-6 months for something you will probably have no problem taking your time, and if it doesn't come out exactly like you want it to but still is pretty good, well heck send it to me if you don't want it.  lol. 

The equipment you will need to make you mead is simple.  If you have brewed a larger batch of beer before then you probably have everything you need to do this.  If you have never brewed any sort of beer or just done one of the 1 gallon batch things you may not have what you need.  Understand you do not have to make mead 5 gallons at a time.  You can do larger or smaller batches.  The big thing to remember is to have 1 Pound of Honey for every Gallon of water you are going to use.  We do not have to be Chemistry Teachers to do this, cause I am not even close.  lol. 

The brewing process is just this.  What I do is I will take my 5 gallon carboy(glass Jug) and make sure it is very clean, cause if you get a lot of bacteria in there it will not allow the yeast to do it's thing.  So make sure you clean it out good.  Once you have done this you take the honey you have, weather it is store bought or it is pure from a honey farmer, or you are fortunate enough to have a well stocked store near you.  I will warm the honey up in a pan of water so it is easier to work with.  While I am doing this I am heating up my 5 gallons of water to just about a boil.  I do this so I can get the warmed honey and the water to mix a little easier.  Once I mix them together I will cool it down to about 75 Degrees before I drain it into the CarBoy.  Little tip, try to make sure the glass carboy is not cold and you may want to dump a little hot water in the bottom to get it ready for you honey and water mix.  If it is cold you may crack or break the glass then you would have a mess.  Once you have it in the carboy you will add the yeast and cover the top with a bubblier, or airlock what ever you wish to call it.  You can use water in it but I will buy a cheap bottle of vodka to use in it to kill the bacteria.  Once you have caped it with the bubblier, find an area which is roughly a constant 55 or so degrees and has no light and store it for about 5-6 months.  Remember leave it alone till it is done.  I know it is hard, but you will be glad you did when the time comes. 

Well Enough of my adventure today.  I look forward to you comments and if you see something I can do better pleas post it up, or if you have any suggestions I would love to hear them and try them.
Until next time,
Great day to all and may you always have good brew.  

Home brewing looking for review

Hello to all who are joining me on this blog.  I am the owner of a new business here in North Dakota.  TKM Enterprises LLC. I just started this business so I would be able to continue a hobby I was introduced to by a very good friend of mine.  He got me into home brewing and him and I now we have a 10 year plan to start a brewery.  I know this may sound a little crazy considering all the big guys in the market, but we look at it this way.  If other major brewing companies can start from just being a home brewer why can't we.  I will say the people who have tasted the beer we have made have said it is pretty good and have always asked for more, and yes they were sober when they started.  I was very disappointed to find though when I got to North Dakota, this entire state does not have a good quality brewing store anywhere.

So to battle this as a short term fix I created a Website ( http://beerbrewersdepot.info/ ) to make sure I and anyone else in the area has a quality place to get home brewing supplies.  As time progresses I may try to open a good quality home brewing store here in Minot North Dakota, but we shall see how it goes.  From what I understand, there is a rather large interest in not just the brewing of beer but home made wine as well.  Again I am fairly new to this hobby and did not wish to let a little thing like no local store keep me from attempting to make great beer.  If possible I would like to be able to do it full time but we shall see how it goes. 
Again I am looking for any reviews of the site I have created.  A kind word or a word of change may help all other Home Brewing enthusiast make sure they have a quality site to go to for thier home brewing needs. 

Again the site is ( http://beerbrewersdepot.info/ ), please go check it out and see what you think.  I look forward to all your feed back good bad or indifferent.

Talk to you soon.
TKM Enterprises LLC
Owner
Travis