Ask the Meadmaker Ep. 66 – Ape Political

Lots of people have wanted to know what this beautiful golden mead I've been drinking in each episode is. I have to tell you, it's an extraordinary beverage, but it is not mead. It is the finest light beer that can be purchased in a 30 pack. Let me introduce you to my dream beverage, Kirkland Signature light beer. So inexpensive it's only printed in three colors.

Welcome to Ask the Meadmaker, where I, Ricky the Meadmaker, answer your questions about mead making, mead drinking, mead brewing, and really any questions you're willing to send to me. 

Our first question this week is one that I somehow have never answered, which is completely beyond me. It's probably one of the most important questions I'm asked all the time. What is the difference between brewing a craft mead, a low alcohol, often called a session mead, with bubbles and a quick turnaround, and a honey wine. I mean, I've given lots of little tips and techniques and talked about the difference but not whether there is a fundamental difference between the brewing processes of these different types of mead. The answer is, more or less. It's all the same. Honey, plus water, plus yeast, and varying amounts of patience. 

Sergio had something very tragic happen a little while ago. He was at a farmers' market and he bought two bottles of a wonderful mead, drank the first one right away and stuck the other in his refrigerator. Then, about 40 days later, he pulled it out to share it with a friend. When he opened it, the light carbonation in the initial version became excessive carbonation and he lost two-thirds of the bottle all over his kitchen floor. What happened? This is a man who wants to go pro, he says to me. His mead is exploding in people's refrigerators and what can he do about it? The answer is, if it was kept refrigerated and continued to ferment at that level, there are a few things he can do. He could make sure that he ferments to completely dry and then adds a little sugar to carbonate, but if he wants it to be sweet, really, as I've said time and time again, sulfite and sorbate and force carbonation may be his only options. 

While we're at it, let's talk to Sven in Iceland. Again, he also wants to know if sulfites and sorbates are really his only options. The answer is, I'm afraid so. There are lots of crazy techniques you can do with boiling bottles or pasteurizing them at 165 ˚F, which is some different temperature centigrade, but none of them is safer than sulfiting and sorbating a sweet mead with carbonation. He's worried that some of his friends will have allergic reactions to the sulfites. Sulfite allergy is a very real thing, but it is so extraordinarily rare that almost every one of your friends who has it would definitely know far in advance. Sven had lots of great questions. 

Another one he asked, which I apparently have not answered, is the optimal temperature for aging mead. What is the best way to store your mead? And the question here is, what do you want to happen to your mead? Do you want a mead that you really like to still be good in six months? Well, cellar temp is about right for that, or even refrigeration. Do you want it to be a five-year-old mead in six months? You can go ahead and try a very high temperature aging process, knowing that may hurt the mead, but it may also perform a miracle. 

You know, the best thing about Kirk Sig light is you can drink it in full sunlight. There's so little hop in here there's no risk of skunking. 

Our last question this week is actually a very serious one, which I should have answered before and I should probably write an article about it. I'm all about experimenting when you make your meads, but I got a question recently that really got me thinking. Someone wanted to know if he could make his tea in a sort of cold-steeping process and then pour it right into his mead. And what would that do? A lot of people talk about cold-brewed coffee and adding that to their brews. They assume they could do the same thing with tea. Such is not the case. What is commonly known as sun tea, taking the leaves of tea, putting them in cold water, and setting them on your kitchen counter or putting them out in the sun can actually be a very dangerous process. 

The way that tea is treated post-harvest is very different from how coffee is treated. Coffee is roasted and it's packed with the oils on the surface, which prevents certain topical bacteria from landing on them, and it's put in bags. Tea is often left out to dry in the air and it can be covered in buggies, literally bugs, and also bacteria. In the case of mead, adding a cold-steep tea will probably do nothing worse than spoil the batch. You may get souring. But trying to drink something like sun tea, tasting it on its way in, could actually make you extremely sick. So, while I am a meadmaker, and I like to give advice, before you add anything to your mead, research its generic safety, please. I don't want blood on my hands. So no, don't make cold-steeped tea and put it in your mead. 

That's my last question this week. I just need to send it over to Ricky with our word of the week. Ricky? 

Thank you, Ricky! Kirk Sig light? Are you serious? Eric just brewed us like five gallons of a pale ale. This week's word is apolitical. Now, this is obviously not a mead term. But it is a very important thing about Groennfell Meadery. Groennfell Meadery, Havoc Mead, and Colchester's Mead Hall, where both of us brew, are strictly apolitical. We as companies do not have political leanings. Most of the staff votes, but that's a different thing. What I mean is, if you are a politician, you are more than welcome to come drink with me, just as people from all walks of life are welcome to come drink with me, but we will not be hosting an event for you. This is because we want these to be safe spaces. And when an event is run by a politician and there is drinking involved, people don't feel safe. 

Apolitical. It's our word of the week and the end of our show. Keep sending your questions and I will get to them as soon as possible. Cheers.