Egyptian Meade from the Renaissance Festival

I went to the Buccaneer Beer Fest at the Renaissance Festival this past weekend and enjoyed a couple cups of some awesome meade that they called "Egyptian Meade." This sealed the deal that me and my fellow homebrewers decided to make a batch of Meade next. So I did some research and found a possible recipe for Egyptian Meade on a forum, and since forums are often unstable (posts get deleted, modified, moved, etc) I decided to post the entirety of it here as a placeholder, so really you don't need to pay attention to the rest of the post. But if you're like most people out there, you probably aren't even going to read far enough in this paragraph to notice that there is nothing of value in this post. And to make sure you never find these sentences, I'm going to make the very last sentences unrelated. Meade and ciders are fairly set-and-forget, for the most part. Beer takes boiling the wort, adding the bittering and aromatic hops, cooling the wort, straining the grains, etc. And the smell of the beer being made is amazing, though penetrating. Overall it is great to drink a beer or cider that you've made yourself, and that is the main reason why homebrewing is so rewarding.

Hello mabey I can help. The Egyptian Mead you are referring to is most likely made by J Bird Winery out of Stanchfield, Minnesota. They supply Mead to quite a few ren fairs in the midwest and outlying areas. They have 2 types of Mead such as you are describing. One is called (imagine this) Egyptian Mead It is made with hibiscus & lemon. The other Is called Sting it has a bolder more pronouced hibiscus flavor than the other.

Now as for a recipe What I would do Is make a gallon of a traditional mead with a nice bold flavorful honey about 3 pound give or take depends on how sweet you want it. My prefered Yeast would be lalvin D-47 or if you want higher alc content K1-v1116 or even possibly EC-1118 (but I ussually use EC to restart a stuck ferment, however it tolerate a higher alc content and has a more neutral flavor in my experience IF treated right) use yeast nutrient and energizer to manufacturer instructions. Ferment out then rack to secondary. Here you have a choice you can go for a tea such as Red Zinger that is Hibiscus based or get dried Hibiscus flowers and put them in secondary in a strainer or bag of course as well as add some fresh squeezed lemon juce all to taste. Another option is to make a hibiscus extract or concentrate and add that to taste as well with the lemon. Don't forget that at this time you can backsweeten if you have gone to dry. When it tastes to your likeing rack again after you are positive it has stopped fermenting, cap it off and let age at least 6 months then bottle and age again to your likeing.

I have by no means made this recipe so I can not guarantee the outcome. But alot of good brews have been made from experimenting as well as a lot of bad ones. That is one reason I said just to start with one gallon if you like it then you can take it up to a larger amount. Take a chance you might like it you might hate it never know till you try it. I do hope I have helped or at least inspired you to try some experimentation of your own. Have fun with it is the most important part.

Joejoe
From This Forum

No Comp = You Are Now Bored!

I don't have a computer. So there is nothing interesting to write. I would say "ownzed," but really you get the better end of this deal.

Sanchez vs. Parisyan

Something I've gotten into following a lot recently if the Ultimate Fighting Championship. It's a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) sport similar to kickboxing, and I find it much more entertaining than boxing.
This is one of the better UFC fights I've seen. It is Diego Sanchez (17-0) vs. Karo Parisyan (23-3) on Aug. 17, 2006.


[EDIT: This Video was removed from YouTube do to copywrite infringement]

Study of Existentialism

I find existentialism very fascinating, as most of you probably already know. I've put aside my study of Anarchy vs. Control in the realm of Governing bodies. In it's place I've started reading the Gun book that I mentioned earlier, along with Thomas Payne's The Age of Reason. I'm still pounding through Les Miserables, which is still pure joy to read every time I pick it up. I'm reading it through an existentialist lense, I'd say, and I'd also really like to pick up "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick and maybe some Jean-Paul Sartre. I like having personal studies.

Holy Good Writing, Pirate Brandon!

I just wanted to give myself a pat on the back for this phrase I wrote in the comments of the previous post:

If your goal is to limit the use of guns, then removing all guns would solve the problem. However, the problem is not the use of guns but the use of violence, the onslaught of intolerance, and the epidemic we call "hate."
-Pirate Brandon

New Books

I bought two new books today: Thomas Paine's The Age of Reason, and a book called More Guns, Less Crime by John R. Lott, Jr.

I started digging into More Guns right away today. When I first saw it on the shelf in the Political Science section I was intruiged but I was not going to buy it. But every person I showed it to in the Bookstore laughed and, even if they weren't laughing at the book, it reminded me of people I know who would laugh at the book and assume it was either a joke or entirely irrational. Well, unfortunately for them the book is an intellectual and statistical analysis of the issue of gun control laws. In it's original form it was an article in the January 1997 issue of the Journal of Legal Studies. It is an objective discussion and looks at pertinent data involving the issue, employing, to quote the introduction, "the most comprehensive data set on crime yet assembled." So far it brings up intensely interesting issues, asks important questions, and overall should prove an educational read.

I find it interesting that a lot of people who are vehemently supportive of the strictest gun control laws are the people who have the least experience with guns. The entirety of your knowledge on guns is based in movies (read: entirely fictional depictions) and the news (which only reports when guns are used negatively; rarely, if ever, reporting positive uses of guns). Here's an excerpt from page 4 in Chapter 1:

By examining the data provided from 1979 to 1987 by the Department of Justice's National Crime Victimization Survey, Lawrence Southwick, confirming earlier estimates by Gary Kleck, found that the probability of serious injury from an attack is 2.5 times greater for women offering no resistance than for women resisting with a gun. In contrast, the probability of women being seriously injured was almost 4 times greater when resisting without a gun than when resisting with a gun. In other words, the best advice is to resist with a gun, but if no gun is available, it is better to offer no resistance than to fight.

I also find it interesting that the areas with the highest violent crime rates (urban settings) are also the areas with the strictest gun control laws and lowest posession rate.

Fine! I'll post them!

Since obviously no one is listening to the freakin' song I'll post the lyrics to Hurt's "Overdose."

Hurt - Overdose
I'll take one, 'cause I needed to feel it so much
I had an emotional crutch, but
I'm feeling bored so ill take some more
'Cause nothing is happening

And once you told me that you loved me so much
I foolishly began to trust, but
Now I'm ignored and I'm taking more, till
Something is happening.

I'll take one 'cause I needed to feel it so much
I needed that thing we call fun, but
Now I'm ignored and ill take some more, till
something is happening

Cause once I thought you were right here with me, so
Maybe I'll take two or three
Until I believe what I have seen is really happening.

Morpheus! how could you leave me when I had need of your love?
Stop holding back!
Give me one reason to think you're decent
When I am Alone

Don't you ever try to bring me back

With this one I needed to feel you so much, I
Wantingly longed for your touch, but
Now I'm ignored and I'm feeling bored
'till something is happening.

Because once I thought you were right here with me so
Maybe I should take two or three
Until I believe what I have seen is really happening

With this one I needed to feel you so much
I needed that thing we call fun, but
Now I'm ignored and I'm feeling bored till something is happening.

And once I thought you were right here with me, so
Maybe I'll take two or three
Until I believed that what I have seen is really happening.

No no more
God Morpheus why did you leave me when I had need of your love
No holding back now! Give me the real thing!
I've got a reason
When I am alone

Don't you ever try to take me back

The song, of course, is about drug addiction. Specifically Morphine (hence the reference to Morpheus: god of dreams and the origin of the name of the drug Morphine).

A Song I've Overlooked Before

Well, I bought the Hurt CD more than a week ago, but I just today opened it up. I actually really like the overall sound of the band, it seems to combine elements of modern rock with elements of classical music in a good number of their songs. Anyways, I had you all listen to their song "Rapture" earlier, but a song that I overlooked before is "Overdose." You can listen to Overdose on Hurt's myspace website (click here). I feel as a song it possibly surpasses Rapture. The lyrics are, like Rapture, a little weird, but the sound is simply amazing. Please give it a single listen at least. I won't post the lyrics but if you're interested you can google them pretty easily.

New Properties

I totally went on a splurge and finally bought the following in the past couple weeks:

1) 3 New Shirts
2) Wolfmother CD
3) Best of Jimi Hendrix CD
4) V for Vendetta DVD
5) Stone Sour CD
6) Hurt CD
7) New Shoes

BAM!
I win.

The only thing truly left on my to buy list is Miami Vice DVD, which will be a while.