Homebrew Mead Wine

[CS1983]

Instead of honey can I just try to make mead with refined sugar instead? I think the vikings would have used it if honey costs so much and sugar (had it been around) been dirt cheap.

The honey adds flavor and depending on the honey type, different "notes". You could make a fermented beverage, but it wouldn't be mead.

[Brian]

The honey adds flavor and depending on the honey type, different "notes". You could make a fermented beverage, but it wouldn't be mead.

Bingo. Grain as the main sugar source = beer. Fruit = wine. Honey = mead.
Hmm, technically rum is made primarily from sugar canes, but then you have to deal with distillation. Would be fun to try though.

In practice, I've tried a few things made from mostly sugar water, with mixed results. I have used raw sugar, sometimes in decent amounts, to add to fruit juices and call that "wine" though the purists may disagree. You can easily convert the sugar into invert sugar too, which is supposed to help make fermentation easier. I usually do it with a couple of my "regular" recipes, but I'm not convinced how much it helps - especially compared to adding nutrients which does seem to make an actual difference.

[DOC]

Bingo. Grain as the main sugar source = beer. Fruit = wine. Honey = mead.
Hmm, technically rum is made primarily from sugar canes, but then you have to deal with distillation. Would be fun to try though.

In practice, I've tried a few things made from mostly sugar water, with mixed results. I have used raw sugar, sometimes in decent amounts, to add to fruit juices and call that "wine" though the purists may disagree. You can easily convert the sugar into invert sugar too, which is supposed to help make fermentation easier. I usually do it with a couple of my "regular" recipes, but I'm not convinced how much it helps - especially compared to adding nutrients which does seem to make an actual difference.

I think using pure sugar sounds like some sort of prison booze isn't it?

[CS1983]

I think using pure sugar sounds like some sort of prison booze isn't it?

Yeah, basically. It's just gonna be high octane hooch.

Fun fact -- I had a teacher in high school who, as a teenager, had been a civilian POW in the PI under the Japanese. His entire family, being American missionaries, were rounded up. Before the pressure started on the Japanese, they would have access to things like fruit. So his older brother decided to make some hooch with bread and fruit. Gave himself a bladder infection. In a Japanese internment camp. In the Philippines. Ouch.

[GilpinGuy]

Yeah, basically. It's just gonna be high octane hooch.

Fun fact -- I had a teacher in high school who, as a teenager, had been a civilian POW in the PI under the Japanese. His entire family, being American missionaries, were rounded up. Before the pressure started on the Japanese, they would have access to things like fruit. So his older brother decided to make some hooch with bread and fruit. Gave himself a bladder infection. In a Japanese internment camp. In the Philippines. Ouch.

Oh damn. I was hoping for a more happy result like they had secret stashes of hootch for when things got really bad.

[CS1983]

Oh damn. I was hoping for a more happy result like they had secret stashes of hootch for when things got really bad.

Nope. But they did do things like eat rats, bugs, and such as the Japanese gradually reduced their daily rice allotment.