The Mead Hall

Changes to The Site

Details: Category: Site News; Published on Friday, 01 June 2012 21:40; Written by Jeff Johnston; Hits: 804

You may have noticed some rather drastic changes to The Mead Hall website. When planning the redesign I opted for simplicity. I culled features that weren't being used. While some of the old features will return in time, many will not. The Mead Hall is meant to be a resource for useful information about mead, the site as it was was too cluttered with useless features.

New Layout

Details: Category: Site News; Published on Friday, 01 June 2012 16:57; Written by Jeff Johnston; Hits: 716

Welcome to the New layout of the Mead Hall. Due to some serious technical difficulties the old site had to go down. Over the next while we will be repopulating articles and recipes. In the mean time we ask for your patience, and hopefully the new improved site will be worth the wait.

CCD Mystery Solved, But is it Over?

Details: Category: The Buzz on Bees; Published on Monday, 04 June 2012 13:12; Written by Jeff Johnston; Hits: 782

Colony Collapse Disorder has been haunting the bee world for a number of years now. Every spring huge numbers of bees just die off. This mysterious killer has been blamed on a number of things but no one has been able to say for sure what has caused it, until now that is.

Many theories have been bandied about over the past few years, but it seems the world media is declaring a clear winner in the contest for which one is right. Blogs, and traditional press seem to agree, for once, that the cause is a pesticide marketed by Bayer which is in the neonicotinoids family of pesticides.

Beekeeping Equipment - Get Your New Hobby Off To A Good Start

Details: Category: The Buzz on Bees; Published on Saturday, 02 June 2012 20:59; Written by Val Wilson; Hits: 718

Many people when thinking about domesticated animals will immediately consider their beloved pets. Cats and dogs probably come first to mind, followed by farm animals that can be harvested for their various products. But what if you could own a tiny pet that could produce multiple products that could be marketed? Are you going to let the thought of a few little stings scare you away from the bees?

Believe it or not, these little creatures can bring great pleasure. If you'd like to set yourself apart from the crowd, read on about beekeeping equipment that can turn you into a beekeeper and kick your previous fears of these little beings and misconceptions to the curb.

Types of Mead

Details: Category: News; Published on Saturday, 02 June 2012 21:08; Written by Jeff Johnston; Hits: 1332

Mead comes in a variety of types. The simplest form only has honey water and yeast, but there is more to mead then just your standard mead.

What does Mead Taste Like

Details: Category: Making Mead; Published on Monday, 18 June 2012 17:22; Written by Brothers Drake; Hits: 947

Is it like wine? Or is it like beer?

Mead is alcohol made from honey. It is not wine and it is not beer. It’s mead.

There are 3 basic forms of fermented alcohol in human history: There is beer, wine, and mead. We enjoy them all! However, all of them start from some kind sugar and it is the source and amount of sugar that primarily defines the fermentation style:

If the primary sugar source is grain, it is beer.
If the primary sugar source is fruit, it is wine.
If 50% or more of the sugar source is honey, it is mead.
Read more: What does Mead Taste Like

Mead - The Versitile Drink

Details: Category: Making Mead; Published on Tuesday, 12 June 2012 19:57; Written by Jeff Johnston; Hits: 738

I am often asked how sweet mead is, when I started making mead my answer was usually "somewhere between a sweet wine and a desert wine", however as I tried more and more I realized that was not true at all, and unfortunately that probably turned off a few people who prefer their wine dry. I have since learned that mead is perhaps one of the most versatile beverages. Mead can be made to cater to anyone's tastes. Fans of iced wines can get a nice sweet sack mead, while fans of dry reds need only use less honey and allow the mead to dry out.

Stuck Fermentation Now What?

Details: Category: Making Mead; Published on Thursday, 07 June 2012 10:43; Written by Jeff Johnston; Hits: 2268

So you've started a batch of mead, and while the gravity meter still shows that there is plenty of sugar for the yeast to convert to alcohol it just isn't doing anything. What do you do now?

This is something all brewers, be they wine vintners, beer brewers, or mead mazers will eventually have to deal with, and find a way to fix. It is the bane of our masterpieces. Yeast, that simple and wonderful creature that is so hard to kill and turns honey and water into the elixir of the gods, mead, is a fickle mistress.

First thing you must do when you find out you have a stuck fermentation is don't panic. Really stuck fermentation is not that big of a deal, it can be overcome, usually.

Licensing a Meadery in Ontario

Details: Category: The Business of Mead Making; Published on Monday, 11 June 2012 19:10; Written by Jeff Johnston; Hits: 1058

Ontario Liquor laws are strict, some say too strict. Opening a commercial meadery in Ontario isn't as easy as producing some mead and putting it on a store shelf. The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) controls who can open a meadery, and under what circumstances. Doesn't matter if you want to open a Brew-It-Yourself store, a winery, brewery, meadery, or if you want to produce any other liquor, you have to go through the AGCO to get government sanction to sell your wares.

Party Games That Work Well For Wine Tasting Events

Details: Category: Misc; Published on Thursday, 07 June 2012 13:07; Written by Gail Leino; Hits: 3983

Wine tasting games for a wine themed party are excellent way to bring an educational element to the party in a fun manner. There are numerous wine tasting party games that guests can easily prepare for guests to participate in.

For advanced wine tasters the game Match Wine With Description always works well. Print out descriptions and reviews. Serve blind and let guests have guests try to match the wines with the written descriptions of each. At the end, give out Wine themed party favors to the winners.

Grog Tag

Details: Category: Product Reviews; Published on Monday, 11 June 2012 16:02; Written by Jeff Johnston; Hits: 824

When diving in to mead making eventually you'll come to a point when you want to label your bottles. You could do the tried and true masking tape and sharpie method, but eventually you want to step it up. There are many ways to come up with a nice custom label for your meads, you can use computer printable labels, you can go to your local wine making shop and get some pre-made labels to hand write on, but if you want something really nice, something that looks real professional without costing professional prices might I suggest Grog Tag.

For the enjoyment of the ancient beverage of mead