The Brewmaster is in.

[DominicJ]

An "Australian lager" is bubbling away nicely and will be ready for bottling on Sunday, best get some bottles in the dishwasher tonight, have a nice stock of 500ml bottle this time so can vary my quantities.
4 week aged lager and 5 week aged ginger beer for christmas drinking, yummy.

Going to get a quality real ale ordered and can get that made, age it a full year for next year.

[Berrylovely]

Honey is now the proud owner of a chiller for his beer making talents.

Also I had a lovely Cream Ale on Thanksgiving that I absolutley LOVED. No bitter after taste bite.

[Delmorian]

At a friends house, I was given something they claimed was home brewed Mead, but was amazing to taste, sweet with no "wine-ish" overtones. Like a light honey liqueur, not cloying but with a  bit of kick. Since then, I have found a professional product, Bearenyager, which is to Mead what Moonshine is to Segrams Twisters. This stuff is like a shot of pure honey, with a kick like whiskey. Considering it is 78 proof, its no surprise. I like to put it in a flask and use it to spike my tea at the Renfest. (I may need to get a leather flask, probably wax coated, like my favorite pirate Mr. Gibbs has... maybe with a hexagon pattern and a couple of bees on the outside.)
So my question is Does anyone have any suggested recipes for Mead, and does it take any specialized equipment to brew/bottle? (brother in-law brews beers with a couple of friends in Lakeland, may have the bottling equipment I need...)

[MetalFae]

Someone brew me a Gluten Free Beer that actually tastes like...well...BEER and you will be my best friend for life! I promise. Budweisers Red Bridge is gawd awful!  *gag*

[Daghain]

Just remember to use the right bottle for the right product.
A friend told a story of one of her friends who decided to try to make champagne.
Only problem was that he hadn't realized that champagne bottles are built heavily for
a very basic reason - to contain the pressure, and he used ordinary wine bottles.
He'd put his bottles in the garage and he started hearing loud noises from the garage.
There was a side door and he looked in before opening the main door.
The pressure of the bubbles was literally blowing the bottom off the wine bottles and launching
them like glass rockets.
Wisely he just closed the door and went away until all the crashing noises stopped.

We had some blueberry mead go horribly wrong and two or three of the bottles popped their corks (synthetic too - if you know what a PITA those things are to get out normally you have a good idea of the pressure involved). We refrigerated them after that so the yeastie beasties would stop fermenting and ended up with some pretty good blueberry champagne out of it. Of course, you had to be VERY careful opening them!

[Paynesgrey]

Someone brew me a Gluten Free Beer that actually tastes like...well...BEER and you will be my best friend for life! I promise. Budweisers Red Bridge is gawd awful!  *gag*

You'll probably be best off trying microbrews.  Saw a sorghum based brew but haven't tried it.  Or you can learn to make mead.  Honey, water, yeast, fruit if you like. 

Mmmmm..... I'm going to have to crack open a bottle from my christmas stash this weekend.

[Chiana]

This stuff is like a shot of pure honey, with a kick like whiskey.

Where does one buy Mead?  I have heard so much about it but have never seen it sold.

[Delmorian]

there is a version available at most good liquor stores, its like a sweet white wine, I still endorse Bearenyagers.

[AxGrinder]

Anyone else grow hops?  I keep running into problems with powdery mildew...   I have Cascade variety.

[Paynesgrey]

Where does one buy Mead?  I have heard so much about it but have never seen it sold.

What state do you live in, Chiana?  Some meadery's can ship to other states.  Some states won't let you order alcohol from out of state.  Pennsylvania, for example, only allows liquor and wine to be sold by it's own government stores.  They don't like competition, the only exception being wineries within pennsylvania. 

[Chiana]

I am in Maine.  Selections of things are usually kind of limited.

[Paynesgrey]

This is from a meadery in Maine.   They'll ship to Maine and a few other states.  I'd suggest a sweet or semi-sweet mead.

https://www.vinoshipper.com/wine/winery/356

[AxGrinder]

Found this yesterday and thought of you guys:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Homebrewers-Garden-Prepare-Brewing/dp/1580170102/ref=pd_sim_b_1 

[MetalFae]

You'll probably be best off trying microbrews.  Saw a sorghum based brew but haven't tried it.  Or you can learn to make mead.  Honey, water, yeast, fruit if you like. 

Mmmmm..... I'm going to have to crack open a bottle from my christmas stash this weekend.

O Rly? I've not tried Mead.. The Red Bridge GF Beer is actually Sorghum based I think.. My favorite GF beer is Greene's but it has to be imported all the way from Europe and it only comes in HUGE bottles with about 3 servings in it. But once you open it up you can't save it... tastes weird after leaving in the Fridge... Ah well. I'll have to take a look around and see what else I can find!

[Paynesgrey]

My local distributor carries a brand of sorgum brew, but I've yet to try it.  There's a local bar that has a huge microbrew section and I'll see if they've got it.  If they do, I'll take it for a test drive and provide you with a bottle damage assessment.