A couple weeks ago, my apprentice and two other wonderful witches came over to my house. We lit the candles and burned propolis resin and bee oracle incense over hot charcoal invoking our Gods who love to brew, the bees who made the honey, and the Melissae who hold the secrets of honey and mead. We crafted five batches of magical meads.
One for sabbats with psychoactive and ritual herbs, one for esbats infused with herbs of the moon, one for Saturn with dark fruits and poisons, one for blessings and offerings (which is basically drinkable Florida Water), and the last is an Aphrodisiac mead of fresh strawberries, raspberries, rich black figs and a 5-6 ounce blend of the herbs in my Love Smoke recipe.
The day before Halloween, once the primary fermentation stage was over, the witches returned and strained all the herbs and fruit out of the buckets. We then placed the buckets on the counter and waited for the sediment to settle. While we were waiting we took a walk down to Stoney Creek to see the salmon run. We saw several salmon, young and old, small and gigantic, trying to make it upstream.
We caught falling Oak leaves for luck and ran like children through massive piles of crunching leaves covering the ground. When we returned we racked the meads from the buckets into sanitized carboys using plastic hoses. Many sexual comments ensued about sucking on hoses and playing with bung holes (mead-maker humour). But in spite of our silliness we finished the job and now have 25 gallons of magical mead happily fermenting away in their carboys. I cannot wait for next year when they’ll be ready to drink and use in ritual! I hope the aphrodisiac mead is ready in time for Beltane!
Ooo.. they look most excellent.. *skips*.. i am wondering if some of your meads can be used in making compound incense.. *ponders this*…
Wait now, “dark fruits and poisons”? Ye gods I hope everything’s carefully labeled.
Heh, there’s a reason I didn’t list the actual ingredients lest anyone try it. As I always say, proportion is everything! The fruits on their own are pretty safe – blackberries, black currants, and blackthorn sloes.
I wish I had, or knew of, other Witches of our caliber to frolick with here in Ohio!
Yummy mead!
The hubby and I are looking into our own brewing down the line (wine, beer and mead)! But we literally have NO space for any of that delicious business right now…
I know people who brew in tiny apartments and condos. You just find the room. Carboys can be stashed in closets, cupboards, under sinks, along walls, under tables… I think the record goes to a friend of mine for stashing over 50 gallons in a small condo. If you have an attic, you can store the equipment up there when you’re not using it (buckets, racking cane, corker, etc).
The space isn’t an issue in itself… It’s just finding space where the wee man, and the crazy cat won’t get their mitts on them!
And I just re-read my comment, and I think the word ‘caliber’ makes me sound dead big-headed! ;-p I guess what I simply meant to say is ‘our type of Witches’…
I have three cats and they’ve never bothered a batch of mead or tried to jump in the buckets during the first week. If your little one can stand and walk then just tape the airlock onto the carboy and problem solved
No more excuses for me then! Wheeee!
We brewed beer on a hot plate in a room my friend rented in college.
As soon as I can scratch up the money I am DOING THIS!
Wolfman and I just finished a batch of lager. It was a little weak tasting, but not bad for a first try. It’s drinkable!
Now I have a 23 litre fermentation tank to make mead in… if I can figure out a recipe to make 23 litres, that is. Vanilla and cinnamon, I’m thinking.
Do you know the ratio of honey to water for dry and sweet mead so I am able to rough up a recipe? I’m only able to find pre-made recipes online and I’m not so flash with mathematics.
So you have a six gallon carboy – that means for each batch you make you’ll need 2-3 kg of honey for a dryer batch and 3-5 kg for a sweeter batch. You don’t add all the honey at once – only add half to start and add the rest periodically to taste during the 4 months to a year it takes to finish fermenting.
Thanks so much, Sarah
Wolfman plans on buying me book on mead making for midsummer, but this will help me get started. I’m off to source some nice honey!
My Dad made wine (cherry and Grape) all the time when I was a small child in the basement. We never disturbed it my brother and I. Now, as teen-agers we snuck into a few times by ourselves but never around friends and we never took more than a few sips. Also we were allowed small shotglasses of it at holidays and special occasions. It may be illegal in the states to do so but my brother and I never got into trouble with drinking in our teen-age and college years and I firmly believe it was because alcohol was respected as well as never made a big deal about it. I also think it was because it was handmade with love and care and we learned to appreciate it.
when you feel like, write something on ‘use of skulls and bones of animals in rituals?
How do I use that do have and what they do.
I’m very interested
please!!!!!
I love You.. ever!
I already have, you can find the article here:
http://witchofforestgrove.com/2010/09/28/dem-bones/
Slainte!
Sarah
I always make cordials. You just add your mashed up fruits and herbs to some vodka, let soak for a week or so in the fridge. The more fruit the stronger the fruit taste. Strain fruit and fill bottles with cordial. Store in the fridge.
I’d love to try making mead though. Thanks for the inspiration.
So I was thinking of trying out making a small batch of mead myself once I am able to find a jug or two that is big enough to hold the mead.
I saw your comment on some of the proportions but I have yet to see a full post about how you go across the process of making the mead.
I have read many articles on how to go about making it but they vary so greatly… I figured you had had success many times over and would be the best person to ask.
I was hoping to make a 3-5 gallon batch. I would prefer smaller since it is my first time making it and it can be expensive to make a larger batch, though I do know there is such a thing as too small of a batch when it comes to making mead.
I wanted to know how to make a normal batch, both sweet and dry (which I did not know there was until I read this)
and how those porportions would change when fruit or herbs are added.
as well as how to go about making it, the whole process.
I hope I am not asking much. I would have sent you an email instead of a comment but I could not find your email anywhere on here.
If you would like to email me the instructions, that would be wonderful.
Lotus_Moon@Hotmail.com is my email.
I would appreciate any helpful tips or advise you are willing to give.
Thanks!
~Lotus
I do have a pdf of instructions available – you can find it at the bottom of my “Other Magical Articles” section here:
http://witchofforestgrove.com/other-magical-articles/
Happy brewing!
Thank you for the information!
It doesn’t say how much honey to water to yeast one should use for 3gal & 5gal amounts as well as if that ratio changes if you add in berries and the amount of berries one should add? Or maybe just a list of recipes that you have used so I could kind of get an idea of how one would work a recipe? I’ve seen some out there but each one has different amounts they use and I would rather not mess up what could be a good batch of mead. Also I saw one gallon being mentioned, have you ever successfully made a 1 gallon batch of mead? There is a lot of controversy online about doing such a thing.
Mead Ratio
You only ever need one packet of mead or champagne yeast no matter what size of carboy you use. The berries/fruit doesn’t matter and doesn’t usually affect the level of sweetness or dryness. Another trick is to add fruit juice instead of fresh fruit and use no water at all for a more flavourful mead.
Yes I’ve done lots of 1 gallon batches – I can’t even count how many. I have three one gallon batches on the go right now in glass carboys. I’ve never had any trouble with that size besides the fact 1 gallon only makes about 5-6 bottles.
I’m just in love with your bottles. I’ve never seen bottles like those in France or Switzerland… snif !