The First Three of the Fifty-Two of 2014/ MSX No. 1

I wasn't much in a mood to record anything during these first couple of weeks of the year, because all I would have done was spew out negativity. Fighting the flu, dealing with the bad weather, and enduring the resulting cabin fever, was all that I was basically doing: just feeling the erosion of all my vitality. I've been set back for a couple weeks in terms of working towards some sort of personal betterment that I intended to begin the year with because of being so depleted of energy for anything requiring physical effort and mental focus. I was forced to accept basic recovery towards normal as the first step to improvement.

Thankfully, the weather has been getting back to seasonal (and even above it), and I'm starting to find my strength and stamina returning again. I got back into some exercise (skiing), messing around with stuff on my spreadsheets, and now writing; to restore the habit of finding and keeping a solid train of thought again after being rendered too loopy for so long after using symptom remedies.

So, to re-stimulate my brain again and add some novelty into this new year, I'm setting myself up for my first mad science experiment of 2014.

MSX No. 1-2014: Brewing Mead

For the benefit of those out there who are gastronomically ignorant and don't know what mead is, it's an alcoholic beverage produced by the fermentation of honey.

The inspirations/reasons why:

• From reading Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation by Michael Pollan, and his terrific commentary in the "Earth" section of his book about fermentation as being sort of one of the fundamental cornerstones that created human civilization.* I was re-inspired to brew something, and mead was one of the things mentioned that made me curious.
• Apart from viewing food/drink/travel series with Anthony Bourdain** on TV while lazing around being infirm with influenza, I spent too much time watching movies and documentary stories themed around post-war/apocalyptic survival. I couldn't help but to wonder that if the end of this world did come, and if I did somehow manage to survive it, whatever skills and knowledge I have for using modern technology would be rendered meaningless. Whether it's due to a global disaster, a massive pandemic, or some war/economic chaos as an after effect of peak oil: to be a viable citizen reintegrating into a functional society afterward, one must revert to the practical mechanical skills, be able to grow foodstuffs, and perform other types of husbandry that have sustained us as they did for our first few thousand years of existence. Being resourceful, and knowing how to make substances out of bare essentials that add merriment in a grief-stricken world in this type of scenario would be an important role, not to mention perhaps elevating one's social status to that of a demi-god. In a weird way, it was a prompt to experiment in diversifying ingredients and to help keep in practice.
• I always wanted to try out mead, but I can't find it here in a commercial liquor store or wine shop. There used to be just one specialty liquor store in this town that handled mead, but there is a long sordid story as to how the stupid bugger who ran the place got himself into some sort of legal troubles and was forced to close the establishment down before I had a chance to sample any. Therefore, if I want to try any here, I have to make it myself.
• Some of the idea was sparked from an entertaining and silly conversation with a co-worker of Scandinavian heritage about the history of the Norsemen (who drank lots of the stuff). If you think that a drink made out of honey is for sissies, I'd dare you to tell that to someone with the disposition of a Viking. 
• I have a familial connection to a source of local honey which I can get in bulk supply, and now is the time to try this experiment before it's no longer practical or feasible to do***. I suppose it also puts me in touch with my inner hippie/David Suzuki wannabe-self; as it ultimately ends up being an option for a more environmentally friendly, think-local, low-carbon footprint way of making homemade booze. 
• To make it happen, I'll need a sanitary and hygienic environment. I needed some motivator to get off my ass and stop the excuses for further neglecting to clean up my kitchen space.

Special Challenges/Considerations/Drawbacks:

• Honey is a finicky substance when it comes to trying to coax it into a state of fermentation. If left in pure form, it can naturally last for years, even decades, without any spoilage; not allowing for any type of culture of micro-organisms to grow on it at all. More so than beer and wine making, the process needed to prime the environment enough to let yeast do its work has to take into consideration the proper mineral content of the added water, introduction of a properly staged nutrient regimen, and adjustment of the pH level of the must solution (leaning toward acidic is better). Those are the new factors for me to play around with and include in my brewing skill set.
• Mead can be made carbonated, sparkling, or still. I'm going to opt for making a still batch as my first trial (i.e. neutralizing the remaining yeast with potassium sorbate before bottling). I'm not willing to see how many explosions and flying shards of glass I'll be having around my place if my timing is wrong with bottling the stuff too soon.
• There is a possibility of having gunky, residual, hard to remove, bee's wax coating and contaminating my brewing vessels/carboys
• I'm irritated by the fact that most of the recipes I've been finding and reviewing are from the United States, and aren't conveniently posted with metric measurements. Hence, I often have to re-compute for the fixed volume size differentials for a closed fermentation system (US gallon batch sizes vs. metric or Imperial gallon volume carboys we use here). Why is it that Americans can actively and liberally accommodate for using metric for dealing in drugs, but can't seem to do so for anything else?
• Maturation: my findings show that mead takes a longer time than beer or wine to age and condition. At least six months of aging seems to be the norm. I'll let this batch condition itself for nine months, the same gestation period for a human, plus it then makes it seem right to consume it by the time my own birthday rolls around. I'll post follow up results then.

Initial Ingredients:

• 5 kg of Saskatchewan (locally produced) honey (floral nectar composition yet unknown) 
• One package (5 g) Lalvin Yeast: strain, EC-1118 Sacchromyces cerevisiae (ex -bayanus)
• 15 g Yeast nutrient
• 5 g Irish moss (clarifying agent) 

I have yet to determine and calculate:

• an acid blend (either citric, malic, or ascorbic), or a blend of additional fruits that are acidic (Note to self: I need a pH test kit)
• any additional flavourings of spices that could be used
• I won't be disclosing whatever else I'll be using for ingredients and the brewing process itself. That will either be a trade secret if it turns out well, or else it may just be pointless to share if it turns out badly.

Other related trivia and vocabulary:

• Mazer: A person who makes mead; also a large carved wooden drinking vessel from the medieval ages used to perhaps drink such stuff.
• Metheglin: Mead that has been flavoured with extra herbs and spices (probably the way I'll go); traditionally thought to have medicinal properties.
• Mead is thought to be the oldest known form of alcoholic beverage made by human beings, even pre-dating beer. Beer is made with harvested grain which is a product of an agricultural society, whereas to ferment honey you don't even need to farm. It could have been a lesser evolved hominid who was lucky enough to drop and dilute enough wild honey in water and discover this happy accident after some time.
• Many ancient cultures considered mead to be an aphrodisiac. The English word "honeymoon" is derived from a superstition that if mead was consumed one month (a moon) after the wedding, with sexual congress taking place, the resulting child afterward would be a male.

One Musical Playlist Pairing for the Project: Just Like Honey - The Jesus and Mary Chain

*-You would have to peruse the final chapter of same the book, Afterward: Hand Taste, to understand why I like doing this sort of stuff to begin with.

** - To get to travel around the globe exploring food/restaurants, and other lesser-known hidden away attractions; and to write, critique, and commentate about those experiences, occasionally doing it with a whimsical smart-ass attitude . . . I WANT HIS JOB!!!

***- Honey production has been drastically effected here and other parts of the world due to bee populations dying off because of pesticide use, and widespread disease and parasitic infections, which then ultimately makes a more substandard quality of honey and higher prices due to product shortages.