The Meadcast

Welcome to The Meadcast, bringing you the latest news, interviews, and guides to make your mead better. For a complete list of podcast episodes and the meads we’ve sampled during each episode, check out the Podcast Mead List or continue reading below for the most recent episodes.

You can find us in iTunes here. To subscribe to our feed via RSS, click here.

Have questions you’d like answered on the show? Let us know on twitter or through our Contact Us page.

Whether you are a professional or amateur meadmaker, Tysen is always looking for new meads to try on the show. Hit him up on twitter to arrange the swap.

Thanks for stopping by, and we hope you enjoy the show!

MC039: Evaluating Kellie’s Meads

Episode 39 is a special one for us at the Meadcast. It is the first chance we get to try one of our listener’s meads on air (not counting the pro meads here), and it was a great experience. Tune in to hear us go through a tasting of two fruit and spice meads, one with a cherry mead base and the other pomegranate. Mead tastings are a great thing, and we hope there is some valuable information in here for judging and appreciating the next mead you encounter. Thanks Kellie for agreeing to be the guinea pig!

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MC038: ChiCheMel

We welcome Michael and Alejandra from Costa Rica Meadery as our first international guests on the Meadcast to discuss their locally inspired meads. Learn about chichemel: what it is and how to make it. We also discuss their hopes to make a true coffee mead experience with all ingredients coffee derived, as well as their future Ark Herb Farm Bee-cotourism dream.

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Drinks in this Episode

The Process to make Chichemel Wort

Want to know how Costa Rica Meadery makes their chichemel? Here is the general outline as provided in the episode. We’ll leave it to you to experiment and find the best process. If you get a good one, let us know in the comments below.

  • Small farmer corn (purple [in their nicoyano] and yellow [in their caribeno])
  • Soak corn in water
    • Drain the corn and resoak every 12 hours until the tendril has grown the same length as the corn kernel (germination is sufficient for starch to sugar conversion)
  • Dry the sprouted corn
  • Toast to the level needed
  • Grind and brew like you would any barley malt

The Three Stages of a Truly Coffee Mead

Links in this Episode

Other News from the Meadcast

We had a great time hanging with friends and fans of the show at the 2016 HomebrewCon last weekend (#HomebrewCon). If you made it out, we hope we found you to say hello. Although there was only one meadery at the Kickoff Party, we found many many meads during club night (check out our Instagram feed for more).

The Mead Panel, described by at least one attendee as “Mead Rushmore,” lived up to the hype, and presentations from Ricky at Groennfell Meadery and Eric at Meridian Hive Meadery were both enjoyable and informative at the same time. The Brewing with Honey presentation from Hugo Patino and Keith Seiz was also very informative for those braggot brewers out there, and just increased the intrigue for the beer style for us. Couldn’t make it out, presentations should be available shortly for AHA members.

The National Homebrew Competition put up a fight for being larger than the Mazer Cup as well, with 367 total entries in the mead categories! Congratulations to Steve Fletty from the St Paul Homebrew Club for winning MeadMaker of the Year. Check out the list of winners here.

While we may need a few nights to recover from all the festivities, we look forward to being able to hang out with everyone again at a future conference. Look for a full conference recap in the coming weeks.

And if you’re thinking of joining the #SodaMead challenge, there is still time (check out #36 for the details). Rumor has it, if we get enough entrants we’ll have our own category at Texas Mead Fest. So spin up a batch and get entered! We can’t wait to see what our listeners come up with.

MC037: A Session with Phil

Join us in episode 37 of the Meadcast where we interview Philip Lorenz of Nectar Creek about session meads. Nectar Creek swept the session dry category of the Mazer Cup 2015. In this episode you’ll learn the Nectar Creek way of making mead. We’ll also cover some tips on how to carbonate your meads at home as well as the best ways to bring across ginger in your mead. Tune in for tips from the master on how to make your own.

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Drinks in this Episode

The Nectar Creek Session Mead Tips

  • 7-9 parts water to 1 part honey
  • Dry wine yeasts fermented at low temperatures (mid 50s F)
    • Slow and steady wins the race!
  • Rehydrate with Go-Ferm Protect and temper to pitch temp
  • Use appropriate nutrient regimens

Trying to Make a Ginger Mead?

  • Use raw, fresh ginger
    • You need high quality ingredients to get good flavors
  • Process it to maximize surface exposure (pulverize)
  • Never heat the ginger!
  • What is Baby Ginger? (Nectar Creek does not use baby ginger)

Links in this Episode

MC036: #SodaMead #MeadChallenge

In Episode 36, we challenge you to a mead making competition for the Fall of 2016. To do so, we’ve brought on some accomplished meadmakers in Thomas Eibner (@thomaseibner), Matt Weide (@bluehandmead) and Pavel Anisimov (@cidermead). During the episode, Thomas and Matt will talk through their 8 day hydromel challenge (yes, that is a drinkable mead in 8 days), and Pavel will discuss some of his meadmaking practices and how he developed his #Pavability. Then we’ll get into the competition specifics.

While we’ve challenged you in the past to the #CyserChallenge, we didn’t really make it a huge endeavor for the podcast to bring together the listening community. For this challenge, we want all of you to participate, and we think you’ll like the challenge idea. Listen in and read below for more information!

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MC035: Pro Bochet Tips, So You Don’t Botch It!

In episode 35 of the Meadcast we revisit bochets with Matt Falenski from Laurel Highlands Meadery (recall with spoke with David Doucette about bochets in episode 24). Matt has been making bochet commercially for 5 years now, and brings a wealth of experience to making the beverage and understanding how to caramelize the honey appropriately. Tune in to learn his secrets.

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MC034: Mead Ale Yeast Experimentation with Billy Beltz

In Episode 34 we bring you news that Billy Beltz, recent 2 time medal winner at the Mazer Cup 2016, completed the Great Mead Ale Yeast Experiment. With 12 different yeasts, his experiment was pretty comprehensive from a study perspective and provides another data point considering how and when to use an ale yeast in mead. The full story will come out in the next Zymurgy Magazine, but for now here is a preview of what’s to come.

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MC033: Mazer Cup 2016 Recap

We had a blast just a few short weeks ago at the 2016 Mazer Cup. In this episode, you’ll hear about the trip, the cool people we met, and the great meads we had. Well, mostly the trip and the competition. There were so many meads to be had, it’s hard at this point to discern one from another.

Tysen and Allen will start off with a “judging” of one the mead from Episode 4. It didn’t win, and from what we can tell got infected. But we wanted the feedback nonetheless. We also submitted the #CyserChallenge mead from the Serious Cyser Symposium. Allen made this one, and due to some difficulties getting it to clear it was doomed from the start. Tasty, just not competition worthy. Dan Daugherty (CiderSage and CiderSchool) however walked away with a golden mazer for his Dab of Liberty collaboration with Matt Williams (Winemaker’s Academy).

We’ll also chat with Pavel, @cidermead on Twitter, who stole the home competition with 6 total awards (2 gold, 4 bronze). Recall we met Pavel during the West Coast Cyser and Session Mead Tasting.

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Drinks in this Episode

Allen and Tysen: Meadcast #4

Links in this Episode

MM032: Merry Meadmust Road Trip Part 3: Now with 3x the Mead!

Episode 32 wraps up Tysen’s Merry Meadmust adventure with stops at Schramm’s Meadery and B Nektar Meadery, two must visit locations in Ferndale, MI. Seriously, if you are going to drive cross country to hit a meadery, these have to be on the list.

Merry Meadmust Roadrtip Part 1: #FoundMead

Merry Meadmust Roadtrip Part 2: Enjoy Vicariously

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MM031: West Coast Cyser and Session Mead Tasting

Every now and again, we like to revisit our tasting chops in an effort to identify what meads we want to make and consider the process that allows the professionals to make such delicious beverages. We were lucky enough to source the three Nectar Creek dry session mead winners from the 2015 Mazer Cup as well as three cysers from Red Branch Cider Company (Mike Faul’s Red Branch Brewing Company swept the 2015 Braggot category) courtesy of our friend Pavel (@cidermead on twitter). In Episode 31, we sit down with a few friends and try these meads. Hope you enjoy!

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Drinks in this Episode

  • From Nectar Creek
    • Waggle (review starts at 5:00)
    • Honeycone (review starts at 14:37)
    • Sting (review starts at 26:58)
  • From Red Branch Cider Company
    • Apple Honey (review starts at 9:29)
    • Johnny Jump Up (review starts at 21:18)
    • Ginga Ninja (review starts at 30:30)

The Participants

  • East Coast
    • Allen
    • Tysen
    • Sean from Mobius Meadery
    • Andrew from Charm City Meadworks
  • West Coast
    • Pavel (@cidermead, DOZE Homebrewer of the Year)
    • Jeremy (BJCP Judge)
    • Hirendu
    • David

We try to rank the meads at the 36 minute mark.

Links in this Episode

Coming Up

The 2016 edition of the Mazer Cup starts in 11 days! If you are judging or volunteering as a steward, we hope to catch you on the visit. Look for the two strapping young fellows donned in some awesome MeadMakr gear! Be sure to ask for a sticker if you find us. Don’t know what we look like? Check out Meadology’s latest promo video here.

MM030: Merry Meadmust Road Trip Part 2: Enjoy Vicariously

Episode 30 chronicles part II of Tysen’s travels during the Merry Meadmust Road Trip. Tysen takes us through Madison, Wisconsin and Grand Rapids, Michigan. While he didn’t stop at any meaderies, he did hit up a few cool liquor stores stocked with meads. Be sure to stop by when you are in the area!

We apologize for not getting a “regular” episode up tonight. We’ve spent most of the weekend making mead and hosting mead tastings. As such, we’re a little behind processing the West Coast Cyser and Session Mead tasting and don’t have it ready for tonight.

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