Bikerscum - Patrick St. Jean

I had a bunch of friends over for a mead making demo today. I've had that honey sitting around waiting for this, except for the 1 pound which got put in the dunkelweizen I just started. So after getting everything ready, we commenced mead making. The recipe is pretty close, OK, darned near exactly Beerkrafter's Spiced Mead, but here's exactly what went in mine:

• 18 pounds cotton blossom honey
• 1 vanilla bean
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
• 5 teaspoons yeast nutrient
• Wyeast 4184 Sweet Mead Yeast

The directions are as follows:

1. Clean and sterilize everything
2. Mix 2.5 gallons of water, the honey, the vanilla bean, and the pumpkin pie spice together in a large kettle
3. Heat the mixture to 160 degrees and keep it there for 20 minutes
4. Chill as fast as you can
5. Pitch the yeast
6. Wait...