Lord Willum’s Metheglin- “Pie in a bottle”

[yahoo]

Lord Willum's Metheglin- "Pie in a bottle"

Ingredients:
2 Lbs darkish unpasteurized local honey. (Much more character
that "Store bought" honey!)
1 Lb processed cane sugar. (Hoping to speed up the process a little)
Juice of 2 fresh squeezed lemons - approximately 1 liquid cup.
2 cups fresh squeezed apple juice. (This is supposed to help act as
the yeast nutrient)
1 ts ground cinnamon.
½ ts ground cloves.
½ package Lavin EC-1118 yeast. (I used modern yeast to get some
control over the final product)
Water to make 4 liters total volume.

Clean and sterilize all containers and mixing apparatus with solution
of crushed ½ Campden tablet dissolved into 2 cups warm water. Save ¼
cup sterilizing solution for bubble trap.

Mixing process:
To start the yeast: Take ½ cup water warmed to 100oF. Add 1 teaspoon
lemon juice, 1 teaspoon apple juice, 1 teaspoon cane sugar, ½
teaspoon honey. Mix well, then add ½ package (eyeball measure)
yeast. Yeast was started about 1 hour before other ingredients were
mixed. This mix was growing a foamy head well before I finished
mixing the "must" ingredients.

I began with about 1 liter of water in a 4-liter pot, brought to a
near boil. Slowly stir in 2 pounds of warmed honey. Add another
liter of water and stir. Allow to warm for another minute, add in
remaining lemon and apple juice. Add water to bring total volume up
to about 3 liters. Warm mix back up to 150oF for 10 minutes. Allow
to cool to about 120o F. Add 1 liter water. Add 1 cup (8oz) cane
sugar , stir vigorously. Stir in cinnamon and cloves. Mix foam back
into yeast starter. Check temperature of must, it is right at 100
degrees. Mix in yeast starter. Pour 1.5 liters into a plastic 2-
liter bottle and cap with a "HIGH" pressure EZ Cap. Pour the
remaining 2.5 liters into 3 liter glass fermenter, insert rubber
stop. Pour sterilizing solution into bubble trap up to appropriate
levels, insert bubble trap into rubber stop. Put both bottles into
warm place and let sit. I noted that the temperature of the ferment
is now 90o, and smells wonderfully like pumpkin or sweet potato pie!

Checked after 2 hours; EZ Cap bottle is at full pressure, glass
fermenter is bubbling about once every 4-5 seconds.



<=====================>
ORGINAL POSTER: willum
<=====================>