You are some of the best teachers I have had in 60 years. So much fun to watch and learn from.

@smoochysmoochy7267

5 ай бұрын

THEY R MY Drinkin Team Too😂

I actually had the exact opposite childhood grapefruit experience. I grew up in Deep South Texas, and my family had a grapefruit orchard. Grapefruit are picked before they are fully ripe so they can be shipped. We would go in after they were picked and find the ones that were missed and pick them when they were perfectly ripe. To this day, I will only eat grapefruit around the middle of December because of those memories.

"Earl Grey Hot" is the name of one of the teas we sell in the shop! I love the references. Shiny!

Brian's rant about his grapefruit trauma is awesome. When my wife insisted on tasting the first mead I ever made at 18days, I told her it would be unpleasant. She promptly spit it into the sink and told me it tasted like spoiled grapefruit. 😵‍💫

@christopherkarr1872

9 ай бұрын

Ironic (literally) that grapefruit might taste rotten at a couple weeks, but delicious later down the line. Hope you've had a lovely 8 months since you watched this video. I tend to only brew in fall-to-winter because excess heat causes off flavors and, well, I don't have money for temperature control.

@mattrenaud7573

9 ай бұрын

@@christopherkarr1872 I still have one bottle of my first ever mead. The rest were awesome after a couple of months. But I'm saving the last bottle for a special occasion. I brew year around here in the Pacific Northwest; never too hot, never too cold, always raining. 😁

@christopherkarr1872

9 ай бұрын

@@mattrenaud7573 As an Oregonian myself, I can confirm that the weather is horrible, but the temperatures on a concrete slab tend to stay above freezing. Maybe throw a boot dryer in the box or wrap a fermenter in a winter coat if things get chilly.

I'm making a tea wine from Lady Grey and butterfly pea flower. I had it cold brew and tasted good before the brewing. It's name for when it is finished its name is Signora Grigi Clitoride.

Loving the longer videos

I’m a fan of what you do watch everything I could find love what you do thanks guys great video

funky dance of love! ;D Derica, you rock!

Yes I love bergamot earl gray and honestly been using it in my mead

Wow today you guys are out of control. Love it!

Your tasting glass is really cool looking.

Best tea! My go-to on work days.

A perfect explanation and I don't need to explain which it was.

Gotta agree with the choice of stash double bergamot earl grey, it's so gooooood

Ah man, now I gotta try this recipe. Been following you guys for a bit now and you never disappoint. I used Earl Grey in my first mead last year and that was just 1 bag for the tannin. My family loved it. Now with this recipe they should "request" it..... Thanks for the great work you are doing to educate.

Oh yeah, honey adds so much viscosity. Super fun. Might try to make an Oolong mead at some point.

Made some Earl Gray mead about a year ago, turned out fantastic.

Nice.. shall definitely try to make it at home.

Earl grey tea is my favorite flavor of tea and that Stash is one of my favorite Earl greys. I also really love their Breakfast in Paris tea.

I use that tea to!

YES! Might be trying this one next. Currently have a batch of your tea wine in primary, but made with 'Bella Luna' Earl Grey. Earl grey with hints of coconut and cream.

Funky dance of love I absolutely love y’all’s energy and I ordered the tea btw we love tea

You two got me into brewing and having a fun time with it. My wife loves my cranberry wine!! Making mistakes but getting better. Never quit wineing meading or brewing. 😂👍

This is amazing, a few years ago when I was learning I watched your 'first mead' video. I made it with Orange Blossom Honey, Earl Grey tea for the 'black tea' , and oranges... It was and is amazing and I just made 5 more gallons of it. I'm so happy I saw this video now because I did this very same thing just adapted from your 'first mead' recipe. Earl Grey is a great flavor paired with oranges and orange blossom honey for this mead.

Oh cool, I never used earl grey before because I heard the bergamot hindered the ferment. But good to see you guys vouch for it.

The Star Wars reference makes me love you guys even more😊

Thank you both so much for your simple, yet in-depth explanations! There are a lot of different resources I've come across for mead making and none of them are as informative, easy to understand, and enjoyable to read/watch as these videos! Very new to this hobby and until I found your channel was feeling stressed and overwhelmed. Now I feel loads more confident and feel like I can relax a bit and actually enjoy the process[: You both are great, thank you for this channel!

@CitySteadingBrews

Жыл бұрын

Our pleasure!

Brian, Derica, I love that y’all can share each other’s opinions on stuff that y’all brew. My wife turns her nose up to everything that I brew, but in her defense, she doesn’t like the feel and taste of anything with alcohol. (Or coffee, but that’s a different story). Our closest friends have different tastes than mine as well. I would love to have a friend that I could have tastings with, that would give me honest feedback.

I recently made a blackberry Earl Grey mead that turned out absolutely fantastic and smooth. But it was very weird at first and took a couple months to age into quite a wonderful beverage that my friends love!

The funky dance of love, Derica is so friggin cute!

You used the word!!!!! Penultimate tasing!!!! This made me smile.

@CitySteadingBrews

Жыл бұрын

We use it all the time now in upcoming videos!

I grow Bergamot (Bee Balm), I'm going to give this mead a try. I've made a Lemon Balm mead that was lovely from fresh lemon balm leaf tea, the flavor transfers beautifully into the mead.

I’ve found one alternative to the autosiphon that is very helpful especially if you are a solo brewer. Northern Brewer has a plug in pump that works really well. I don’t think it will work with a bottling wand(I’ve yet to test it yet), but for racking it works very well.

I don't know what was better brians face or derica's yeast speech!

So much fun learning from you guys.😂

You guys are very inspiring. I'm currently brainstorming flavors I want to try for my first mead and fruit wine and I keep coming back to. mango green tea mead, a blue berry lemon with lavender honey, and either a triple berry or triple melon wine with vanilla

@CitySteadingBrews

2 ай бұрын

For your first, please stick to a recipe!

I take SG readings of all of my favorite commercial meads and I found that I prefer them really sweet, like 1.04 to 1.088!!!. The 1.088 is a step-fed Polish Dwojniak while the lower one is a Polish Trojniak and may favorite cysers are 1.046. When I make meads for me alone, and they go dry, I always start with adding 1 pound of honey. But like you said, it's all about what you like.

I make this all the time. I use 16 stash double bergamot earl grey tea bags when I'm doing 5 gallon batches. I also use lemon zest and I still back sweeten. Also, wildflower honey works better for me too.

You two at the end, way off the path, buying grapefruit to make the other grateful... I just love you two. (I also love learning from you and making your stuff. I've got a pineapple habañero mead going right now.) Thank you for being you!

@CitySteadingBrews

10 ай бұрын

Just at the end off the path? We're slipping!

Not sure why this showed up on my feed, but these two are adorable!!!

@CitySteadingBrews

Жыл бұрын

Aww, thanks!

Strar Trek & Star Wars references in the same paragraph? WONDERFULLY BLASPHEMOUS!

Very, very, interesting!

one of my favorite meads I've ever made was an Apple Earl Grey Mead.

I watched this (How to Make Mead From Earl Grey Tea) again today. I'm truly amazed that the segment from 13:58 to 14:20 has not been made into a short. It's classic Derica. Makes me laugh out loud every time. Thanks again guys.

I work in the medical field, I was a nurse tech or CNA for several years, so hearing you guys cracking up over what the color in the sample tube looked like was making me crack up too! Thank you for the laughs and awesome information! This is definitely going to be one of the brews that I try, Earl Grey tea is my absolute favorite. If you guys haven't tried it yet, the most interesting and tasty Earl Grey tea that I have found is a brand called Ahmad Earl Grey. It's a tea based out of London and it has such complex flavor and great floral notes mixed in with the citrus adjacent notes. =]

Sounds good. I did a couple experimental tea wine batches with earl grey tea. One batch had generic red star bread yeast, and the other one had red star cuvée yeast. Both fermented to 1.0. The cuvée yeast wine turned into harsh rocket fuel, which I guess isn't surprising as that yeast isn't know for flavor development. However, the bread yeast wine was delightful with a sweetness that belied its dryness. My one complaint was the wine was too thin on the palette, which your mead should rectify as the honey will provide a better body. I bottled both and it's been over 1 yr, so I should check on the cuvée wine to see if age has mellow it out.

Mom had a set of grapfruit spoons which add a light serrated edge on one edge

The list of the rating numbers for each brew will be very helpful. Thanks.

@CitySteadingBrews

9 ай бұрын

It's on our website. The score card. city-steading.com

You beat me to this project. I am going to do this for my wife later this year.

Hey your grapefruit experience I know all too well. It wasnt until I was about 50 that I learned of pink grapefruit. A completely different beast. Your Kilju video got me too thinking. After it is done fermenting I want to add a pumpkin pie coffee flavoring to one and a peppermint to the other. Wish me luck. One is sugar free the pumpkin pie is not. Hopefully they will be ready for Christmas.

I made a 1 gallon tea mead about 2 years ago for a friend and I found that after primary the package instructions just weren’t strong enough and most of the flavor blew off. So at the start of secondary I added probably (guessing) 40 small bags while sitting the fermenter over a AC floor vent, trying to cold brew the tea. Long story short, after some lemon additions later, turned out amazing.

A little trick I learned while studying chem, is that you can prevent dripping by placing the edge of one container against the edge of the other.

@CitySteadingBrews

Ай бұрын

True!

As an Oregonian, I appreciate your advertising Stash, which is headquartered in Tigard, Oregon.

May you 2 continue putting out vids for my enjoyment. I just need to shut my typing finger up and go to bed.

Stash is what started it all for me and I've been an avid tea drinker for nearly 30 years since then. You guys should check out Mei Leaf's post-fermented and aged lines of tea. Childhood food trauma! My babysitter used to frequently serve canned pea soup and it'd stink the whole house, and I wasn't authorized to leave the table for the rest of the afternoon until I made a concerted effort to eat it, sometimes not earning the final approval until my mother picked me up. I'd have to sit in the pea soup stench for 3 hours and now anytime I smell canned peas or pea soup I get nauseous. I was 4 so I didn't know the nose-plugging trick.

Another great video guys! Oh, Brian, I figured out why the cups and pitchers make a mess on you; you're pouring too fast. After multiple changes in pitchers and cups because of the messes I was making, I happened to slow pour, one day, and it stopped the spills. Even the items that were making messes no longer do. I have no idea why. In my mind, the spout lip should direct liquid out and not down the side of the pitcher/cup. Truth be told; I don't have patience for the slow pour, but I do the best I can.

I am not into making alcohol but I enjoy watching you guys do your thing. But after watching a few of your video's now I am kind of curious in trying to make myself a batch.

You've mentioned about the questions of "what kind of tea should I use?" before, but I've got a couple of interesting questions for you (at least I hope they're interesting). I moved to China nearly 8 years ago, and right before I moved, my cousin was getting into making mead. It slipped my mind until I came across your channel recently. I've looked into doing it a little bit - mostly along the lines of how and where to get various supplies (heck, I don't even know if it's legal to make your own alcohol, but I'm nowhere near that point, yet). It's a bit difficult, though, since my Chinese, although better than the average foreigner, is still not amazing. On Taobao (the equivalent of Amazon in China), I found a nice wild honey from the province I live in (Shaanxi), which I want to use. However, they offer basic wild honey and two-year old honey from more mature hives. Does this make a difference? I just figured I'd go for the basic stuff, but if it's recommended to go for the other stuff, what's the difference? I also saw a black honey from Yunnan province for sale. It was more expensive, and supposedly had medicinal properties, but it is naturally black. I would never use that for my first mead, but have you ever used a honey like that before? I've tried to look into it a little bit, and there are black honeys from other countries as well. What's the most interesting/strange honey you've ever used, and would you be willing to do a video making (and tasting) mead(s) made from "odd" honeys? I know that you usually do wildflower or orange blossom honey (at least, based on the selection of videos I've watched so far), but it might be fun to experiment with some of the less common ones. Finally, would you be interested in making a "Chinese mead"? I was thinking about it, taking the whole spices that go into Chinese Five Spice (such as thick-bark cinnamon, star anise, cloves, fennel seeds, and Sichuan pepper corns), but I wouldn't know where to start. Again, I would never do such a thing for my first mead, anyways. I just thought that maybe you'd be intrigued enough to give it a try. I love the content, by the way, and I'm excited to do more research into making my own here in China!

Sous vide works well to de-crystallize honey. We are bee keepers and in order to be considered “raw”, we have to keep the honey cooler than the hottest day in our area the previous year.

@kjdevault

Жыл бұрын

Wow! Kudos for your work, and that is really an interesting guideline on the temp range. Thanks for sharing!!

I made wine with every teabag you can think of LOL . Herbal wildberry singer, blueberry raspberry tea, dandelion tea, ginger lemon tea, apple cinnamon tea bags. They all came out great just add nutrients

From gardening I know soaking green leaves for a few week will extract some of the nitrogen into the water. Not sure if the hot water would extract a significant amount from tea leaves in the time you have it in there but maybe it does speed up extraction.

Since we started degassing our musk, we have seen below 1.000 fermentations. So….. we degas every day for the first four days, we feed nutrient every two days for six days. Works great!

Overcooked and dry liver was the bane of my childhood school meals.

Make it so number One.

You explained in the terms that I understand whys

@mmcgartland2095

29 күн бұрын

Rather than just doing recipes

@CitySteadingBrews

29 күн бұрын

We aim to teach how to make your own, not just replicate ours 😊

Hey guys. Wanted to thank you for all I've learned through your work. I just finished my first brew, which was a metheglin (about 2 months). I did primary with just Champagne yeast, yeast hulls and my own wildflower honey. Added tea, raisins, orange peel, spices (cinnamon, clove, allspice) and yellow hibiscus infusion during conditioning. Also back-sweetened it to 1.008 final gravity. Turned out amazing, including clarity. Citrus flavor very strong but wonderful. Bottled it for my 52nd birthday, feeling happy ; ). Thanks, your videos are outstanding.

@eddavanleemputten9232

Жыл бұрын

Welcome to the wonderfully addictive world of making your own wines, meads and ciders. You’ll never run out of recipes and ideas to try. From now on you will start thinking “how will that ferment?” with just about any fruit source or sugar source you encounter. The sound of an airlock softly blub-blub-blubbing away will be music to your ears and you will start collecting empty bottles to put your finished brews in. Chances are, friends and family are going to start looking forward to your creations and will start thinking up reasons to be given a bottle. You might start getting requests for your more popular creations as well. This is the kind of hobby that keeps on giving. Happy brewing!

@ajtrcbecg

Жыл бұрын

@@eddavanleemputten9232 Thank you Edda!

@mikemuzzell5167

Жыл бұрын

Happy belated birthday fella.

I just shovel crystalized honey into the fermenter and don't worry about how well it mixes during the aeration shake.

Honestly, I don't care how many times I have to see someone racking a jug of wine. It is kind of oddly satisfying to watch. I wouldn't mind seeing a sped up version of it every video.

@CitySteadingBrews

9 ай бұрын

We usually leave it out but do have a full video explaining how to do it.

Love how you guys work so well together. I have learned so much and laughed along the way. ❤

@CitySteadingBrews

Жыл бұрын

Thank you!

Never had Earl Gray tea, but saw this video and went and bought some. I was watching the video again and taking notes and figured I’d go open a pack and smell it. Wow!!! 😮 the amazing smell is lingering on my tongue. Can’t wait to make this one. I’ll let ya know how it turns out in 4-6 months. Thank y’all for everything and your pointers.

@CitySteadingBrews

3 ай бұрын

Happy to help!

@KoalaPondue

23 күн бұрын

How's it looking

13% is fine. When I want a high ABV I either start off between 1.090-1.100 then step feed , or fortify with a splash of Everclear.

When my wife and I made our experimental earl Grey mead. We used no extra water. We brewed 1 gallon of tea. Zest of lemon and cream of coconut. It turned out amazing. Step fed slowly to our perfect sweetness.

@CitySteadingBrews

8 ай бұрын

You used the same amount of water we did :)

4 Days till our favorite Earl Grey drinker is back in his element.

@VinceUK

Жыл бұрын

I was going to make a similar comment..... Counting the days

As a kid I felt grapefruit was way to sour but I loved lemons and limes. I don't know why I didn't like grapefruit but like Brian I still can't eat them. I have tried a palmmellow and found it tasted a little like grapefruit but not as bad. But I can't eat them either.

I’ve been brewing kombucha for a long time, and squeezing the bag is frowned upon. That being said!!… I squeeze mine 😃 I brew my tea exactly how I like to drink it, and when I drink my tea I squeeze the bag. Instead of steeping for 15 minutes, I steep for no more than five and squeeze those suckers out! Either way works, I just like getting all the good stuff out and I’ve tried it both ways. The flavour seems nicer overall when I don’t over extract the tea

You should make a mead with Celestial Seasonings Red Zinger tea (lots of rose hips)

Pasteurizing can and does speed age meads, it is a crazy effect of it. High temp messes with flavors but low temp like you do seems to age it. it is more noticeable when done in bulk and that part I am not sure as to why yet. I do 3-6 gallons in bulk and have noticed it is different than in bottles alone. Totally makes some brews super drinkable quickly. Way cool and I will take it haha.

@Satobob

Жыл бұрын

Just a guess, but I think by pasturizing your mead you are getting some of the nastier by products of fermentation to cook off. Methanol chief amongst them. In distillation terms, the foreshots.

@CitySteadingBrews

Жыл бұрын

A minute amount really.

@yourmetalgod69

Жыл бұрын

@@Satobob I am sure that's part of it. But in my two tests I found it kinda gives it that two months in bulk effect, or just removed the rough edges a little. How much is done seems to be what the brew is as well. Melomels get better than spiced from it. But those are the only 2 I have tested with and a/b comparison. I know there is a scientific reason but it's not really a thing I care about. I did the tests just so I knew what the difference was in my own meads

I used clover Honey in mine beg gravity 1.080 and lalvin D47 yeast

Hurray!!! The TURBOS theme is back!

DERICA!!! I Think U and I are Soul Mates. I use Movie Lines TOO😂😂😂❤

I’m doing a similar using Chamomile and orange. A glass before bed would knock me right out.

Picard @6:00 mark! True story: every morning @ work I would go get tea. One day they were out of "regular" black tea, so being a Star Trek fan, I tried the Earl Grey. It's been 20+ years, and I've never gone back! Current favorite is Bigelow Earl Grey Green Tea.

Plum Deluxe sells a tea tin for Early Grey with a Star Trek inspiration. It says "Earl Grey, Hot" on it lol; I have it.

if you're on an incredibly tight budget, start the syphon with your turkey baster. several ft of food grade tubing is a few bucks at a hardware store, and you need a turkey baster anyway.

This is fascinating. Wondering if during conditioning if there is some malic acid to lactic acid conversion giving the creamy milk flavors. Keep brewin!

@CitySteadingBrews

8 ай бұрын

Doubtful. Normally has to be induced.

I also can't STAND grapefruit in any way, shape, or form, but I also LOVE Earl Grey. I wonder how Picard would feel...

City Steading!! I’d REALLY appreciate some advice. I saw your Rooibos vid after I’d bought some to make a mead. Coincidence. Then I saw yours stalled and I wanted to get to around 15%. To overcome the potential antibiotic of rooibos I did a mix of 6 rooibos and 6 black teabags. 3.5lb of Aldi honey. Came out to original gravity of 1.120. I used bulldog mead yeast that includes nutrients, and I added hulls for good measure. The fermentation was extremely successful. In just 10 days the gravity is 1.000 and it has a young, but complex semi-sec flavour. I’ve racked it off the raisins purely by chance because I discovered there was a hairline crack in the carboy. So it’s all by luck / unlucky chance that I’ve found out the taste is great and the ABV is %16. I don’t want it any higher. Should I let it calm down and give it a week after racking off the cracked fermenter? Or after only 10 days to prevent going lower than 1.000 would pasteurisation be a plan?

@CitySteadingBrews

8 ай бұрын

I would rack off the broken fermenter.

ST: TNG ST: VOY (Neelix once ordered a "bergamot tea") Star Wars Toy Story That rose odor/flavor might come from fermented citrus. I've noticed that spoiled lime peel smells/tastes like roses. I suspect you could have used 8 tea bags rather than 16 because one tea bag really makes 2 cups of tea. And then it would be less astringent. I love grapefruit. We used to do that half-grapefruit-with-sugar thing when I was a kid, but now, I just peel and eat.

I'm new to your videos, love the plain concise instructions and explanations. I'm looking to take this up as a hobby. This has me wondering have you made a cinnamon tea based mead?

@CitySteadingBrews

Жыл бұрын

Nope. But we have made several with cinnamon as an ingredient.

@ogm19881

11 ай бұрын

​@@CitySteadingBrews Another question here, just popped into my head while drinking green tea. How does a lemon zest, green tea mead sound? Do those ingredients seem like they would meld well together? Perhaps it may be a disaster or the next 9.5 😅.

@CitySteadingBrews

11 ай бұрын

@ogm19881 sure, could work.

I've heard of the Ryker maneuver, but is this what they call the Picard maneuver? ☕

I find a lot of non-alcohol beers have a grapefruit taste to them. I wonder what they're using. Probably grapefruits? For me I eat grapefruits peeled like oranges. Yum.

Bergamot is also known as bitter orange it is what was used to hybrid the oranges we have today.

@TheExalaber

Жыл бұрын

No, Bergamot is a hybrid between Bitter Orange and Lemon. Bitter Orange and Sweet Orange are both hybrids of Pomelo and Mandarin Orange. Lemon is a hybrid of Bitter Orange and Citron. Mandarin Orange, Citron, and Pomelo are all ancestral citrus fruits.

@ArchaicAnglist

Жыл бұрын

​@@TheExalaberThanks for this. Now I wonder how close one could get to a betgamot flavor by soaking a mix of dried bitter orange and lemon peels in neutral spirits.

I've done a couple of Earl Grey hydromels and I feel like they need a bit of age to taste good.

My childhood food trauma is more of a childhood drink trauma. I’ve never liked overly sweet things. When I was four years old I had to be hospitalised for eye surgery and spent a few days post-op with bandaged eyes in an unfamiliar place with Mom only allowed to visit me for a few minutes a day. The nurses were very big on everyone: Finishing their food and drinks FAST Finishing everything they were being served Kids doing as much as possible all by themselves. Strike one: being told off as I wasn’t done when all the kids had finished their meal. I was struggling to find my cup and plate, let alone whatever was on there. I was given hot chocolate to drink and the nurse put so much chocolate powder in there it was like drinking liquid sugar. To add insult to injury, it had cooled and she proceeded to stir in the skin that had formed. She dunked my sandwich in the chocolate milk to make it easier to eat and soften the crusts (I happened to like crusts and hate soggy bread). Now I was left with sickly sweet liquid-with-snotlike -fragments to drink. That stuff came right back to sender which did not amuse the nurse. At age 53 I still hate overly sweet chocolate milk, am paranoid about anything floating around in it and never, EVER dunk anything in a hot beverage. Makes my skin crawl. I will try to sit next to people doing it instead of sitting across from them just to avoid having to see them dunk and slobber. Throughout the day we had to drink a minimum of fluids. A firm believer of “all kids like it sweet” the nurse poured just about double the recommended amount of grenadine syrup in our water. All kids loved her for it. I hated it. To this day I still can’t abide grenadine syrup in anything.

We make our own joghurt, and if we have crystallized honey, we always put it in with the joghurt. 6 hours at 40°C and it is decrystallized.

43:55 finding the oars and i’ll be on my way 😄 It does sound rather good. How does it compare to your Rooibos Mead?

@CitySteadingBrews

Жыл бұрын

lol. Its a bit better imo.

I am now going to sing, "Bow Chicka Bow Bow" every time I pitch my yeast! 😂😂

@CitySteadingBrews

9 ай бұрын

Ha!

Saw an interview with Patrick Stewart a long time ago that in the original script for the pilot Jean luc Picard favorite tea was Lapsang Souchong a pine smoked black tea from China, but the producers changed it to earl grey so the tea that was more recognizable and easier to say.

@julietardos5044

Жыл бұрын

CS made a lapsang souchong mead. Worf's mother ordered a lapsang souchong tea in Ten Forward, so they did keep the idea.

Where did you guys get the double walled glassware? Really like the look of thoes

@CitySteadingBrews

9 ай бұрын

They were gifts.

The “creaminess” could be the lactic acid from the secondary fermentation 😊

@yourmetalgod69

Жыл бұрын

there wasn't a secondary and there was nothing to add lactose

@CitySteadingBrews

Жыл бұрын

You’re thinking f malolactic fermentation. That needs a malic acid source.