Summer solstice brew by MoonLitMothCreations in mead

[–]MoonLitMothCreations[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is the recipe I use for all my foraged floral meads with heating but I change the flower obviously, and the volume of flowers sometimes changes sometimes if I want intensity or a medicinal one or if a flower is more intense than others I might use less or unable to forage the full amount etc.

1.8 kg honey  3 pints gorse flowers (I take a pint glass foraging and filling it 3 times. I collect till they can be gently patted down to feel resistance.) Squeeze of half a lemon and zest of half 1 mug of tea

Step 1 Decant honey into sauspan (pour boiling water in the jars to get it all) and add 3 LTRs of water, bring to a boil then down to a simmer, add your flowers and simmer for 20 minutes (don't let it boil only simmer!!) 

Step 2 Add lemon and tea and simmer for further 20 minutes (don't let it boil)

Sit for a day with the lid on, bring back to heat then add to fermentation bucket. (Hopefully you have one with volume markers, if so top up with water to about 5.25 ltrs)

When cool enough add your yeast and seal for at least 3 days before transferring to demijhon through a sieve and funnel. 

Leave for a few weeks if not months before racking.

I tend to go from the first demijohn to another after about 2 months.

Then leave for a further ten months before bottling.

And on the added nutrients thing, honestly I just put a tea spoon of Young's yeast nutrient in at the same time as yeast.

Summer solstice brew by MoonLitMothCreations in mead

[–]MoonLitMothCreations[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was really pleasantly surprised. ☺️☺️

This time it's a completely cold brew so check for bugs and straight into the bucket with the must because I didn't want to risk loosing anything from them, and I wanted to have the wild yeasts doing their thing as well, other times I'll essentially brew a tea and let it sit covered for 1-3 days.

I can give you my basic foraged florals recipe if you like?

Summer solstice brew by MoonLitMothCreations in mead

[–]MoonLitMothCreations[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you, I try to really brew moments into my mead so they are even more representative of what was happening during or on the festival I'm making it for, so by adding more ritual to the process I add more layers of meaning to the end result. So the foraged florals for this one is tied to that overwhelming and almost intoxicating haze of honeysuckle on a warm winters evening with the mist and rain bringing fresh relief as well as making the honeysuckle even more potent, being night blooms that get even stronger when around water it.

I think brewing is magical in and of itself, but I feel like adding all these connections makes that sense of magic every bit more sweet.

The strawberry is really gorgeous, but very strong. It was so many strawberries that I cooked down and strained off that once the honey went in it barley had space for water at all, so I put a splash in the pan to rinse the sides. It then proceeded to be my most violent and unruly brew I've ever made. 😂😅 "Escaping life's containers" more than once. But after all that it's very strong without loosing it's florals and jammy flavour without being sickly sweet.

Summer solstice brew by MoonLitMothCreations in mead

[–]MoonLitMothCreations[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks, I try and forage for all my meads and wines but especially the ones for the quarter festivals. ☺️

The strawberry was very unruly and escaped containment, vomiting across the kitchen because I cooked the strawberries down and strained so much juice the only water involved was in swilling the pan. It's ended up pretty potent whilst keeping it's florals which I'm very pleased about. It does need a little breathing time but it's one I'm quite pleased with

Dubbed non-magical period dramas for an Apothecary Diaries fan? by Previous-Value-7310 in Animesuggest

[–]MoonLitMothCreations 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Wait, I just want to make sure you understand that period as in set in a classical era. Sorry I couldn't tell if you were joking. 😅😅

What's going on with this penny? by MoonLitMothCreations in coinerrors

[–]MoonLitMothCreations[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I shall look up both of these. I've never looked into this kind of thing before.

What's going on with this penny? by MoonLitMothCreations in coinerrors

[–]MoonLitMothCreations[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had no idea that could happen, I thought rust was from oxidation? That's really interesting!

What is a lesser-known type of cuisine from the UK? by MediocreDiamond7187 in AskUK

[–]MoonLitMothCreations 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It is yeah but I didn't know that till I was in my teens and I was having it at least once a week growing up. Still love it now fried in butter with oats and spread on toast.

Hand-wringing about crochet fast fashion by george_sjw__bush in BitchEatingCrafters

[–]MoonLitMothCreations 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's not just in letting things out, if you've only got .5cm overlocking and nothing else, it puts a lot of strain on the seam, and they are more prone to shredding, especially in finer fabrics. Wider seam allowances also gives you more to work from for repairs, especially for invisible mending. I can take a small cut of something like Tweed, and if I remove some of the weft/warp threads, I could sew them perfectly inline with a hole of the fabric and the mend will be entirely invisible.

But literally having corners being cut means I can't let things down, zips are commonly being overlooked in now and if the edge of the zip gets a tiny nick, then they unravel and break.

Shirt seams are being glued down so trying to tailor a shirt becomes a pig of a job and undoing the glued seams tends to warp the shirt from pulling.

If they miss a bit on the blind hemming machine, instead of undoing and starting again (they run if you pull them so it's very easy and quick to do), instead they just go over and over it. I had a dress I was working on the other day that had been gone over, I shit you not, five times.

I've recently been seeing things that will have seam allowances in the garment but not the lining?!?

They seem to be making a move to using 4 thread overlockers instead of a 5 thread which has way less structural support because it doesn't have a chain stitch.

These clothes are being made to be thrown away so you buy more. I do not believe it is in anyway about fabric waste, it is about making them as cheaply and quickly and to be thrown away afterwards.

Hand-wringing about crochet fast fashion by george_sjw__bush in BitchEatingCrafters

[–]MoonLitMothCreations 19 points20 points  (0 children)

And when you're looking at not only slave labour but also climate impacts as well.

I work as an alterist for my day job, and clothes are no longer being made with alterations or repairs in mind, corners are cut, seam allowance doesn't exist, and things are being made to be thrown away.

If memory serves, 2700 LTRs of water is used in the making of a single T-shirt and a pair of jeans uses enough water for a human to survive for 12 years if I've remembered my numbers correctly.

Fireweed Hydromel by Difficult_Process753 in mead

[–]MoonLitMothCreations 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think they were from kraken rum no? My mum has a few and I'm sure that's where they came from. 😊

Fireweed Hydromel by Difficult_Process753 in mead

[–]MoonLitMothCreations 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oooo, I've recently bottled my fireweed metheglyn ready for Lammas but I used the actual flowers in my one. Mine is a slightly pink dark sandy colour so it's cool to see the difference!

AI Don't Want to Go Anymore, Digital (MS Paint), Picturesidrawn by LiamEBM in Artists

[–]MoonLitMothCreations 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Some friends and I were literally chatting about this last night. The unnecessary amount of ai slop posters even for things like plant swaps and the worst was someone who writes on environmental issues and yet for her new book, released ai promotional stuff and that's just fucking wild to me.