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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 15th, 2023

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  • So i don’t know what kit you have or what it came with but here’s everything I would use:

    Equipment:

    • Star San (make sure everything is sanitized, also don’t rinse this stuff out – “don’t fear the foam”)
    • Airlock (and bung)
    • Fermenter (I like big mouth bubblers, but your kit should have come with something)
    • A spoon

    Ingredients:

    • Honey (I do 3lbs per gal)
    • Water (I use store bought water, because I’m paranoid lol)
    • If you’re using fresh fruit, pectic enzyme (this helps break down haze in the mead from the fruit)
    • Fermaid-O (this is the nutrients)
    • Wine Tanin (optional, for aging)
    • Yeast (you can get some cheap yeast on Amazon – I used Red Star “Cote Des Blancs” for my strawberry mead, but your kit probably came with this)

    Watch some YouTube videos to get a feel for the process. I enjoy City Stead Brewing, they have tons of recipes and helpful tips. Also, if you’re gonna bottle and stuff you’ll need wine bottles, a siphon and bottling wand, corks, and a corker. You can bottle in swing-top bottles, but I haven’t had good luck with those (apparently they’re not great for long term storage >.>)

    Like i said though, for your first mead it’s probably best to KISS. I appreciate being able to get a feel for the process and then experimenting later on. I’ve only made two meads, but have made wine and a LOT of beer in the past – so if you have more questions just lmk!


  • 👋 fellow homebrewer (do we have a homebrew community here yet?)

    My advice: your first mead is probably gonna be more of a learning experience. Go to costco and buy a big bottle of honey (3lbs), mix it with a gallon of water, and some nutrients.

    Most cost effective way to try it out without blowing a ton of money. My first mead was terrible, and i spent a ton of money on good local honey.

    My second mead i spent even more on better honey and strawberries, to apply everything i learned. Came out amazing





  • TBH, from a privacy perspective you’re probably already pretty set – if you wanted to be more cautious you could use disk encryption, ensure that things are a bit locked down (ssh key only auth, firewalls, or find a guide on hardening like this for ex). In terms of your UI, it really depends on what you’re looking for, personally I find GNOME to be the best looking when compared to ease of use but when i made my first switch I started on i3 (but that would be Sway these days for Wayland) and never looked back.

    My advice would be to get familiar with Linux as a whole first and then start tweaking things like your UI. It can be overwhelming to get used to the terminal commands (which btw are not necessary but I would heavily recommend as it can make things a LOT easier) and other weird Linux things (software installation, gaming, customization, etc)