Mead Lovers Digest #0021

Published in

· 7 months ago

 

Mead Lover's Digest #21                     Mon 19 October 1992 

 
        Forum for Discussion of Mead Brewing and Consuming 
               John Dilley, Digest Coordinator 

 
Contents: 
  Suggestions on good brewing books, root beer? (Christina Callihan) 
  Re: Maple Sap Mead (Arthur Delano) 

 
Send articles for submission to the digest to mead-lovers@nsa.hp.com 
Send digest addition or removal requests to mead-lovers-request@nsa.hp.com 

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Date: Sun, 18 Oct 92 10:55:17 PDT 
From: Christina Callihan <c-chan@mcl.mcl.ucsb.edu> 
Subject: Suggestions on good brewing books, root beer? 

Hello, all!  I have my very first batch of mead in primary right now (my 
very first batch of of brewing _anything_, in fact :), and I would like 
to learn a bit more about the equipment, procedures, terminology, etc. Can 
anyone out there recommend some top-notch homebrewing books, especially 
those focusing on mead?  Author and title would probably do, but if you 
can include publisher and ISBN number as well, that would be great! 

Thanks loads, 

Christina Callihan    (c-chan@mcl.mcl.ucsb.edu) 
When life gets weird, the weird get a life. 

 
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Date: Sun, 18 Oct 92 15:14:43 EDT 
From: Arthur Delano <ajd@oit.itd.umich.edu> 
Subject: Re: Maple Sap Mead 

 
"Rick (R.) Cavasin" <cav@bnr.ca> speculates on using maple sap: 
]Regarding maple wines, I've always wondered 
]if a more optimal approach would be to obtain the raw maple 
]sap and use it undiluted as opposed to taking maple syrup 
]and diluting it. 

The catch is that commercial maple syrup is usually boiled until it is 
1/40 its original volume, and John Gorman's recipe thins the syrup 
to 3 times the reduced volume (roughly).  That means the sap from the  
tree would still have to be reduced by 13 1/3.  For five gallons of  
maple mead, you would have to get 67 gallons of tree sap.  Maple sap  
does not keep well, because it molds easily and has a high pectin  
content.  If B grade maple syrup is accessible and cheap, the  
convenience would outweigh the savings. 

On the other hand, if there are farmer's markets in your area, it might  
be worth asking somebody who makes maple syrup if you can buy the tree  
sap. 

The source of this info is _Wines and Beers of Old New England_, where  
the author notes that maple mead was made from sap boiled to 1/10, and  
beer was made from sap boiled to 1/2 and combined with malt wort.  There  
is also information on how to collect and boil the sap. 

AjD 

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End of Mead Lover's Digest 
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