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Mead Lovers Digest #0026
Mead Lover's Digest #26 Sat 24 October 1992
Forum for Discussion of Mead Brewing and Consuming
John Dilley, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
"A pint's NOT a pound the whole world round!" ("Jim N. Deakin")
racking agents reprise (loc)
1st batch (jimf)
Wassail? (Chuck Coronella)
Mead and Belgian: next time... (Scott James.)
re: maple sap mead (eurquhar)
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: 23 Oct 92 10:26:07 GMT
From: "Jim N. Deakin" <J.Deakin@sheffield-city-poly.ac.uk>
Subject: "A pint's NOT a pound the whole world round!"
In the latest Mead-Lover's Digest, John Gorman said;
> According to Dick (Dunn), honey weighs 12 lb/gal and water weights 8.3
> lb/gal.
> (This amazed me: I believed that "A pint's a pound the world 'round.")
> Therefore the specific gravity of honey is: ....
I recently had a problem understanding Chris Campanelli's Beer Recipe
Formulator program's figures that came down to this.
In the UK the Imperial gallon is used, this is 1.20095 US gallons
(according to the card in front of me), and we have a 20 fl oz pint. If any
of you brewers over there in the colonies try using recipes from British
publications, it might be worth remembering!
Happy brewing,
.........................................................................
From: Jim Deakin, |
33 Honeywell Street, | Magicien was noon That koude expounde
Barnsley, | what this lettre mente. -Chaucer.
S. Yorks. |
S71 1PU |
England. |
.........................................................................
Email on:
JANET : J.DEAKIN@uk.ac.scp
INTERNET or UUCP : J.DEAKIN%scp.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk
.........................................................................
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 23 Oct 92 08:07:26 EDT
From: loc@bostech.com
Subject: racking agents reprise
>>John Gorman asks:
>>Which products did you try?
I only use Bentonite, I'm not fond of fish parts in my mead
or the use of plastics.
>>What is it made of?
It is a type of clay that uses charge to floculate sediment
out of the mead or wine.
>>When did you rack and add them?
The final racking of the mead happens after all fermentation
has stopped and sat for at least a week. This allows natural
sedimentation to occur. Then when racking I add the Bentonite
mixture and let it do its thing.
>>Just after fermentation ceased?
see above
>>How did they work?
Works great. The mead comes out extremely clear.
>>How long did it take?
10 days
>>Any aftertaste?
No.
>>Ever try chilling the mead as a clarifying method?
Yes, and it works fine if I'm having trouble with
a batch. I use this methos if the bottles cloud
up for some reason. This has only happened once
and I'm still trying to figure out why the bottles
clouded up.
hope this helps
- -----------------------------------------------------------
Roger Locniskar Boston Technology Inc.
<loc@bostech.com> Wakefield, MA 01880
- -----------------------------------------------------------
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Date: Fri, 23 Oct 92 10:09 CDT
From: jimf@iwtdr.att.com
Subject: 1st batch
My first batch is fermenting happily. I used the basic lavender mead recipe
posted by Leigh Ann Hussey but used a little less honey (3 lbs or so -
don't want it very sweet), a little less lavender (just had a couple of
good handfuls growing in the yard), acid blend instead of citric acid
(didn't have any citric acid), and I added about a dozen rose hips I found
in the yard. For honey, I used mostly clover/wildflower honey with about
3/4 pound of lavender honey I had from France.
It has a most interesting smell, pleasant but pungent. I'm wondering now if I
should have used less than 1/4 tsp acid blend since the rose hips are loaded
with vit. C (ascorbic acid). I plan to adjust the sweetness before bottling.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 23 Oct 92 10:22 MTS
From: Chuck Coronella <CORONELLRJDS@CHE.UTAH.EDU>
Subject: Wassail?
Greetings
A quick question:
What is the meaning of the term "Wassail"? How is it related to mead, and
what's its origin?
Just a dumb engineer,
Chuck
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 23 Oct 92 09:56:20 MDT
From: scojam@scojam.Auto-trol.COM (Scott James.)
Subject: Mead and Belgian: next time...
Mark Everson is the owner/operator of the wine & hop shop in Denver and
has experimented mostly with meads. He tells me the acid blend and nutrients
aren't necessary (Where did the Vikings buy their supplies?). But we all
know the importance of giving the yeast a happy home to do its work.
Next time I would like to make the following changes:
* use ascorbic acid (Vit. C). This would lower pH -> happy yeast.
what effect does this have on oxidation, again?
* Use yeast nutrient. I guess it's not necessary, but I think it would
only help!
* Use a starter of at least 1 quart. (for a 5 gallon batch).
I currently use an immersion chiller to cool boiled mead to ~80F. I then
siphon into the carboy allowing it to splash and absorb lots of O2. Mark
told me he thought one of the most components of making a mead is oxidation-
too many times, people don't do this and the yeast suffocates.
After that 48 hr. lag, (never really got a hi kreusen) those small bubbles
keep telling me all is well. I never got the banana aroma though (darn)
but maybe that's because of the slow start, OG 1.052, or 65F ferment temp.
Oh well. Live, learn and brew...
- --=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--
Scott James scojam@Auto-Trol.COM
Ham (N0LHX) -:- Guitarist Auto-Trol Technology
HomeBrewer - Student Pilot Denver, Colorado USA
- --=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 23 Oct 1992 11:19:43 -0800
From: eurquhar@sfu.ca
Subject: re: maple sap mead
Maple sap mead is an interesting idea but likely unworkable.
Maple sap mead would likely be very low in alcohol due to the low
percentage of fermentables and very low in flavour. The reason being that
the wonderful maple flavour is created by caramelization reactions between
the proteins and sugars in the sap during boiling. Maple syrup produced by
reverse osmosis (water removed by a specialized filtration process) has no
more flavour than white cane sugar syrup.
Eric Urquhart (eurquhar@sfu.ca)
Centre for Pest Management, Dept. of Biological Sciences
Simon Fraser University, Burnaby , B.C. Canada
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End of Mead Lover's Digest
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