Mead Lovers Digest #0129

eZine lover (@eZine)

Published in 

Mead Lovers Digest

 · 7 months ago

 

Mead Lover's Digest #129                            Thu 13 May 1993 

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

 
Contents: 
  Commercial Bottled Mead ("Christian A. Ratliff") 
  Non-alcoholic soft drinks (Tom Brady) 
  Predicting starting gravity of musts  (R.) Cavasin" <cav@bnr.ca> 
  Yeast Flocculation (Rick Myers) 

 
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Date: Wed, 12 May 1993 08:39:53 -0400 
From: "Christian A. Ratliff" <ratlifc@ctron.com> 
Subject: Commercial Bottled Mead 

 
  Where can I find commercial, bottled mead in New England, preferably 
north of Portsmouth? I know far to many brewers now who have tried to 
make meads and not liked what came out. I would like to be able to 
show them the flavour of a good mead. 

thanks, 
christian 
- --------- 
Christian Ratliff                        Cabletron Systems, Inc. 
EDGE System Developer                    Rochester, NH 03867 
ratlifc@ctron.com  <NeXTmail OK>         Work: (603) 337-1209 
"I'm a NeXTSTEP man; I'm an SGI guy."    Home: (207) 780-NeXT 
Nobody at Cabletron knows, approves of, or recalls my opinions. 

 
------------------------------ 

Date:         Wed, 12 May 93 09:26:56 EDT 
From: Tom Brady <BRADY@VTVM1.CC.VT.EDU> 
Subject:      Non-alcoholic soft drinks 

Hello all! 
A friend of mine, a non-drinker, is interested in making some non- or low- 
alcohol beverages. He has tried a few from Digbie's recipes, but is looking 
for other recipes or sources. So far he's tried a weak honey drink (bleah), 
a currant-wine (quite good!) and a sugar-fruit concoction whose name escapes 
me. Any and all ideas would be welcome. 
Thanks, 
Tom 
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
Tom Brady                           The Tour du Pont passes through Blacksburg 
Department of Chemical Engineering  on Friday, May 14. Watch it and see the 
Virginia Tech                       town and lovely SW Virginia on ESPN at 
Blacksburg, VA (USA)                6:30 PM (EST). 

------------------------------ 

Date:  Wed, 12 May 1993 10:15:00 +0000  
From: "Rick (R.) Cavasin" <cav@bnr.ca> 
Subject:  Predicting starting gravity of musts  

 
RE: how to figure out how much honey to use: 

I picked up this rule of thumb some time ago (from the mead digest?) and 
have been using it.  While not exact (due to varying moisture content of 
the honey), it gets you in the ball park. 

        X*(1.0) + Y*(1.45) 
   TG = ------------------ 
              TV 

   TV = X + Y 

where:   TG = target starting gravity of your must 
         TV = target volume of your must 
         X = volume of water 
         Y = volume of honey 

So lets say we want 10 litres (volume measure used is irrelevant so long 
as you use the same one throughout) of must at S.G. = 1.12, you have two 
equations in two unknowns, the solution of which is left as an exercise 
for the reader. 

You can modify the equation to include fruit juice: 
Lets say we want to include 2 litres of strawberry juice (SG = 1.03) 
in the above recipe: 

          X*(1.0) + Y*(1.45) + 2*(1.03) 
 1.12 = ------------------------------ 
               10 

   10 = 2 + X + Y 

Straightforward right?  If absolute accuracy in the starting gravity is 
desired, you can always adjust it after boiling or whatever by adding 
some water or honey. 
Hmmm, does the specific gravity of honey being about 1.45 mean that 1 
litre of honey weighs about 1.45 kg? 
If so, then you can substitute Z for Y*(1.45) where Z is the mass of the 
honey in Kg.  Measuring the volume of the honey is an extra step I like 
to avoid myself. 
Cheers, Rick C. 

 

------------------------------ 

Date: Wed, 12 May 93 13:47:14 MDT 
From: Rick Myers <rcm@col.hp.com> 
Subject: Yeast Flocculation 

> Subject: Non-settling yeast 
>  
> I have had a batch of mead in bottles for over a year now 
> that is well carbonated, I like 'em that way, but the yeast has 
> refused so settle into a nice cake on the bottom.  It has remained 

It's probably typical of the yeast strain you used - there's probably 
nothing you can do except change to a different kind of yeast.  Some 
are very good flocculators, others (like yours) aren't! 

 
- -- 
Rick Myers    rcm@col.hp.com 
Information Technology Specialist 
Hewlett-Packard 
Network Test Division 
Colorado Springs, CO 

"I don't drink milk.  Milk is for babies.  I drink BEER!!! 
 - Arnold Schwarzenegger 

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End of Mead Lover's Digest 
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