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Mead Lovers Digest #0137
Mead Lover's Digest #137 Sat 22 May 1993
Forum for Discussion of Mead Brewing and Consuming
John Dilley, Digest Coordinator
Digest Coordinator Special Message:
The digest is going on autopilot again next week. Please be patient
if you see any failures; they'll be fixed when I return.
Contents:
Jasmine tea in meads, almond mead, correction (David Hinz)
Shaking, Polyclar, spices (/O=vmspfhou/S=dblewis/DD.SITE=JSCPROFS/)
Sparkaloid (Bob Mcdonald)
Unable to deliver. Please t ("MAILGW")
non-clearing mead (David Hinz)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #135 (May 20, 1993) (perreaul)
mead w/red star... (Mike McCabe)
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 21 May 93 09:33:03 CDT
From: hinz@memphis.med.ge.com (David Hinz)
Subject: Jasmine tea in meads, almond mead, correction
Mike McCabe writes:
> Subject: mead w/red star...
>
> I'm about to give it a go - the recipe'll be something like:
>
> apple concentrate appropriate for 5 gallons
> 1 gallon wildflower honey (~11 lbs?)
> 1/2 cup whatever tea I find - (jasmine...)
> cinnamon, cardamom, cloves. (amounts?)
> 2 tsp citric acid
> Red Star champagne yeast
> 5 grams yeast nutrient (claims to contain vitamins and yeast cells)
Mike,
The only suggestion I can make here is to save the Jasmine tea for the end.
On the Homebrew Digest (today, in fact), there's a discussion going on about
spicing beer, and the suggestion was to make a tea from (cinnamon in this
case), and add it to the beer just before bottling, only adding enough until
it tastes right. Otherwise, it's a hit-or-miss proposition, and you could
end up with deodorant-soap flavored mead if you get too much jasmine in it.
Another advantage of doing it just before bottling, I suppose, is that you
won't lose the aromatics which give jasmine it's distinctive flavor/scent.
Anyone ever do an almond flavored beer or mead? I think an almond mead would
be absolutely yummy....any recipes, or hints on how much to add? Extract,
or slivers, or slices? How do I deal with all the oils in almond, would it
have to be a still mead?
Oh...about my post of yesterday. When I say my first mead is still "honey
colored", I also should have said "and opaque", so it's still cloudy. I'm
not expecting it to be clear like glass, just clear so you can see through
it, but it's not getting there.
Of course, it's only been 3 months.....
Dave Hinz
hinz@memphis.med.ge.com
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 21 May 93 07:19 PDT
From: /O=vmspfhou/S=dblewis/DD.SITE=JSCPROFS/@NASAmail.nasa.gov
Subject: Shaking, Polyclar, spices
***************************** PROFS Note *****************************
From: DBLEWIS --VMSPFHOU Date and time 05/21/93 09:19:58
To: POSTMAN --NASAMAIL
FROM: Dennis B. Lewis <dblewis@jscprofs.nasa.gov>
SUBJECT: Shaking, Polyclar, spices
Dave Hinz writes:
"it frothed a bit, but the polyclar settled to the TOP of the mead,
rather than carrying the haze to the bottom as I thought it was
supposed to. So, if I agitate the carboy (slightly!), the top inch or
two gets polyclar into it, it turns white, then the stuff floats back
up to the top."
There is nothing wrong with agitating your fermenting beer/mead in the
carboy. The ferment should produce enough CO2 (heavier than air) to
push all the air out of the airlock. Since there is a blanket of CO2
on your stuff, you don't have to worry ab out oxidation. I think a lot
of us are very afraid (and rightly so) of any splashing or shaking
around, but under the right conditions, you can do it w/o worrying.
A note about Polyclar: The stuff is supposed to drag the tannins out
of the mead/beer/wine. Since you have a nohey-only mead, there aren't
many tannins to begin with (many none!). If you want to settle out the
yeast, use gelatin. It's got the right e lectric charge to attract
yeast (and maybe polyclar).
If you can have a friend with a kegging set up with a filter, borrow
his stuff and filter the polyclar/yeast crud out.
-----------------
Mike McCabe asks about his recipe for cyser. The recipe looks great,
but let me comment about the spices. Go easy on the stronger spices,
like cloves. I tasted a Christmas beer with nutmeg once that tasted
like latex rubber. Use whole spices (cinnamon stick, whole cloves,
etc.) if you have them. They are much easier to remove from the must.
If you are trying for a really dry finish, then there won't be much
sweetness to balance any strong flavored spices. Remember, the key to
ingredient additions is to balance them together. Where 2 tbs of a
spice might be too much for a dry finish, it will get lost in a sweet
finish.
Suggestions for how much spice: maybe six of sticks of cinnamon, two
Tbs of cardamom, a dozen whole cloves, if you must. A little orange
zest might complement the apples. Use two or three packs of Red Star
(make a starter if possible) it sounds like you'll have a bunch of
fermentables to go through. Don't skimp on the yeast nutrient--it's
all they have to grow on.
Dennis B. Lewis * (713) 244-7809 * NASA/JSC/DH6 Payload Ops
Homebrew, The Final Frontier.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 21 May 1993 11:12:00 +22306512 (CDT)
From: remcdona@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu (Bob Mcdonald)
Subject: Sparkaloid
I have also had nothing but fantastic results using sparkaloid to clear meads.
The instructions that I have say to use .5 - 1 teaspoon per gallon and to boil
it in a cup or so of H2O for 10 t0 15 minutes. Add it to the mead while still
hot. (if you are then later going to carbonate your mead, you will need to
re-yeast when you bottle.) In two weeks your mead will be brilliantly clear.
There is another compound called bentonite which is a natural clay which works
well alone or in combination with sparkaloid. I forget the circumstances under
which you use the bentonite but it has to do with what kind of haize you have
(i.e. starch or protein). I have also used sparkoloid for beer with similar
results. I have noticed no problems with taste being altered in any way. I'd
like to try the egg whites sometime if someone has directions.
Bob
------------------------------
Date: 21 May 1993 05:19:29 -0500
From: "MAILGW" <mailgw1@mailgw.surg.med.umich.edu>
Subject: Unable to deliver. Please t
Mail*Link(r) SMTP Mead Lover's Digest #136 (M
Mead Lover's Digest #136 Fri 21 May 1993
Forum for Discussion of Mead Brewing and Consuming
John Dilley, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
non-clearing mead (David Hinz)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #135 (May 20, 1993) (perreaul)
mead w/red star... (Mike McCabe)
Send articles for submission to the digest to mead-lovers@nsa.hp.com
Send digest subscribe, unsubscribe, or any other administrative requests to
mead-lovers-request@nsa.hp.com
NOTE: There is now an MLD FTP archive on sierra.stanford.edu in pub/mead
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 20 May 93 09:03:21 CDT
From: hinz@memphis.med.ge.com (David Hinz)
Subject: non-clearing mead
Gary Partain writes:
- ---
I've seen several notes lately about folks with mead that won't clear.
I've had tremendous luck with some stuff called "Sparkaloid" that you
should be able to get from your local brewing store. Use the recommended
amount in your mead, and within a day or two, the stuff should be crystal
clear. Good luck, and happy fermenting!
- ---
I've got a batch in the fourth secondary (whatever that's called, the
pentiary sounds too much like a prison!)
Anyway, it's still honey colored. It's got 15 lbs of clover honey, and little
else. So, every two weeks or so I rack into another carboy (whenever I bottle
a batch of beer, I sanitize the other 5 gallon carboy I have & rack the
mead off the sediment). now, I keep getting more sediment each time, so it's
obviously getting clearer, but not very quickly!
My OG is down to 1.006, started way WAY up there - couldn't measure accurately
because there was a serious density gradient at the start of fermentation. I'd
guess 1.150 or more. I bought some Polyclar (that plastic powder
stuff), added the two tablespoons or whatever it reccomends on the label,
it frothed a bit, but the polyclar settled to the TOP of the mead, rather
than carrying the haze to the bottom as I thought it was supposed to. So, if
I agitate the carboy (slightly!), the top inch or two gets polyclar into
it, it turns white, then the stuff floats back up to the top.
I'm going to rack out from under it this weekend, probably, should it have
worked that way, or what's going on?
Thanks....
Dave Hinz
hinz@memphis.med.ge.com
- ------------------------------
Date: Thu, 20 May 93 13:50:30 EDT
From: perreaul@egr.msu.edu
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #135 (May 20, 1993)
>
>
> Mead Lover's Digest #135 Thu 20 May 1993
>
>
> Forum for Discussion of Mead Brewing and Consuming
> John Dilley, Digest Coordinator
>
>
> Contents:
> Re: Mead that won't clear (Gary Partain)
>
>
> Send articles for submission to the digest to mead-lovers@nsa.hp.com
> Send digest subscribe, unsubscribe, or any other administrative requests to
> mead-lovers-request@nsa.hp.com
> NOTE: There is now an MLD FTP archive on sierra.stanford.edu in pub/mead
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Date: Wed, 19 May 1993 17:27:03 -0500 (CDT)
> From: gary@wb9rxw.lonestar.org (Gary Partain)
> Subject: Re: Mead that won't clear
>
> I've seen several notes lately about folks with mead that won't clear.
> I've had tremendous luck with some stuff called "Sparkaloid" that you
> should be able to get from your local brewing store. Use the recommended
> amount in your mead, and within a day or two, the stuff should be crystal
> clear. Good luck, and happy fermenting!
>
> - --
> Gary Partain | Here's to woman! That we could fall into
> American Airlines, D/FW, TX | her arms without falling into her hands.
> gary@wb9rxw.lonestar.org |
> | - Ambrose Bierce -
>
> ------------------------------
>
>
> End of Mead Lover's Digest
> ************************
>
This is the first time I am trying respond. I hope it works. We shall soon
see.
I saw the magic word "Sparkaloid". Personally, I do not like using
Sparkaloid. I taught my brother in-law or assisted his interests in making
wine. He has made some great wine and has cleared it with Sparkaloid and I
think it has altered the taste. I could be wrong but I refrain from drinking
wine with Sparkaloid in it because to me it tastes different..To clear wine or
mead sometimes takes just time. Old mead recipes I have found even use egg
white. I have even read to use egg shell, which I tried many years ago, it
worked. I will accept any responses....Maybe other people have experienced
differently with Sparkaloid. I would appreciate hearing or reading.
- ------------------------------
Date: Fri, 21 May 1993 00:47:26 EDT
From: mamccabe@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Mike McCabe)
Subject: mead w/red star...
I'm about to give it a go - the recipe'll be something like:
apple concentrate appropriate for 5 gallons
1 gallon wildflower honey (~11 lbs?)
1/2 cup whatever tea I find - (jasmine...)
cinnamon, cardamom, cloves. (amounts?)
2 tsp citric acid
Red Star champagne yeast
5 grams yeast nutrient (claims to contain vitamins and yeast cells)
My goal is to have it ferment out (however long it takes) with a
little residual sweetness. Will I hit the mark? Is there anything
else I should toss in? Tweak?
This'll be my second mead and my first high-gravity mead - any ideas
will be appreciated. I'm hoping to reap a little wisdom. Thanks,
gang!
Michael McCabe
- ------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest
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