Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Mead Lovers Digest #0176
Mead Lover's Digest #176 Tue 20 July 1993
Forum for Discussion of Mead Brewing and Consuming
John Dilley, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #172 (July 13, 1993) (Robert Crawford)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #171 (July 10, 1993) (Robert Crawford)
Cooling the honey-water ("Dennis Lewis" )
Mead Lover's Digest #173 -- Is this possible? (Darren Hanson)
Mead Lover's Digest #173 -- Is this possible? (Darren Hanson)
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: Mon, 19 Jul 1993 09:43:39 -0500 (CDT)
From: betel@cegt201.bradley.edu (Robert Crawford)
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #172 (July 13, 1993)
> From: "Daniel F McConnell" <Daniel.F.McConnell@med.umich.edu>
> >8-12 packets of Earl Gray tea
> Interesting, I like the Earl Gray idea and have been contemplating
> an E. Gray mead for some time. Bergamont (sp???) is the herb that
> is present in the tea. I have not seen it either growing or for sale.
> Any data out there?
I know I've seen reference to bergamot in meads before. Now if
I can only remember where...
You can find bergamot at herb growers. You have to look real
hard, though, and check both the small and large garden stores. Like
the way I found "feverfew" last year...
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 19 Jul 1993 09:47:36 -0500 (CDT)
From: betel@cegt201.bradley.edu (Robert Crawford)
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #171 (July 10, 1993)
> From: rcd@raven.eklektix.com (Dick Dunn)
> Current age is 16 weeks from start of fermentation and everyone seems to
> like it...the main problem will be keeping enough of it around to find out
> how it ages over a year or two. (It doesn't have any of that "young mead"
> character even now, but it's fruity and I don't know how much that aspect
> will fade.)
Strawberry melomels have two notable characteristics -- short
aging time and very short life time. I'm not sure why it takes such a
short time to age (some character of the fruit, yes, but what I don't
know -- acid?), but the short life time comes from the taste. Very
nice.
------------------------------
Date: 19 Jul 93 15:28:04 CST
From: "Dennis Lewis" <DLEWIS%jscdh6@jesnic.jsc.nasa.gov>
Subject: Cooling the honey-water
I've seen a couple of posts (not necessarily recently...I've been
reading the archives) where people will force cool their
must/honey-water. I wonder if there is a good reason to do this. I
prefer to cover the kettle for a couple minutes of simmering then
remove from the heat and put in a cool water bath. This sanitizes
the lid and keeps beasties from falling in.
I know that brewer's do this because it stops the production of
dimethyl sulfide (smells like cooked corn) from SMM. I don't think
that SMM exists in honey, at least not in the amount that it does in
grains and beer wort. Is there any reason to force-cool the mead
other than preserving flavor notes and early pitching? I mean, there
isn't any other process like the SMM --> DMS like in beer brewing?
BTW, what is the mead wort/must/honey-water called before it starts
to ferment?
Dennis Lewis <dlewis%jscdh6@jesnic.jsc,nasa,gov>
Homebrew, The Final Frontier.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 17 Jul 93 11:50:56 PDT
From: Darren.Hanson@f271.n103.z1.Fidonet.org (Darren Hanson)
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #173 -- Is this possible?
> Does anyone have a recipe/suggestion for a sweet and sparkling
> mead?
> I do not have the apparatus to force carbonate.
More sugars (honey) than your yeast can ferment will leave it sweet.
Bottling before the yeast gets to that point will cause it to carbonate
in the bottle.
The trick is to accomplish both. I don't know of a particularly "safe" way
to accomplish this using only "classic" elements, but if I was going to try
I would attempt to compute just how much SG the yeast were going to be able
to convert, and mix add enough honey originally to fall a bit short of that
mark. Then let the mead ferment out, over-prime (the excess will be sweet)
and bottle.
As an alternative, you could generate your sweetness from non-fermentable
sugars. You will still have to ferment a mead that won't kill the yeast and
prime for bottle carbonating, but you'll have less chance of explosions....
For what its worth....
__
\/ dj
- ---
* Origin: The Otter Limits: Queer things are known to happen here! (1:103/271)
- --
Darren Hanson
Internet: Darren.Hanson@f271.n103.z1.Fidonet.org
Compuserve: >internet:Darren.Hanson@f271.n103.z1.Fidonet.org
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 17 Jul 93 11:50:56 PDT
From: Darren.Hanson@f271.n103.z1.Fidonet.org (Darren Hanson)
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #173 -- Is this possible?
> Does anyone have a recipe/suggestion for a sweet and sparkling
> mead?
> I do not have the apparatus to force carbonate.
More sugars (honey) than your yeast can ferment will leave it sweet.
Bottling before the yeast gets to that point will cause it to carbonate
in the bottle.
The trick is to accomplish both. I don't know of a particularly "safe" way
to accomplish this using only "classic" elements, but if I was going to try
I would attempt to compute just how much SG the yeast were going to be able
to convert, and mix add enough honey originally to fall a bit short of that
mark. Then let the mead ferment out, over-prime (the excess will be sweet)
and bottle.
As an alternative, you could generate your sweetness from non-fermentable
sugars. You will still have to ferment a mead that won't kill the yeast and
prime for bottle carbonating, but you'll have less chance of explosions....
For what its worth....
__
\/ dj
- ---
* Origin: The Otter Limits: Queer things are known to happen here! (1:103/271)
- --
Darren Hanson
Internet: Darren.Hanson@f271.n103.z1.Fidonet.org
Compuserve: >internet:Darren.Hanson@f271.n103.z1.Fidonet.org
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest
************************
