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Mead Lovers Digest #0123
Mead Lover's Digest #123 Sat 01 May 1993
Forum for Discussion of Mead Brewing and Consuming
John Dilley, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #122 (April 30, 1993) (milton)
Re: A few questions... (wegeng.henr801c)
Dandelion wine recipe (Kelly Jones)
First post - be gentle with me! (David Hinz)
Vanilla Mead? YES! (Forrest Cook)
Re: Cloying mead... (Steve Dempsey)
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Date: Fri, 30 Apr 93 8:32:32 CDT
From: milton@ccu.UManitoba.CA
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #122 (April 30, 1993)
Kelly Jones writes asking about the use of jasmine tea. I would suspect
this is 1/2 cup of prepared tea. The jasmine flavour would probably
take over the entire mead if you use 1/2 cup of dried tea leaves.
I don't have anything to offer on the vanilla bean useage or how to
determine the specific gravity when adding a given amount of honey. My
method has been to monitor the specific gravity as I am adding honey
and stopping when it reaches the level I want. I have never found a
formula that accurately predicted the specific gravity based on the
volume/mass of honey added.
Alan Derr writes about how to increase the acidity of a mead. You can
add citric acid but determining the levels can be a quite difficult.
Another alternative is to add malic acid. This does not have the
bitter aftertaste of citric acid but does not have as strong an acid
flavour either. Another alternative is to leave the mead a bit longer.
If the yeast is still working (less than about 12-14% alcohol by
volume is about all that yeast can take) you can leave it for a while
to see what happens. To give the yeast a bit more nutrient feed it with
a 5ml (teaspoon) of magnesium sulfate (epsom salts). As for adding any
of this stuff, my method is to mix distilled water and add that. This
way I don't have to boil anything. For quantities? That depends, add a
little bit at a time (start with about 5ml of malic acid in 250ml
water) and go from there. Best results may be to add a little bit of
malic and citric acid; these are both part of my nutrient mix.
Cheers
David Milton Internet: milton@ccu.UManitoba.CA Bitnet: milton@UOFMCC
T153-770 Bannatyne Ave., University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. (204)788-6346
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 30 Apr 1993 06:49:36 PDT
From: wegeng.henr801c@xerox.com
Subject: Re: A few questions...
Kelly Jones asks:
>Does anyone have an approximation for the amount of honey to add to one
>gallon water to achieve a given specific gravity? How much will this
>vary from honey to honey, especially as moisture content of the honey
>changes?
According to "The Complete Handbook of Homebrewing" by Dave Miller, one pound
of honey will raise the specific gravity of one gallon of water by 0.035 (so if
you add a pound of honey to a gallon of water the SG will be 1.035). I have no
doubt that this is an average number, but it`s still useful for formulating
approximate recipes. If you need a more exact figure you`ll probably have to
test the honey that you plan to use.
Note that the combined volume of one pound of honey plus one gallon of water is
significantly greater than one gallon total. I didn`t appreciate this the
first time that I tried to formulate a mead recipe. So after calculating how
much honey I needed to add to five gallons of water, I first put the honey
(mixed with two gallons of water) into a five gallon carboy, and then tried to
add the remaining three gallons of water. It didn`t all fit, and I ended up
with a starting SG that was much higher than desired. The mead turned out
sweeter than planned, but still acceptable.
/Don
wegeng.henr801c@xerox.com
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 30 Apr 93 08:06:54 -0600
From: Kelly Jones <k-jones@ee.utah.edu>
Subject: Dandelion wine recipe
As promised, here is a recipe for Dandelion Wine:
6 cups flower petals
2# sugar
1# light raisins, chopped
3 tsp acid blend
1 campden tablet
1/2 tsp energizer
1 gal hot water (I don't know how hot)
1/4 tsp grape tannin
wine yeast
Put all ingredients except yeast into primary fermenter, pour hot water
over the top. Stir to dissolve sugar. When cool, pitch yeast. After 3
days, siphon & strain into secondary. Continue as per usual winemaking
techniques, aging about 6 months.
I've never tasted a dandelion wine, but have always had a yen to try
one. If it ever catches on big, I think my yard would become a "cash
crop".
Happy picking,
Kelly <k-jones@ee.utah.edu>
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 30 Apr 93 10:37:09 CDT
From: hinz@memphis.med.ge.com (David Hinz)
Subject: First post - be gentle with me!
Greetings.
I've been receiving the MLD for a few weeks, but I've read through
the backissues. (Yes, all of them, and yes, I DO need a hobby! ....er....wait
a minute, this IS a hobby. Imagine that!)
Anyway, here's the situation: I've got a batch of Papazian's "Antipodal
Mead" in the second secondary (tertiary?), and it's not doing a heck of
a lot. Recipe is roughly as follows: (My first batch, BTW)
15 lbs clover honey (minimally processed, from the beekeeper)
H2O to make up volume to 5 gallons
1/4 tsp irish moss
(some) acid blend, don't have figures in front of me
(some) yeast nutrient (NOT yeast hulls, which I couldn't (CAN'T) find)
3 packets Red Star (yes, I know) champagne (yes, I know), dry (ditto) yeast.
I boiled (Y,IK) the whole mess (except the yeast, of course) for 15 minutes,
used my wort chiller to bring it down to 80(f) for pitching, dumped it into the
glass primary carboy, pitched the yeast, and shook vigorously. Dunked the
hydrometer in the carboy & left it.
My fermenting temperature is 60-65(f), because that's how warm my kitchen is.
After a day or so, it started bubbling, once every two seconds or so. It
slowed to once every 3 seconds, I racked to a secondary & got if off of
maybe 1/2 inch of sediment. It has since (4 weeks) slowed down to a bubble
every 4 seconds. There's sediment on the bottom, and as soon as I bottle my
ale which is taking up my other 5 gallon carboy, I'll rack it yet again.
I've got a few questions that I'd like to ask, however....
1> I tasted it after about 2 weeks, when I racked into the secondary, and
it was quite alcoholic yet still sweet. In fact, I liked it a LOT a lot.
If I used a wine or beer yeast, would it have stopped at that point? Which
yeast? Or, could I have "killed" the yeast at that point with something?
(what?)
2> I assume that it'll come out pretty dry on this batch, which I'm not sure
if I want. Can I add more honey, then kill the yeast, to get the high
alcohol AND a sweetish mead?
3> Papazian says to bottle when clear. HOW clear? Are we talking seven-up
clear (I assume not), Pilsener clear, raw honey clear, or "as clear as it
gets"?
4> I assume it's a good idea to rack it every couple of weeks (or once a month)
to get it off the sediment, so it settles more? Is it worth the extra risk
of infection? Can something this alcoholic GET infected?
5> I added (the suggested amount of) acid blend. I've got well water, and
don't know how much acid is in it already, so I didn't test the must for
acidity before adding the stuff. If it comes out "tang-y", what can I do
about it?
6> It's been about 6 weeks or so now, and large bubbles have formed on the
surface of the mead. The bubbles are about 1.5" in diameter (4 cm or so),
and they just appeared a week ago. It had a very thin "krausen" before this.
Is this something to be concerned about, or not? My S.G. is at about 1.020,
by the way, and isn't moving much, although the bubbles are once every
four seconds.
7> Should I have the carboy covered so light doesn't get in it? Does light
hurt mead or the yeast, or whatever it does to hurt beer?
I've probably got more questions, but in the interest of saving space, I think
I'll let it stop here. Thank you for any info you can provide, and if it's
of general interest you might as well post it to the list.
Thanks much!
Dave Hinz
hinz@memphis.med.ge.com
PS I should mention that I am *NOT* worrying, I'm merely *concerned*.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 30 Apr 1993 09:48:04 -0600
From: Forrest Cook <cook@stout.atd.ucar.EDU>
Subject: Vanilla Mead? YES!
Kelly Jones asks about whether vanilla works with mead.
I respond with YES! very well, indeed. I had a chance to try
some last summer and was very impressed. I did not get a recipe,
so I had to wing it when it came to making my own. Here's the recipe:
"Thrilla from Vanilla" (Muhammed Ali memorial mead?) 7 Gallons:
9 Lbs of mesquite honey from Tempe, AZ
2 Tbsp gypsum to harden up the water a bit.
1 4 ounce bottle of Madagascar vanilla extract added after the must? cooled.
I think the yeast was a Canadian champagne yeast with a french name, I'd have
to look at my recipe book for the name.
The unfermented beverage tasted great, it's been bubbling away for over a month.
I don't know how many vanilla beans are in one bottle, but I've heard that they
are rather potent.
Forrest Cook
cook@stout.atd.ucar.edu WB0RIO
{husc6|rutgers|ames|gatech}!ncar!stout!cook
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 30 Apr 93 11:37:07 MST
From: Steve Dempsey <steved@longs.lance.colostate.edu>
Subject: Re: Cloying mead...
Alan Derr writes:
> [mead turns out too dry...]
>So next, I heated another 2 lb of honey, some more yeast nutrient, and
>another 12oz of wild blueberries in a quart or so of water, squished
>and strained, and added this mixture to the carboy.
>
>It is now crystal clear, has a beautiful purple color,
>nice blueberry and jasmine aromas, and a very nice mouth feel (not to
>mention a fairly high alcohol content!). However, it's a bit sweeter
>than I was aiming for and has a cloying quality I normally associate
>with Mogen David wines.
>
>FINALLY, my question: What is the best way for me to add some acidity
>to balance the sweetness?
I suggest getting an acid titration kit ($6 from your homebrew supplier)
to determine the current acidity. Adjusting the acidity can be tricky
and there is a certain threshold where it suddenly becomes puckering
and astringent. Once you know the current acidity, you can figure out
how much acid to add; I recommend acid blend (malic/tartaric/citric)
instead of just citric. Any decent book on winemaking will tell you
how to adjust the acidity and what level you should aim for.
================================ Engineering Network Services
Steve Dempsey Colorado State University
steved@longs.lance.colostate.edu Fort Collins, CO 80523
================================ +1 303 491 0630
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End of Mead Lover's Digest
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