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Mead Lovers Digest #0242
Mead Lover's Digest #242 8 December 1993
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
sulphite (Carl Anderson)
Proportions of ingredients, increasing a recipe (MMANV@slims.attmail.com)
Re: Low Alcohol Yeast (leonard zimmermann)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #241, 7 December 1993 (Andrew W. J. Toler)
Honey Defined ("Jim Ellingson")
Re: Botulin & honey (Ralph Snel)
cranberry recipies wanted... (Kirk Williams)
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------------------------------
Subject: sulphite
From: Carl Anderson <canders@isr.harvard.edu>
Date: Tue, 7 Dec 1993 10:56:37 -0500 (EST)
Whatever it was I did with the campden tablets, I think I did it
wrong ... the carboy holds a nasty looking yellow fluid, and the airlock,
though bubbling merrily since Thanksgiving, is emitting a perfectly vile
odor--not vinegary, but definitely sulfurous.
I think I'll go back to gentle boiling!
Cheers,
Carl
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carl Edlund Anderson "Hefi ek ok aldri sva reitt vapn
Harvard University at manni at eigi hafi vid kommit."
canders@isr.harvard.edu - Skarphedinn Njalsson
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
Subject: Proportions of ingredients, increasing a recipe
From: MMANV@slims.attmail.com
Date: 7 Dec 93 16:04:28 GMT
I have a recipe for metheglin that will produce 6 bottles. I'd like
to increase the size of the recipe to make a full size batch in my
23 litre carboy, but I suspect that just doing the multiplication
to calculate the amount of spices for the larger batch will make it
far too spicy. The recipe I have is as follows: 4 1/2 lb. honey, 1
gallon water, 1 oz mace, 1 oz cloves, 1 oz cinnamon, 1 oz bruised
ginger, 1 lemon rind, 1 orange rind, 3/4 oz citric acid, 1 tsp grape
tannin. Does anyone have any ideas on how to appropriately adjust
the proportions, or a different recipe intended for a 23 litre
carboy? Thanks, Mike Manvell
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Low Alcohol Yeast
From: leonard zimmermann <zarlor@rs5.tcs.tulane.edu>
Date: Tue, 7 Dec 1993 10:34:16 +22312314 (CST)
Gary Shae askes about low-alcohol yield yeasts. I have looked into this
some, since I also love the taste of wine/beer and meads, but I may be
allergic to alcohol. (I tend to get migrains from drinking more than a
glass in any 8 hour period, not fun). I do know that there is one beer
company, I forget the brand, that uses a low-yield yeast. The problem is
that the yeast is is very unstable and mutates easily introducing various
off-flavors. Of course this is yeast for .5% Alcohol, there MAY be a yeast
that will do low alcohol, say up to 3%, that is more stable, but I do not
know about it. Anyone else?
Lenny
zarlor@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu
P.S. My mailreader does not easily handle guoting from a digest either. ;)
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #241, 7 December 1993
From: Andrew.W.J.Toler@altosax.reed.edu (Andrew W. J. Toler)
Date: 7 Dec 93 09:03:08 PST
This may sound weird, but I am interested in making a Jitterbug mead, ala
Tom Robbins. Does anyone know where to get Beet-Blossom honey? (Does it
taste like *&^% ?) Does anyone know where I might get Jasmine Flower honey?
(Do bees like Jasmine flowers?) The idea struck me one day when I was
fantasizing about my dream drink, and how to homebrew it. You should see
some of the Imperial Stout recipies I came up with, and some of the mead
variations. Wish I had enough money to fulfill all my dreams. I'd need
about 50 carboys...
Thanks,
Andrew Toler
aka: Roo@Dartmouth.edu
------------------------------
Subject: Honey Defined
From: "Jim Ellingson" <jimme@pi28.arc.umn.edu>
Date: Tue, 7 Dec 93 14:32:47 -0600
Dear Meadsters,
I received this from the bee mailing list, thought it might be of
interest to the MLD community.
Cheers,
Jim
>>Date: Thu, 02 Dec 1993 12:02:05 -0500
>>Subject: November issue of APIS
Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology <BEE-L%ALBNYVM1.BITNET@vx.cis.umn.edu>
To: Multiple recipients of list BEE-L <BEE-L%ALBNYVM1.BITNET@vx.cis.umn.edu>
Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology <BEE-L%ALBNYVM1.BITNET@vx.cis.umn.edu>
Distributed to:
USR:[MTS]INTER1.DIS;5, USR:[MTS]INTER2.DIS;1, USR:[MTS]INTER3.DIS;2,
USR:[MTS]INTER4.DIS;4
FILENAME: NOVAPIS.93
Florida Extension Beekeeping Newsletter
Apis--Apicultural Information and Issues (ISSN 0889-3764)
Volume 11, Number 11, November 1993
<SNIP>
HONEY DEFINED
The National Honey Board has taken on a daunting task,
defining honey! It may come as a revelation to some that honey has
had no official definition. On further reflection, however, it is
not surprising. Imagine trying to come to grips with an adequate
description of a natural product that is infinitely variable.
After a year-long discussion with industry representatives and
others, the Board's Product Research and Development Committee has
"...a document that describes and defines our product."
The actual words used in the official definition were approved
October 9, 1993 and are subject to review every two years: "Honey
is the nectar and sweet deposits from plants as gathered, modified
and stored in the honeycomb of honey bees." That's not all of
course; several honey categories and other considerations are also
discussed in the three-page definition document. These include
honey composition, types of honey, designation of honey sources,
forms of honey, honey products, grading and methods of analysis.
Composition of honey is perhaps the most problematic topic to
deal with in defining the product. Given this fact, the Honey
Board has chosen to list an average, range and standard deviation
for major constituents. The standard deviation is an estimation of
how variable each specific item is. The higher the number, the
more difference that can be found among various kinds. The
standard deviations themselves show a large range from 70.9 (total
protein is extremely variable) to 0.126 (fructose/glucose ratio is
more consistent). The following are the actual numbers:
Average Range Standard Deviation
Fructose/Glucose Ratio 1.23 0.76-1.86 0.126
Fructose,% 38.38 30.91-44.26 1.77
Glucose,% 30.31 22.89-40.75 3.04
Minerals (Ash),% 0.169 0.020-1.028 0.15
Moisture, % 17.2 13.4-22.9 1.46
Reducing Sugars, % 76.75 61.39-83.72 2.76
Sucrose, % 1.31 0.25-7.57 0.87
Total Acidity, meq/kg. 29.12 8.68-59.49 10.33
True Protein, mg/100g. 168.6 57.7-567 70.90
Although the percentage of fructose and glucose constituents
are about the same in honeys, glucose is more variable with a
standard deviation of 3.04 as opposed to fructose's 1.77. Fructose
is the major sugar component which provides the extreme sweetness
in honey. This sugar also reduces possible crystallization in the
product; Florida tupelo honey is well known for its high fructose
content and tendency not to "sugar." The percentage of sucrose in
honey has a larger range than might be expected. Citrus honey from
Florida has been rejected in some international markets because of
its relatively high sucrose content, which is also thought to
promote crystallization. Obviously, some honeys are much more
proteinaceous than others. Perhaps this will result in some
interesting claims by producers in response to the well-known
declaration that honey is nothing more than carbohydrate!
Of all the numbers presented above, those with reference to
percentage of water are perhaps most significant to honey judges.
The standard for moisture content in honey shows has traditionally
been 18.6%. Does the upper bound shown in the official definition
(22.9%) mean that judges will have to accommodate honey in shows
with what heretofore was considered an unacceptably high moisture
content? In any case, this information will require changes in ENY
129 "Honey Judging and Standards" and ENY 130 "Moisture in Honey,"
available from this office in limited supply. The official
definition does incorporate current U.S. standards and grades of
extracted and comb honey which are quoted at length in the above
fact sheets.
<SNIP>
Malcolm T. Sanford
Bldg 970, Box 110620
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611-0620
Phone (904) 392-1801, Ext. 143
FAX: 904-392-0190
BITNET Address: MTS@IFASGNV
INTERNET Address: MTS@GNV.IFAS.UFL.EDU
------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Jim Ellingson jimme@arc.umn.edu *
* AHPCRC/University of Minnesota tel 612/626-8088 *
* 1100 Washington Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55415 fax 612/626-1596 *
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Botulin & honey
From: Ralph Snel <ralph@astro.lu.se>
Date: Wed, 8 Dec 93 16:11:30 MET
Spencer.W.Thomas@med.umich.edu wrote:
"Another reason to add acid to your mead. The spores won't grow in an
acid medium. Besides, just boiling isn't sufficient to kill the
spores -- you need to raise the temp to at least 250F for at least 10
minutes."
The trick for this is to boil the honey with as little water as
possible: I use 1:1 water:honey. This gets the temperature quite
a lot above the normal boiling point of water. Be careful for
caramelization when using less water!
Ralph
------------------------------
Subject: cranberry recipies wanted...
From: Kirk Williams <kwilliam@agps.lanl.gov>
Date: Wed, 8 Dec 93 17:11:36 MST
seeing how as cranberries are in season and well stocked in my local marts...
and seeing how as my cranberry wheat wont be ready for consumption for another
month or so...
anyone got any sweet cranberry mead recipies out there?
AND...
since its now winter, are there any recomendations for spring-meads (that oughta
be started soonish...)??
laters,
k.
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #242
