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Mead Lovers Digest #0291
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #291, 15 April 1994
From: mead-lovers-request@eklektix.com
Mead Lover's Digest #291 15 April 1994
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
frontal lobotomy (Eric Chris Garrison)
Black Raspberries ("Larry Lynch-Freshner")
Adding acid blend (Colin McConnell)
a couple of ?'s (SPEAKER.CURTIS)
priming questions for high gravity brews (Jim Sims)
re: Blac Rasberry Melomel (Dick Dunn)
re: adding acid blend to mead, pyment (Dick Dunn)
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------------------------------
Subject: frontal lobotomy
From: ericg@pun.bloomington.in.us (Eric Chris Garrison)
Date: Wed, 13 Apr 1994 08:09:46 +0000 (GMT)
Mark Fryling, <mfryling@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>, writes:
>"I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy"
>origin unknown
Two origins, said to be nearly simultaneous and independent, come from
two novelty songs often played on the Dr. Demento show: "Existential
Blues" by Tom "T-Bone" Stankis uses that line as the song's punchline;
the other was a song entitled "I'd rather have a bottle in front of me
than have to have frontal lobotomy", though I don't know the name of
the folks who did that song. Both are classic dementia.
Eric
------------------------------
Subject: Black Raspberries
From: "Larry Lynch-Freshner" <Larry_Lynch-Freshner@taligent.com>
Date: 13 Apr 1994 09:08:20 -0800
Black Raspberries
I just had to step in - You now have a definitive answer! Black Raspberries
are _not_ blackberries! I grew up in an area where both were easy to find
(Willamette Valley area of Oregon), and I can say that not only do they look
different (blackberries are generally larger, with fewer seeds), taste
different (blackberries tend to be 'bland'er), but they also have different
cooking characteristics. Blackberries will loose their delicate flavor during
cooking, while black raspberries will actually develop a fuller, more intense
flaver during cooking. I always enjoyed a black raspberry pie much more then
a blackberry one, thought the seeds get annoying. Black Raspberries are also
known (at least in Oregon) as 'Black Caps'.
Larry
------------------------------
Subject: Adding acid blend
From: Colin McConnell <mcconnel@pX1.stfx.ca>
Date: Wed, 13 Apr 1994 16:41:15 -0300 (ADT)
Hello all,
I just put on my first batch yesterday, pitched the yeast this
morning, and realized I hadn't added any acid blend. As this seems to be
a hot topic at the moment, can I safely add the acid blend once that
crusty foam goes away? My limited beer brewing experience tells me that
breaking the crust is BAD.
As for the recipe, it's a basic traditional mead. 15lbs of honey
in 5gals water, 5tsps of yeast nutrient and 2 packets of champagne yeast.
The fellow who gave me the recipe said to put in 3tsps of acid blend
(which I forgot). I'd just ask him, but he moved.
Thanks for your time.
TTFN
Colin McConnell
mcconnel@phoenix.stfx.ca
------------------------------
Subject: a couple of ?'s
From: CSS2@OAS.PSU.EDU (SPEAKER.CURTIS)
Date: Wed, 13 Apr 1994 16:20 EDT
Well, it appears that my first mead is ready to bottle. It has stopped
fermenting (no bubbles through the airlock in 5 minutes time), it has been
going now for 8 weeks and has a SG of 0.998 - I think it's done, right?
However, it is still a little cloudy, and I am trying to decide what to do.
I can simply bottle it and hope that it clears in the bottle, or I can fine it
with a little gelatin when I bottle it to aid in clearing. Any comments or
suggestions? If I do use gelatin, should I store the bottles upright to let
the whateveritis (yeast) settle out (I plan on using Chemey bottles and
corking them), or should I store them lying down to keep the corks from drying
out?
Also, the mead is okay (i realize that it will get better with age), but is
very dry. I should have expected this using Red Star Champagne yeast, I guess.
What other yeasts have folks had luck with? Will using a wine yeast, like
montrachet(sp?) give me a sweeter mead, or do I need to up the amount of
honey?(I used 2 lb. per gallon of water on the first batch)
Any advice is greatly appreciated...thanks in advance
Curt
css2@oas.psu.edu
------------------------------
Subject: priming questions for high gravity brews
From: sims@scra.org (Jim Sims)
Date: Thu, 14 Apr 94 08:23:14 EDT
After a friend supplied me with a botlle of Borgetto's "Chaucer's
Mead" (std disc - just a _satisfied_ customer), I was inspired to try
to brew a very sweet mead.
I posted here and got some good answers on creating a "sweet ambrosia
of the gods" style mead, and it's been fermenting away for about 2
months now.
In remarkable timeing, I see the questions about priming BarleyWine
on HBD (re: high gravity, autolysis,yeast, etc) and I think I recall
something _somewhere_ saying you should NOT prime meads that start
with O.G. above 1.100 (i assume due to residual sugar and remote
possiblilty of in-botlle ferment starting).
The mead I have started off-the-scale for O.G> - after a coupla weeks
it was 1.060, now down to about 1.024 - there are no visible signs of
fermentation (havent been for quite a few weeks). Should I continue to
wait till several gravity reading a week apart stay the same, or is
there a better way to determine when to bottle?
I orefer sparkling meads - Is there good reason _NOT_ to prime this
batch when bottling? Given that I expect yeast death due to alcohol
poisoning is the only reason this ferment will stop (12 lbs honey in
2.5 gallons water, using Prix de Mousse yeast), is ther any yeast that
would be suitable for priming, anyway? Or would I be stuck
force-carbonating? As per the HG 18-year barleywine, shoudl I filter
all the spent yeast out before bottling, and re-introduce some yeast
(what kind????) and priming sugar before bottling?
[i dont have a counterpressure filler, so how would I force carbonate
bottles, anyway?]
email to me [sims@scra.org], i'll summarize to the list(s)...
tia,
jim
------------------------------
Subject: re: Blac Rasberry Melomel
From: rcd@raven.eklektix.com (Dick Dunn)
Date: 15 Apr 94 00:57:39 MDT (Fri)
Mark A Fryling <mfryling@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> writes:
> I have never gotten a difinitive answer on whether blackberries and black
> rasberries are the same or different...
They are different. A black raspberry looks and tastes a lot like a red
raspberry, but it's deep purple, almost black. A blackberry is the same
color, but longer and plumper. It tastes quite different: as far as mead-
making goes, not as tart, but (I think) more tannic. (Does anyone have
data on fruits to verify or deny this?)
Speaking of berries like this, I've seen some books that say you can't make
a good melomel with (take your pick) raspberries, blackberries, boysen-
berries. I'd have to say "all wrong"! I've had good luck with all of
these, both as sweet/still meads and as dry/sparkling. In some cases it
has taken a while for things to mellow out, but not too long. So far,
berries and honey constitute one of the best combinations I've found.
(Don't even get me started on strawberries!)
---
Dick Dunn rcd@eklektix.com -or- raven!rcd Boulder, Colorado USA
...Yeah, yeah, "patience"...how long will *THAT* take?!?
------------------------------
Subject: re: adding acid blend to mead, pyment
From: rcd@raven.eklektix.com (Dick Dunn)
Date: 15 Apr 94 01:11:28 MDT (Fri)
Brian.Smithey@central.sun.com (Brian Smithey) wrote:
> In Papazian's "Brewing Mead" section of the Gayre/Papazian book,
> Charlie suggests using an acid test kit to determine appropriate
> acid additions when making melomels, as the acid contribution of
> fruits is variable...
This much is true; fruits are pretty variable, and it's not even ob-
vious from tasting the particular fruit juice, let alone knowing what
fruit it is, to guess how much acid you've got.
>...I made a pyment a little over a year ago...
[calculation details deleted]...
> ...so to get to .50% acidity (I don't have the book with
> me now, I think the recommendation was .40% to .50% acidity) I
> needed to add about 5 tsp to my 3 gallon must. Fortunately, I
> ran out of acid at 4.5 tsp, as the finished product is strongly
> acidic...
I think this is an unfortunate result of recipes which try to adjust mead
musts to meet the criteria of wine musts...and I can't see any reason it
should be necessary.
There's a simple experiment you can do with acid blend: If you come up
(by whatever means) with an amount of acid blend to be added to your must,
first taste-test it. Calculate the amount you're about to use, scale it
down to a cup or so, and mix it in water. Taste the result and see if it
makes sense to have that much acid. In Brian's example, he calculates 5 t
in 3 gal. Round up, say 2 t / gal. That's 1/4 t per pint, so take a pint
of water; add 1/4 t of acid blend and taste it. I think you'll be surprised
at how tart it is! That will tell you there's something wrong with the
formulation...the reason doesn't matter; the answer is wrong.
> Experienced melomel makers -- do you have "typical" acid adjustments?
If I'm making melomel, unless I think I've got an unreasonably un-acidic
fruit, I add *no* acid at all.
> Does 1.5 tsp acid blend per gallon of must sound like a lot, or about
> right?...
That sounds like a LOT! I doubt I'd add more than 0.5 t/gal. It may be
consistent with the acid test kit and winemaking recommendations...BUT mead
is not wine.
> Do many of you use acid test kits, and adjust the pre-ferment must to
> a target acidity, or just guess?...
Hmmm...
I own an acid-test kit, but I don't use it. How do you score that?
> Can I expect the acid-taste to mellow with more aging, or at 15 months
> should I figure that this one is pretty much finished?
It should mellow a little, slowly.
---
Dick Dunn rcd@eklektix.com -or- raven!rcd Boulder, Colorado USA
...Yeah, yeah, "patience"...how long will *THAT* take?!?
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #291
