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Mead Lovers Digest #0237
Mead Lover's Digest #237 30 November 1993
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
Orange Blossom Special (The Ice-9-man Cometh)
yeast temp.s / campden effects (COYOTE)
maple??? (Dick Dunn)
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Subject: Orange Blossom Special
From: SMITH@EPVAX.MSFC.NASA.GOV (The Ice-9-man Cometh)
Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1993 10:58:32 -0600 (CST)
Greetings.
I just returned from a Florida dive trip, and on the way back I stopped
at a roadside shop that advertised orange blossom honey. It turned out
that they had it in 1/2 and 1 lb jars, which went for $3.50 a pound, so
I started to leave, but the owner said "Hey, we have some more over
here." It turned out to be a whole bunch of the 1/2 pound size jars
that had gotten rusty lids, so they were selling them Real Cheap. So
now I'm the proud owner of 22 jars of orange blossom honey with the comb.
Questions:
How am I going to get that much wax out of the honey? Any good skimming
techniques?
Are there any really good additives to put in with orange blossom honey?
I am planning to just make a traditional mead with it, but I'm open to
suggestions.
What the hell do I do with the jar of jalapeno preserves that got in with
the honey jars by mistake?
thanx
| James W. Smith, NASA MSFC EP25 | SMITH@epvax.msfc.nasa.gov |
| "I'm going home, taking a hot bath, and sleeping alone!"
| --Omaha the Cat Dancer |
| Neither NASA nor (!James) is responsible for what I say. Mea culpa. |
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Subject: yeast temp.s / campden effects
From: COYOTE <SLK6P@cc.usu.edu>
Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1993 12:33:09 -0600 (MDT)
A general question re: yeast temps.
I know wine/champagne yeasts prefer temperatures around 65 to 75 or so.
But CAN they ferment as cold as 55? I have some ciders waiting to become
more solid- at least a little firm. Hard would be preferred!
One with honey, one with brown sugar.
My approach was to take 4 gallons of fresh cider, treat w/ campden.
Then add warmed sugar solution, and pitch. I used what should have
been active yeast (dregs of a 1 gallon cider ferment, dry added to
500 ml cider for a day).
Is it necessary to aerate AFTER treatment with sulphate?
What is left behind after the sulfur is released? meta-bis I guess?!
Do I need to keep my wines upstairs (ciders/meads) through the winter?
My basement is a balmy 55 and probably will drop before more!
upstairs is somewhere around -20 (actually 65-70 depending on location).
The ciders haven't started and it's been a week. I plan to move them
upstairs, repitch. Should I aerate also? I didn't add nutrient.
Perhaps I should??? This worked fine last year. Maybe it wasn't
as cold when they started.
RE: Campden. and asma.
I sort-of kinda suffer from asma sometimes. I have allergies...
things like grinding grain tend to cause from bronchia to restrict.
I find the same thing from wines sometimes. Smoking occasionally on top
of it all doesn't help. :0 But hey- it's the holidays!
Grinding- I wear a dust mask. Much better.
But what of wines? I know sulfur hurts my lungs, I don't like to
breath that stuff, but are there residues that might remain in solution
which would be upsetting to ones breathing? The combination of alchohol
tends to increase the affect, but I always took it as a given with
consumption. "for every bit of pleasure, there is also a bit of pain".
But hey- hurt me good! I'm gonna brew, I'm gonna drink what I brew!
Has anyone else experienced this occurence?
Should I avoid all use of campden or just suffer? Pasteurize it all?!
TIA for your thoughts. John (The Coyote) Wyllie
SLK6P@cc.usu.edu
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Subject: maple???
From: rcd@raven.eklektix.com (Dick Dunn)
Date: 30 Nov 93 01:00:53 MST (Tue)
Anyone out there tried combining maple syrup with honey in a mead?
I was about to ask why maple isn't considered a candidate on its own for
fermentable sugar, until I did some quick cost calculations! (If you think
honey is expensive!...maple syrup seems to be at least twice the cost of
honey per unit of fermentable sugar.)
But I've had a mead made with a combination of maple syrup and honey; it
was excellent! At a tasting, it was a love/hate sort of thing, but most
folks liked it. The maple flavor came through; it was...well, not quite
"subtle", but perhaps "reserved".
I wonder what it should be called. Is it too much of a mixture of ety-
mology to call it an "aceromel"??? ;-)
---
Dick Dunn rcd@eklektix.com -or- raven!rcd Boulder, Colorado USA
...Simpler is better.
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End of Mead Lover's Digest #237
