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Mead Lovers Digest #0289
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #289, 10 April 1994
From: mead-lovers-request@eklektix.com
Mead Lover's Digest #289 10 April 1994
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
Blackberry mead recipie (williams@tsasa.lanl.gov)
Blackberry mead (adhudson@eos.ncsu.edu)
Yeast Nutrient ("Anderso_A")
Re: Blackberry mead (Chuck Stringer)
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Subject: Blackberry mead recipie
From: williams@tsasa.lanl.gov
Date: Thu, 7 Apr 94 08:13:45 MDT
i made a black berry mead (its aging now), and it is fantastic.
most say to not use blackberries for one reason or another. too much
tannin, too bitter, etc. of course i didnt listen.
for a 1gal batch, i used roughly 1.5 lbs of a black honey, a honey
which bees cultivated pollen from i believe thistle (which grows in
abundance in the fall monsoons here in los alamos). boiled for 20 minits,
scimming the surface. add 1 lb blackberries (used frozen), pectic enzyme,
let ferment 2 weeks, strain, let ferment some more, maybe for 2 months or
so (oh, used an ale yeast, and high fermenting temps, roughly 70+), added
a lb of clover honey and fermented to completion.
i carbonated this, and it has a fantastic affect. the final colour is
a reddish-rose tint, clear as a bell. oh, 2 wks before bottling, i used
uhm...whazzit called? (its too early for me.) bentonite to help settle out
the little bit of particulate left, and yeast.
its fantastic now, i cant wait to pour a glass of this after an ultimate
practice this summer, and watch a sunset behind the jemez... :)
k.
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Subject: Blackberry mead
From: adhudson@eos.ncsu.edu
Date: Thu, 07 Apr 94 13:44:23 EDT
Someone asked for a recipe for Blackberry mead, while I won't really answer
that question, I will put fourth some knowledge.
I have tried to make Blackberry meads and have meet with little success. They
taste lovely early on and then go downhill fast. They become very bitter and
lose most of their aroma.
My suggestion is to drink early and enjoy. Or, maybe a more scientific one
would be to do something to counter-act or stop the bittering(good luck!)
-Giles
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Subject: Yeast Nutrient
From: "Anderso_A" <Anderso_A@HQ.NAVSEA.NAVY.MIL>
Date: 7 Apr 94 14:26:00 EST
Message Creation Date was at 7-APR-1994 14:26:00
Greetings,
I made a 5 gallon batch of a cyser last night, but had
one major problem. I had lent my yeast nutrient to someone
& had not yet gotten it back. I used 2 tsp of "Yeast
Energizer", but I'm not quite sure what this stuff does.
All this leads me to ask a few questions:
1. What is "Yeast Energizer"? Should it go in a mead, or
is it only for stuck beer fermentations?
2. Can I add Yeast Nutrient 1 or 2 days after pitching the
yeast? Assuming I'm careful with sanitation, is there any
problem with adding it at this late a time?
3. In general, how much yeast nutrient should be added?
Something like 1 tsp per gallon?
4. How about "Acid Blend"? For a cyser, is there any
general rule of thumb for how much to add?
5. When you add any of these crystals, how do you do so?
I heat my must up to 170F for about 1/2 hour before then
cooling it and pitching the yeast. Should I add the
nutrients & acid blend during the heating stage or after the
must has been cooled? If the answer is "after the must is
cooled", then should I dump the crystals into the must, or
should I mix them with a little water to get them into
solution before adding to the must?
6. Finally, whenever I make beer I keep my carboy covered
so that light does not create a chemical change in the
isomerized hop oil which would lead to "skunky" beer. Since
I do not use hops in my meads, is there any reason why I
should keep my mead carboys covered?
Thanks,
Andy Anderson
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Blackberry mead
From: Chuck Stringer <cstringe@nickel.ucs.indiana.edu>
Date: Sat, 9 Apr 1994 09:48:39 -0500 (EST)
ewagoner@nmt.edu asked about blackberry meads:
I made an excellent blackberry mead last summer using berries from our
back yard. I didn't have a recipe, so I made a few guesses and it
turned out like a really good red wine with a blackberry nose and aftertaste.
1 gal ripe blackberries
4 1/2 lbs clover honey from Kroger (grocery)
acid blend and yeast nutrient according to package directions
Montrache wine yeast
We picked about a gallon of good ripe berries, rinsed and froze them.
Since the patch wasn't huge, we picked some every few days freezing a
pint or two at a time. During this time I started a simple mead with 2
1/2lbs of clover honey from the grocery and enough water to make a
gallon. I used Montrache wine yeast and added yeast nutrient and acid
blend according to the directions on the package. Fermentation stopped
after three weeks. We defrosted the berried in a small wastebasket I
use for a primary, then mashed them with a sterilized wine bottle. The
mead was then added. Two weeks later we racked the liquid off of the
fruit and into a carboy. Another 2lbs of honey and enough water to
fill it up to 2 gallons. It was bottled a month later and now at eight
months, it's perfect. The only thing I would do differently is leave
out most of the acid blend.
Cheers,
Chuck Stringer
cstringe@indiana.edu
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End of Mead Lover's Digest #289
