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Mead Lovers Digest #0290
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #290, 12 April 1994
From: mead-lovers-request@eklektix.com
Mead Lover's Digest #290 12 April 1994
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
Sweeter mead? (PETER J VOELKER)
Blac Rasberry Melomel (Mark A Fryling)
Re: Blackberry mead (Eric Chris Garrison)
adding acid blend to mead, pyment (Brian Smithey)
melomels using dried fruit (Brian Smithey)
Kiwi Mead (DUSTHOMP@idbsu.idbsu.edu)
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------------------------------
Subject: Sweeter mead?
From: PETER J VOELKER <pv120859@hvcc.edu>
Date: Mon, 11 Apr 1994 06:37:30 -0400
Hello all,\
I'm a new mead brewer (1 batch so far), so I have a couple of questions.
First of all, I love this stuff, but how do I make a sweeter mead without
using a rediculous amount of honey? Also, what is the difference
between using ale yeast or montrachet? (And I'm talking taste here). MY
first batch came out great (after the addition of some orange peel).
What other ingredients are common? Are spices commonly added (clover)?
Thanks!
--Peter Voelker
------------------------------
Subject: Blac Rasberry Melomel
From: Mark A Fryling <mfryling@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Date: Mon, 11 Apr 94 8:21:21 EDT
Howdy,
I have never gotten a difinitive answer on whether blackberries and black
rasberries are the same or different but I have made my best melomels using
black rasberries. Two years ago I made a 3 gal batch and I could have kicked
myself for not making more. Last summer I made 10 gallons with 5 gallons being
hidden away for my wedding in 1995. Anyway here's what I did, I think its
great.
Black Rasberry Melomel
Bring 2 gal filtered water to a boil
+10lb clover honey
Boil must for 20min (in a heavily fruited mead like this I think boilings OK)
Remove from heat and force cool in an Ice bath to 70F
Dilute to 4.5gal in a plastic 7.5 gal fermenting bucket and pitch 2pkg Lalvin
71B-1122 Narbonne wine yeast with 1.5tsp of yeast nutrient
Ferment 1 week or until almost done (sorry I dont have a gravity reading.
Rack mostly fermented honey must onto 15lbs of fresh picked black rasberries
that have been washed, placed in Ziploc freezer bags, frozen, thawed, crushed
in the bags and placed in another 7.5gal plastic fermenter.
After another 2 weeks of fermentation, rack the melomel off of the fruit into a
glass, 5gal carboy and ferment to completion. I think it took ours about 6-8
weeks.
Bottle with 3/4 cup corn sugar in beer or champagne bottles.
Taste after 2 months in the bottle. Gets better and better with age.
Let me know if you have any questions. Oh BTW this recipe was submitted for
the upcoming recipe book.
Mark Fryling
<mfryling@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>
"I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy"
origin unknown
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Blackberry mead
From: ericg@pun.bloomington.in.us (Eric Chris Garrison)
Date: Mon, 11 Apr 1994 09:07:28 +0000 (GMT)
I can vouch for Chuck, I had some of his blackberry mead, it was
really tasty. The first glass I had, early on, was somewhat bitter,
but several months later I had some more and it had lost all of its
rough edges and really hit the spot. It was quite strong, though it
didn't taste "hot" like a couple of my stronger meads have, probably
because of the berries. Each glass tasted like... well, another! :-)
Chuck's success gave me the idea to make a cranberry mead, which is my
best to date. I took almost two pounds of cranberries, froze them,
then "pasteurized" them by dumping about a gallon of boiling water
over them. I then smooshed them with a clean wine bottle bottom until
I didn't see any more intact cranberries. Meanwhile, I had been
heating 6lbs of clover honey (from Sam's, for $5.25 in a jug), which I
then added along with the rest of the water, 3tsps acid blend, 1 tsp
yeast nutrient and some pectic enzyme. I found the original gravity
to be too low so I added sugar (3 cups) until it reached 1.077. I
used Red Star Champagne yeast for the ferment, as I wanted a dry mead
(it was). I left the skins in the must for about a week, and when I
racked off of them, I was pleased to see it had a nice blush color.
So far I have only had a couple of bottles of this (it has only been
since November), but it is hard to, because it has been good even
though it is young!
Eric
------------------------------
Subject: adding acid blend to mead, pyment
From: Brian.Smithey@central.sun.com (Brian Smithey)
Date: Mon, 11 Apr 1994 10:38:39 -0600
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. I made a pyment a little over a year ago
using 4.5 pounds of honey and 1.5 gallons of unfiltered grape
juice, with water to about 3 gallons. The acid test kit, if
I used it correctly, showed .25% acid. I have a figure from
somewhere that says 1 tsp acid blend in 1 gal raises the acidity
by .15%, 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. After 15 months, there is still a quite noticable acidity,
although it has mellowed a bit. I'm not a wine maker so this was
my first (and to this day, only) attempt at doing an acid adjustment
based on a measurement.
Experienced melomel makers -- do you have "typical" acid adjustments?
Does 1.5 tsp acid blend per gallon of must sound like a lot, or about
right? Does my .25% measurement sound reasonable, or did I err with
the test kit?
Do many of you use acid test kits, and adjust the pre-ferment must to
a target acidity, or just guess? This goes for all mead-making, not
just melomels. I've been adding a tsp or two of acid blend to my
3 gal honey-only meads, but I haven't made enough mead to experiment
with leaving it out entirely, or doubling it to see if that improves
or degrades the mead. I'm not getting a noticable acid flavor coming
through at this level.
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?
Jump in with any other comments about adjustment of must before
fermentation -- lemon/citrus juice vs. acid "blend" vs. citric-only
vs. malic-only (at least one recipe in Duncan & Acton calls for
only malic acid), use of tea/tannin, etc.
Thanks,
Brian
--
Brian Smithey / Sun Microsystems / Colorado Springs, CO
smithey@rmtc.Central.Sun.COM
------------------------------
Subject: melomels using dried fruit
From: Brian.Smithey@central.sun.com (Brian Smithey)
Date: Mon, 11 Apr 1994 10:44:28 -0600
Acton's and Duncan's "Making Mead" has a recipe for an apricot melomel
that uses dried apricots. I have a few questions and concerns regarding
the use of dried fruit. Everybody feel free to speculate, but I'm
especially interested in hearing from anybody that has actually used
dried fruit in meads.
- What can I expect in the way of apricot aroma with the dried fruit?
I know that raisins are a fairly common mead ingredient, do you
raisin users get any raisin flavor/aroma? How will it compare to
using fresh fruit? I'm guessing that I'll get plenty of fruit
flavor, but the aroma won't be there like it would be with fresh
fruit.
- Am I likely to run into a problem with sulfited fruit killing my
yeast? I'm not sure, but I believe that at least some dried fruits
are chemically treated to prevent browning -- I'm pretty sure that
I have seen dried fruit labeled "unsulphered" at the store, leading
me to believe that some are "sulphered". I'll probably head for a
health food store and hope that I can find some "clean" dried fruit,
but I'm wondering how much I have to worry about this.
- How much fruit should I use? The recipe calls for a pound of
dried apricots, a pound of sultanas or raisins, and a pound of
honey for a 1 gal. batch. I was thinking more along the lines
of 2 pounds of honey and a pound of apricots, no raisins, per
gallon of must. All comments are welcome.
- The procedure suggests fermenting on the fruit for 2-3 days, then
racking and lightly pressing the fruit. I'm more likely to just
ferment on the fruit for a few weeks, then rack and forget about
the pressing. Many of their recipes suggest this short time on
the fruit followed by a light pressing, any guesses as to why?
The authors are primarily wine makers, I'm from a beer making
background, maybe it's a common winemaking technique that I don't
know about? Pro/Con comments?
Thanks,
Brian
--
Brian Smithey / Sun Microsystems / Colorado Springs, CO
smithey@rmtc.Central.Sun.COM
------------------------------
Subject: Kiwi Mead
From: DUSTHOMP@idbsu.idbsu.edu
Date: Tue, 12 Apr 94 15:20:42 MST
Thought I saw a recipe for Kiwi Mead. Does anyone out there have a mead
or Wine recipe made from Kiwi? Thanks
Shirley Thompson User Service Center Boise State University
Dusthomp@Idbsu.Idbsu.Edu du
Here's to it and to it again, if you don't do it, when you get to it,
you may never get to it to do it again. . .
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #290
