Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Mead Lovers Digest #0294
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #294, 20 April 1994
From: mead-lovers-request@eklektix.com
Mead Lover's Digest #294 20 April 1994
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
re: strange aftertaste (The Rider)
strawberries (lconrad@apollo.hp.com)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #293,... (meadmstr@aol.com)
Re: Rose Mead (Jane Beckman)
Re: Moniak Mead ("Peter Miller {84663}")
Too Little Too Late (Roger Grow)
re: Strawberries (Dick Dunn)
Send ONLY articles for the digest to mead-lovers@eklektix.com.
Use mead-lovers-request@eklektix.com for subscribe, unsubscribe, and admin
requests. When subscribing, please include your name and a good address
in the message body unless you're sure your mailer generates them.
There is an FTP archive of the digest on sierra.stanford.edu in pub/mead.
If you have email access but not ftp, it will accept "listserv" requests.
Send email with message "help" to listserv@sierra.stanford.edu.
------------------------------
Subject: re: strange aftertaste
From: mfetzer@UCSD.EDU (The Rider) (Michael Fetzer)
Date: Tue, 19 Apr 1994 23:15:17 -0800
At 21:26 4/19/94 +0000 Jim Beck <jimb@eskinews.eskimo.com> wrote
>Date: Mon, 18 Apr 1994 07:36:10 -0700 (PDT)
>Both a friend of mine and myself have run into a rather "plastic" or
>"chemical" aftertaste on some of our batches. It has occurred across a
Phenols! Usually best detected by smell, tho. Gives a mediciny or plasticy
aroma/taste.
Chlorophenols can be right in your water supply. Others are produced by the
yeast during fermentation. Production of these is a strong fucntion of
yeast strain, and could be a sign of an infection (i.e., wild yeast like
saccharomyces diastaticus).
Check your water supply, sanitize well (maybe with something other than a
chlorine based sanitizer), try a different strain of yeast.
If you've got a real wild yeast problem, it's sometimes very hard of not
impossible to get rid of. Polyethylene fermenters are especially prone to
this, and you may have to go as far as throwing it away.
Next batch, change everything! Clean better, boil your water for a while to
drive off chlorine compounds, ferment in a differnt vessel, try a different
strain. :)
Mike
--
Michael Fetzer pgp 2.2 key available on request
Internet: mfetzer@ucsd.edu uucp: ...!ucsd!mfetzer
Bitnet: FETZERM@SDSC
HEPnet/SPAN: SDSC::FETZERM or 27.1::FETZERM
------------------------------
Subject: strawberries
From: lconrad@apollo.hp.com
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 1994 09:54:04 -0400
John Gorman says:
OK. I'll bite. Do strawberries make a good mead?
My one experiment indicates that they make a good flavored mead, but you
probably want to add something else (maybe mulberries?) to change the color,
which comes out brownish.
Laura
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #293,...
From: meadmstr@aol.com
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 94 10:28:11 EDT
>From: smithey@rmtc.central.sun.com (Brian Smithey)
>Date: Mon, 18 Apr 1994 14:58:54 -0600
>Also, Ken mentions that EC-1118 is a champagne yeast -- I've been >wondering
what makes a yeast a "champagne" yeast? ttenuation? > Alcohol tolerance? Use
in the commercial Champagne or sparkling >wine industry?
Actually, your are mostly correct. EC-1118 is a strain that is isolated from
the Champagne region of France. As with all french wines, the yeast strain is
derived from the locality.
Additionally, selection criteria are most often, alcohol tolerance, low
nutrient musts ( as would be the case in secondary fermentation ).
Lavlin K-1 does help enhance the varietal / aroma characteristics, so yes,
there is a higher ester formation. K-1 in mead helps enhance complexity. I
tend to use a chardonnay style process in making a traditional mead with K-1.
However, just because K-1 can ferment well, producing high alcohol meads,
that perhaps isn't wise.
High osmotic pressures ( produced from high brix content musts ) tend to
stress the yeast ( ANY yeast ), morphological affecting yeast budding, and
tend to increase mutation potential, acetic acide /acetyl production.
Sometimes this also results in long fermentaion time, which again affects
phenolic/fusel oil.
Fermentation temperature is also a criteria in fusel oil/ phenolic
production.o
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Rose Mead
From: jane@swdc.stratus.com (Jane Beckman)
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 94 10:49:52 PDT
Since there is a request for rose-petal use in mead, I will tell you how
I have done it.
First caveat:
It takes a LOT of roses! Be careful these are organic roses, too---no
sprayed-on pesticides, and *definitely* no systemic pesticides! You will
need about a gallon of loose-packed petals to a gallon of water. Use
strongly-scented varieties, the stronger the scent the better the flavor!
I am one of those who boils the must, so I use a bit of heat extraction. I
put the rose petals in a large bucket and pour hot must over them, cover
with saran wrap, and leave to soak overnight. Strain out the rose petals
and ferment as usual.
I am going to have a yard full of roses, this year, so I am planning to make
some rose mead! I'll let the list know how it turns out!
-Jilara [jane@swdc.stratus.com]
k
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Moniak Mead
From: "Peter Miller {84663}" <pdm@swlvx2.msd.ray.com>
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 94 15:27:15 EDT
J. Calen asks about Moniak Mead. After I made my first batch or two
of mead (both pretty sweet) I had the opportunity to travel in Ireland,
where I sampled some mead. I don't remember the name, but I thought it
was the WORST stuff I had ever had (and all the other tourists did, too).
I remember making comparisons to the odor of old socks.
Some years later I bought a bottle of commercial mead (again, I don't
remember the name, unfortunately), which had the exact same flavor
and characteristics. This time, however, I sampled it with my Dad, who
realized it was very similar to Sherry, and proved it by giving me a
sample (which I had never tasted). He seemed to think, and I agreed
in retrospect, that the mead had a significant *oak* flavor from being
aged in oaken casks, as sherry is. This Moniak Mead may have been
processed in a similar manner. I realize now, after reading many issues
of the digest, that certain types of yeast also impart a sherry-like
character. This, also, may be a contributing factor to the flavor
and aroma of your mead.
Pete Miller
Stoneham MA
------------------------------
Subject: Too Little Too Late
From: grow@barbados.mcae.stortek.com (Roger Grow)
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 94 17:17:43 -0600
I have been lurking on the digest for six months
and thought it was about time I posted.
My brother-in-law is getting married August 13 this
year and I would like to provide some mead for the wedding.
Obviously I'm about eight months too late for a proper
mead. So forgive me for asking, but does anyone have a
true and tried recipe for a three or four month mead?
The Coyote talked about a "likably drinkable" two month
old mead back in Feb (hows the new house John?) but
I haven't been able to find a "quick recipe" (oxymoron?)
in any of the postings I have saved. I would like something
that "mead virgins" would enjoy (spiced?), possibly sparkling.
Email is ok for the recipes if you don't want to waste
bandwidth, but if it bounces (I'll be changing islands soon)
please post it and I can get the digest from Mr. Bill (hi Bill).
Tangent subject:
Has anyone used honey from Madhava Honey in Lyons, CO? They
are fairly close (I live in Longmont) and reasonably priced
at $1.09/pound, clover I think (is that what they call honey
from alfalfa?) alot of alfalfa around here.
By the way, hows the book coming? If it's a quality mead
book it should take about a year to come of age!!!! I know
Joyce picked "Must Bee Heaven" for the title (please, please...
knock on wood...).
Thanks in advance
Roger
(grow@barbados.mcae.stortek.com) for a while
(grow@sumatra.mcae.stortek.com) soon? (not soon enough!)
Remember, the plural of Spouse... is Spice!
------------------------------
Subject: re: Strawberries
From: rcd@raven.eklektix.com (Dick Dunn)
Date: 20 Apr 94 21:12:15 MDT (Wed)
I said:
> > berries and honey constitute one of the best combinations I've found.
> > (Don't even get me started on strawberries!)
John Gorman asked:
> OK. I'll bite. Do strawberries make a good mead?
Actually they make a *wonderful* mead (ok, melomel, before someone corrects
me). Aim for a dry sparkling mead. The fruit flavor comes through well,
and you get a refreshing summertime drink.
Strawberries have more depth of flavor than you might think; you don't need
to use the lightest honey you've got. They don't contribute much sugar,
though.
The color will be a beautiful pale pink.
I suggest 2-3 lb fruit per gallon of mead. Chop the fruit, but coarsely...
strawberries are one of those fruits that can produce, at racking, what
some industries call "an incident"...i.e., what the layman calls "a
disaster of epic proportions." They tend to break down and mush up.
Ferment in an "open" container (e.g., plastic-pail style with cover) on
the fruit for something like a week, then rack, strain, whatever it takes
to get rid of the fruit bits, and finish fermenting in glass.
Strawberries do contain pectin, so the usual caveat about care with heat
(or pectinase to counteract) applies.
---
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 #294
