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Mead Lovers Digest #0354
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #354, 5 October 1994
From: mead-lovers-request@eklektix.com
Mead Lover's Digest #354 5 October 1994
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Using dry ice for CO2 (Mike Giroux)
how long 'til it clears? (stave@apollo.hp.com)
Groats, Threepence, and US coins (Steve E. Mercer)
Digby: Another Way of Making White Metheglin (Steve E. Mercer)
Using Thistle Honey and the groat discussion (la lala lalala Life is just a bu
ndle of joy!)
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------------------------------
Subject: Using dry ice for CO2
From: Mike Giroux <mikeg@LLC.org>
Date: Tue, 4 Oct 1994 07:27:55 -0400 (EDT)
There seems to be a bit of confusion about my question on using dry ice.
People have pointed out possible contamination problems since dry ice
isn't always pure.
I wasn't planning on putting the dry ice INTO the mead. I was thinking
of subliming it in a separate container. After all, all I need is the
CO2.
However, if dry ice is a bad idea, how about mixing vineger and baking
soda in a bottle and pouring the CO2 into the carboy, like in the kid's
"fire extinguisher" experiment?
--
Mike Giroux, mikeg@llc.org
Charny, Quebec, Canada
------------------------------
Subject: how long 'til it clears?
From: stave@apollo.hp.com
Date: Tue, 4 Oct 94 9:57:31 EDT
I'm confused. The basil metheglin that I started less than 2 months
ago is crystal clear. The strawberry melomel I started 4 months ago
is crystal clear. The two batches of straight mead I started *6*
months ago are still mud opaque.
Can someone explain this to me? Is it standard that straight meads
take a long time to clear while metheglin/melomel/etc... clear that
much faster? Did I do something wrong?
Any information to help clear my confused brain will be greatly
appreciated.
Joel Stave
stave@apollo.hp.com
------------------------------
Subject: Groats, Threepence, and US coins
From: mercese@anubis.network.com (Steve E. Mercer)
Date: Tue, 4 Oct 94 10:24:49 CDT
In previous digests, I compared the sizes of Groats and Threepence of
Digby's time to the common US coins that I am familiar with. A Groat
ranged in size from about the the diameter of a US nickel to that of a
US quarter, with the quarter-sized groats being more common. A
threepence ranged in size from smaller than a US dime to the size of
a US nickel, with penny-sized being most common. Below is some
information about the sizes of these US coins for those readers of
this digest who do not have access to them.
(I provided several units, use the ones you are most familiar with :)
Penny, one cent, US$.01
diameter= 19 mm, .7803 inch, .0104 fathom, .00009445 furlong
Nickel, five cents, US$.05
diameter= 21.2 mm, .8307 inch, .01153 fathom, .0001049 furlong
Dime, ten cents, US$.10
diameter= 17.9 mm, .7047 inch, .009788 fathom, .00008898 furlong
Quarter, twenty-five cents, US$.25
diameter= 24.3 mm, .9567 inch, .01329 fathom, .001208 furlong
Other US coins (legal currency but not in common circulation)
Half Dollar, fifty cents, US$.50
diameter= 30.6 mm, 1.2047 inch
Silver Dollar, one dollar US$1.00 (not minted since 1978)
diameter= 38.1 mm, 1.5 inch
Susan B Anthony Dollar, one dollar, US$1.00 (minted only 1979-1981)
diameter= 26.5 mm, 1.04 inch
---
Steve Mercer
steve.mercer@network.com
------------------------------
Subject: Digby: Another Way of Making White Metheglin
From: mercese@anubis.network.com (Steve E. Mercer)
Date: Tue, 4 Oct 94 10:28:40 CDT
<intended for digest 354>
Joyce Miller is on vacation, and has asked me
to provide Digbie recipes while she is gone.
Note to Archivists:
This recipe follows "An Excellent way of Making White Metheglin"
This recipie is from the 1910 reprint of Digbie.
I have tried to retain the book's spelling,
punctuation, and line breaks.
---BEGIN---
ANOTHER WAY OF MAKING WHITE
METHEGLIN
To three Gallons of Spring-water take three quarts
of honey, and set it over the fire, till the scum rises
pretty thick. Then take off the scum, and put in
Thyme, Rosemary, Hyssop and Maiden-hair, of
each one handful ; and two handfuls of Eglantine
leaves, and half a handful of Organ. The spices,
Ginger, Nutmegs, Cinamon and a little mace, and
boil all these together near half an hour. Then
take it from the fire, and let it stand till it be cold,
and then strain it, and so Tun it up, and stop it
close. The longer you keep it, the better it will be.
---END---
Transcribed by Steve Mercer <steve.mercer@network.com>
---
Steve Mercer
steve.mercer@network.com
------------------------------
Subject: Using Thistle Honey and the groat discussion
From: la lala lalala Life is just a bundle of joy!
Date: Tue, 04 Oct 1994 22:25:33 -0500 (EST)
RE Thistle Honey: my first batch of mead which is still fermenting but should
be clearing soon was made with 10 lbs. of thistle and 5 lbs. of clover. Don't
know why I'm saying this because I can't let you know how it is. But I will!
Not that I have anything to compare it to...
Anyway, although I am new her, I will give my reasons why worrying about the
size of the groat or chicken egg is somewhat irrelevant as I understand it.
First of all, the discussion of how big a groat or egg was in Digby's time will
probably never be remotely solved. Eggs vary in size now as they did then I'm
sure. Also, wasn't coinage somewhat rudimentary then? Thus the groat would be
of various sizes too.
More importantly, on top of those variances is the fact that just a few
millimeters off in guessing the size of an egg or groat would vary it's height
in the water proportionately. Thus, if one envisioned the egg as our friend
the hydrometer, a few millimeters of height difference would vary the SG quite
a bit.
My point? (Which I'm probably not making very well) Digby's SG probably
varied quite a bit from batch to batch. My guess is that even if his chickens
laid the same size eggs every morning and he used the same groat every batch,
he probably didn't measure too precisely. More importantly, we know more about
the science of mead brewing and what the SG should be than Digby did, don't we.
To me, as with many of you I'm sure, it seems tantalizing to replicate these
ancient recipes exactly, but simply basing recipes off the spices and ammounts
that he uses would get the gist of it. As someone on this net said, how do we
know that these recipes are any good?
Finally, isn't it possible to figure the SG of these recipes based on the
ingredients and ammounts used?
OK, I'm done. Sorry for such a wordy dissertation from a beginner. Just my
$.57...
Gregg
*********************** We gotta get on the road *****************************
* Gregg Carrier (aka Uncle Zany, the guy in the floppy green hat) *
* 332 Old S. High St. stu_gjcarrie@vax1.acs.jmu.edu *
* Harrisonburg, VA 22801 (703) 434-8214 *
*************************** Destiny Unbound **********************************
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #354
