Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Mead Lovers Digest #0334
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #334, 4 August 1994
From: mead-lovers-request@eklektix.com
Mead Lover's Digest #334 4 August 1994
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #333,... (MEADMSTR@aol.com)
yeast availability (Dick Dunn)
RE: Alternative Nutrients (forwarded)
Cooking with Lees (forwarded)
re: yeasts for mead (Spencer.W.Thomas@med.umich.edu)
Re: Toxicology Questions (John Gorman)
Kenelme Digbie lives! (Joyce Miller)
re: Kenelme Digbie lives! (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: Mead Lover's Digest #333,...
From: MEADMSTR@aol.com
Date: Sat, 30 Jul 94 12:28:53 EDT
>>Subject: re: yeasts for mead
>> What ABOUT the fermentation induces this character (for
>> which "phenol" is the closest useful description)? temperature?
>> something in the character of the must? nutrient?
>>, but if I get the odd character consistently from one yeast, and >>not
from other yeasts under the same conditions, then the yeast >>does have
something to do with it.
I will agree that the yeast does have something to do with it.
Different strains are created to optimize fermentation temperature, nutrient
conditions and ester/ phenol production....In the case of EC-1118 it is
optimized for secondary fermentation....for champagne.
It is fast growing... thus suceptable to mutation. Since it is optimized for
champagne, it is somwhat intolerant to high osmotic pressures... ( high
sugar content musts ) Morphologically, yeasts growing under high osmotic
pressure are stressed, generation time ( budding ) is delayed, and production
of glycerol increases. Since it is a rapid fermenter, the must temperature
increases. High temperature fermentation increases phenol extraction ( which
may be good for fruit meads )
>>Lalvin lists "71B-1122" - is this the same? I'm guessing that the >>way to
decode the Lalvin numbering is something like a generic >>identifier before
the "-" and a Lalvin number after.
Yes, for lavlin this is true.... redstar would probably have a different
number following the gen 71B ....
High ester production could be good, depending again, upon your style, and
what flavors and perhaps aromas that you want
------------------------------
Subject: yeast availability
From: rcd@raven.eklektix.com (Dick Dunn)
Date: 31 Jul 94 11:24:35 MDT (Sun)
I had asked about the Steinberg yeast that MEADMASTR mentioned in a
run-down of suitable mead yeasts; a couple of people pointed out that
Yeast Lab's "Sweet Mead" M62 is such a yeast.
I've also been told that various wine yeasts "are available on slants from
The Yeast Culture Kit Company. They can be reached at 800-742-2110."
Usual disclaimer--I've got no connection, no endorsement implied, just
passing along info that folks might find useful.
---
Dick Dunn rcd@eklektix.com -or- raven!rcd Boulder, Colorado USA
...Simpler is better.
------------------------------
Subject: (forwarded) RE: Alternative Nutrients
From: mead@raven.eklektix.com (forwarded)
Date: 31 Jul 94 11:27:30 MDT (Sun)
Following posted on behalf of doburoku@freenet.fsu.edu ("Doburoku Jiji")
who had some trouble getting this to the Digest...
I recently picked up a Japanese book on brewing by Kotaro Sasano who
in his section on mead says that brewers with a health-food bent can
avoid commercial nutrients by making a tea of 50 g of either wheat
germ or rice husks steeped in 500 ml water, which is then boiled down
to 100 ml (this for a 1 liter batch).
Never one to pass up a chance to get the kitchen messy, I decided to
give it a try using rice husks, which are the more readily available
ingredient here. I did, however, make a few changes to his method.
First, I don't see the point of concentrating the tea only to redilute
it with honey-water, so I cut that step out and adjusted water volumes
accordingly. Second, simple arithmetic would say to steep 1 kg of
rice husks in 10 liters water for a 20 liter batch. That turned out
to be an awful lot of husks. Instead, I used 500 g in 3 liters water,
putting the husks in a muslin bag and simmering them in a covered pot
for 10 minutes before lightly pressing. The result was a milky white
liquid that looks an awful lot like unrefined sake (not surprising).
Fingers crossed, I dumped this into the carboy. On first glance it
appeared to be all liquid, but after sitting for a while, a fairly
sizeable sediment of husks formed at the bottom, suggesting that
filtering through coffee paper might be appropriate next time. When
the liquid had cooled a bit, I added acid and tannin, and then the
honey-water (7.2 kg of chestnut honey heated to near boiling and
skimmed, with Irish moss thrown in for good measure). I pitched a
starter bottle of Flor Sherry yeast the next morning.
The mixture was initially less than encouraging. For the first couple
of days, the yeast was obviously fermenting--there were bubbles coming
through the airlock--but there wasn't the vigorous fermentation that
I'm used to getting. Worse, the must looked positively awful. For
the first day or so, there was a clear layering inside the carboy.
The top 1/3 was slightly milky colored, suggesting that the yeast had
made it that far. Beneath that was a ring of white globs that
reminded me of crystallized honey; these were slowly sedimenting out.
The next 1/3 was a clear brown liquid the color of the honey itself,
and on bottom was a large deposit of the white stuff. I tried
stirring this mess up before pitching the yeast, but it only took a
half hour before it had separated back out. After that, I let it run
its course. By the second day, the mixture had become more or less
homogenous, with a very thick white sediment on the bottom.
The mead is about a week old now and for the last five days has been
fermenting with the normal vigor you would expect in the early stages.
It certainly does not appear undernourished, though it is obviously
too early to tell. An interesting side effect is that while
fermentation is as strong as you could want, there is no foam. In the
past, Red Star's Flor Sherry yeast has been so foamy I've had problems
with it overrunning the fermentation lock. This time, all the bubbles
break on the surface, so I can keep the carboy full almost to the neck
without worrying. Might I have stumbled on the original natural
anti-foam?
_______
"A carboy is a terrible thing to waste."
Doburoku Jiji
Fujisawa, Japan
------------------------------
Subject: (forwarded) Cooking with Lees
From: mead@raven.eklektix.com (forwarded)
Date: 31 Jul 94 11:29:38 MDT (Sun)
Another one posted on behalf of doburoku@freenet.fsu.edu ("Doburoku Jiji"):
Does anybody have any neat things to do with the lees other than throw
them away? In Japan, sake lees are used to make pickles and marinate
fish, so it seems like a waste to be tossing out mead/wine lees. As
an experiment, I tried making bread with about 300 ml of lees that
were left on the bottom of the carboy after bottling a strawberry
wine. Came out wonderful, except it took almost two days to get
through two rises! Has a nicely understated strawberry flavor and
light texture, though. Here's the recipe for those interested:
300 ml [Strawberry wine] lees
100 ml Water
1/2 C Honey
1/2 C Butter
1 tsp Salt, or to taste
5-6 C Bread flour
1 C Coarse-ground whole wheat grits
1 Tbs Bread yeast (if wine yeast fails to restart)
Mix and knead normally, let rise twice (be prepared to wait), and
bake for 30-40 minutes in a 375 F oven. Frying on a griddle might be
nice too.
-------
"A carboy is a terrible thing to waste."
Doburoku Jiji
Fujisawa, Japan
------------------------------
Subject: re: yeasts for mead
From: Spencer.W.Thomas@med.umich.edu
Date: Mon, 1 Aug 94 10:16:03 EDT
Dick Dunn writes in the MLD:
>> Steinberg - a good mead yeast... but a slow fermenter. Cold tolerant ( slow
>> fermentation ) enhance fruity aromas.
>Is there a source of the Steinberg strain (perhaps under another name) for
>home mead-makers?
Are you aware that YeastLab M62 (sweet mead) is Steinberg Riesling? I
made a very nice cyser with it recently. I have to echo the "slow
fermenter" comment. As I recall (notes are at home, of course), it
was in the primary for a couple of months at about 60-65F, then in
secondary for a couple more months.
Yeast Culture Kit Co. sells it, too, along with about a dozen other
wine strains suitable for mead.
Disclaimer: The owner of YCKC is a friend of mine; I'd like to see him
stay in business so I can keep getting slants and supplies from him :-)
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Toxicology Questions
From: john@north.rsi.com (John Gorman)
Date: Mon, 1 Aug 1994 15:43:40 ADT
> With apologies to John Gorman, a True Believer in bentonite.
I think that bentonite is inert, like sand or dirt.
Actually, my current question concerns necterine pits. A tiny
test batch indicates that necterine pit mead will be VERY good.
I just added a dozen crushed necterine pits to a jar of plain
mead for a week. A little off-beat, I know, but really tasty.
If you set a vice grip to the right size, it is quick and easy
to crush each pit. Pop, pop, pop. I plan to make a 5 gallon batch
of necterine mead this week. I was thinking of making a one gallon
batch with the leftover pits.
Are the pits, or the seeds of necterines, peaches, etc. toxic?
Or is this just a childhood rumor?
Thanks, John (Bentonite) Gorman
John Gorman <john@rsi.com> Relational Semantics, Inc.
85 Spinnaker Drive #107 17 Mount Auburn Street
Halifax NS B3N 3E3 Watertown MA 02172
Canada 902-479-0113 USA 617-926-0979
------------------------------
Subject: Kenelme Digbie lives!
From: jmiller@genome.wi.mit.edu (Joyce Miller)
Date: Tue, 2 Aug 1994 10:33:40 -0400
Gentle Meaders --
I just got my hands on a copy of (drum roll):
The Closet of the Eminently Learned
Sir Kenelme Digbie, Knight, Opened:
Whereby is Discovered several ways for making of
Metheglin, Sider, Cherry-Wine, &c.
Together with Excellent Directions for Cookery:
As also for Preserving, Conserving, Candying, &c.
This is the English cookbook from 1669 that some of you may have heard/read
of. It has *129* pages of brewing recipes, most of them for meads. It
also appears to be completely in the public domain.
Now, the recipes really need to be taken with a large handful of salt.
They were intended as notes from an experienced cook/brewer to other
experienced cook/brewers, so proportions, units, etc, are sometimes
seriously out to lunch. Readers shouldn't think that they're going to get
the inside poop from the Brewing Gods. However, it *is* full of great
miscellaneous info, like when he explains the difference between
Virgin-Honey, Life-honey and Stock-honey, and how to get each out of your
hives, and how the merchants will sometimes mix the different grades, and
how honey pressed out of the combs will always taste of wax, etc.
I and the owner of the book would really like to type the thing into
electronic format (the book is a facsimile copy, and no character
recognition software is going to deal with spotty printing, and "s"'s that
look like "f"'s).
When we're done, we'd like to put the whole thing in a web/ftp site
somewhere. Are people interested in seeing the recipes posted as I type
them in?
-- Joyce
------------------------------
Subject: re: Kenelme Digbie lives!
From: rcd@raven.eklektix.com (Dick Dunn)
Date: 4 Aug 94 00:21:02 MDT (Thu)
Joyce Miller wrote:
> I just got my hands on a copy of (drum roll):
>
> The Closet of the Eminently Learned
> Sir Kenelme Digbie, Knight, Opened:
...[etc, it's quite the title!]...
> This is the English cookbook from 1669 that some of you may have heard/read
> of...
Joyce - This would be the original edition. It was revised at least twice;
I have copies from the 1669 original and the "third edition corrected" from
1677. In some cases the corrections (or at least changes:-) are substan-
tial--for example, in the original it's "Digbie" and in the third edition
it's "Digby"! The third edition also has the recipes rearranged relative
to the first edition. I don't have enough historical perspective, and
haven't dug deep enough into the text, to know whether the revisions are
sufficiently important.
> Now, the recipes really need to be taken with a large handful of salt.
...to put it mildly!
> ...Readers shouldn't think that they're going to get
> the inside poop from the Brewing Gods. However, it *is* full of great
> miscellaneous info...
In addition to the examples Joyce mentions, one of the great things I found
was the herbs used in metheglins of this period. I started making a list
as I worked through the recipes; I think I had around 75 when I got tired
of taking notes!
> I and the owner of the book would really like to type the thing into
> electronic format (the book is a facsimile copy, and no character
> recognition software is going to deal with spotty printing, and "s"'s that
> look like "f"'s).
I've been working on transcribing the 3rd edition. I've also been working
on how to maintain the typographic character--the "long s" is just the
beginning of those issues.
Are there other folks beside Joyce and myself who have also got copies of
some edition of Digby and who have contemplated (or begun) some similar
transcription effort? Even if people want to go their separate ways
anyway, it would be nice for all of us to know what's going on.
> When we're done, we'd like to put the whole thing in a web/ftp site
> somewhere...
The difficulty I see with web/ftp lies in reducing the info to something
most folks can view or print, without losing all feeling of the typography
and layout. Clearly that's of no interest whatever to some folks, but an
important characteristic to others.
---
Dick Dunn rcd@eklektix.com -or- raven!rcd Boulder, Colorado USA
...Simpler is better.
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #334
