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Mead Lovers Digest #0328
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #328, 13 July 1994
From: mead-lovers-request@eklektix.com
Mead Lover's Digest #328 13 July 1994
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Coordinator
Contents:
Re: Yeast Nutrient (John DeCarlo x7116)
Skimming the must... (ehlert@msuces.canr.msu.edu)
Ammonia salts - Spew ! (brewing chemist Mitch)
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------------------------------
Subject: Re: Yeast Nutrient
From: John DeCarlo x7116 <jdecarlo@homebrew.mitre.org>
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 94 07:20:44 EST
From: "Fugate, Richard" <richard_fugate@msgw.mayo.edu>
>I have made about 10 meads using the ammonium phosphate salt type
>nutrients. What I'm beginning to suspect is that this is imparting a
>strong bitter taste that takes months to mellow.
I have posted this before, without any good data from anyone. Several
years ago, there was an article by Byron Burch in his company's Beverage
People News. It basically said that one reason people have to age meads
for a year is because of the ammonia in the yeast nutrient they use. Of
course, the ad then said that they had a mead yeast nutrient that
resulted in wonderful meads in a few months.
I have never tried it, and dead bread yeast sounds easier to try,
anyway.
BTW, Richard, how did you kill the yeast? Did you buy live yeast and
kill it or go with some sort of vitamin supplement made of dead yeast?
John DeCarlo, MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA--My views are my own
Fidonet: 1:109/131 Internet: jdecarlo@mitre.org
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Subject: Skimming the must...
From: ehlert@msuces.canr.msu.edu
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 1994 08:00:12 -0400
Hello Meaders:
I know this may sound like a strange question...~
What do you use to skim your must as your are boiling/heating it?~
I have made 10 batches of mead and I cannot get anything to skim the
must. What I do instead is heat the water & honey just to boil then
let it cool in the pot overnight. All the pectins and impurities glob
up and float under the surface. Then I filter it through a cloth. I
have had good luck this way.~
But everyone talks of skimming and I just can't get it together. Any
tips will be helpful.~
thanks,~
Brian Ehlert~
ehlert@msuces.canr.msu.edu~
------------------------------
Subject: Ammonia salts - Spew !
From: gellym@aviion.persoft.com (brewing chemist Mitch)
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 1994 09:28:02 -0500 (CDT)
Richard Fugate ponders:
> I have made about 10 meads using the ammonium phosphate salt type nutrients.
> What I'm beginning to suspect is that this is imparting a strong bitter taste
> that takes months to mellow. Most of the meads I have made have not used any
Bingo.
Stay away from those types of nutrients unless you don't mind overwhelmingly
nasty off-flavors and endless aging. As I've always advocated, using a large
starter, good aeration, yeast hulls for nutrient (unless it's a melomel-
type, then there's plenty of nutrient) and proper acid balance will do you
just fine.
******
Has anyone had any strange behavior from the Wyeast 3363 mead yeast? I am
using it for the first time, and after a couple of weeks in the carboy I
can detect what seems to be a chlorophenolic smell. Kind of plastic-like,
that is. I do not use chlorine sanitizers, and all water used was pre-
boiled to drive off any chlorine. The mead is a strawberry melomel - I have
never used strawberries before either, so could it be a weird stage that the
berries go through ? It does have a great berry nose, and I plan on racking
onto the remainder of the fruit in a couple more weeks.
Cheers,
Mitch
--
| - Mitch Gelly - | Zack Norman |
| software QA specialist, systems administrator, zymurgist, | is |
| AHA/HWBTA beer judge, & president of the Madison Homebrewers | Sammy in |
| - gellym@aviion.persoft.com - gelly@persoft.com - | Chief Zabu |
------------------------------
From: Richard B. Webb <rbw1271@appenine.ca.boeing.com>
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 1994 08:01:57 -0700
Subject: Hot Stuff Pepper Mead
I was asked to post the recipe that I used for a hot pepper mead.
Sounds kinda funny in theory, but it tastes good!
15 Dec 93
I boiled 15-18 homegrown jalapeno peppers (no seeds or stems) in
1 gallon of water for a few minutes before adding 6 oz blueberry honey.
This was boiled for 30 minutes. I added 2 tsp acid blend and 1 tsp
yeast nutrient for the last 15 minutes of boil.
I added 12 lbs of Chaparral corp Citrus honey and heated to around
207 degrees, holding it for a while.
After cooling the honey in an ice bath, I dumped the whole thing
into the carboy with 1 package of Red Star Pasteur Champagne yeast
which had been rehydrated with 3 tsp cane sugar in warm water,
using cooled pre-boiled water to top off a 5 gallon carboy.
Estimated OG = 1.083
The must was very cloudy, so I removed the peppers with a clean fork,
and on 29 dec, I added 1 tsp pectic enzyme. That was exciting. The
carbon dioxide formed around the enzyme particles and did a slow
eruption out of the carboy. I should have shaken up the carboy to
release the dissolved CO2 first...
Very slow fermentation. My guess is that the hot pepper oil
somehow inhibited the yeast activity. I racked to secondary on
10 feb 94. It was very hot...
I bottled on 17 april 94 with 2/3 cup corn sugar, 3 cups water,
1 tsp pectic enzyme, 1 tsp ascorbic acid, and a fresh rehydrated
package of Red Star Pasteur Champagne yeast.
The result is a very hot, yet sweet mead. Any attempt to take in
the aroma of the mead before drinking any of it is repulsed by
an intense hot sensation in the nose. However, if the attempt is
made after drinking, the smell of the honey and peppers float
through! The spice level is serious Thai restaraunt without being
painful.... Yes, it's hot, but it's tasty!
Good luck!
Rich Webb
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End of Mead Lover's Digest #328
