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Mead Lovers Digest #0387
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #387, 27 February 1995
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #387 27 February 1995
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #386, 23 Februar (DANIELGUR@delphi.com)
GLENBREW SECRET BREWERS (Charles Wettergreen)
Buckwheat (Matthew Tripp)
Mead Lover's Digest #382, 26 J (LONJG@PAN.COM)
Boiling or not: the only way? (Ralph Snel)
Mead home pages. (Sam Shank)
Pitching Yeast (Ed Werzyn)
Glenbrew Secret Brewer's Yeast (Rob Reed)
shhhh .... yeast sleeping ... (Swanston_Dale/safety@sask.aecl.ca)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #386, 23 February 1995 ("JOHN A. JR. CARLSON ")
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------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #386, 23 Februar
From: DANIELGUR@delphi.com
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 16:39:11 -0500 (EST)
Comment to Steven W.Schultz(swschult@cbda9.apgea.army.mil)
Re: Very slow start on mead fermentation.
I had this happen just recently myself. Pitched a good starter, waited 2
days, and nothing seemed to happen. On the 3rd day I checked the SG and
noticed it was down 10pts or so. At the end of the week it was down
20 and I racked it off into a secondary carboy. At this point, it started
REALLY going, bubbling about once per second a day after racking. All I can
think of is either the agitation helped, or some O2 was added when siphoning
and this jump started it. Any other suggestions anyone ?
------------------------------
Subject: GLENBREW SECRET BREWERS
From: chuckmw@mcs.com (Charles Wettergreen)
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 95 17:00 CST
To: mead@talisman.com
In MLD #386 Geoffrey Schaller (BWEU05C@prodigy.com) asked:
MM> Another quick question - I was reccommended a beer/ale yeast by a store
MM> owner called "Glen Brew's Secret Brewer's Yeast." It's a high tolerance
MM> yeast, and I used it in my last batch, which came out VERY strong for such a
MM> yeast (It was commented as tasting like champaigne, and people remakerd how
MM> strong it was - it seemed to get stronger deeper in the bottle).
I've used GlenBrew Secret Brewer's Yeast many times for high gravity ales. It
ferments vigorously and very clean at room temperatures. The only problem, if
you view it as such, is that it never stops fermenting. By this I mean that it
quickly ferments out the fermentable sugars and appears to finish fermentation,
but then it continues to very slowly break down and ferment non-fermentable
sugars (dextrins?). I have a (OG 1.200) cherry imperial stout that is 3 years
old. Every six months or so I have to go down and bleed off the bottles because
it just keeps working. One of my favorites.
Chuck
/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*
Chuck Wettergreen One beer at a sitting is OK. Two beers, maybe.
Chuckmw@mcs.com But anything beyond that number goes over the
Geneva, Illinois line of recreational drinking. Ann Landers
/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/**/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/**/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*
* RM 1.3 00946 *
------------------------------
Subject: Buckwheat
From: Matthew Tripp <mattt@interchange.com>
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 95 13:22:17 CST
I'm a brand new to this mead making thing (I've never even had
any). My father and I have brewed a batch of beer that didn't turn
out too bad, so we're experts of course and wanted to try something
different. So I suggested mead.
My father has some land in northeas Missouri that he has
grown various things on with 'okay' success. Dad (he's really a lawyer by
trade) was interested in the mead idea because he had chosen buckwheat as
his next new crop to try. In his research (he researches everything) he
came across several references to buckwheat producing good, dark honey (I
suppose the bees have something to do with it as well).
Now my questions are these (yes there was a point to all this):
1. Is buckwheat honey good for making mead? (I understand this
is pretty much a personal preference type thing but
any input is good)
2. Can you carbonate any type of mead, or are certain
types that carbonation won't work on or would just
make taste bad?
3. Is mead served cold, warm, or hot (or all three)?
4. Are the hangovers REALLY that bad?
Thanx in advance for any help you can give me.
Matthew Tripp
Information Systems Analyst
Healthcare Interchange Inc
(800) - 435-7441 x6033
mattt@interchange.com
------------------------------
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #382, 26 J
From: LONJG@PAN.COM
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 20:29:53 -0500 (EST)
Hello To All,
Me and some friends of mine are in preperations to start a new mountain
homebrewers gathering. Since they stopped having the Rocky Mtn. Beer &
Steer, We decided that some body needed to try to get a new one started. We
come up with a name for it. "Brewstock". We're still in the process of
putting it together. So far we have a place for camping and there will be
some good music. If any one is interested please send me some E-mail. My
internet is:
LONJG@PAN.COM
We're still looking for people who can help in any way possible.
------------------------------
Subject: Boiling or not: the only way?
From: Ralph Snel <ralph@astro.lu.se>
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 95 13:43:26 MET
Yes, once again :)
Geoffrey mentioned on the Cider Digest that there are still people who
consider their policy with respect to boiling the only good one. How
are opinions nowadays?
Personally I mix with water and boil gently, with appropriate spices
if I use them (like ginger or juniper berries).
I do not consider this The Only Way. I have made meads without boiling,
without desinfecting. I have noticed they ferment slower, taste more
and need some active help clearing.
Ralph Snel
ralph@astro.lu.se
------------------------------
Subject: Mead home pages.
From: shank@biocserver.bioc.cwru.edu (Sam Shank)
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 1995 11:56:30 -0500
Could someone please post a list of the mead home pages around? I checked
the faq, and it seemed to be out of date (at lest the one that in on the
stanford ftp server.)
Also, isn't there a home page or a gopher to search the old mead archives?
There used to be, didn't there? Or was that for the homebreew archives? If
so, is there a chance of getting a search engine for the mead archives?
Thanks,
Sam
------------------------------
Subject: Pitching Yeast
From: werzyn@pdssfdps.mdhc.mdc.com (Ed Werzyn)
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 95 14:19:25 MST
I keep reading about failed yeast starts and I want to contribute
my _limited_ knowledge on the subject. I don't consider myself and
_expert_, but I have found a method that seems to work when
pitching yeast. When I made my very first batch of mead I didn't
know better and just threw the yeast into the cooled honey mixture
and of course, nothing happened. Since then I have come up with a
method that has worked every time.
While I am preparing the honey mixture, I remove the yeast from the
refrigerator and allow it to warm up to room temperature (make sure
you buy refrigerated yeast and keep it in the refrigerator). When
the honey mixture has cooled to approximately 100 F (I'm a boiler),
I begin my yeast preparation. Use 1/4 cup water at 95 F and pitch
the yeast into it. Add 1 teaspoon yeast nutrient and 2-3
Tablespoons of the _warm _ honey, stir until all of the yeast
is dissolved and place it inside microwave. DON'T TURN THE
MICROWAVE ON!! Mine is just a nice _warm_ place to keep the
mixture warm until it is ready to pitch. When the honey mixture
reaches 95 F, I remove the yeast mixture from the microwave, (which
has already started to bubble!!) and pitch it into the honey
mixture. Shake (the best I can) the 5 gallon carboy to aerate it
and get the rest of the honey into solution. (Note: Do not drop the
carboy!! A friend of mine did and his dog is _still_ stuck to the
kitchen floor!!)
The first 24 hours I run a blow off tube to be on the safe side and
after that a fermentation lock. The yeast has been _very_ active
and the blow off tube has been necessary on 2 batches. I have
tried the above method on 4 different types of yeast and
_every time_ it worked.
------------------------------
Subject: Glenbrew Secret Brewer's Yeast
From: Rob Reed <rhreed@icdc.delcoelect.com>
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 1995 17:53:44 -0500 (EST)
BWEU05C@prodigy.com (MR GEOFFREY J SCHALLER) asks:
> Another quick question - I was reccommended a beer/ale yeast by a store
> owner called "Glen Brew's Secret Brewer's Yeast." It's a high tolerance
> yeast, and I used it in my last batch, which came out VERY strong for such
> a yeast (It was commented as tasting like champaigne, and people remakerd
> how strong it was - it seemed to get stronger deeper in the bottle).
> Anyone know anything about this yeast?
As far as I can tell, this is an ale yeast strain with amylase enzyme
added. The beers we have made with it have finished dry with lower
than 'normal' specific gravities.
Cheers,
Rob Reed
------------------------------
Subject: shhhh .... yeast sleeping ...
From: Swanston_Dale/safety@sask.aecl.ca
Date: Mon, 27 Feb 95 09:57:15 -0700
I've been lurking here for a little while and have recently encountered
a 'situation' that requires experts' opinion. I'm a fairly novice mead
brewer. I tried a couple batches about a year ago and wasn't too
successful really. I took a hiatus to learn more and have attempted
another batch just a little while ago.
I was trying to make a pretty simple mead, just spiced with ginger and
cinamin. I used about 3lbs of honey purchased from a health food store
to make a gallon of mead. I boiled briefly, 10min. Added spices,
cooled, and strained them out when trasferring to the fermenter. I then
pitched a Red Star Champagne Yeast (I'm pretty sure that's the brand
name, our homebrew supply store doesn't have a large selection of
yeasts). I didn't use a starter (perhaps I should have). The inital
gravity was on the order of 1.090. As well, I added the following
prior to pitching: 1 tsp of acid blend, 1/2 tsp of both yeast nutrients
and yeast energizer. (I understand the need for yeast nutrients but to
be honest I wasn't sure what the yeast energizer was supposed to do-but
I didn't think it would hurt.)
Now the problem, the fermentation never really took off. There wasn't a
large krausen (if that's the term for mead) like I was expecting with
all that sugar. And now, about 8 days after pitching there appears to
be no fermentation activity at all. What should I do? Should I repitch
but use a starter this time? I think there's viable yeast in there they
just need a kick start. More yeast nutrients perhaps?
Can anyone suggest a course of action.
Thanks in advance,
Dale Swanston
Swanston_Dale/safety@sask.aecl.ca
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #386, 23 February 1995
From: "JOHN A. JR. CARLSON " <jcarlson@du.edu>
Date: Mon, 27 Feb 1995 11:26:30 -0700 (MST)
Has anyone ever made a mead using the Belgian Abbey Wyeast? Many of my
meads finish in the low gravity range and I was wondering if a weaker
yeast could produce a nice tasting mead that was not so alcoholic and did
not require 20 plus pounds of honey (5 gallon batch). I want to try using a
non-traditional yeast but wanted some advice before I did. If anybody has any ex
perience
with this please send me a note via E-mail.
Thank you,
John Carlson
A friend of mead is a friend indeed
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #387
