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Mead Lovers Digest #0447
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #447, 10 December 1995
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #447 10 December 1995
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Add yeast at bottling? (John DeCarlo)
Re: The 'ol one-two/Yeast at bottling ("Lee C. Bussy")
Re: lights that sterilize (Btalk@aol.com)
Cranberry Mead (Maggie Burns)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #446, 4 December 1995 (Geoffrey Hunter)
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Subject: Add yeast at bottling?
From: John DeCarlo <jdecarlo@homebrew.mitre.org>
Date: Tue, 5 Dec 95 07:16:23 EST
Ted Major <tmajor@parallel.park.uga.edu> writes:
>My wife and I have a batch of Papazian's Barkshack mead made with Red
>Star Pasteur Champagne dry yeast that's been aging in a carboy in our
>basement for almost 8 months now. When we finally get around to
>bottling, is there enough viable yeast left to bottle condition, or do
>we need to add fresh yeast? If so how much?
Here is one data point for you. The last time I made a sparkling mead, it
had been in one fermenter or another for 14 months. I added no yeast, just
honey for priming, and within a week or two had a very nice sparkling mead.
It was very clear and had been in the last carboy for 10 months.
John DeCarlo, MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA--My views are my own
Fidonet: 1:109/131 Internet: jdecarlo@mitre.org
------------------------------
Subject: Re: The 'ol one-two/Yeast at bottling
From: "Lee C. Bussy" <leeb@southwind.net>
Date: Tue, 5 Dec 1995 06:21:47 +0000
On 4 Dec 95 at 22:06, "Craig Jones." <Drake_Morgan@airservices.gov.au>
wrote:
> I've found a source of sparkalloid and wish to use it on a mead.
> There was a mention of the use of sparkalloid followed up with
> another fining agent (I think the term was: "Give 'em the ole 1-2:).
> Can anyone remember what that second fining agent is?
Not sure if this was me or not but I do sometimes recommend this.
Sparkalloid is awfully dusty when it settles for my liking so I
sometimes follow a few days later with a better settling fining agent
like gelatin, bentonite or Polyclar to help it pach down and stay out
of my racking wand.
I have noticed no ill efects from this combo although I don't think
I'd try it on beer.
Then Ted Major <tmajor@parallel.park.uga.edu> asked about Adding
yeast at bottling:
> My wife and I have a batch of Papazian's Barkshack mead made with
> Red Star Pasteur Champagne dry yeast that's been aging in a carboy
> in our basement for almost 8 months now. When we finally get around
> to bottling, is there enough viable yeast left to bottle condition,
> or do we need to add fresh yeast?
I did the same recipe for my first batch. I used the YeastLab Dry
Mead yeast and it sat for over one year clearing before I bottled it.
I didn't add anything except for 7/8 cup corn sugar and it carbonated
nicely after about a month in the bottle.
- --
- -Lee C. Bussy/leeb@southwind.net
* I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up,
* it's as good as they are going to feel all day.
------------------------------
Subject: Re: lights that sterilize
From: Btalk@aol.com
Date: Tue, 5 Dec 1995 10:41:54 -0500
Those are some sort of ultraviolet frequency lights.
Some household disinfections systems employ the same thing.
I think I've seen thes in lab supply catalogs for disinfection the work area,
but you have to be careful of your eyes, ie place them so you aren't looking
at the bulb.
Besides skunking beer, it wouldn't disinfect because beer is generally not
transparent enough for the light ot go all the way through.
Re iodine...I've been reading in the homebrew digest about folks who save the
solution for reuse. Siphon it into a carboy and cap it, occasionally topping
off with more water and iodine.
regards,
Bob Talkeiwicz, Binghamton, NY <btalk@aol.com>
------------------------------
Subject: Cranberry Mead
From: mab21@email.psu.edu (Maggie Burns)
Date: Tue, 05 Dec 1995 11:51:27 -0500
>Subject: Cranberry Mead?
>From: Woodmanj@aol.com
>Date: Thu, 30 Nov 1995 10:44:12 -0500
>
>Does anyone have a recipe/experience with cranberries in mead. My SO wants
me to brew one, so I am looking for input.
>
>Jon Woodman, woodmanj@aol.com
>
Well, I'm making sort of a "mead with cranberry" right now that is very dry
but otherwise good. I put in a can of cranberry concentrate (the frozen
kind) when my mead was stuck, thinking about raising acidity a little. It
definitely worked but you can't taste more than the faintest cranberry
flavor. This is in a 5 gallon carboy with 10 lbs of good but
undistinguished honey. It's a good idea, I think, but you need a lot more
if you're going to use frozen concentrate.
Maggie Burns
mab21@email.psu.edu
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #446, 4 December 1995
From: Geoffrey Hunter <FS300022@Sol.YorkU.CA>
Date: Tue, 05 Dec 1995 13:54:21 -0500 (EST)
Re: Stuck Fermentations.
>From both personal experience and the wine-making literature, I know that
a common cause of stuck fermentations is to start with a "must" containing
too much sugar. Exactly why the fermentation stops when there is still a
large amount of unfermented sugar remaining, is not known (to me), but it
appears to be an effect upon the yeast cells or upon the enzymes which
they make. Although the fermentation will start with a huge excess of
sugar present, it stops when the alcohol content has risen to about 5%.
Thus it is the combination of about 5% alcohol and a large excess of sugar
that causes the fermentation to stop (become "stuck").
The problem is easily avoided by not having too much sugar
in the initial liquor (ferment or "must"). Personally I use the potential
alcohol scale of the hydrometer, and keep the initial gravity (sugar) at
about 10% v/v potential alcohol. When the gravity (sugar) has dropped below
about 2% I will add more honey to bring it back to say 5%. You may repeat
this process of adding additional honey several times, and in this way
achieve a final alcohol content of 15-17% v/v ethyl alcohol. It is good
to use this technique because it gives you control over the final sugar
content (sweetness).
As a previous correspondent advised, a stuck fermentation should
restart by diluting with say an equal volume of water. After the dilution
you may need to add new yeast, but there should be enough nutrient present.
Geoffrey Hunter, Professor of Chemistry, York University, Toronto.
Email: FS300022@sol.yorku.ca
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #447
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