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Mead Lovers Digest #0468
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #468, 19 March 1996
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #468 19 March 1996
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
re:Mead Lover's Digest #467, 14 March 1996 ("Matthew W. Bryson")
Quick meads (Kurt Schilling)
Re: Spring mead (Rebecca Sobol)
Pomegranate mead - request for experience (Brian McGovney)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #467, 14 March 1996 (Brian Ehlert)
How to sweeten a dry mead (Michael Higuchi)
Priming for sparkling mead (Torben Andersen)
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Subject: re:Mead Lover's Digest #467, 14 March 1996
From: "Matthew W. Bryson" <MWBryson@LANMAIL.RMC.COM>
Date: Thu, 14 Mar 96 15:15:08 EST
A friend and I decided to collaborate on a batch of mead. We started
with 5 gallons that had: 17 lbs. clover honey, 8-10 cinnamon sticks, 12
whole cloves, and some other stuff that escapes me right now without the
recipe. After about 2 months, we split the batch into 5-1 gallon glass
jars that we treated by: 1) Adding 5 lbs. of frozen/thawed/crushed
blueberries, (2) adding an infusion of lapsang tea( smoked tea), (3)
adding 1/4 of a whole habanero pepper, (4) adding a tea of water and
lavender and, (5) leave it alone.
A couple of questions come to mind. Since we used Wyeast sweet mead
yeast, is it likely that the yeast has already pooped out, and that I now
need to add a bit more attenuative yeast? Has anyone ever added a hot
pepper to mead? How was it? How about the lapsang tea? ( Okay, more than a
couple of questions).
Any input in this matter would be apprecicated.
Thanks in advance,
Matthew W. Bryson
------------------------------
Subject: Quick meads
From: kurt@iquest.net (Kurt Schilling)
Date: Thu, 14 Mar 96 16:50 EST
Fellow Mead makers and other friends:
Morgaine Nidana's posting in MD 467 with questions about a quick mead recipe
gotme to thinking. So I went back into my files and found one recipe that I
have had many times and enjoyed. I am submitting it here in hopes that some
one may also get some enjoyment for an old recipe.
Tracy's Quick mead. This is an ale strenght mead that is just fine
for a medieval feast or fro whooping it up on St Paddy's Day or Lammas.
Ingredients: for 1 gallon
2 to 2.5 lbs raw honey (any kind is OK)
1 quartered orange
1 T fesh grated ginger
1/4 t acid blend
ale yeast
Combine honey, water, quartered orange, grated ginger in brew pot and bring
to boil. Skim froth from surface. Remove orange and ginger with a sanitized
strainer after 30 minutes. Cool and pour into fermenter. Pitch yeast when
must is 70-75 degrees F. Rack the mead when fermentation slows (after about
1 week) to secondary. Additional rackings may be necessary.The mead is
drinkable when cleared, but imporves with aging. Total time til drinkable is
about 2.5 months, hence teh name Quick Mead)
You can also ferment this one with a wine yeast or Mead yeast if you choose.
I have found that it is fairly dry and gingery. Quite tasty infact.
Slainte mhor!
Kurt
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Spring mead
From: sobol@ofps.ucar.EDU (Rebecca Sobol)
Date: Thu, 14 Mar 1996 14:58:59 -0700 (MST)
In MLD #465 tnickel@connectnet.com (Tom Nickel) writes:
On a totally different topic, is there any traditional Spring mead that
would be made on the first day of Spring? Or is it just up to us to start
our own traditional Spring mead?
My brew partner and I made our Midsummer May Mead last year as a spring
mead. It ended up getting brewed in midsummer because spring was really
cold and wet and it was June before we had spring flowers to use. We
used ~ 1 c sweet woodruff flowers steeped in 2 qts. Eldorado Springs water
for a 5 gallon batch. Sweet woodruff flowers are traditionally used in
May wine, so that seemed like a good choice for a spring mead. Our Rainy
Day Violets was also a spring mead. Violets usually bloom earlier in the
year so they might be a better choice for a mead brewed on the spring
equinox.
Speaking of Rainy Day Violets - we didn't have many violet flowers so we
only made a 1 gallon batch instead of the usual 5 gallon batch. We used
just over 2 lbs. of honey, since we usually use about 10 lbs. for 5 gallons.
This stuff was brewed May 8, 1995 and it's still fermenting! Will it
ever stop? Why won't it stop? We don't want to add chemicals to stop
it. Our current plan is to add more violets when they bloom this year,
maybe working it into a larger batch since we have not been able to bottle
it yet. We used a Flor Sherry yeast (maybe that's part of the problem?)
started in honey water 5 days earlier. Our fermentation temps are cold,
even in summer. We ferment in a crawlspace that never warms up above 65 F.
Do we need to warm it up? We have spent most of this winter working on
the crawlspace, adding insulation and organizing our mead storage area.
Now we are building an insulated brew box to put carboys into to keep
them warmer. Will this help?
Rebecca Sobol * sobol@ofps.ucar.edu * Boulder, Colorado
http://www.ofps.ucar.edu/~sobol
http://www.ofps.ucar.edu/~sobol/ris_mead.html
------------------------------
Subject: Pomegranate mead - request for experience
From: Brian McGovney <chemist@io.com>
Date: Fri, 15 Mar 1996 13:39:00 -0800
I'm about to try my hand at making a pomegranate mead using a
half-gallon of fresh (now frozen) pomegranate juice I discovered at a
roadside cider stand in central California on my honeymoon. Has anyone ever
attempted a pomegranate mead before (I can't imagine that NO ONE has...) if
not, GREAT! I get to contribute something new to the discussion here. If
so, GREAT! I get to pick your brain. How did it turn out? How much did
you use? What qualities did it lack (I'm guessing acidity) which I might be
able to add at the outset? I'm going to try not to boil or use sulfites;
maybe a slow simmer to pasteurize. This won't happen for another couple of
weeks; I'd like to hear from y'all! Thanks in advance,
Brian McGovney
chemist@io.com
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #467, 14 March 1996
From: Brian Ehlert <ehlert@msue.msu.edu>
Date: Mon, 18 Mar 1996 07:46:14 -0500
>Subject: Wormwood
>From: Douglas Thomas <thomasd@uchastings.edu>
>Date: Mon, 11 Mar 1996 08:10:03 -0800 (PST)
>
>
>Of late I have seen wormwood being mentioned in postings both on the HBD
>and Mead Lovers...
>There is a reason why almost every country in Europe has banned the sale
>or export of Absinthe, and that is because it is highly addictive and
>basically eats your kidneys and liver away.
This is true. But Absinthe is not wormwood alone. Wormwood is one
component in absinthe but not the only by far. Wormwood is Sweet Annie or
one of the many Artemesia's. Very common and very hard to get rid of once
you have it.
Research is good, but don't extrapolate too far. Check out the FAQ for
alt.drugs.* there is a huge absinthe FAQ, there is also a good history of
discussion in alt.folklore.herbs
I have been meaning to put some of my herb info. togehter for mead brewers,
I just haven't gotten to it yet. I guess the spring and summer is bringing
the topic back.
In time.
Brian Ehlert
- --------------------
My one claim to fame is....ummmm....I forgot.
------------------------------
Subject: How to sweeten a dry mead
From: mhiguchi@ix.netcom.com (Michael Higuchi)
Date: Tue, 19 Mar 1996 02:31:32 GMT
My first mead (actually a cran-apple cyser) is starting to clear
after six weeks and two rackings. My OG was 1.097, and is now
1.000. The Red Star champagne yeast has gone to town! In any
case, it's a little drier than I expected, and I'd like to
sweeten it a bit, maybe up to 1.010-1.020 or so.
What's the best way to add some sweetness? Should I just keep
feeding it honey, and if so, how? (Pasteurize, dissolve & add,
dump & stir, or what?)
TIA,
Michael Higuchi
(mhiguchi@ix.netcom.com)
------------------------------
Subject: Priming for sparkling mead
From: tanderse@eso.org (Torben Andersen)
Date: Tue, 19 Mar 96 08:43:46 +0100
Dick Dunn wrote:
>Standard advice is "don't prime individual bottles." You can do it, but
>you're inviting a lot of bottle-to-bottle variation. Even if you measure
>very carefully, volume measurements of dextrose (what's usually used for
>priming) are notoriously inaccurate. Don't even think of priming with
>honey! (Or, think of it long enough to imagine having honey everywhere.)
I prime with honey and have no problems with that. I take a small amount of
must and dissolve honey into to it. I also add yeast, although I am not sure
that I need to. Afterwards I prime the individual bottles using the must
with honey and yeast. I prime the individual bottles because I want to be
sure to have the right amount of honey in each bottle.
I recently read that the correct dosage is 22.5-37.5 gram honey per liter
must, and that this gives an overpressure of 3.5-6.5 atmospheres. I am going
to try with these values the next time.
Torben Andersen
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #468
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