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Mead Lovers Digest #0619
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #619, 2 December 1997
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #619 2 December 1997
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #618, 30 November 1997 (Friggsmaid)
Racking (bob farrell)
Re: Clearing and cooking ("Dave Moore")
Too sweet? (Jeffrey Rose)
Commercial Meads (Wayne_Kozun@otpp.com)
Yeast Nutrient Composition (Mark Evenson)
Low Alcohol Yeast ("Siedentopf, Kevin S")
Polyclar Inducing Fermentation? Cuthills Mead. (Richard Gardner)
NOTE: Digest only appears when there is enough material to send one.
Send ONLY articles for the digest to mead@talisman.com.
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #618, 30 November 1997
From: Friggsmaid <Friggsmaid@aol.com>
Date: Sun, 30 Nov 1997 14:26:27 EST
I have not written to the Digest before, although I have really enjoyed
reading it for the last little while. I have a few questions.
1, I have a batch of orange blossom mead 5 gallons with 15 pounds of honey. It
has been fermenting for over 6 months. The temperature has been an average of
75 degrees and I used champaign yeast. My question is how much longer will it
take to clear (an estimate). I like the flavor now, is there any way to stop
the fermentation and clear it without using chemicals?
2, I am brewing for a large group of people that go through a lot of mead. I
am looking for ways to get my ingredients wholesale, but none of the local
brewshops will tell me who their suppliers are. Any suggestions on how to get
good bulk honey, and yeast, so I can save a little money? I can't get the
orange blossom honey locally.
Thanks
Gudrun
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Subject: Racking
From: bob farrell <bfarrell@windermere.com>
Date: Sun, 30 Nov 1997 14:37:45 -0800
I believe this was one of the lost requests mentioned in #618.
Last week I racked 5 gallons of blueberry melomel to the secondary. I had
difficulty maintaining the siphon due to the amount of fruit residue in the
primary carboy, and only racked about 3 1/2 gallons.
Fearing oxidation problems with 1 1/2 gallons of headspace, I siphoned some
previously boiled water (at basement temperature) to fill up the carboy.
In the future, would I be better off using a plastic bucket for initial
fermentation, so that I can squeeze the pulp and scoop out the fruit before
racking?
I initially used 12 pounds of clover honey to make this blueberry melomel.
Have I created an extra dry, tasteless beverage through dilution?
Should I had more honey at the next racking? If so, should I add more
yeast at that time, too.
Thank you,
Bob Farrell
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Clearing and cooking
From: "Dave Moore" <moore@mnsinc.com>
Date: Sun, 30 Nov 1997 17:46:19 +0000
"Wout Klingens" <wkling@knoware.nl> writes:
> 2. Clearing a non-cooked mead only seems to be possible with cooling. I
> read someone putting it at 32F for 3 days and he or she "could read a
> newpaper through it". I don't have a frig that large available for my
I've done two meads that were not cooked and they cleared beautifully with
time. No refrigeration required. You can read my mead logs on my web page.
PGP key available at "http://www.mnsinc.com/moore"
Dave Moore
------------------------------
Subject: Too sweet?
From: Jeffrey Rose <jeffrey_rose@eri.eisai.com>
Date: 01 Dec 97 10:32:57 -0500
I made a traditional tupelo mead in late August and at last reading, the
gravity is down to 1.010. Another melomel I made reads 1.000. The
traditional mead tastes VERY sweet for 1.010 and the melomel still has a sweet
taste at 1.000. Can my hydrometer be whacky? Is 1.010 too sweet even for
a sweet mead?
I also made a vanilla cinnamon metheglin with fresh vanilla beans and
crushed fresh cinnamon sticks in the primary. After fermentation was
complete, I found absolutely no vanilla or cinnamon taste in the mead. I
expected I would have to beef up the flavors before bottling but since these
spices are fairly potent, I expected more to be in the flavor at this stage.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Jeff
------------------------------
Subject: Commercial Meads
From: Wayne_Kozun@otpp.com
Date: Mon, 1 Dec 1997 09:43:25 -0500
Does anyone have a list of commercial meaderies and a discussion of their
products? Here in Ontario our government owned liquour stores sell a mead
called Chaucer's mead which is made in California. Next week they get in
Moniack's Mead from Scotland. Has anyone ever heard of these products and
have any opinion's on their quality.
------------------------------
Subject: Yeast Nutrient Composition
From: Mark Evenson <wine-hop@dnvr.uswest.net>
Date: Mon, 01 Dec 1997 13:04:56 -0800
For the person with the question on chemical composition of yeast
nutrient: Three of the largest homebrew/winemaking wholesale suppliers
use varying formulas in their "house brand". Your local homebrew shop
should be able to identify their source (especially if you're willing to
share your info).
L.D. Carlson (Kent, OH) food-grade urea and diammonium phosphate; white
in color with fairly large, rounded granules
G.W. Kent (Ann Arbor, MI) these folks have two types
- -"Nutrient" diammonium phosphate; white, small crystals similar in size
to sugar crystals (though more long than square)
- -"Energizer" diammonium phosphate, yeast hulls, magnesium sulfate,
thiamine, folic acid, niacin, calcium pantothenate; small tan grains
with some white particles visible. I believe this is from Lalvin.
Crosby & Baker (Westmort, MA) Fermax(TM) contains diammonium phosphate,
dipotassium phosphate, magnesium sulfate, autolyzed yeast.
also DLB Vineyards (Westlake, OH) diammonium phosphate; white grains.
Sorry for the delay in responding; I wanted to check with the suppliers
listed above to get official permission to post this info. Nobody said
"no" although if you want more detailed info (i.e., what percentage of
each chemical) you should contact your local homebrew shop.
To support one of my comments of 11-22-97, I haven't found yeast
nutrient to be helpful in my fermentations when pitching *large*
quantities of yeast (5 gr dried wine yeast/gallon). My starting SG
ranges from 1.090 to 1.100, and ferments to dryness (0.996 to 1.002) in
about 2 1/2 to 3 weeks. When I did use 1 tsp nutrient in a 6 gal batch
pitching 5 gr yeast/gallon, fermentation time was still 3 weeks, and
left a strong chemical flavor (metallic, to my tastebuds). I'd like to
stress that I've not done side-by-side tests with yeast hulls or bee
pollen, so I don't know how these behave. After the "test batch" came up
with such a strong flavor of nutrient, I swore off nutrient entirely...
Anyway, that's my nickel's worth.
Thanks for providing the forum for discussion!
Anne T c/o wine-hop@dnvr.uswest.net
------------------------------
Subject: Low Alcohol Yeast
From: "Siedentopf, Kevin S" <Kevin.Siedentopf@PSS.Boeing.com>
Date: Mon, 1 Dec 1997 12:40:57 -0800
I'm fairly new to the mead making world although I've been a beer brewer
for a couple years now. I'm interested in making a plain old mead, but
I would like it to have a fairly low alcohol content. Does anybody have
any experience and or knowledge of what variety of yeast might give good
results with low alcohol tolerance? Perhaps some type of ale yeast?
Thanks much.
Kevin S
------------------------------
Subject: Polyclar Inducing Fermentation? Cuthills Mead.
From: Richard Gardner <rgardner@papillion.ne.us>
Date: Tue, 2 Dec 1997 19:01:11 -0600 (CST)
I've recently had a strange experience with a sweet show mead that I can't
explain. After adding Polyclar, the fermentation started up again.
Specifics for this 1 gal batch are:
20 Jan 97 44 oz Fireweed honey, Wyeast 1928 (London Ale) yeast to make 1
gallon (nutrients too)
4 racking since (CO2 purge), and no noticable fermentation for months
Did not clear, so added 1t Polyclar on 1 Nov.
Fermentation recommenced. Slightly clearer. White foam on top, lots of
sediment on the bottom, and 1 bubble about 2 times per minute.
My big question is why did the fermentation start up again? Tasting the
dregs when I racked and added the polyclar gave me a very sweet mead, but
there had been no fermentation for several months, and the mead was still
slightly cloudy. My best guess is that the yeast selection may be the
reason, but I don't know why.
As a separate issue, I've found that Wyeast 3188 (Belgian Strong Ale) makes
a very good mead. It has a high alcohol tolerance and clears well (with
nutrients). However, for making an ale it is a royal pain as it doesn't
clear without lagering (rumor has it this is the Duvel yeast). For the
mead, it has some interesting flavors from the yeast that give a sort of
mellow, buttery flavor. I'll readily recommend this yeast for meads (but
not ales).
Lastly, I've recently tried "Cuthills Winery" mead from Nebraska. The mead
I tried was a sweet mead, and had a very bad acid imbalance. I now know
what that is from trying this mead. Every mead I've made has been better
than this stuff. I've heard that their dry mead is better.
- --- A porcupine with his quills down is just another fat rodent ---
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End of Mead Lover's Digest #619
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