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Mead Lovers Digest #0643
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #643, 9 February 1998
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #643 9 February 1998
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Found a new book about mead! (Vicky)
Re: Dry mead transformation ? (Scott Mills)
Bottling - what to use? (Kate Collins)
Hello from North Carolina! (Michael Tucker)
Bad mead? ("Heard, Allen")
Newbie's revenge ("Wout Klingens")
Re: Mead Sales issue and taxes (meadman)
Ginger Beer ("Phillip J. Welling")
Unpredictable Pyment FG? (WayneM38@aol.com)
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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subscribing, please include name and email address in body of message.
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Found a new book about mead!
From: Vicky <rcci@mindspring.com>
Date: Thu, 05 Feb 1998 21:55:01 -0500
Well, fellow meadsters, I thought I had all the books
about mead, but I was wrong. On a hunting expedition
at Amazon.com, I found 'Mad About Mead' by
Pamela Spence, ISBN 1-56718-683-1. It's an
entire book about making mead, including chapters
on starting your own meadery, and lots and lots of
real life mead adventures and both new and old
recipes. If you don't have it, I highly recommend
it.
Vicky Rowe
meadster, herbalist
- --
- ---------------------------
The Home page: www.mindspring.com/~rcci/vicky
The Biz page: www.rcci.com/ (my company, that is)
======================================
The thing to do with a silly remark is to fail to hear it.
- --Zebadiah J. Carter
Where I come from, anyone who says "Excuse me" is
a human being. --Joe
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Dry mead transformation ?
From: Scott Mills <Scott_mills@hp.com>
Date: Thu, 05 Feb 1998 23:50:49 -0700
>Is there any way to (1) add some sweetness/honey
>flavor, and (2) do so while making the mead sparkling?
For my tastes a .997 cyser would also be a little dry. I would like to
shoot for the 1.012-15 range. I usually dont post here but just lurk.
However, since I just went through the same with one of my cysers, I'll post
something.
The easiest way (and I think the best) to make a mead (or cyser) sweeter, is
to just add more honey. Ofcourse, you run the risk that the mead will start
fermenting again and you will just have a mead that is just as dry and even
more alcoholic. You could then always add a little more honey and let it
set for while and so on... I know many mead makers that will add honey
bit-by-bit at the end of the ferment to bring the gravity and sweetness up
to the desired level before finishing. Just make sure that after any
addition like this you let it set for a while so that you know it wont start
fermenting again and give you bottle grenades.
If you are in a hurry and don't wanna be patient you could overcome this by
adding the appropriate amount of honey to the mead to get it to the desired
gravity, and then either dose it with camden tabs to kill off the yeast, or
run it through a yeast sterile filter (which would also make it crystal
clear). Basically, a quarter pound of honey (all honeys vary) gets you
about .002 gravity in a 5 gallon batch or .01 per gallon. This won't give a
sparkling mead but the addition of that unfermented honey before bottling
should give it a nice honey character. Ofcourse, sulfites and filters aren't
always attractive or available.
If the sterilization isn't your choice, alternately, if you know what your
starting gravity was, and what the alcohol tolerance of your yeast is, you
may be able to dose your mead with an appropriate amount of honey, bottle at
the right moment and wind up with a sweeter and sparkling mead. This is
tricky because you REALLY have to know your yeast and calculate it right or
you are liable to get the bottle grenades. If all other conditions are
right your mead will stop fermenting because either 1) it has no fermentable
sugar left or 2) The yeast has reached its limit in regards to alcohol
tolerance. Play these two factors against one another, do the math, and you
can come up with a perfectly sparkling mead with the sweetness that you
want. For a very lightly sparkling mead I leave about .002 worth of
fermentable gravity left, for a nicely sparkling mead leave about .004, and
for a champagne like use champagne bottles and leave the last .006 worth of
gravity to ferment in the bottle.
Good luck, and let us know what you choose and how it turns out.
Scott Mills
scott_mills@hp.com
------------------------------
Subject: Bottling - what to use?
From: Kate Collins <Kate.Collins@uidesign.se>
Date: Fri, 06 Feb 1998 10:52:46 +0100
Hi -
After a long mead-making hiatus, I'm finally ready to start brewing
in earnest. However, I've never bottled any meads that I've made -
I've only made 1 gallon batches which I drank immediately. So I'm
wondering what the best bottles are for (surprise!) bottling. As
long as I stick to still meads, is it ok to use recycled wine, cider
and beer bottles and just use sparkling wine bottles for sparkling
meads? Is there any reason why corking is better than capping or
vice versa (for sparkling and still meads)?
Thanks -
/Kate Collins
------------------------------
Subject: Hello from North Carolina!
From: Michael Tucker <mrtucker@fayettevillenc.com>
Date: Fri, 06 Feb 1998 08:14:40 -0500
Hello All!
Just pitched yeast in my first batch of mead last week. somehow or another I
found your crowd and thought I'd get in on the discussion! so.... y'all welcome
a newbie and speak words of encouragment for the first batch! :-) Anyway, glad
to have found you, and I know I'll learn much from you all.
- --
Michael R. Tucker
New Media Online Producer
Fayetteville Observer-Times
mrtucker@fayettevillenc.com
http://www.fayettevillenc.com
Tel. 910-486-3535
------------------------------
Subject: Bad mead?
From: "Heard, Allen" <AHeard@tesent.com>
Date: Fri, 6 Feb 1998 10:02:17 -0500
I have a question about a batch I bottled about 6-7 weeks ago.
It was a vanilla mead that I made with 10 gallons of honey a four ounce
vial of spice islands vanilla extract, some yeast nutrient
(I don't remember the exact amount but it was what was recommended on
the jar per gallon) and 2 packs of dry yeast.
I never took gravity readings (oops) but fermentation stopped for about
a week before I bottled.
Yesterday, I opened the first bottle to check for fermentation. It was
fully carbonated like a Champaign, but it tasted like it burned and
there was a lot of sediment on the bottom of the bottle. I have already
resigned myself to putting this batch away until maybe the midsummer or
late fall but, I am worried I might have a problem.
There was also, a small ring at the top of the bottle where the mead
leveled off.
Did I ruin this batch?
Also, How can I get sweeter batches? Should I start with 15 or 20
pounds of honey for a 5 gallon batch?
Thank you for any advice y'all can give.
- ---
Allen E Heard
Systems Group / Tessera Enterprise Systems, Inc.
(781) 716-1112
mailto:AHeard@Tesent.com
http://www.tesent.com
Drink is their whole desire, the pot is all their pride;
The soberest head doth once a day stand needful of a guide.
If he to banquet bid his friends, he will not shrink
On them at dinner to bestow a dozen kinds of drink,
Such liquor as they have, and as the country gives;
But chiefly two, one called kwas, whereby the Moujike lives,
Small ware and water-like, but somewhat tart in taste;
The rest is mead, of honey made, wherewith their lips they baste.
------------------------------
Subject: Newbie's revenge
From: "Wout Klingens" <wkling@knoware.nl>
Date: Sun, 8 Feb 1998 08:51:05 +0100
Hello all.
Disappointed by the long time it took to brew and especially clear my first
mead I put a question before you about clearing, cooking
and my sorrow about that. That was begin december last year.
As a result some of you (and also my good mentor Chuck Wettergreen
(chuckmw@mcs.net)) seemed to think that I was "put off" making mead.
On the contrary I have to say!
Well, as Chuck mentioned earlier in this group, we started a correspondence
in which Chuck stated, that even for people like me :-) mead-making could
go fast if you do it right. And the mead is drinkable immediately.
Earlier I studied some literature on the net from people who claimed to
ferment mead to completion within 2 weeks. Chuck stated, that it could be
done even by me.
At that time I gained hope: my friend and colleague, a beekeeper is very (I
mean VERY) sick :-(
One of his wishes is to drink a mead, sweet, portlike, 18% from his own
honey (he loves his bees like a pet). I told him that it would take at
least a year to ferment that one out.
Well......... It didn't.
I proudly present The Log of ...... Apollo's Dream. With thanks to Chuck!
(Please do your conversions yourself, it's a lot of work translating this
you know :-))
12-27-97
Mixed 10 jars (about 1 pound each) of severely cristallized local
flowerhoney with 10 litres of cold tap water with a blender.
Added cold water to 20 litres. 4 coffeespoons of nutrient / energizer,
2 coffeespoons of yeast hulls, 4 tablets of vitamine B1.
SG : 1.080. Starting pH > 4.6.
In fermenter, aeration with airstone for about 15 minutes. In the mean time
prepared 5 packets of Lalvin K1-V1116 yeast according to instruction. Added
the yeast and aerated for another 10 minutes. Closed fermenter with tissue.
Ready at 21.00h (don't laugh! Read on)
12-28-'97
11.00h The 14 hour mark (see my comments). Shook it vigourously. CO2 is
starting.
13.00h Placed airlock. Don't dare to wait. The alcohol% HAS to go up now
because of nasties. Beginning to wonder if 40C wasn't too high for
rehydrating my yeast.
22.00h It's going! I'm relieved. pH down to 4.3.
12-29-'97
9.00h. pH 3.1 and airlock is still going like crazy. Added 10 (oops)
coffeespoons of CaCO3. After that, smell isn't great. pH back to > 4.6.
Boy, I added too much ;-(
Do I smell vinegar? (I'm a newbie, remember?) I fear DISASTER.
10.00h. Enough courage to taste. Heavenly!! What a relieve! It's not
vinegar, it's H2S. My whole house is smelling.
12-31-'97
Gravity :1.010. Fermentation slightly down. Added 2 jars of honey by taking
a sample of the wine and mixing it with a blender. 2 coffeespoons of
energizer/nutrient. Gravity 1.020. Fermentation picked up.
Happy New Year!
Gravity 1.012. Doubt if I make 18%. Fermentation slowing! Taste is fresh.
No off-tastes.
1-2-'98
Gravity 1.005. Target gravity is about 1.020. So added 2 jars. 1
coffeespoon of energizer (just curious to see what would happen).
Fermentation picked up!? Taste is excellent.
Etc, etc.
To make a long log short: Fermentation wouldn't stop. It kept going and
going.. Until I was out of honey.
20 jars! About 9.5 kilo's. Maybe more. FG 1.020. Final volume about 22
litres. Final alc% about 17 but I think it must be higher. It hits some
spots, I tell ye! (determined by the cooking method :-))
At 9-1 I put the fermenter outside to stop fermentation. It did (sigh of
relieve). I racked that same night and sorbated. It is the 14th day!
At this time my mead isn't clear yet. But I bentonited for the second time
at 2-2-'98 and it's clearing fast now. It's almost done.
Comments:
=========
Taste.
- ---------
Somewhere it started to taste a little bitter. I think it's the high
alcohol content and should age out. Chuck thinks it's the CaCO3. It started
somewhere *after* 1-2-'98 however. It is quite excellent though.
The aftertaste lingers for about 10 minutes and is pure honey, as is the
smell.
I will add some acid. I experimented with a small amount and it improved
quite a bit.
Preps.
- ---------
- -A lot of yeast, yes. But the package stated: 1 per 4.5 - 23 L. So to be
on the safe side, I used the 4.5 L mark. Honey seems to be a badly
fermentable substance.
- -Low gravity to start with, 1.080. Sluggish fermentation occurs when
gravity is higher then 1.100. So I thought (maybe not right) that to stay
well away from that 1.100 mark was sensible to do.
- -Cold tapwater (15C) with a blender. Yes. It aerates extremely well. The
cold water will keep the air in solution and the blender does the trick.
- -The 14 hour mark. See my documentation list. Because I doubted the alcohol
tolerance (how could I, sorry Chuck :-)) I thought in this case it was
important for the yeast to produce lipids for "maximum reproduction" and
against "alcohol toxicity". So I aerated.
- -Didn't want to wait until gravity was about 1.000 to feed the wine.
Possibly too many yeast cells were starving by then. So I feeded the mead
at about 1.010.
This all helped I guess...
Possible improvements.
- ----------------------------------
- -Cook and cool the water to get rid of the chlorine. Or use filtered water
or bottled water.
- -Use a slightly higher temperature to prevent "cold shock" for the
rehydrated yeast.
- -I certainly would ferment my next one out completely. I was in a hurry to
get it ready before my friend was going to the hospital. And I didn't want
to bother him for more honey. I didn't make it only because I didn't get it
clear that fast.
Drawbacks.
- -----------------
You have to have a holliday :-)
So I am not well ahead of Chuck's 18 day record as he stated. Could have
been though. If I only had a fining agent that worked as fast as the one
Chuck used. I think he earned a bottle of korenwijn. What do you think.
I am happy.
Worth reading:
http://www.atd.ucar.edu/rdp/gfc/mead/danspaper.html
http://www.lallemand.com/Newsite/InFerment/Mead/mead.html
Wassail!
Wout.
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Sales issue and taxes
From: meadman <meadman@ctel.net>
Date: Sun, 8 Feb 98 07:07:14 -0000
>From the last MLD , I 'd like to clarify for the record the issues of
categorization and sales. that were raised
>I just spent six months looking into this. I even, voluntarily, called the
>BATF.
>
>Mead is classified as a fruit wine in the States (don't ask why). It is not
>a true wine. The rules are slightly different, the product is, however,
>similar. It is amazing all the hoops that a person has to jump though to
>sell you a bottle of wine (including fruit wine). The majority of the
>regulations exist to make sure the government collects their tax (tarriff if
>you want) on every bottle. There are a few rules that try to protect the
>consumer from a wine that may be mis-represented in style, region, origion,
>etc.
>
>In a nut shell.. If you don't have a "small winery" license, then don't
>sell it. That does not keep you from brewing it, it just keeps you from
>selling it. That is according the, now thick, folder I have. While doing
>this research I have stumbeled upon some great winery references.
>
>- -Brian Ehlert
I have a license from BATF and the classification of mead is "other
natural wine"
Fruit wine is in Category 5 and includes several sub species including
cider , perry etc, from fruit but honey wine is in Category 6 with
soybeans, rhubarb and many other non fruits.
Please also note that it is not only BATF that wants your tax revenue but
also the state in which you reside and do business after they bust your
kahonis for several months to make sure you are not laundering drug money
or mob influenced coin.
It is absolutely a true wine , altho I am not sure what that was intended
to mean ..... since it is taxed at the same rate as grape wines and other
classes from 1-7.
------------------------------
Subject: Ginger Beer
From: "Phillip J. Welling" <kern@pcisys.net>
Date: Sun, 08 Feb 1998 07:35:16 -0700
Hello all,
I was wondering if anyone has any recipe for a ginger beer.
I don't want one that requires hops.
Phillip J. Welling
ICQ #: 2579862
Visit my home page at:
http://www.pcisys.net/~kern/
------------------------------
Subject: Unpredictable Pyment FG?
From: WayneM38@aol.com
Date: Mon, 9 Feb 1998 20:40:01 EST
I started two 5 gal batches of mead on 6/97 and 8/97.
First mead by a homebrewer.
Used the following:
12.5 lbs of light honey
4lb can of Alexanders chablis extract
5 tsp. yeast nutrient
1/4 tsp/ 5 gal yeast energizer
4 tbl fresh lemon juice
Yeast Lab M61 Dry Mead yeast (starter)
Boiled for 10 mins
Cooled with chiller while chablis extract added
2gal water to top off carboy
OG= 1.110
Fermentation started within 48 hours.
Carboys in 70-75 degree water bath since last summer.
First batch now has SG of 1.030 the second has SG of 1.045
Still too sweet and a little hot but show promise.
Anyone have an idea where these will finish?
How long of a period of stable SG readings before I can determine if it is
stuck or finished?
If it is stuck, what yeast should be added to restart?
Any help is appreciated.
Email direct if possible
Wayne
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #643
*******************************
