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Mead Lovers Digest #0676
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #676, 5 June 1998
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #676 5 June 1998
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Re: Fermentation bubbles ("Marc Shapiro")
Re: Diffuse Light ("Marc Shapiro")
Re: Tea meads ("Marc Shapiro")
Bulk Honey in MA? (Jeffrey Rose)
Re: Tea meads (Dan McFeeley)
Re: Wyeast Sweet Mead Yeast (Tom Lentz)
RE: Mead Lover's Digest #675, 1 June 1998 ("Timothy Green")
Coffee meads (Kate Collins)
First time mead questions (John Looney)
Re: Tea meads (Wayne A Sawdon)
Re: your submission to MLD - lines wrapped (Kim Tyson)
Bitter off flavors ("Wout Klingens")
Adding Honey in stages ("Andrew M. Hartig")
anything recent on "AMA replacement"? (Dick Dunn)
dandelions ()
Osmotic pressure & amount of honey (John J. Cunniff)
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: Fermentation bubbles
From: "Marc Shapiro" <mshapiro@mail.inetone.net>
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 12:56:15 +0000
> Subject: Fermentation bubbles
> From: Molly Harbaugh <dreda@tiac.net>
> Date: Wed, 27 May 1998 12:44:30 -0400
>
> My brewer's deflowering is happening as we speak, with my very first
> little glass jug of cyser fermenting away in my kitchen. The recipe
> I worked from (this is the "Hangover Cyser" described in "Mead Made
> Easy") says that fermentation should quit in about a "month or
> three." So I'm trying to figure out exactly how to know that it's
> done.
Dreda,
If you have a healthy layer of sediment then it is time to rack your
mead. Don't bottle it, now, just siphon it off to another clean jug
and let it sit under an airlock for another month or so. At this
time you will probably find that the mead is clearing and there is
more sediment on the bottom. Rack your cyser off of this layer of
sediment back into your original (cleaned) jug and let it sit for
another month. If, at this time, there is nothing more than a thin
film on the bottom of your jug, then you can bottle your cyser. If
there is more than just a thin film of sediment then rack to a clean
jug and repeat until you get only that thin film after a month. This
may seem like a lot of waiting for someone impatient to try their
first batch, but believe me, it's worth it. By racking every month
or so until it clears you can be assured that your cyser has aged
enough to be worth drinking. Using this method, I usually find
myself bottling between 3 and 6 months after I pitch my yeast. My
meads are usually good and drinkable by then, but they still improve
with further aging.
BTW The best way to determine if you are likely to get bottle
grenades is by using a hydrometer. Since you don't make any mention
of specific gravity I am assuming that you didn't use one for this
batch. If you plan to stay with the hobby it will be a very good
investment.
Marc Shapiro http://www.bigfoot.com/~m_shapiro/
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Diffuse Light
From: "Marc Shapiro" <mshapiro@mail.inetone.net>
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 12:59:53 +0000
On 29 May 98 at 8:14, mead-request@talisman.com wrote:
> Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #672, 23 May 1998
> From: <RACEGT6@aol.com>
> Date: Thu, 28 May 1998 19:35:05 EDT
>
> Dumb question time: due to some recent remodeling, my
> darkroom/basesment now is blessed with three large windows that
> admit diffuse light. Do I need to protect my meads and ciders from
> sunlight? I've a cherry mel that's been exposed to this light for
> approx. 6 months and it does not exhibit any flaws that this old
> tongue can distinguish. I've covered my other carboys with black
> Hefty Bags - is this a needless extravagance?
Charlie,
A little diffuse light will not hurt your meads. It obviously hasn't
hurt your cherry mel, so I wouldn't worry. As long as you don't keep
your carboys directly in the path of the light from the window you
should be OK.
HTH
Wassail!
Marc Shapiro http://www.bigfoot.com/~m_shapiro/
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Tea meads
From: "Marc Shapiro" <mshapiro@mail.inetone.net>
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 12:42:20 +0000
> Subject: Tea meads
> From: Matt_Maples@ncshealth.com
> Date: Tue, 26 May 1998 12:14:49 -0700
>
> Anyone have any experience with using tea as the major flavor
> component in mead. I know it has been brought up in the past but I
> can't seem to find it in the archives. I would like to know things
> like what tea variety used, tea strength, FG, and the like. I'm
> thinking of using Earl Gray (or maybe Oolong) at full strength with
> 2 or 3 lemons, ending up with about 7-8% and a final gravity of
> 1.008 to 1.012. Any info would be helpful.
Matt,
I have never used it as the MAIN flavor component, but I always use
tea in my citrus melomels. I use about 20 to 25 teabags for a 5
gallon batch. I use a combination of citrus teas, cinnamon/spice
tea, chamomile and regular black tea. If you are making a metheglin
with the tea and are not using any fruit, or other flavorings then
you would, of course, want a stri\onger tea solution. I have heard
other people talk about possibly using Earl Grey, but I haven't tried
it, yet. I usually like mine as "Tea -- Earl Grey -- hot." Now
there's an idea, an Earl Grey metheglin, serverd warm. That could be
interesting!
HTH
Wassail!
Marc Shapiro m_shapiro@bigfoot.com
Visit 'The Meadery' at:
http://www.bigfoot.com/~m_shapiro/
"If you drink melomel every day, you will live to be 150 years old,
unless your wife shoots you."
- --Dr. Ferenc Androczi, Winemaker of the Little Hungary Winery
------------------------------
Subject: Bulk Honey in MA?
From: Jeffrey Rose <jeffrey_rose@eri.eisai.com>
Date: 01 Jun 98 13:44:48 -0400
Can anyone tell me where to find bulk honey around New England (or
Massachusetts)? I haven't had much luck on the internet and apiaries are hard
to locate via the telephone book.
Thanks
Jeffro
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Tea meads
From: Dan McFeeley <mcfeeley@keynet.net>
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 13:04:39 -0500
On Tue, 26 May 1998 (MLD 674), Matt Maples wrote:
>Anyone have any experience with using tea as the major flavor
>component in mead? I know it has been brought up in the past but
>I can't seem to find it in the archives. I would like to know things
>like what tea variety used, tea strength, FG, and the like. I'm thinking
>of using Earl Gray (or maybe Oolong) at full strength with 2 or 3 lemons,
>ending up with about 7-8% and a final gravity of 1.008 to 1.012. Any info
>would be helpful.
This recipe is from the Cats Meow:
SACK MEAD
Source, Kevin Karplus Issue 538, 11/16/90
Sweet, smooth, potent. A dessert wine. This is perhaps the best of
my 20 or more batches of mead.
Ingredients: (for 3.7 gallons)
3 gallons water
16 pounds, honey
1/4 cup, keemun tea
1/4 cup, oolong tea
2 teaspoons, cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon, whole anise seed
18 clusters, cardamom, crushed
20 allspice, crushed
1 inch, galingale root, crushed
yeast
unflavored gelatin (fining)
Procedure:
Boil water, adding tea and spices. Remove from heat and stir in honey.
(Some meadmakers boil the honey, skimming the scum as it forms). Cover
boilded water, and set aside to cool (this usually takes a long time, so
start on the next step). Make a yeast starter solution by boiling a cup
of water and a tablespoon or two of honey. Add starter to cooled
liquid. Cover and ferment using blow tupe or fermentation lock. Rack
two or three times to get rid of sediment.
This recipe took aobut 6 1/2 months from brewing to bottling. First
rack took place 15 days after brewing. 2nd rack 3 weeks later. 3rd
rack 3 months later. Gelatin added 1 month later. Bottled about 2 1/2
months later. Yield: 3/7 gallons.
Berry's book, _First Steps in Winemaking_ and Patty Vargas' _Country Wines_
have recipes for tea wines that could be converted to mead recipes. I saw
a conversion factor for substituting honey for sugar in an A.M.A. newsletter
suggesting dividing the amount of sugar in a wine recipe by .75 to convert to
honey in a mead recipe. This might work for tea wine to tea mead recipes.
I'd post the recipes here but my books are still packed in boxes in the
basement after having moved a couple of weekends ago.
_________
________
Dan McFeeley
mcfeeley@keynet.net
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Wyeast Sweet Mead Yeast
From: Tom Lentz <tlentz@ior.com>
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 17:01:06 -0700
I use the Wyeast Sweet Mead Yeast almost exclusively. I tend to make a
lighter alcohol (7-8%) sweeter yeast, which is what most of my friends
seem to prefer (4 qts honey in 5 gals, with a little cinnamon, orange
peel, cloves, ginger and tea for tannin. If anyone wants my recipie
I'll post it). This yeast is perfect for what I want, and I love the
unique "mead" flavor. Ale yeasts would probably also work for me, but
I don't like the winey flavor imparted by wine and most champagne yeast
(I don't like wine). It does ferment a little slow sometimes, but I'm
seldom in a hurry. The only problem I've had with it is that it's hard
to tell when it's stopped fermenting. I had some start again in the
bottles once, but I caught it in time. More often than not the bottles
come out slightly sparkling, even after waiting 4 months to bottle,
which is actually fine by me!
I used the Wyeast Dry Mead Yeast once. I used about 50% more honey
initially and fed it more as it would take it. I ended up with a very
high alcohol content and a fairly strong tasting drink, but it still
had just the right amount of sweetness (because I fed it sugar 'till
it wouldn't take any more, and then some). After about 2 years of
aging though it mellowed out and became my second best mead ever
(second to a 1 gallon huckleberry melomel that I iced and concentrated
down to about a half-gallon). As soon as we get our new house where
I have room to store bottles for 2 or more years, I'm making some more!
Tom Lentz
tlentz@ior.com
------------------------------
Subject: RE: Mead Lover's Digest #675, 1 June 1998
From: "Timothy Green" <TimGreen@ix.netcom.com>
Date: Tue, 2 Jun 1998 00:34:17 -0400
I am looking for some help.
A few days ago I happened upon a slap-pack of a Wyeast wine yeast #3347
called Eau de Vie (Water of Life). This yeast, according to the
documentation from Wyeast, attenuates all the way out with an alcohol
tolerance of 21%. They say it can be used to make cordials, single malts and
other things.
I have been looking for a way to make a high-powered honey mead/cordial,
somewhat sweet with an alcohol content around 18+%. I seems that this yeast
will fit the bill! I intend to start with a must with an OG around 1.080,
and adding honey to it when the SG drops to less than 1.010. I plan to
continue to make honey additions until the SG stabilizes around 1.018-1.021
and I get no further fermentation.
Does anyone out there have any comments on the method I plan to use, or
experience with this strain of wee beasties?
Any input would be appreciated (private email is ok),
Tim Green
Timgreen@ix.netcomspam.com
Remove the spam to reply.
------------------------------
Subject: Coffee meads
From: Kate Collins <Kate.Collins@uidesign.se>
Date: Tue, 02 Jun 1998 10:48:19 +0200
Hi -
We had this discussion a few months ago, but it never really occurred
to me to just add brewed coffee to a mead. With all this talk about
the benefits of tannins (tea), wouldn't coffee solve the same problems?
Perhaps a couple of cups of coffee instead of tea would add an exciting
(but not distinctly coffee-ish) flavor to a mead?
Mmm... think of a chocolate coffee mint mead... ;)
/Kate
____________________________________________________
Kate Collins Kate.Collins@uidesign.se
UI Design AB Tel: +46 13 37 1235
Ågatan 31 Fax: +46 13 13 3030
582 22 Linköping ICQ UIN: 1820450
Sweden http://www.uidesign.se
____________________________________________________
------------------------------
Subject: First time mead questions
From: John Looney <John.Looney@hos.horizon.ie>
Date: Tue, 02 Jun 1998 10:23:58 +0100
I've been looking over previous digests, and I have a few questions:
The honey I've bought it un-processed Orange Blossom. I had a few choices,
and nearly went for eucalypus, but according to some previous posters, it's
supposed to make truely vile mead.
Anyway. I can't get dedicated Mead yeast. Any of the local shops look at
me funny when I mention it to them. What's the best ones to go for after
that ? Champange yeast ?
Also, what's the story on bottling ? Is there any point trying to strain
the brew ? I'd prefer not to use any chemicals, if possible. I've gone in
with a few friends, on a big dose of honey, and we want to try and make a
few different batches (not keep our eggs in the one basket) - a traditional
mead, a small mead, two metheglins, and a strawberry melomel. May the force
be with us! Any ideas on what yeasts we should use for these brews ?
Previous digests don't seem to mention much in the way of summaries...
Kate
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Tea meads
From: Wayne A Sawdon <Wayne_A_Sawdon@nehi.soda.cs.cmu.edu>
Date: Tue, 02 Jun 1998 11:08:37 -0400
Matt Maples writes:
> Anyone have any experience with using tea as the major flavor
> component in mead....
Matt,
Although I've never tried adding Earl Grey, I have made maybe
a dozen batchs using a variety of herbal/spiced teas.
For 1 gallon of mead, I typically use 3 pounds of honey
and 6 tea bags (or 6 teaspoons full of loose tea).
Steep the tea in a pint of boiling water for about 5 minutes,
then strain the tea out and add the water to the primary.
Some teas you might try
Celestial Seasonings:
Apricot Ginger
English Toffee
The Republic of Tea:
Desert Sage (one of my favorites!)
Ginger Peach
Cardamon Cinnamon
Alpine Flowers
Another tea that makes a great spice for mead is the
Oregon Chai Tea Lattes. Its a liquid pre-made tea that
comes in a box. (If you haven't seen one, they are on the web).
The only one I've tried is their Original flavor. I added 1 cup
of it to the primary and it ferments out to a nice cardamon,
cinnamon, ginger and clove spice. It makes a wonderful mead.
Enjoy!
Wayne Sawdon
wsawdon@cs.cmu.edu
------------------------------
Subject: Re: your submission to MLD - lines wrapped
From: Kim Tyson <tyson@tysonsystems.com>
Date: Wed, 03 Jun 1998 00:26:19 -0400
Subject: Clearing traditional mead
Hi: The best way to clear any fermented liquid after brewing is to put
it into the freezer. This is assuming of course that the alcohol
level is high enough to prevent freezing from actualy happening. Two
days should clear even the most stubborn cloud. Ideally, the bottles
should be standing upright. If you are lucky enough to have a
large freezer you can use this method to clear the brew before bottling.
I got the idea by needing to do an emergency chill on some mead. Then in
the excitement I forgot about it in the freezer. The next day I found
an amazingly clear bottle.
Yeast doesn't like alcohol, it is a yeast waste product. Therefore
there is very little of it in the yeast. Since the Alcohol is not
present, the yeast freezes out of the solution. I don't know if the
yeast dies or just becomes dormant though.
Let me know how it goes.
Good luck.
Kim Tyson.
Subject: Clearing traditional mead
From: "John D. Gosselink" <johng@kdsi.net>
Date: Tue, 26 May 1998 19:02:23 -0500
I have a traditional mead that refuses to clear. The frustrating thing
is that the only meads that refuse to clear for me are traditional
meads. My first mead was a TM. Finally about a year in the bottle the
top two thirds of the mead cleared in each bottle with a filmy bottom
third. I still have a couple of bottles left about 5 years later and it
is the same. Tastes wonderful. I am now making my second batch of TM
(did alot of experimenting with other types).
The recipe consisted of
12 # honey
2 oz. yeast nutrient(HB)
1 pkt. K-1 yeast
------------------------------
Subject: Bitter off flavors
From: "Wout Klingens" <wkling@knoware.nl>
Date: Wed, 3 Jun 1998 06:44:45 +0200
Dear folks,
I really would appreciate some advise on the following:
After making several showmeads now, I had a bitter off-taste in all of them.
Some I made with and some without addition of CaCO3.
I tried some without carbonate, because I figured that that would be the
cause of off-flavor. It didn't make any difference.
Somewhere, late in the secondary fermentation process the mead turns from
tasting very fresh, acidic and nice to extremely bitter. Very Yucky.
After adding tartaric acid, the off-flavor disappears completely.
What would be the cause of this?
Thanks,
Wout.
------------------------------
Subject: Adding Honey in stages
From: "Andrew M. Hartig" <andrew@ccs.ucsb.edu>
Date: Wed, 3 Jun 1998 14:40:03 -0700 (PDT)
Meaders:
I have a question regarding adding mead in stages (i.e. starting with a
lower OG and then "feeding" the must as the yeast ferments it, so as to
attain the highest alcohol possible and sweeten according to one's
taste):
I have heard of this being done, but how DOES one do it? I mean, does
one add the honey straight from the bottle and then stir or shakes the
fermenting must? Or does one add the honey to a small amount of water to
dilute it to a watery consistency and then (either sterilizing it or not
- -- your choice) add this mixture to the fermenting must?
I ask, because I know with beers/ales it is a BIG no-no to aerate the
wort once it has already begun to ferment (aeration before is good;
aeration during/after is bad). Will adding honey and then shaking the
heck out of it contribute "off-flavors" to my mead? And if so, how does
one go about adding honey in "stages"?
TIA,
- -A:
------------------------------
Subject: anything recent on "AMA replacement"?
From: rcd@raven.talisman.com (Dick Dunn)
Date: 4 Jun 98 08:47:26 MDT (Thu)
Anybody heard any recent news on the attempt to resurrect the AMA or create
a successor to it? It's been a few months since we last heard anything
here. I sent a note to the highlander folks a couple weeks ago but didn't
hear anything.
- ---
Dick Dunn rcd@talisman.com Hygiene, Colorado USA
...Mr. Natural says, "Use the right tool for the job."
------------------------------
Subject: dandelions
From: <MicahM1269@aol.com>
Date: Fri, 5 Jun 1998 07:21:02 EDT
>Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #674, 29 May 1998
>From: "Jack Rickard" <jack.rickard@boardwatch.com>
>Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 10:41:23 -0600
>I heard someone say that dandelions are poisonous. Back in Missouri where
>I was raised, people ate Dandelion greens all the time, and I recall a
>neighbor making dandelion wine as well.
>It's fermenting away in a carboy now and looks clean. But will it kill me?
I make dandelion mead every year, when I was a kid my parents always made
dandelion wine.
We are all still alive. I fact I won a AHA national some years back with a
dandelion mead.
It is a good flower use it. BTW I live in MO
micah millspaw - brewer at large
------------------------------
Subject: Osmotic pressure & amount of honey
From: ed372@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (John J. Cunniff)
Date: Fri, 5 Jun 1998 09:39:53 -0400 (EDT)
New mead maker question:
I understand why you should add honey in stages when making
a high alcohol/sweet mead/sack, but at what point should you
be concerned with forcing the yeast into dormancy? I'm sure
that it varies with the water content of the honey and the
strain of yeast being used, but is there a starting gravity
that you should start being concerned with? A starting gravity
that you definitely shouldn't exceed? Any general rules of
thumb would be greatly appreciated.
Slainte,
John Cunniff
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #676
*******************************
