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Mead Lovers Digest #0637
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #637, 23 January 1998
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #637 23 January 1998
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Alcohol content ("John Robinson")
Rowanberry mead, yeasts, and rosewater ("M. Lavin")
Computer Label Program (Chris Stankaitis)
Late Contamination? (Jeffrey Rose)
Alcohol (Spencer W Thomas)
About those bulk raspberries: new info (Vicky)
Cranberry Blossom Honey ("David Johnson")
new book (mixed review) (Dick Dunn)
Watery mead ("Matthew Stierheim")
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Alcohol content
From: "John Robinson" <robinson@novalistech.com>
Date: Mon, 19 Jan 1998 13:54:51 +0000
Hi,
In Mead Lover's Digest 635, Larry wrote:
...
>for a little longer. One thing is though... I never really know the
>alcohol content. I have read the posts that show the formula for
>determining this, but I brew 'on the fruit'. In otherwords, I throw
>the fruit into my must and let it all cool then add yeast.
Here's my (somewhat belated) suggestion. Assume that 1 lb of fruit
gives the same sugar as one derives from 1 lb of corn sugar. Then
refer to one of several books to see what the SG contribution 1 lb of
sugar in 1 gallon of water is.
Measure the SG of your must prior to adding fruit. Then, adjust
based on the number of lbs of fruit and gallons of must. While this
will not be completely accurate, it will give you a good upper
bound.
- ---
John Robinson "When I am working on a problem I never think about beauty.
Software Developer I only think about how to solve the problem. But when I
NovaLIS Technologies have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know
robinson@novalis.ca it is wrong." - Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983)
------------------------------
Subject: Rowanberry mead, yeasts, and rosewater
From: "M. Lavin" <madstone@tiac.net>
Date: Mon, 19 Jan 1998 00:35:33 +0000
Hi --
Has anyone had any experience making a melomel with rowanberries
(mountain ash)? They seem similar to cranberries and rosehips. They're a
solid, acerbic, orange berry about the size of a large pea. I've got 30
lb. of them and plan to make (among other things) a melomel using Dick
Dunn's cranberry melomel recipe as a basis, which calls for 1 lb. of
fruit and 2 lb. of honey for a 1 gallon batch. My questions are 1)
should I add more honey? and 2) given the yeast selection of Edme,
Lalvin 71B-1122, Lalvin K1-V1116, Lalvin 1118, Lalvin D47, and Pasteur
Cote des Blancs, which should I use?
I'm also planning to start a raspberry melomel with frozen fruit using 3
lbs. of fruit and 2 1/2 lbs. of honey per gallon. Given the above
selection of yeasts, which would be the best to use for a slightly sweet
mead with a moderate alcohol level?
In making meads with fruits, it's been suggested here to add the fruit
after primary fermentation to a bucket secondary. I'm presuming that
this is an airlocked bucket fermenter. I have limited room so work in 1
gallon batches using an open 2 gallon plastic pail for a primary and 1
gallon airlocked, glass fruit juice or jug wine bottles as secondaries.
I can't imagine fermenting the fruit in a 1 gallon glass secondary (what
a mess! and not enough space) and I don't have the wherewithal to
blanket my 2 gallon pail with CO2. Can anyone suggest options?
I'm also interested in making a rhodomel, but I've been so far
unsuccessful in raising any fragrant roses this far north (north central
Massachusetts). I remember someone on the list mentioning that they had
a recipe for rhodomel using rosewater (Tidmarsh Major?). I'd love to try
this, since getting fragrant rose petals in my neck of the woods is
close to impossible. Would you consider posting this recipe or sending
it to me via e-mail?
Many thanks for everyone's wonderful posts. I've lurked here for over a
year and have enjoyed every moment of it!
Myrriah Lavin
madstone@tiac.net
------------------------------
Subject: Computer Label Program
From: Chris Stankaitis <cstank@globalserve.net>
Date: Mon, 19 Jan 1998 14:27:14 -0500
So I have my first ever Batch of Mead aging in
the bottles, hoping that the yeast taste will die out
and something crossed my mind? Do people out on the MLD
label their bottles, make them look nice and professional
or do you just leave them blank. At my local homebrew there
are tons of lables for wines, but of course none for Mead.
are there any good programs out there for Making Wine bottle
Lables? somthing that I could do up and make one of my Meads
look like it came off the shelf of a store?
------------------------------
Subject: Late Contamination?
From: Jeffrey Rose <jeffrey_rose@eri.eisai.com>
Date: 20 Jan 98 10:06:22 -0500
I've had a nice traditional tupelo mead going for about 6 months and the
gravity was just getting near 1.00 when I noticed a white ring around the
top of the liquid. The mead had just begun to clarify weeks ago but now
it is hazy near the top. I just tasted it and there may be a little
acidification along with some CO2 generation but other than that, it doesn't
tast bad. I know this is some kind of contamination but I find it odd that
it happened so late with almost all the sugar utilized by the yeast and the
alcohol up near 12%. Is this batch drain-bound or can a slight
contamination be tolerated (lambic mead?)? Would filtering help?
Jeff
------------------------------
Subject: Alcohol
From: Spencer W Thomas <spencer@engin.umich.edu>
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 13:17:09 -0500
Here's one way that can give you a reasonable estimate, and does not
depend on knowing the OG. Works best if you've got one of those
expanded scale, low gravity hydrometers.
Ralph Snel (ralph@astro.lu.se) wrote: A quite simple way that will
give accuracy up to 0.1% is to boil off all the alcohol and substitute
by water. This means boiling down to less than a third of the original
volume in most cases, it's not that hard to smell if there are
alcohols in the vapour. Fill with water so you have your original
volume and take the difference in gravity, then look up alcohol
content in the table:
SG Alcohol SG Alcohol SG Alcohol
diff. vol % diff. vol % diff. vol %
0 0.00 10 7.18 20 16.00
1 0.64 11 7.98 21 17.00
2 1.30 12 8.80 22 18.00
3 1.98 13 9.65 23 19.00
4 2.68 14 10.51 24 20.00
5 3.39 15 11.40 25 21.00
6 4.11 16 12.30 26 22.00
7 4.85 17 13.20
8 5.61 18 14.10
9 6.39 19 15.10
10 7.18 20 16.00
From: Technisch handboek voor de amateur wijn- en biermaker by Leo van
der Straten ISBN 90-245-0969-6
------------------------------
Subject: About those bulk raspberries: new info
From: Vicky <rcci@mindspring.com>
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 18:33:05 -0500
OK folx!
Many of you hit me up about the raspberries, and boy, what enthusiasm!
Anyway, here's the scoop: The raspberries come only in 42 lb mylar bags
with spouts. The bags are in boxes, but shipping them would be risky at
best. I proposed to the brewery which has the stuff that they put the
bags in milk crates, then box *that*. I'm waiting for a reply, and will
update the group when I find out. It'll up the shipping cost a bit, but
it should protect the berries from the UPS monster.
Meanwhile, I'm also finding out exactly how much of this stuff they've
got, since I got so many requests. I'll have an update before the end of
the week, and let everyone know.
Finally: How about a collection of raspberry recipies? Since this stuff
is going to be all over, what do you have? I'll get my new ones together
and start the ball rolling, shall I?
Wassail!
vicky rowe
meadster at large
- ---------------------------
The Home page: www.mindspring.com/~rcci/vicky
The Biz page: www.rcci.com/ (my company, that is)
The Scottish Country Dance Page: www.mindspring.com/~rcci/scd
=====================================================
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
The return address has been despammed.
Remove spammersdie from my address to reply.
------------------------------
Subject: Cranberry Blossom Honey
From: "David Johnson" <dmjalj@inwave.com>
Date: Wed, 21 Jan 1998 19:20:36 -0600
Meadmasters,
I have run across some cranberry blossom honey. I searched the archives
and found only one reference requesting info on this honey and no responses.
I was looking for advice on using this honey in a traditional mead. Should I
use this straight? Or is it a honey that I could use blended with a neutral
(clover) honey?
Dave
------------------------------
Subject: new book (mixed review)
From: rcd@raven.talisman.com (Dick Dunn)
Date: 21 Jan 98 22:10:44 MST (Wed)
Another digest reader pointed me at a relatively new book on mead,
_Mad_about_Mead!_, by Pamela Spence. An interesting sidelight is that
Pamela Spence was the founder of the American Mead Association.
On the plus side, the book has a very comfortable style of writing. There
is a fair bit of folklore and background on associated myth and ritual.
This part won't help you *make* mead, but it may help you understand it,
and it might make you feel more hooked-in to the magic. Then, the nature
of mead and the process of making it are explained reasonably well, and
again the style tends to make you feel comfortable about it. The "boil or
sulfite" question is fairly presented.
On the minus side, additives are out of whack, at least compared to all
my own experience and interaction with other meadmakers. Some examples:
2 Campden tablets per gallon? I'd use no more than one. 4 tsp of acid
blend at pitching in a 5-gallon batch?...we've had a fair discussion of
acid amounts and timing here; that's rather high, especially for going in
early. 6 tsp of yeast nutrient in 5 gal? I've seen older recipes that
suggest so much, but 2-3 is more like it. (I'm using 1 tsp now for a
straight mead, none for melomel.) 1.5 tsp of tannin?!? I'd go for no
more than 1/3 of that (1/2 tsp)...it's strong stuff.
Also, there are techniques I wouldn't teach a new meadmaker. Start a
siphon by sucking on the hose???...WHY won't that one die?!? Bring a must
up to boiling by first mixing the honey with water at room temp, then
heating??...why wouldn't you heat the water first to avoid exposing the
honey to a long heating period (during which you have to watch and stir
it)? For a primary fermenter, why "a food-grade plastic bucket...or a
newly purchased trash can"??...yes to the bucket, but trash cans are *not*
food-grade plastic. And so it goes.
I really wanted to like this book because of the style and some of the
background, but it would be hard to recommend it with a string of caveats
about additives and techniques.
- ---
Dick Dunn rcd, domain talisman.com Boulder County, Colorado USA
...I'm not cynical - just experienced.
------------------------------
Subject: Watery mead
From: "Matthew Stierheim" <vilt@hotmail.com>
Date: Thu, 22 Jan 1998 12:19:00 PST
Hello all
Like serval others that have posted latly I also have the problem
with warery mead. The mead was made with 11# of local wildflower
honey and 6# of blackberrys. The must fermated on the berrys for
two weeks then was racked off...two months then racked once agian
I did the final racking about three months ago..
But back to the point I pulled offa sample yesterday and it tasted
good great nose of honey and berry but tasted very close to water.
I was wondering if it was fesiable to add some blackberry extract
or other spices to liven things up a bit? and if so how much for
5 Gal?
TIA
Matt
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #637
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