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Mead Lovers Digest #0678
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #678, 14 June 1998
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #678 14 June 1998
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
No new/replacement AMA (Dick Dunn)
Period Fruits ()
Proper drinking container ("Mr. Michael Scott Meiners")
Re: Adding Honey in stages (Peter Miller)
Re: First Batch Gremlins ("Marc Shapiro")
Re: Racking ("Marc Shapiro")
Bulk honey in MA (Mark & Ava)
Chamomile in Mead and Beer, Proportion and technique? ()
Re: Bitter off flavors (Dan McFeeley)
Sweet mead (Matt_Maples@ncshealth.com)
melon mead (Matt_Maples@ncshealth.com)
NOTE: Digest only appears when there is enough material to send one.
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: No new/replacement AMA
From: rcd@raven.talisman.com (Dick Dunn)
Date: 10 Jun 98 23:08:10 MDT (Wed)
Well, sigh...I've heard nothing, and I've been unable to elicit any
response, and none of my correspondents have been able to find anything,
so I guess the attempt to resurrect the American Mead Association and/or to
create a successor organization (this latter to be rid of the financial
mess left by the original) has failed.
I do still think that a national organization in the USA supporting mead
would be a good idea. A national organization that could ally itself with
other organizations, and/or an international organization, would be even
better.
The Mead-Lover's Digest serves an important role in bringing mead-makers
together (if I do say so myself!:-), but it falls short in many aspects
which are not being addressed by any other entity:
* no advocacy (labeling, legislation)
* no tangible publication
* no organization for competitions, gatherings, etc.
* no standards
- ---
Dick Dunn rcd@talisman.com Hygiene, Colorado USA
------------------------------
Subject: Period Fruits
From: <Alasdair65@aol.com>
Date: Wed, 10 Jun 1998 21:59:07 EDT
Can anyone give me a listing of what fruits are period and are European?
I'd like to make as period of a mead as possible.
Alasdair
Caer Anterth Mawr
------------------------------
Subject: Proper drinking container
From: "Mr. Michael Scott Meiners" <lllfarm@mail.isoc.net>
Date: Wed, 10 Jun 1998 19:56:14 -0400
I'm curious, what is mead properly drank in? Wine glasses for wine, flutes
for champagne, mugs for beer (unless you in college then it is bottles,
high school-cans), but what about mead? Being man's oldest fermented
beverage I would suspect that it would be stone goblets, but they are hard
to find at WalMart.
- -Mike
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Adding Honey in stages
From: Peter Miller <ocean@wr.com.au>
Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 17:32:52 +1000
>From: "Andrew M. Hartig" <andrew@ccs.ucsb.edu>
>Date: Wed, 3 Jun 1998 14:40:03 -0700 (PDT)
> 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
> I have heard of this being done, but how DOES one do it?
I simply make a honey solution with a little of the partially fermented
mead, sterilize it (you kill some yeast in the sample) and then add the
mixture back to the bulk of the mead, keeping a careful eye on the
gravity of the bulk. Because I'm always _adding_ honey, I'll always be
increasing the amount of liquid that I add back to the main stock, so the
trick is to get the right balance between the pure honey and the
drawn-off sample. I will have already calculated my overall increase in
SG, so I just err on the side of making the added sample slightly heavier
than I think it needs to be. There's always a little honey waste, but
it's usually minimal.
You could do the same thing by just adding a honey/water solution, but
you would obviously displace some of your original mead stock.
P.
<ocean@wr.com.au> http://www.wr.com.au/ocean/
------------------------------
Subject: Re: First Batch Gremlins
From: "Marc Shapiro" <mshapiro@mail.inetone.net>
Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 10:17:31 +0000
> After 10 days, I peeked and noticed almost no foam, strong odor of
> mashed, ripe, bananas. Upon closer inspection, lots of tiny
> bubbling at the surface. SG was 1.050 (I did that just for
> practice)...
Plastic buckets are notorious for NOT being airtight. I have used
them in the past with airlocks and get little or no activity in the
airlock. This does not mean that there is no activityin your mead.
With the amount of honey and water that you used, I would estimate
that your initial SG was probably between 1.090 and 1.100. Since it
was 1.050 when you tested it later the yeast have obviously been
doing their job. Since you have "lots of tiny bubbling" this is
another indication that the yeast are happy. You may not get much
visible foam in a bucket since the surface area is large. A carboy
gets very narrow at the top and all of the bubbles come together,
causing lots of foam. You should not expect things to look the same
in a bucket as they do in a carboy. Two different beasts. I,
personally prefer to us glass carboys. You can see the activity
without having to open it up. Airlocks and rubber stoppers DO make
an airtight seal. You can see the level of sediment when
fermentation ends, making it easier to rack off the mead and leave
the sediment behind.
>... I chose a location where the bucket's sitting for convenience
> and quiet/dark. Should I try for a warmer location (ambient's probably
> in the low 70's)?
Quiet and dark is good. Low 70's is also good. Warmer might make
for a faster fermentation, but faster is not always better -- we are
talking about a living organism, here, not a microprocessor. In any
case, I would not place it in any place warmer that upper 70's (since
you have the option) and I would not do that at the expense of quiet
and dark.
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: Re: Racking
From: "Marc Shapiro" <mshapiro@mail.inetone.net>
Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 10:24:29 +0000
> Questions....is clearing or autolysis the reason to rack meads?...or
> both?
Both, for the first racking. After that there is usually not enough
yeast remaining to be a serious autolysis problem, but there is
enough other sediment, along with remaining yeast, to cause clarity
problems. I rack about every month until my wines and meads are
clear (it may have been one of my posts that you were refering to).
When you rack you should be careful to avoid splashing (which would
causeEXCESS oxygenation) and also avoid picking up the sediment from
its layer at the bottom. By doing these two things you end up with
successively less sediment in the carboy and you GENTLY and GRADUALLY
oxygenate the mead which helps to speed aging.
Wassail!
Marc Shapiro http://www.bigfoot.com/~m_shapiro/
------------------------------
Subject: Bulk honey in MA
From: ckbrew@ime.net (Mark & Ava )
Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 10:32:07 -0400 (EDT)
Jeffrey-
Try McLure Honey in Littleton, NH. 603-444-6246
Mark
>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.
>
------------------------------
Subject: Chamomile in Mead and Beer, Proportion and technique?
From: <DMaki62870@aol.com>
Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 23:40:08 EDT
Hi,
I recently read about chamomile being used in Belgian beers as a secret
ingredient (think I did anyway, but can't find the reference). I came across
some the other day and purchased some with the thought of trying it. Does
anyone have any idea of the proportion to use for 5-6 gallons of mead or beer?
Also, the technique? I have heard that it may be used in some teas? If
anyone has any ideas, please let me know. Private email is fine or if there
is interest the digest is fine also. Thanks! Duane
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Bitter off flavors
From: Dan McFeeley <mcfeeley@keynet.net>
Date: Fri, 12 Jun 1998 07:05:23 -0500
In MLD 676, "Wout Klingens" <wkling@knoware.nl> wrote
>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.
This explanation would only apply to the show meads that were made using
CaCO3.
Calcium carbonate combines preferentially with tartaric acid, forming
calcium tartrate which winemakers usually precipitat out by cold
stabilization. It's possible that the tartaric acid you added combined
with the remaining CaCO3 in the mead, causing the off flavor to disappear.
This sounds like it might be a helpful tip for calcium carbonate users to
experiment with, should they accidently add too much while trying to adjust
acid & pH. Anybody else have any experience here?
__________
________
Dan McFeeley
mcfeeley@keynet.net
------------------------------
Subject: Sweet mead
From: Matt_Maples@ncshealth.com
Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 18:01:33 -0700
Not only that but if you stick with one type of yeast for a while you can
get a feel for when to bottle it to get yourself a sweet sparkling mead. I
find it much easier and consistent to do this with an ale yeast than a wine
yeast. I am currently doing my 4th batch on the subject and will post my
findings as soon as they are ready. I am working with 1056 and finding that
you can ferment it to 8-9% with a residual of 1.012 then bottle it and it
will go through another fermentation in the bottle at about 3 months giving
you an acceptable amount of carbonation. I have done a blackberry, kiwi,
Sage (yes I am going to post this one please be patient), and an apple/kiwi
this way. Admittedly the carbonation on some were better than others but I
think I am getting it down.
>Subject: Making sweet mead
>From: Joyce Miller <msmead@doctorbeer.com>
>Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 21:31:49 -0400 (EDT)
>To make fairly sweet mead, I use an ale yeast (a fairly clean-tasting
one),
>and use a starting gravity of about 1.080. That gives a medium sweet mead
>(for the yeast I use). Add more honey if you want it sweeter. With a
>little experimentation, and using the same yeast all the time, you can
>eventually learn the starting gravity needed for your yeast to produce the
>final gravity you like.
>- -- Joyce
>- --- Joyce Miller, msmead@doctorbeer.com
------------------------------
Subject: melon mead
From: Matt_Maples@ncshealth.com
Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 17:39:07 -0700
Why yes, I have made a Cantaloupe mead. I turned out well, I don't think
that the cantaloupe flavor really fit for a melomel. There was nothing
wrong with it but it just wasn't as enjoyable as I would have liked. Maybe
it was just a matter of taste but I never made one since, in fact I still
have 3 or the original 10 I made. This was over 4 years ago and I know I
don't have the recipe (datbase crash some time ago). I suppose if you
REALLY REALLY like cantaloupe it may me worth it but it wasn't for me.
>Has anybody ever done a cantaloupe/melon mead ? It's that time of year
and
>was wondering if this was too off the wall (since I've never seen a recipe
>for one)...
>
>Wassail!
>Chris
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #678
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