Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Mead Lovers Digest #0639
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #639, 29 January 1998
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #639 29 January 1998
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Cherry Mel Hell? (Charles Hudak)
Adding oak ("Patrick J. Retton")
Re: Alcohol (Mark Wilson)
labels (RBarnes001)
Re: Funny Smells Coming From My Airlock. (CLSAXER)
That's Odd.... (Mark Taratoot)
Clearing Meads ("James J. Boley")
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #638, 27 January 1998 ("Marc Shapiro")
Re: Alcohol ("Marc Shapiro")
NOTE: Digest only appears when there is enough material to send one.
Send ONLY articles for the digest to mead@talisman.com.
Use mead-request@talisman.com for [un]subscribe/admin requests. When
subscribing, please include name and email address in body of message.
Digest archives and FAQ are available for anonymous ftp at ftp.stanford.edu
in pub/clubs/homebrew/mead.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Lourdes Mila <lmila@smallworld-us.com>
Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 13:08:08 -0700
I am new to this hobby and would like to be able to make mead in my
small apartment kitchen. All the recipes that I have come across are
for quantities much larger than I can handle given my restrictions. Are
there one gallon recipes that a neophyte could experiment with? Can a
larger recipe be cut down proportionally without ruining the results?
How much yeast per gallon should I plan on using when the proportions
aren't evenly divisible; i.e. I am left with a fraction of a package of
yeast?
Thanks in advance.
Regards,
Lourdes Mil=E1
------------------------------
Subject: Cherry Mel Hell?
From: Charles Hudak <cwhudak@mail.adnc.com>
Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 13:52:30
John is concerned about his latest melomel:
>Subject: Help with Cherry Mel, please!
<snip>
>Placed 1.5 lbs frozen (nearly defrosted by then) cherries in 5 US gal. carboy.
>
>Poured must on top.
>
>Added 1 pckt. Cotes de Blanches dry yeast that had been rehydrated in 1/4 cp.
>previously boiled and cooled spring water.
>
>Airlocked and waited... and waited... 13 hours later no activity at all. If
>fact some suck back on the vodka in the airlock due to cooling. So I added
>another packet of the same yeast directly (DRY) to the must. Fermentation
>began
>in about an hour. In fact, it is quite active now and it is now 48 hours
since
>the second packet.
A couple of observations/suggestions
I would recommend against adding whole fruit to a carboy. It's a real PITA
to get out after fermentation. A better idea is to do your primary in a
Poly Bucket for a week or so and then rack off the fruit into glass. A
*much* better idea is to put a spigot on the same bucket and stick the
fruit into a large nylon sparge sack inside the bucket. After primary,
simply open the valve and rack into your secondary. No muss, no fuss and no
clogged racking canes!!
I usually use 2 packets of dried yeast as a rule and even then, 13 hours is
not unusually long for the onset of fermentation. I find it hard to believe
that the second packet that you pitched went off in an hour (a new world
record); rather, your first packet kicked in finally (coincidentally)
shortly after you pitched the second pack and you attributed it to the second.
>My concern is with the funny smell coming from the carboy. It a kind of yeasty
>maybe slightly sulphury smell. It was stronger, but has faded a bit. It came
>back shortly and then faded some more. If anyone cares to speculate, I would
>really like some ideas about what is happening in there.
Wow, a yeasty smell coming from a fermentation...who'd of thunk? (sorry, I
couldn't resist). Sulfury smells are reasonably common during fermentation.
Some yeasts are more prone to it then others and I think that fermentation
temp has something to do with it. I usually use the same yeast and usually
don't get alot of sulfur but three recent batches, a traditional mead and
two pyments all gave off significant amounts of sulfur. The difference is
that these last two were fermented during fall/winter when the temp in my
house was in the low to mid 60's whereas in the summer when I usually
ferment meads, the temp is usually between 75-90.
It's really much too early in the process to get worried. The must is
fermenting so relax and forget about it. I'm always amazed at how eager
people are to dump their hard work at the slightest sign of something being
amiss. Frequently, meads/wines/ciders that are bad after a few months or
even a year, turn the corner somewhere down the road and become excellent.
Patience is one of the necessary ingredients that is oft left off FAQ's. If
after several rackings and six months, things don't start to come around
then you might want to get concerned.
In the mean time, get brewing (or meading or whatever you want to call it).
There's nothing like having 5 carboys sitting in your living room in
various degrees of "doneness" to get your juices flowing in anticipation.
Relaxing with my five friends (two pyments, a cyser, a cider and a
traditional mead)....
Charles
------------------------------
Subject: Adding oak
From: "Patrick J. Retton" <PJR1@FSCVAX.WVNET.EDU>
Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 15:47:06 -0500 (EST)
I made a batch of vanilla mead starting in October of 1997. It is done
fermenting and is quietly resting in a carboy in a closet. This is my
first batch of mead. I have made wine before and with my most recent
batches decided to add oak to them. My question is do you or can you
add oak chips to mead? I've searched around some and have not found
anything that suggests this. Would this ruin the flavor of the mead?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
pat
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Alcohol
From: Mark Wilson <mwilson@agora.rdrop.com>
Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 14:04:18 -0800
Since the boiling point of alcohol (~170F) is less than water (212F),
you should be boiling off mostly alcohol if you hold the sample at a
temp in between. Sure, a small bit of water will evaporate while
you're doing this, and a small amount of alcohol will stay in the
sample, but 0.1% accuracy seems like a reasonable number, and
definitely more accurate than using OG/FG.
On a field trip to Oregon State's fermentation sciences dept., they
showed us an apparatus that measured alcohol in exactly this manner...
- -Mark
>> 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.
>
>Unfortunately, this commonly touted method doesn't really work. The
>problem is that water will be driven off along with the alcohol, so
>that when you're done you'll still have alcohol left in your sample.
>You'd need to drive off *all* of the liquid in order to drive off all
>of the alcohol.
------------------------------
Subject: labels
From: RBarnes001 <RBarnes001@aol.com>
Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 21:03:43 EST
> Concerning labels: I use Avery brand Glue Stic to stick them to the bottle.
I kid you not....use milk!
put some milk in a dish, and brush the milk onto a bottle. press your label
onto it and it will stay. Want to remove it? Just warm water and it slides
right off!
And best of all.......No Odor!
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Funny Smells Coming From My Airlock.
From: CLSAXER <CLSAXER@aol.com>
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 1998 01:14:03 EST
In MLD JKostalot says:
>My concern is with the funny smell coming from the carboy. It a kind of yeasty
>maybe slightly sulphury smell. It was stronger, but has faded a bit. It came
>back shortly and then faded some more...
I have read other postings with the same concern here on MLD. My advice is
not to worry about the smells coming off of fermenting mead. They are not
indicative of what your finished mead will taste or smell like. During the
fermetation process, the metabolic pathways that the yeast follow from sugar
to alcohol and carbon dioxide create some pretty exotic compounds. These
compounds, floral aromas from the honey, and aromatics from the other
ingredients (fruits, spices...), can all get together to create some pretty
interesting outgassing from your airlock during fermetation.
They drive my cat crazy! She's a compulsive airlock sniffer. She hasn't died
yet. Although sometimes she acts a little brain damaged.
So anyway don't worry about the smell. It may just be your upper lip! (just
kidding)
Wassail!
Carl Saxer
------------------------------
Subject: That's Odd....
From: Mark Taratoot <taratoot@peak.org>
Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 22:35:11 -0800 (PST)
I seldom post here, so let me start by saying, Dick, thanks for
keeping this forum alive and running smoothly. Those of us who
mostly read are fairly invisible, and sometimes we don't get to
give credit where credit is due.
Now...
Okay, here's an interesting one...
I've only been making mead for about five and a half years, and having
only four carboys limits me to between six and twelve meads per year, so I
am just coming out of the beginner stage. But this one is strange, and
I've never seen it before.
Back in early December, I started a hopped braggot (I like to make a
couple of these each year; before I made mead exclusively, I liked to brew
beer....Let's not even debate whether or not hops belong in braggot).
This was a simple extract recipe using about 6.5 pounds of generic light
malt extract. All the hops were Mt. Hood from my back yard, alpha content
unknown. I estimate I used about eight or nine ounces, added through an
eighty minute boil. I also tossed in 14 whole peppercorns for part of the
boil (I often add between five and eleven whole peppercorns to mead; for
some reason I think it adds body and a warm fullness but at a level below
the flavor threshold of black pepper), and a bit of cinnamon near the end.
After I was done with the boil, I added about 8.75 pounds of local mint
flower honey. After cooling, I pitched a starter culture of Lalvin
K1V-1116, a favorite of mine for mead. Initial gravity was 1.100.
The initial ferment was very healthy, and after a couple weeks, I racked
to glass. At this point, the SG was down to 1.035. About a month later, I
racked again. --My usual schedule is first rack between 2 and 6 weeks,
second rack between 1 and 3 months after that, and a final rack at least
three months after that, with additional rackings when necessary.-- Okay,
now the strange part. The SG was now 1.035.
After a month of continued fermentation, I had a zero drop in gravity.
This made me go "Hmmmmmmmmm...." I can think of no reason why there would
be no drop in gravity. The only thing I can come up with is that I must
(ha ha) have added some additional honey after racking, and I didn't enter
it in my log. This doesn't seem too likely, because I am pretty good
about record keeping, even if I estimate weights and volumes. It is
always possible that I simply wrote down the wrong numbers the first time.
I am human after all, and I do make plenty of errors. Someone suggested
that micro bubbles may have been clinging to the hydrometer the first time
I got a 1.035 reading, which would have given me a lower gravity reading.
I have trouble with this explanation as I always swirl the hydrometer back
and forth a few times and dunk it in and out of the test jar before making
a reading for this very reason.
Any takers on this one? Any and all SWAGs (scientific wild-ass guesses)
welcome.
By the way, this braggot is still fermenting happily, or would that be
hoppily.
- --
Mark Taratoot
taratoot@peak.org
------------------------------
Subject: Clearing Meads
From: "James J. Boley" <stiletto@ibm.net>
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 1998 01:47:17 -0600
Heya all,
I know that there was some discussion on this earlier, but I can't seem
to find those posts in my archive. I have an apple cinnamin mead that I
have let ferment to near completion. I have racked it, and am wondering
at the best method to clear this before priming it and bottling it.
Stiletto
- --
- --------------------------------------------------------------------
stiletto@ibm.net
Bladesmith. Bowmaker. Jewelrymaker. Tae Kwon Do. Flintknapper.
"Mad dog 20 20. The delightful wine with the screwtop cap. After a
bottle of which you can see vapor trails as people pass."
--- Robin Williams
"Evening at the Met"
- --------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #638, 27 January 1998
From: "Marc Shapiro" <mshapiro@mail.geocities.com>
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 1998 19:56:37 +0000
On 27 Jan 98 at 11:04, Mark A. Boughter <funch@hto.net> wrote:
> Does the statement "It may not be sold" apply to all mead or just mead
> not taxed? Is a license available for such sales...I am not trying to
> start a business its just that there is a convention around town once a
> year where people dress up like they are playing Dungeons and Dragons and
> they act a little goofy and I think I could provide them a service...
As you said, in the U.S.A. mead is treated as a wine. To make mead for
sale, in ANY quantity for ANY reason requires a commercial winery license,
just like making wine for sale.
HTH
Wassail!
Marc
Marc Shapiro mshapiro@geocities.com
Visit 'The Meadery' at:
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/1265/index.html
"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: Alcohol
From: "Marc Shapiro" <mshapiro@mail.geocities.com>
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 1998 19:51:36 +0000
On 27 Jan 98 at 11:04, Scott Murman <smurman@best.com> wrote:
> > 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.
>
> Unfortunately, this commonly touted method doesn't really work. The
> problem is that water will be driven off along with the alcohol, so that
> when you're done you'll still have alcohol left in your sample. You'd
> need to drive off *all* of the liquid in order to drive off all of the
> alcohol.
I had expected the argument to this method to be the usual, that the
numbers are all wrong. Since I have finally unpacked all of my winemaking
books I decided to try and verify the numbers. In _Technology of Wine
Making_ Amerine and Cruess have a table with the SG of solutions of water
and ethyl alcohol. It is listed by American Proof up to 45 proof. The
difference in the SG from pure water matches very closely to the figures
given in the last digest. I found minor diferences, but usually only a
few hundreths of a percent. That is accurate enough for me.
The argument that there will still be alcohol present in the liquid was
one that I had not heard before. The statement is most likely correct.
There probably is SOME alcohol remaining in the liquid once half of it is
boiled away (even though there was only 10% to 12% in the wine to start
with). The percentage of alcohol that remains in the boiled wine,
however, is going to be VERY LITTLE. While right from the start, some
water will evaporate, the alcohol will be BOILING (and, therefore,
evaporating much more rapidly). By the time you have boiled off 50% of
the liquid, the amount of alcohol that still remains is not likely to
affect the results by any substantial amount. If you really feel that the
residual alcohol is a problem then boil off 80% of the liquid. I can not
see any likely error due to residual alcohol at those levels that is not
within the tolerances acceptable to a home wine/mead maker.
If anyone can find published, reliable data to show that significant
alcohol remains after boiling off 50% to 80% of the mead/wine then please
post those results. The figures could then be incorporated into the table
that we already have and the residual alcohol could be accounted for.
HTH
Wassail!
Marc
Marc Shapiro mshapiro@geocities.com
Visit 'The Meadery' at:
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/1265/index.html
"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
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #639
*******************************
