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Mead Lovers Digest #0635
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #635, 16 January 1998
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #635 16 January 1998
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Corks vs. Caps (Will_Rau@infoimage.com)
Re: NYC mead (Bill Shirley)
small 7oz bottles (Lynn Belluardo)
Alcohol content ("Larry R. Sieting" <dijon@grnet.com>)
MLD #634 / Aging under cork (Mark Evenson)
Legality and Sales (Mark A. Boughter)
Re: Cheap 1-gallon batches (Joyce Miller)
Fruit for mead! (Vicky)
Corking results (Tidmarsh Major)
Need Recipe (Travis Nicklow)
New Meadllennium Results (CLSAXER)
Oxygen barrier caps (nathan_l_kanous_ii@ferris.edu)
NOTE: Digest only appears when there is enough material to send one.
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Corks vs. Caps
From: Will_Rau@infoimage.com
Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 13:24:44 -0700
I've read a few entries that stated that capped bottles will not allow mead
to age and that corks should be used. Is this also true of Grolsh bottles
(I think I spelled this wrong)? I.e., will the bottles with the cool
spring loaded ceramic and rubber seal tops allow mead to age properly?
Also, where does one get sparkeloid? I asked a local brew supply guy about
it and he looked at me like I had just sprouted a third eye.
------------------------------
Subject: Re: NYC mead
From: Bill Shirley <bill@inline-software.com>
Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 14:52:22 -0600
Daniel Rodriguez <drodz@mindspring.com> sayeth
> Living here in NYC I find it a liitle hard to find quality
> honeys at decent prices. I'd love to participate or benefit
> :) from such a list.
I don't know what the prices were, but I saw a news blurb
on tv (maybe CNN?). They were at a farmers market. There
was a bee keeper selling honey there. He also had begun
keeping hives on top of a building in Manhattan. (location
unrevealed). They (very informally) taste tested the
two meads (one from out of town, one from in manhattan),
and everyone prefered the "manhattan" honey.
I don't recall what the name of the market was, but this
might be particularly useful for NYC alergy sufferers.
(daily doses of locally produced honey being a folk remedy)
-bill
------------------------------
Subject: small 7oz bottles
From: Lynn Belluardo <lbelluar@csc.sctboces.org>
Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 21:28:07 -0500 (EST)
from: lbelluar@csc.sctboces.org
date: 1-12-98
Rolling rock 7oz beer bottles work great. Just make sure they are not
twist off tops. I buy them any place that sells beer in upstate NY. I use
plain crown caps that have a plastic coating under cap. A plus you get to
drink the beer.
from:NEW ERA CELLERS Van Etten NY.
------------------------------
Subject: Alcohol content
From: "Larry R. Sieting <Gilebert de Dijon>" <dijon@grnet.com>
Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 23:50:33 -0500
Hi there....
Been reading the digest for about a year now and brewing meads as well
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.
Question is this; how does one get an O.G. when you have fruit chunks
still containing sugars before pitching the yeast?
final gravities arent a problem, as I take those to check the sweetness
level at the end of primary/secondary/tertiary fementation (or just
before I bottle.)
Thanks for your time.
------------------------------
Subject: MLD #634 / Aging under cork
From: Mark Evenson <wine-hop@dnvr.uswest.net>
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 14:57:31 -0800
Frank M. writes of his experience of cork vs. bottlecap - the wine under
bottlecap did not age as quickly. I've had the same experience. I
usually bottle a six-pack of wine/mead/cider in beer bottles with crown
caps, with the bulk of the batch under cork. It only takes one
side-by-side taste test to make a believer! The difference is much more
dramatic on dry meads (that's the way I like 'em). I've found there is
also more aroma from the meads under cork. One note: the plastic
capsules Frank mentioned seal airtight. This has the same effect as the
crown caps. I found that out by experience... I age the bottle without
the capsule; if I dress the bottle for gift-giving, I'll attach the
capsule at that time.
Anne T c/o wine-hop@dnvr.uswest.net
------------------------------
Subject: Legality and Sales
From: Mark A. Boughter <funch@hto.net>
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 22:12:30 -0500
Hi, I'm the new guy...
So what are the legalities of buying/selling or giving away mead?
Thanks, Mark
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Cheap 1-gallon batches
From: Joyce Miller <msmead@doctorbeer.com>
Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 17:29:18 GMT
Go to the supermarket, and buy a 1-gallon jug of orange juice. Drink it.
Rinse out the jug. Support your local homebrew supply shop by buying an
airlock and a one-hole stopper to fit the o.j. jug. Make a small batch of
mead and ferment it in the jug, and throw the jug away when it's empty.
Make more batches with more o.j. jugs (not milk jugs, or the mead will taste
funny). Eventually find a recipe that you like very much (or just get sick
of making mead all the time), and go out and support your local nomebrew
shop and buy the minimal equipment needed to make 5-gallon batches.
I do experimental batches this way all the time, or batches with expensive
ingredients.
- -- Joyce
msmead@doctorbeer.com
------------------------------
Subject: Fruit for mead!
From: Vicky <rcci@mindspring.com>
Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 22:35:36 -0500
Fellow brewers, I have access to 42 lb bags of pureed seedless
raspberries, perfect for mead/beer/wine/etc. Carolina Brewers had some
left over after they did their raspberry ale,
and wants to get rid of it cheap. They'll sell it for $1.50/lb. They
paid $2.50/lb. This is
prime fruit from Oregon Fruit, folx. If you are interested, send me
email at
rcci AT mindspring DOT com.
I got two bags for $120, and have plans to make a raspberry mead, a
raspberry cyser, a
raspberry ale, maybe some jam.....hmmmmm the possibilities are endless.
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: Corking results
From: Tidmarsh Major <tmajor@parallel.park.uga.edu>
Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 09:26:47 -0500 (EST)
Thanks to all who replied to my corking query.
3 correspondents use a sulfite solution: 1 hot for 30 mins, 1 for 15 min,
1 for an unspecified time.
1 uses an iodophor solution.
1 boils the corks for 15 mins.
Two of the people who use sulfites noted that there have been reports of
cork deterioration caused by boiling, though the person who boils reported
no problems.
Though I didn't recieve a definitive answer (not that I excpected one), I
did get a much clearer understanding of my options, which is what I
sought.
Thanks again,
Tidmarsh Major
tmajor@parallel.park.uga.edu
Athens, Georgia
------------------------------
Subject: Need Recipe
From: Travis Nicklow <tnicklow@ns.gemlink.com>
Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 17:36:04 -0500
My many thanks to those who responded to the question about the airlock,
now being new to this and brewing all together, I have my airlock and it
fits the 1 liter glass jug I have, how much honey/water/yeast do I need to
make a traditional mead?
Thanks a lot,
Travis
------------------------------
Subject: New Meadllennium Results
From: CLSAXER <CLSAXER@aol.com>
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 01:13:49 EST
Here Are the results from the 1998 New Meadllenniun Mead Competition.
I would like to thank all of our competition participants for their support.
The quality of the entries was astounding! I had the opportunity to taste
many of the entries and I must say that I am very impressed with the level of
amateur meadmaking in this country. Keep up the good work! See you next
year.
Best of Show
Doris Parsons of Linden, New Jersey
Mead Name:
"Hana Sunrise"
Made with:
Wildflower honey, orange peel and vanila beans
Traditional Mead:
1st Place Billy Kendrick of Cocoa, Florida
Mead Name: "Tupelo" Made With: tupelo honey
2nd Place Ron Raike of Orlando, Florida
Mead Name: "Breakfast Mead #2" Made With: wildflower honey
3rd Place Ron Barnes of Abilene, Texas
Name of Mead: "St. Bartolomew Sweet" Made With: orange blossom honey
Fruit Mead:
1st Place Lillian Casper of Orlando, Florida
Name of Mead: "Leslie's Limes" Made With: wild flower honey, lime juice
and lime oil/essence
2nd Place Brian Myers of Norman, Oklahoma
Name of Mead: "Fourty Two" Made With: wildflower honey, and concord
grape juice.
3rd Place Billy Kendrick of Cocoa Florida
Name of Mead: "Fay's Elderberry" Made With: wildflower honey and
elderberries.
Herb & Spice Mead
1st Place Brian Myers of Norman, Oklahoma
Name of Mead: "Twenty Six" Made With: wildflower honey, cardamon,
cinnamon, ginger and oak.
2nd Place Gail Kindstrom of Altamonte Springs, Florida
Name of Mead: "Peppermint Suprise" Made With: wildflower honey and
peppermint.
3rd Place Don Johannessen of Orlando, Florida
Name of Mead: "Ginger Mead" Made With: clover honey and ginger root.
Braggott
1st Place Carl Saxer of Orlando, Florida
Name of Mead: "Modesty Does Not Permit..." Made With: raspberry
blossom
honey and assorted grains.
2nd Place Mike Pasek of Wheaton, Illinois
Name of Mead: "Anthony's First" Made With: buckwheat honey and malt
extract.
3rd Place Tommie Gibson of Kilua-Kona, Hawaii
Name of Mead: "Noelani Kanakoa" Made With: lehua blossom honey and
assorted grains.
Anything Goes Mead (open category)
1st Place Doris Parsons of Linden, New Jersey
Name of Mead: "Hana Sunrise" Made With: wildflower honey, orange peel
and vanilla beans.
2nd Place Gail Kindstrom of Altamonte Springs, Florida
Name of Mead: "Maple Delight" Made With: orange blossom honey and
maple syrup.
3rd Place Ron Raike of Orlando, Florida
Name of Mead: "Belgian Braggott" Made With: generic honey, assorted
grains and lambic yeast/bacteria cultures.
------------------------------
Subject: Oxygen barrier caps
From: nathan_l_kanous_ii@ferris.edu
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 09:41:02 -0400
I have a dry mead that I would like to bottle still. I don't have a
corker, nor do I want to bottle this batch in 750ml bottles. I prefer 12oz
bottles. That's all I'm going to drink in a sitting, and my wife drinks
even less!
Anyhow, I'm concerned about oxidation due to the air in the headspace of
the bottle. Has anyone used the oxygen barrier caps for this type of
situation? Are they beneficial, or should I just add some ascorbic acid
and forget about it? How much ascorbate?
TIA
Nathan in Frankenmuth, MI
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #635
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