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Mead Lovers Digest #0636
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #636, 19 January 1998
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #636 19 January 1998
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
re: Alcohol content (Dick Dunn)
Re: Alcohol content (James May)
post fermentaion enhancment (r l reid)
corks vs caps, alcohol content (Samuel Mize)
NYC Honey (r l reid)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #635, 16 January 1998 (Jeff Duckworth)
Re: small 7oz bottles (Leigh Ann Hussey)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #635, 16 January 1998 (RBarnes001)
capsules (Zaephod Beeblebrox)
various mead kegging and bottling questions (jonathan edwards)
NOTE: Digest only appears when there is enough material to send one.
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: re: Alcohol content
From: rcd@raven.talisman.com (Dick Dunn)
Date: 16 Jan 98 13:33:00 MST (Fri)
"Larry R. Sieting <Gilebert de Dijon>" <dijon@grnet.com> (or something like
that!) wrote:
> ...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?
The short answer is that you don't.
There are some references to be found that give typical sugar contents of
various fruits, but even if you don't mind an approximate number, this
won't tell you how much of the sugar or how much of the water etc., you end
up with in the mead. You can concoct a scheme for measuring volumes and
weighing fruit before and after, yadda, yadda, but it gets complicated and
not very accurate.
> 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.)
If you're fermenting all the way out, you can test at the end with a
vinometer. These are fussy little gadgets that work on capillary action.
I don't find a vinometer easy to use (although it's pretty quick), and it
won't work if you have any significant amount of residual sugar, but aside
from that, it'll give you at least an idea.
- ---
Dick Dunn rcd, domain talisman.com Boulder County, Colorado USA
...I'm not cynical - just experienced.
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Alcohol content
From: James May <robmay@erols.com>
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 15:21:23 -0500
I purchased a software package, HomeBrewer's Assistant, at my local
homebrew shop. I just enter in the recipe and when I update the batch log,
it tells me the alcohol content. Being new to making mead, I wanted a good
way to keep it all straight. It works for me!
James May
>>>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: post fermentaion enhancment
From: r l reid <ro@panix.com>
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 15:25:08 -0500 (EST)
I've just done the final racking prior to bottling of a simple
mead that's been working for about 4 months.
In tasting, I was pleased to note that it tasted like an alchoholic
beverage with the strength of wine, and so that nothing terrible
had gone wrong. It's quite dry - a real change from the commercial meads
I've tried, and I like that - BUT.
It's a bit weak on "character". I would almost describe the taste as "watery",
and I usually see people finding thier young meads to be firey!
Just after, I took the honey remaining that was not used in the mead and
used it to bake my weekly challah (a honey and oil based bread, if you
don't know). And all went right with those loaves execpt - that same
vaguely "watery" flavor.
This was clover honey bought from a local producer (in Greenburgh, NY).
OK, my lesson learned is to ALWAYS try a sample of the honey in bread
before throwing ten pounds of it into a pail! Because challah is
good even when it's bad, and you can always dress it up somehow.
Anyway, so I now have a mead ready to bottle age, but I think it needs
something to perk it up. Spices? I don't want to add anything sugar based
create more fermenation. Not looking to make it great, just a little
less "watery".
Thanks.
- --
r l reid ro@panix.com
microtonal resources and what not at: http://www.panix.com/~ro/
"The most incomprehensible fact is the fact that we comprehend at all."
-Abraham Joshua Heschel
------------------------------
Subject: corks vs caps, alcohol content
From: Samuel Mize <smize@prime.imagin.net>
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 14:23:37 -0600 (CST)
Greetings to all, and especially to:
> Mead Lover's Digest #635 16 January 1998
> Subject: Corks vs. Caps
> From: Will_Rau@infoimage.com
> 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
They seal just as airtight. The cork allows just a touch of oxygen
to get at the wine or mead.
> 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.
Hadn't you? :-)
- - - - - - - - - - -
> Subject: Alcohol content
> From: "Larry R. Sieting <Gilebert de Dijon>" <dijon@grnet.com>
> ... 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?
Well, you could get your mead analyzed at a lab for percent alcohol,
then back-calculate to get the OG...
OR you could take a sample of your must before you put it onto the
fruit, and estimate the additional "points" contributed by the fruit.
According to Al Korzonas' Homebrewing vol I, corn sugar and sucrose
give about 41 points/lb/gallon. I assume fructose is similar. He
quotes Ken Schwartz (in Homebrew Digest) as saying that the following
fruits have about these percentages of sugars by weight:
1- 4% limes, lemons, tomatoes, cranberries
6- 9% red currants, grapefruits, guavas, cantaloupes, strawberries,
raspberries, blackberries, papayas, apricots, watermelons, peaches
10-13% black currants, pears, honeydew melons, oranges, plums, blueberries,
gooseberries, passion fruits, prickly pear cactus fruits, mangos,
pineapples, pomegranates, apples
14-17% cherries, kiwis, persimmons, figs, grapes, bananas, litchis
So, 10 pounds of cherries would add:
(10 lbs) * (14 / 100) = 1.4 pounds of sugar
(41 pts/lb/gal) * (1.4 lb) / (5 gal) = 11.4 points
There are staggering inexactitudes in this method, but it's probably
the best you can do without lab analysis.
Best,
Sam Mize
- --
Samuel Mize -- smize@imagin.net -- Team Ada
Fight Spam - see http://www.cauce.org/
Personal net account - die gedanken sind frei
------------------------------
Subject: NYC Honey
From: r l reid <ro@panix.com>
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 15:35:41 -0500 (EST)
To the person inquireing about finding apiraries in NYC - I suspect
you may be looking for the farmers market in Union Square:
Union Square Greenmarket
Union Square Park, 17th Street & Broadway
New York City
(212) 477-3220
open air/ year round
That phone number will get you info on all the city sponsered
farmers markets in the city - a list can also be found at
http://www.cafecreosote.com/Farmers_Markets/NewYorkFarmers.html
- --
r l reid ro@panix.com
microtonal resources and what not at: http://www.panix.com/~ro/
"The most incomprehensible fact is the fact that we comprehend at all."
-Abraham Joshua Heschel
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #635, 16 January 1998
From: Jeff Duckworth <duck@oasys.dt.navy.mil>
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 98 16:05:46 -0500
>Will_Rau@infoimage.com
>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?
Hey Will,
Your beverages will age quite nicely in bottles stopped with corks or
bottle caps. My understanding of the chemistry of aging is not great,
but indicates two general modes of aging: oxidation (which, obviously
requires oxygen) and then esterfication (which does not require oxygen, I
think). Oxidation occurs in vessels such as oak casks which are used
extensively by wine producers because they give a predicable, slow feed
of oxygen to the aging wine (as well as those lovely tannins). After
bottling the wine continues to age, however, for all intents I believe no
oxygen gets in at this time (as any wine lover will tell you, a little
oxygen quickly spoils wine) and esterfication proceeds. I just opened
(last night in fact) a bottle of a mead that I bottled in beer bottles a
year ago. It has aged quite a bit; I couldn't even bear the smell when I
first bottled it, much less drink the stuff! Now it has a lite honey
taste although it still doesn't smell like much.
In short: corks are cooler than bottle caps (and, IMHO, Grolsch bottles),
but all will allow your mead to age...of course, if you want sparkling
mead avoid the corks!
Good luck!
Jeff Duckworth
------------------------------
Subject: Re: small 7oz bottles
From: Leigh Ann Hussey <leighann@sybase.com>
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 13:06:54 -0800
> Rolling rock 7oz beer bottles work great... A plus you get to
> drink the beer.
There are some among us who wouldn't consider that a plus... ;)
- Leigh Ann (who prefers porter & stout)
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #635, 16 January 1998
From: RBarnes001 <RBarnes001@aol.com>
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 20:22:48 EST
In a message dated 98-01-16 14:43:25 EST Larry R. Sieting wrote:
> Question is this; how does one get an O.G. when you have fruit chunks
> still containing sugars before pitching the yeast?
Do you take the fruit out or ferment with the fruit in?
I steep my fruit in the must then toss it,
either way, just take a hydrometer reading and don't worry about it. :)
Ron
------------------------------
Subject: capsules
From: Zaephod Beeblebrox <frankem@erols.com>
Date: Sat, 17 Jan 1998 21:05:54 -0500
In MLD 635 Mark Evenson mentioned his lack of aging using capsules. Mark
mentioned that I use plastic capsules. I presume Mark is refering to the
snap on type which were my first type purchased many moons ago. In
retrospect I agree that the use of this type could hamper aging,
although I didn't notice it then. Hey, I was just glad the stuff was
drinkable!
Since then, I have switched to the heat shrink variety. The type I now
use has two holes to allow the cork to breathe. Consequently aging is
not hampered, and the cork doesn't rot. Good point though Mark, I am
running out of capsules again, and I must remember to be sure to get the
type with holes.
Thanx,
Frank M.
------------------------------
Subject: various mead kegging and bottling questions
From: jonathan edwards <mrpookey@mindspring.com>
Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 18:42:52 -0800
hey now,
i've recently kegged a 5 gallon batch of raspberry mead. i had used 6pds of
raspberries but don't have much raspberry flavor. can i add raspberry
extract directly to the keg? if so, how much would be good to use?
if i want a sparkling mead but not very heavely carbonated, what would be a
good pressure to force carbonate it out?
also, i've got an orange blossom honey mead that i'd like to bottle. i've
read that bottling mead in beer bottles with regular caps is not a good
idea? i find this hard to believe but is it true?
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #636
*******************************
