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Mead Lovers Digest #0687
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #687, 22 July 1998
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #687 22 July 1998
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Ultimate score for honey supplies! (Leonard Meuse)
mead left on yeast ("Olin J. Schultz")
Re: Oregon Grape ("Mr. Warren Place")
questions, answers, whatnot ("Shane Essary")
Re: Digest #686, nibs/ponys ()
Re: Adding honey to a fermenting mead ("Henckler, Andrew") ("Wout Klingens")
Cooling Mead to Clear ("Chuck Bernard")
Re: Dark honey antioxidants ("Tidmarsh Major")
corkers (John Wilkinson)
Re: MLD #686, small bottle search ()
Jalapeno Mead (Jeanette Gugler)
currant mead data point ("Tidmarsh Major")
Books (JGORMAN@steelcase.com)
Mead virgin seeks experience (Jim Conroy)
Bread yeast (Samuel Mize)
I yam what I yam -- Spinach Mead! (Dan McFeeley)
A situation of great gravity (Samuel Mize)
Speed Mead (LONG) (Samuel Mize)
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.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Ultimate score for honey supplies!
From: Leonard Meuse <meuse@u.washington.edu>
Date: Wed, 15 Jul 1998 20:17:33 -0700 (PDT)
Many of you may have already found this one, I've been having great
success with web-ordered honeys (btw I'm a lurker but I've been around for
quite a while). Just today I found the National Honey Boards web-link
page:
www.nhb.org/links.html
Lots and lots of honey :)
a really sweet site
good meadings y'all
Len Meuse
------------------------------
Subject: mead left on yeast
From: "Olin J. Schultz" <beerx3@ix.netcom.com>
Date: Thu, 16 Jul 1998 00:37:04 -0700
Wanted to ask the collective for their experience with aging meads.
Myself and a few friends have been performing experiments with mead for
the last few years. We do different experiments all the time, different
honey, same yeast; same honey, different yeast; same honey and yeast,
different fruit. Probably close to 150 gallons in all(we still have
alot!). Of all the interesting things we have learned, and the learning
curve is SO slow with mead, is that leaving the mead continually on the
yeast in the carboy has produced some of the best meads we have tasted.
It started when we forgot about a 2.8 gallon of carboy of mead. When
we found it two years later under a towel under a table, we thought it
would be bad. Autolyzed, burnt rubbery flavors(as per books). What we
found was a round creamy, smooth mead with slight hints of butter. No
hints of alcohol or any rough edge what so ever. Clearly the best mead
we have had. Compared with the same mead(from the same batch...5 gallon
batch size) that had been stored in bottle, it was clearly better.
We are now in the stages of performing other experiments... leaving
mead in carboys and just sanitizing a sample taker when we want some.
The repeated samplings seem to not have a negative affect on flavor as
we might have thought because of oxidation. We actually hypothesize
that some slight oxidation might actually be part of the flavor
profile. Because these experiments take so long we are curious if
anyone else has found these results for themselves. I have heard of
wanting to leave the mead on the yeast for a year, but this is now 2+
years and we have no plans to bottle.
Another thing that we stumbled across is how nice it is to be able to
take only an ounce of 3...4...5 different meads when you want to do a
tasting instead of opening bottles. And mixing... so much easier to
mix, which is *alot* of fun, we have proved the fun part with more than
one mead hangover.
Having fun and looking forward to the upcoming pyment season,
Olin Schultz
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Oregon Grape
From: "Mr. Warren Place" <wrp2@axe.humboldt.edu>
Date: Thu, 16 Jul 1998 01:35:33 -0700 (PDT)
I'm heading to my parent's house in WA and will stock up on whatever
ripens in the next couple weeks. It's too early for cider, but there
should be some huckleberries or Oregon grapes which are ripe. The recipe
I will use is:
2.5 lbs sugar (or whatever is required to give me 1.100 specific garvity)
2.5 lbs berries
1 lb of raisins
maybe a banana
acid to give .65% TA
1 tsp. yeast nutrient
Premier Cuvee yeast
It's still a little early for the berries, but I am eager to try
the recipe for the first time (I adulterated the recipe found in "Jim and
George's Home Wine Making" book). If anybody has any recommendations on
this recipe, let me know. I haven't decided if this should be a sweet
wine or not. I'll probably just feed it until it tastes good.
Warren Place
wrp2@axe.humboldt.edu
www.humboldt.edu/~wrp2
------------------------------
Subject: questions, answers, whatnot
From: "Shane Essary" <sessary@cc.memphis.edu>
Date: Thu, 16 Jul 1998 04:58:36 -0500
First off, I must say that I find this mailing list QUITE informative and
wonderful. Kudos to everyone involved!
Second, what about Chocolate Mead? I was thinking about that on the way
home from work today, and when I got the last Mead Digest (a few minutes
ago), lo and behold, there was mention of Chocolate Mead! Scary,eh? I
think it's scarier that I might actually try to produce a gallon batch of
it. :) What would be my Chocolate to Honey ratio and should I use Baker's
chocolate versus, say, Hershey's?
Third: anyone ever made a pyment with muscadines?
Fourth: anyone have a good BLUEBERRY mead recipe?
Thanks, and keep up the good work!
- -Shane Essary
Apprentice Mead Maker
Equal Opportunity Fermentor
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Digest #686, nibs/ponys
From: <DakBrew@aol.com>
Date: Thu, 16 Jul 1998 07:56:33 EDT
In a message dated 98-07-16 02:26:15 EDT, you write:
<< Does anyone know were I can get small 8 or 6 oz bottles? I don't really
want to use those small coke bottles and I know that some barley wines come
in nibs (I think that is the term for an 8 oz beer bottle) >>
We always called them ponys when I was in school but that might be beacouse we
drank roling rock. However you are loking for unpainted bottles. I found that
Miller, Bud, and Heinekin can be found in 7oz bottles. Bud, Miller are in
twist off bottles but the Heinekin is not twist off I paid about $18.00 US for
a case 18 / 24 = .75 per bottle. If you like Heinekin that is that much more
of a bonus.
Dak iv
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Adding honey to a fermenting mead ("Henckler, Andrew")
From: "Wout Klingens" <wkling@knoware.nl>
Date: Thu, 16 Jul 1998 15:29:16 +0200
"Henckler, Andrew" <ahenckler@findsvp.com> wrote:
>I put together a 5 gal batch of mead this weekend using 12# of raspberry
>honey and Lalvin EC-1118 champagne yeast. I'd like to keep adding more
>of this wonderful honey until I get a medium sweet mead. A few
>questions:
>
>- - How do I dissolve more honey into the batch when I add it?
>
>- - How much should I add at a time (1, 2 or 3#)?
>
>- - Can those of you with more experience with this yeast enlighten me as
>to its alcohol tolerance and nutrient needs? How much extra honey will
>I need to get a medium sweet mead?
Well, Andrew, I hope you have plenty of headspace in your carboy. I didn't,
when I started out to explore the alcohol tolerance of this yeast. I now
have a thyme honey mead clearing with an estimated 20% alcohol but probably
more. I lost count when adding honey.
So let's see, for a medium sweet mead with let's say an FG of 1.010 you
need... at least 25 pounds, probably more....
So unfortunately you won't get where you probably want.
So I suggest you try to stop fermentation in some way or other at the point
where you think your mead is, where you want it to be. Namely strong enough
and sweet enough, or else you will wind up with a bone dry mead. Maybe an SG
of 1.010 will do nicely.
Try cold stabilizing in a fridge, or, if that isn't possible try racking.
After that add some p. sorbate, to prevent refermentation.
Another possibility of course is to let it go until it stops, rack, let it
clear a bit, rack again and add sorbate and honey to taste and let it clear
completely.
Feeding can be done in several ways but I'd just add it and stir. 2 pounds
at the time for a 6 gallon batch.
Good luck with this wonderful honey!
Wout.
------------------------------
Subject: Cooling Mead to Clear
From: "Chuck Bernard" <bernardch@mindspring.com>
Date: Thu, 16 Jul 1998 08:55:38 -0500
Are there any benefits or drawbacks to cooling a mead in order to drop the
yeast out and get it to clear. I've got a mead (mesquite honey, Wyeast Dry
Mead Yeast, planning on still style) that started in February and is
basically done ferementing, but is taking forever to drop clear. If I
placed the carboy in the beer fridge where I do my beer lagering this should
"force" the mead to drop clear. I know this will drop the yeast out but
what am I doing to the product from a flavor/aroma standpoint? I know the
mead makers biggest virture is patience, but I want my carboy back for
beer/wine!!
Chuck
Bernardch@mindspring.com
Music City Brewers, Nashville TN - Music City USA
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Dark honey antioxidants
From: "Tidmarsh Major" <tidmarsh@pop.mindspring.com>
Date: Thu, 16 Jul 1998 10:07:35 +0000
Dan McFeely posted an interesting article about antioxidants in dark
honey. Like Dan, I'm not going to jump to the conclusion that meads
made with such honey will provide me with health benefits, but I
wonder what such honey will do for the mead itself. Does honey high
in antioxidants produce more stable mead that oxidizes less in aging?
It has been repeated here from time to time that buckwheat meads
usually _require_ more aging than meads from lighter honeys; do
buckwheat meads also age _better_ than meads from lighter honeys?
Tidmarsh Major, Birmingham, Alabama
tidmarsh@mindspring.com
"Bot we must drynk as we brew,
And that is bot reson."
-The Wakefield Master, Second Shepherds' Play
------------------------------
Subject: corkers
From: jwilkins@wss.dsccc.com (John Wilkinson)
Date: Thu, 16 Jul 98 12:28:14 CDT
As to to corkers, I have three types. One has a plunger on top and forces the
cork in with pressure on this plunger. A friend uses one exclusively and hammer
s
in the cork with a mallet. I have never had the nerve to do that so it goes
unused. The second is a two handled device that is supposed to clamp the neck o
f
the bottle and force the cork into the bottle through a constriction using
leverage from the handles. I have had a great deal of trouble getting corks all
the way in with this. The last is a bench corker with a chamber into which the
cork is placed, a handle to compress the cork, and a second handle to force the
compressed cork into the bottle. This works like a charm and makes fast work of
corking. A friend gave it to me so I don't know where they are available. If
you can find one I would certainly recommend it. Corking with this is faster an
d
easier than capping with a bench type crown capper.
John Wilkinson - Grapevine, Texas - jwilkins@wss.dsccc.com
------------------------------
Subject: Re: MLD #686, small bottle search
From: <GREATFERM@aol.com>
Date: Thu, 16 Jul 1998 13:48:18 EDT
We have the little green "nips" bottles, 7 oz, crown-cappable, $11.95 per case
of 24, plus shipping.
Jay Conner
Great Fermentations - California -
136 Bellam Blvd
San Rafael CA 94901
888-570-WINE
Greatferm@aol.com
------------------------------
Subject: Jalapeno Mead
From: Jeanette Gugler <jgugler@mindspring.com>
Date: Sat, 18 Jul 1998 01:30:06
Rex Stahlman wrote in Mead Lover's Digest #686:
I recently wrote and asked about cloudy Meads. What causes it and how can
you clear it up. My 'peno Mead is about 7 months old and STILL not clear.
I'm also curious as to why nobody answered. Is it because I'm first a beer
brewer and not a wine maker or is it because of the jalapeno! :) I hope I
get some answers this time. If they are of the sarcastic kind, please keep
them to yourself!! :)
******
I didn't reply earlier, as I suspected the more experienced posters would
write -- (I've noticed not everyone gets an answer on mailing lists -
sigh). I've only made one mead (a ginger-orange melomel. More often, I
make wine and cordials -- never tried making beer) After reading this list
for a couple three months, I'd say that most members who post come from a
Brewing background rather than wine maker.
In any case, I suspect that the source of your cloudiness is the boiling of
the honey. Appears to change the proteins to a form which stays in
suspension. The concensus appears to be either simmer (rather than full
boil) or boil the water, not the honey, if you are doing this for hygiene
purposes (I always used Campden tablets and skipped that step)
Now that it is cloudy, what to do? The current tannin thread presents one
possible solution. Time is sometimes the solution (I've seen wines take
months to clear; but sometimes they won't ever without help.) By seven
months, you should see some results. Hmm. Is it still throwing sediment?
If yes, rack and wait. If not, action is required. You will find there
are many, many suggestions for clearing. These include egg whites,
bentonite, cold exposure, tannin, and many others. Not ever having had the
problem (yet), I leave it to other to give directions and pros/cons of each
method.
(Now I would never have tried jalopeno myself -- though I know someone who
might enjoy a taste.)
Sei es nicht spassig, ist est nicht richtig gemacht!
Jeanette Gugler
Mailto:jgugler@mindspring.com
------------------------------
Subject: currant mead data point
From: "Tidmarsh Major" <tidmarsh@pop.mindspring.com>
Date: Mon, 20 Jul 1998 08:12:47 +0000
I came across the following currant mead recipe this weekend. While
it's probably not how I'd choose to make mead, it at least provides
ideas about quantities. The book I took it from is _Living on the
Earth_ by Alicia Bay Laurel (New York: Vintage Books, 1970), which is
an interesting hand-written and drawn hippie guide to life, well
worth checking out if you're interested in that sort of thing. The
wine section also gives recipes for apple mead, elder blow wine,
dandelion wine, and clover wine, which I'll post if anyone is
interested.
Currant Mead
Dissolve 4 1/2 pounds honey in 1 gallon water, boiling hot. Leave
until cool, add 3 quarts currant juice, 1 pound chopped raisins.
Place in a stone crock. Make a paste of one cake (teaspoon) wine
maker's yeast with water and spread on toast. Cover and let stand in
a warm place 16 days. Skim, strain thru nylon cloth, let stand 10
days, siphon into bottles, seal with corks. Wine varies in
fermenting time. When the yeasty taste is gone it's ready. Other
fruits, not citrus fruits though, can be used (cherries, peaches,
pears, apricots, etc.)
Tidmarsh Major, Birmingham, Alabama
tidmarsh@mindspring.com
"Bot we must drynk as we brew,
And that is bot reson."
-The Wakefield Master, Second Shepherds' Play
------------------------------
Subject: Books
From: JGORMAN@steelcase.com
Date: 21 Jul 1998 12:47:59 -0400
I have not been hooked up to the digest yet, so please respond in private to
jgorman@steelcase.com.
I am already a beer home brewer and am going to try my hand at mead. I know
the basics of brewing, but I want to get a good book on the subject.
Something on more of the intermediate to advanced mead making.
Recommendations?
------------------------------
Subject: Mead virgin seeks experience
From: Jim Conroy <jconroy@binghamton.edu>
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 09:59:55 -0400
I have just started my first batch of mead and need some reassurance
something like "relax and have a homebrew".
I have been an on again and off again home brewer (extract) and decided to
try mead.
My basic question is how long should it take before I observe signs of
fermentation?
Here are some of the perticulars for my Strawberry Ruhbarb Mead (a melomead)
4lbs local packaged raw clover honey
4 cups cup ruhbarb - frozen
1 qt. hulled, quartered strawberries - frozen
Wyeast liquid mead yeast (dry as opposed to sweet) #?????
Bring 3 qts. water to boil
add honey stirring maintain just below boil ~ 180
place fruit in cloth hop bags heat 10 mins ~ 160 (ohhh the smell of
strwberries!)
trnasfer to brew tub (plastic with fruit in hop bags)
Cool must in bathtub to ~85 (inside temp ~ 83)
pitch yeast
wait
wait
wait
wonder
wait
It has been one week today, Wed. I have not observed any action from the
air lock. The must takes up 2 gal of the 7 gallon primay frementor.
Should I be worried? Should I shake and stir? Should I prepare and pitch
more yeast? Should I relax and have a homebrew? (my frementor isa busy!)
Thanks
Jim
------------------------------
Subject: Bread yeast
From: Samuel Mize <smize@mail.imagin.net>
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 12:46:46 -0500 (CDT)
Greetings,
I'm considering using bread yeast in making mead. Put down that hatchet...
With the cheaper canned beer kits, it's often suggested to use a name-brand
yeast, and just boil the kit yeast to add nutrients. I know that one kind
of yeast nutrient includes centrifuged yeast cells.
I'm going to be boiling a little water for this batch anyway (to steep
some tea) -- is it reasonable to boil some cheap bread yeast for 10 minutes
to kill it, and add it as nutrients? IIRC, the only nutrient I've seen at
my homebrew store is the pure white crystals which I believe is just
diammonium phosphate.
Thanks for any input,
Sam Mize
- --
Samuel Mize -- smize@imagin.net (home email) -- Team Ada
Fight Spam: see http://www.cauce.org/ \\\ Smert Spamonam
------------------------------
Subject: I yam what I yam -- Spinach Mead!
From: Dan McFeeley <mcfeeley@keynet.net>
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 13:00:10 -0500
I found this on Don Buchan's FTP site (ftp.cam.org/users/malak/wine) --
although it's listed in the subject header as a spinach wine, the honey
makes it a mead.
Enjoy! ;-)
__________
________
Dan McFeeley
mcfeeley@keynet.net
From: georg <thegeorgKILL@servtech.kill.com>
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.winemaking
Subject: Re: Help - Recipe for Spinach Wine
Date: Mon, 23 Feb 1998 11:46:05 -0500
4 cups of fresh leaf spinach
1 lb honey
acid blend
yeast nutrient per package directions
Boil one gallon water and dissolve in honey as the water cools. Wash
and chop spinach, and then put in the bottom of primary. Pour honey
water over the top. When it cools to room temperature, add acid blend,
yeast nutrient, and pitch a packet of Premiere Cuvee yeast. Rack
off the spinach after one week. Rack every three months until clear-
consider fining it after 6 months with polyclar or gelatin to help cut
down on the butter flavor.
It comes out as a dry, very pale green wine. I liked it. But I don't
want to drink it every day. Give this one a lot of time.
------------------------------
Subject: A situation of great gravity
From: Samuel Mize <smize@mail.imagin.net>
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 15:30:08 -0500 (CDT)
Greetings,
I've been thinking (danger, Will Robinson) -- mead recipes usually
pump the gravity up to or past 1.100 (as far as I've seen). Is
there any reason not to make it at a lower gravity? Obviously,
this will be thinner and weaker -- that's the goal. Sort of like
a lawnmower mead.
The flavor of most honey is fairly mild, so it won't have a lot
of honey character. Are there any other drawbacks?
Best,
Sam Mize
------------------------------
Subject: Speed Mead (LONG)
From: Samuel Mize <smize@mail.imagin.net>
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 15:30:50 -0500 (CDT)
Warning: big use of bandwidth.
Here's what I've gleaned from HBD and MLD in the last few months about
faster mead-making. Have I missed anything? Any more thoughts, or
disagreements?
Understand, these aren't My Pronouncements. This is info I'm wanting
feedback on before I depend on it myself.
You'll be welcome to copy and distribute the final version, with
attribution and without financial gain, e.g. a club newsletter or a free
web page. Or this version, if you think it's good enough.
Sam
- - - - - - - - - - -
SPEED MEAD
Samuel Mize
Mead won't be ready on a beer schedule, but it can be ready to bottle in
less than two months, and ready to drink in less than four months total.
Inattention to these factors can stretch fermentation over half a year or
more, or require several years of bottle aging.
Mead can improve in the bottle for years. I don't claim that a mead
produced with these methods will be at its best at bottling or after only
a month of aging. However, it should be pleasantly drinkable.
This information was gleaned frome the Mead Lover's Digest and the
Homebrew Digest, two email discussion forums.
There are three times to consider: fermentation, clearing, and mellowing.
FERMENTATION DURATION
1. Ferment at about 60-65 F.
2. Monitor pH; if below 4.0 add calcium carbonate or potassium carbonate.
3. Use yeast nutrient with a very light hand.
4. Use an appropriate yeast.
5. Oxygenate or aerate when pitching in yeast, and about 12 hours later.
6. Pitch plenty of yeast; use a starter.
If you force-speed a fermentation, it will produce higher alcohols, also
called fusel alcohols or fusel oil. These take a long time to age out.
If this happens, you lose more in mellowing time than you gain by
shortening fermentation time. We want to remove impediments to
fermentation, without trying to "goose it up" unnaturally fast.
We can force-speed fermentation by warming it, but this creates a lot of
fusel alcohol. Instead, we want to COOL the fermentation. It will take
at least a month to ferment out fully, probably two. However, the mead
will be smooth and pleasant much sooner. Ferment at about 60-65 F.
Monitor the pH of your must, before and during fermentation. If it falls
below 4.0 it's too acid for fermentation to proceed efficiently -- add
some calcium carbonate or potassium carbonate to raise the pH. Be careful
not to overshoot, read up on adjusting acidity. Mead has a lower pH than
beer, and much less of the buffering substances that neutralize the acid
produced by fermentation.
Yeast nutrients usually contain diammonium nitrate. They can speed a
fermentation, but too much will leave a chemical taste which takes a long
time to age out. Again, you lose more time than you gain. Use yeast
nutrient with a very light hand. Some people use a little malt extract
instead of a commercial yeast nutrient. Melomels (mead with fruit juices)
typically have plenty of nutrients without any chemical additions.
Use an appropriate yeast -- mead, wine or champagne yeast. These are
selected to work well on fructose and dextrose, as found in mead must.
Beer yeast are selected for their ability to work on a blend of maltose,
isomaltose and maltotriose. Mead, wine and champagne yeast also tend to
have higher alcohol tolerance. Mead yeast are also selected for the
aromatics they create (and the ones they DON'T create).
Yeast need oxygen at the start of the fermentation. Aerate or oxygenate
when pitching in the yeast (below 90 F), and about 12 hours later. But
DON'T do so after that; once alcohol exists in the must, oxidation can
produce off flavors.
Pitch plenty of yeast. Build a starter, even if you're using dry yeast.
Starter technique is the subject of near-wars. Your Favorite Method is
best. For reference, here's my approach, and my reasons.
A. Yeast will vary, even in a pure colony, and we want to encourage the
dextrose-eaters. However, a pure dextrose starter lacks other nutrients.
So, build a starter with honey or sugar as the base, but add some yeast
nutrient, killed yeast, grape juice or malt extract for nutrients. Use a
container that will hold a fermenting liter of starter. (Your first step
from a smack-pack should be half that.) Aerate early and often, every
couple of hours is ideal. Keep this warm, about 80 F is good. We won't
care how bad the starter liquid tastes.
B. In a day or so, the yeast will have eaten all the sugars (the starter
is no longer sweet). Stop aeratiing and let it settle for a few hours (up
to a day or so), then pour off the clear fluid, leaving the yeast cake.
Add about a liter of starter liquid and aerate.
C. Repeat this several times, ending with a settled yeast cake about 12 to
24 hours before you want to pitch the yeast. Pour off the old fluid, then
add about half a liter of starter liquid. Don't keep aerating this one,
it will go into the must so you don't want it to contain off flavors.
D. Pitch while the yeast are still largely suspended in this last
feeding. If you wait until it settles out, the yeast will be dormant when
you pitch them.
You want to pitch the yeast a while after "high krausen" (the point of
greatest activity). They will be building back up their supplies of
glycogen, and in prime shape to start work on your must. Think of it this
way: at each feeding they wake up, eat all the sugar, and go back to
sleep. This last feeding just hits the "snooze button" on their alarm
clocks.
The repeated feedings build up as big a colony of yeast as you would find
in a many-liter starter.
CLEARING
1. Consider not worrying about clarity.
2. Consider adding tea to the recipe.
3. If boiling the must, consider adding Irish Moss to the recipe.
4. Consider adding grape tannin or tea to a mead that is not clearing.
5. Consider finings: Sparkalloid, bentonite, gelatin.
Some folks don't worry about letting their mead clear after fermentation,
others want a nice crystal-clear mead. One person notes having won awards
with a cloudy mead.
Many people recommend some form of tannin. You can add grape tannin to a
mead that won't clear. You can also add tea, and this is also often added
as part of the base recipe. Both add a little color to the mead. Tannin
binds to protein molecules; this heavier complex sinks faster. Tannin
also adds astringency. This can balance sweetness, but if you don't want
astringence, go easy on the tea. A little less than 1 Earl Grey teabag
per gallon has been mentioned; this will give a definite character to the
mead, but not a tea-like flavor.
There are a number of fining products, which work with varying degrees of
success. Sparkalloid and bentonite have been mentioned as good finings
for clearing mead. Irish moss has advocates, this must be added to a
boil. Gelatin has been mentioned with mixed success. It was suggested
that tannin would help gelatin work.
Some people feel that boiling the honey makes the mead slower to clear,
others that it precipitates out proteins (like the hot break that beer
brewers get) and that the mead clears faster. There's no consensus.
MELLOWING
If you're having to take active steps at this point, you won't have a
speed mead. However, there are still a couple of points to consider.
1. To smooth rough flavors, make sure the yeast stays active.
2. Consider allowing controlled air access.
Much of the work of mellowing rough flavors is done by the yeast, although
it doesn't take nearly as much yeast for mellowing as for initial
fermentation. However, if you need to mellow a rough mead, consider aging
it in bulk -- or accept that you will have a lot of yeast in the bottle --
and make sure there is some yeast in suspension. This may require
"rousing" the yeast, which is done by agitating the container WITHOUT
introducing air. Bottles may be rocked or gently shaken (be very cautious
about shaking up a sparkling beverage). Carboys can be rocked on the
floor without losing the airlock seal.
Some people feel that proper aging requires controlled air access. This
is one benefit of corking, as opposed to capping, bottles. It can also be
done by bulk aging in a container with a little headspace -- since
fermentation has slowed, there is not a continuous outflow of CO2, and a
little oxygen will seep in, even through a water-filled airlock.
However, other people don't feel that controlled oxidation does any of the
work of mellowing a harsh mead. Oxidation creates other flavors, and so
controlled oxidation may be desired for that purpose.
SUMMARY
The most critical points for fast production are those listed under
"Fermentation Duration." If you don't mind the astringence, adding tea to
the recipe will make it clear much faster. With a little care you can
make a very good mead in 2-4 months.
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End of Mead Lover's Digest #687
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