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Mead Lovers Digest #0679
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #679, 16 June 1998
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #679 16 June 1998
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #678, 14 June 1998 ("Mike Kidulich")
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #678, 14 June 1998 ()
Re: Proper Drinking container (Roland Behunin)
Re: Proper drinking container (Dan McFeeley)
Re: Bitter off flavors ("Wout Klingens")
Re: Period Fruits ("Marc Shapiro")
Re: Proper drinking container ("Marc Shapiro")
Re: Novice Mead Questions (Mary Savage)
Prickly Pear Mead (PDWaltman)
Small mead question (John Looney)
Mead drinking containers (Kate Collins)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #678, 14 June 1998 ()
Buckwheat Honey (Wayne_Kozun@otpp.com)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #678, 14 June 1998 (dennis key)
Re: No new/replacement AMA (Cindy Renfrow)
period fruits (Cindy Renfrow)
RE: Mead Lover's Digest #678, 14 June 1998 (Martin Fredrickson)
dandelion mead recipe ()
question re: citric acid ("Kurt Hoesly")
Mead ingredients compendium? (CW)
NOTE: Digest only appears when there is enough material to send one.
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #678, 14 June 1998
From: "Mike Kidulich" <mjkid@ix.netcom.com>
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 1998 08:01:37 -5
> 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)... >
A friend and I made a watermelom mead last year that turned out quite
nice. I don't have the recipe here, but basically we cut up and pressed out
all the juice of a large watermelon, (I believe the OG og the juice was around
1.055), which yielded nearly a gallon of juice. This was combined with
honey and water to make about two gallons, pasteurized, cooled and
fermented with wine yeast. (We had an OG of around 1.090 to 1.100). I
don't recall which strain of yeast offhand. You will have a great deal of fluffy
sediment with this method, which will require a couple rackings to get rid of.
If I do this mead again, I might just chunk the fruit, rather than mashing it as
we did.
The must starts off as a beautiful pink color, which fades to a straw yellow
as it ferments. The watermelon flavor remains, though. Ours was a bit on
the dry side. (FG around 1.00) I would like to try a demi-sec version, since
watermelon is somewhat sweet.
Mike Kidulich
President
Upstate New York Homebrewers Association
mjkid@ix.netcom.com
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #678, 14 June 1998
From: <CLSAXER@aol.com>
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 1998 12:20:37 EDT
In MLD # 678 Mr. Michael Scott Meiners says:
> I'm curious, what is mead properly drank in? <
Set your mazers on stun dude. Mead drinking vessels are called mazers. They
are very artfully crafted wine goblets, specially designed for mead.
However my wife says," In the dark with a lovely lady." With this I agree
whole heartedly. It was with a prickly pear mead that I won the heart and
hand of my wife, the Faire Lady Doris of Linden. The best mead investment I
have ever made!
I hope this helps.
Wassail!!
Carl Saxer
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Proper Drinking container
From: Roland Behunin <telemark@vitrex.net>
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 1998 10:43:12 -0600
Mike wrote:
>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
The proper drinking container for mead is the horn of an Aurouchs. (These
are now is short supply.)
The nearest subsitute is the horn of a bull.
You clean the inside of the horn by pouring boiling water in it to get all
the residue out.
After that you pour a good stout dark beer in the horn and let it sit over
night.
You then discard the beer, and heat some beeswax and coat the inside of the
horn with hox beeswax.
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Proper drinking container
From: Dan McFeeley <mcfeeley@keynet.net>
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 1998 13:13:30 -0500
On Wed, 10 Jun 1998 Michael Scott Meiners wrote in MLD 678:
>I'm curious, what is mead properly drank in? Wine glasses for wine,
>flutes for champagne, mugs for beer (unless you're 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.
Legend has it that the ancient Celts, who were known for their warrier
centered culture and ritual significance of the severed head, used the
skulls of their vanquished enemies to fashion drinking bowls for their
mead. I suspect these Celtic versions of drinking goblets would also be
a little hard to find at WalMart. ;-)
More seriously, the mazer was the drinking vessel of choice for many
cultures. There is a brief section about mazers in Gayre's book on mead,
and somewhere in a yet to be unpacked box (my wife and I just moved) I
have an article on an Anglo-Saxon riddle and mead mazers. Once I get
them unearthed I can post something on this.
__________
________
Dan McFeeley
mcfeeley@keynet.net
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Bitter off flavors
From: "Wout Klingens" <wkling@knoware.nl>
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 1998 22:05:59 +0200
In Mead Lover's Digest #678 Dan McFeeley <mcfeeley@keynet.net> wrote
>>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?
According to my documentation not entirely correct, I'm afraid. Bitter
because of an overdose of CaCO3 is caused by salts, that are formed by a
chemical reaction with the carbonate and *other* acids then tartaric.
Unfortunately those salts won't precipitate, but will dissolve competely
into the mead.
So tartaric acid shouldn't help. Also CaCO3 doesn't taste bitter, I
tried...
But the tartaric acid helped anyway.
So, I am really curious about the answers from the chemists out there.
Thanks for your reply though.
Wout.
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Period Fruits
From: "Marc Shapiro" <mshapiro@mail.inetone.net>
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 1998 20:33:46 +0000
> 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
>From you name and location, I am assuming that you mean "period" in
the sense of SCA medieval period. That being the case, take a look
at my web-page (listed in my sig block). Take the link from the
navigation bar for "Alcoholic Drinks of the Middle Ages" (this is
identical to the Compleate Anachronist of the same name) and then
scroll down the TOC to _FRUITS and SPICES_ which should give you a
good sampling of what you are looking for.
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: Proper drinking container
From: "Marc Shapiro" <mshapiro@mail.inetone.net>
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 1998 20:37:20 +0000
> 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
A mazer, which is a wide mouthed stemmed goblet with a wide base as
well. They are frequently made of metal and ornately decorated.
They can also be made of glass, or wood (with or without decoration).
HTH
Wassail!
Marc Shapiro http://www.bigfoot.com/~m_shapiro/
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Novice Mead Questions
From: menander@iac.net (Mary Savage)
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 1998 18:30:52 -0400 (EDT)
Thanks to everyone off and on the list that offered help. I took the plunge
last
night and racked the primary into my carboy. I was pretty proud of the fact
that I only had ~ 1 c or so of overspill <g>, but I had a hell of a time
getting
the $#^*( siphon started. I'll certainly know where any contamination origin-
ates from in the weeks ahead =:-O
Finally, I'm bubbling in my airlock like I've expected from the beginning. <G>
Leo
------------------------------
Subject: Prickly Pear Mead
From: PDWaltman <awapuhoq@mindspring.com>
Date: Mon, 15 Jun 1998 00:11:31 -0400
When people make Prickly Pear mead, what do most people use?
I ask because all the Prickly Pear Meads before a couple weeks ago were all
very pale, one even yellow-green. Not a whole lot of fruity flavour. I've
always thought the flesh of the prickly pear what used.
A couple weeks ago I ran across a Prickly Pear mead that was bright red.
What was up? Does Prickly Pear have some part of it red? flowers? fruit?
And if this is the fruit of a Prickly Pear, what does prickly pear fruit
taste like?
Dennis Waltman
------------------------------
Subject: Small mead question
From: John Looney <John.Looney@hos.horizon.ie>
Date: Mon, 15 Jun 1998 10:07:38 +0100
I think I have a perfect case of "Too many cook spoil the must".
Myself and three friends were making a few batches of mead last week. The
first batch was a solid traditional mead, with five gallons of water, and
about ten pounds of honey (is this too little ?).
Then, knowing that we wouldn't be able to touch the traditional mead
before christmas, we decided to make a small mead, to tide us along. From
the recipes, I've seen everything from two to five pounds of honey to five
gallons of water, and leave it for seven days promary, fourteen days
secondary. So, we argued, and in the end, about five pounds went in, with
some cloves, cinnamon, lemon juice (to raise the acidity a tad) and nutmeg.
Though I thought this amount of honey was a was a bad idea, it may have
been too much for a small mead. Oh, we used an off-the-shelf ale yeast.
Any ideas on how long to leave it (it's to be racked soon).
Kate
------------------------------
Subject: Mead drinking containers
From: Kate Collins <Kate.Collins@uidesign.se>
Date: Mon, 15 Jun 1998 11:14:06 +0200
Hi -
> I'm curious, what is mead properly drank in?
A drinking container should be shaped to allow maximum release of
"aromatic compounds." Beer (except for cheap imitations like Budweiser
which masquerade under the name of beer) should NOT be drunk in a mug -
I've forgotten which glass goes with which beer (I learned from a
brewery), but for the most part you should use footed glasses (to
maintain temperature) with high, angled-in sides.
As for mead, it depends on what temperature you prefer. For a still
mead served cold, I would pick something like a giant brandy snifter.
If you want it room temperature, maybe a footed glass is unnecessary.
Of course, if the mead is sparkling, go for a champagne glass or
something else which holds bubbles well.
Of course, if you just want historical flavor, use drinking horns :)
/Kate
____________________________________________________
Kate Collins Kate.Collins@uidesign.se
UI Design AB Tel: +46 13 37 1235
Ågatan 31 Fax: +46 13 13 3030
582 22 Linköping ICQ UIN: 1820450
Sweden http://www.uidesign.se
____________________________________________________
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #678, 14 June 1998
From: <MicahM1269@aol.com>
Date: Mon, 15 Jun 1998 07:31:51 EDT
In a message dated 98-06-14 05:27:29 EDT, you write:
<<
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
>>
What does this mean ' fruits are period',? I do not follow the question. Also
what area(s) of Europe? Also what is a 'period of mead'? I have seen many
container sizes with interesting names posted on the MLD but not this one.
micah millspaw - brewer at large
------------------------------
Subject: Buckwheat Honey
From: Wayne_Kozun@otpp.com
Date: Mon, 15 Jun 1998 11:34:45 -0400
Has anyone ever made a mead with Buckwheat honey? I just bought a bucket
of this honey and was wondering if it would be better off as a sweet mead
or a dry mead. I presume that since it has a strong flavour on its own it
would not be a good idea to use this for a melomel.
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #678, 14 June 1998
From: dennis key <dione@unm.edu>
Date: Mon, 15 Jun 1998 10:12:31 -0600 (MDT)
Concerning adding honey during ferment. I draw off twice the volume of
the honey I'm adding, put half in the 'fridge and use the other half to
dilute the honey which is then pasteurized. When I get around a gallon in
the 'fridge, I add a bit of honey to it and start it in a gallon jug on
its own path to completion.
Never Thirst,
Dione
------------------------------
Subject: Re: No new/replacement AMA
From: renfrow@skylands.net (Cindy Renfrow)
Date: Mon, 15 Jun 1998 14:45:50 -0400
Dick Dunn wrote:
>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
Hello! I received an email from Keith Wanless <kwanless@csn.net> on June
5th regarding the new AMA magazine. He wrote: "It's taken much longer to
compile info, write articles, gather mead for review, etc etc etc than I
thought it would - we anticipate publication of premier issue within the
next few weeks." You may contact him at:
Keith Wanless
Highlander Homebrew Supplies
151 W. Mineral Ave, Ste 133
Littleton CO 80120
(303)794-3923
(800)388-4309
http://www.highlander-brew.com
HTH,
Cindy Renfrow
renfrow@skylands.net
Author & Publisher of "Take a Thousand Eggs or More, A Collection of 15th
Century Recipes" and "A Sip Through Time, A Collection of Old Brewing
Recipes"
http://www.alcasoft.com/renfrow/
------------------------------
Subject: period fruits
From: renfrow@skylands.net (Cindy Renfrow)
Date: Mon, 15 Jun 1998 14:45:40 -0400
Alasdair65@aol.com wrote:
>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
Hello! I have gathered together over 400 documented recipes for mead,
wines, cider, beer, etc., in my book, "A Sip Through Time", & have
identified the over 200 herbs & fruits called for in the recipes. (This
information appears in the appendix.)
Here is a short list of available fruits: apple, currants, date, fig,
gooseberry, grape, lemon, medlar, mulberry, orange, pear, plum,
pomegranate, quince, raspberry, sloe, strawberry, and sweetbrier hips.
HTH,
Cindy Renfrow
renfrow@skylands.net
Author & Publisher of "Take a Thousand Eggs or More, A Collection of 15th
Century Recipes" and "A Sip Through Time, A Collection of Old Brewing
Recipes"
http://www.alcasoft.com/renfrow/
------------------------------
Subject: RE: Mead Lover's Digest #678, 14 June 1998
From: Martin Fredrickson <mfredrickson@coppermountain.com>
Date: Mon, 15 Jun 1998 12:48:39 -0700
> -----Original Message-----
> From: mead-request@talisman.com [mailto:mead-request@talisman.com]
> Sent: Sunday, June 14, 1998 1:23 AM
> To: mead@talisman.com
> Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #678, 14 June 1998
>
> 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
>
I think the proper answer to this question depends upon what part of the
world and what period you are asking about. For instance, in the Norse
lands, the traditional vessel was often a horn. Throughout much of Celtic
Europe this was also the case though in the Roman influenced areas, goblets
of various types would also be used, these would be made of metal, wood or
sometimes ceramic. In England and Wales through much of the middle ages, the
mazer was the proper vessel. These are shallow drinking bowls which may or
may not have a foot. Often they were made of either a precious metal or were
made of wood with metal inlays. They were usually highly ornate, the middle
ages equivalent of your best crystal. Throughout the period in question
glassware was extremely rare and expensive and did not begin to appear until
the Renaissance when the Venetians cornered the market on glass blowing.
------------------------------
Subject: dandelion mead recipe
From: <MicahM1269@aol.com>
Date: Tue, 16 Jun 1998 07:50:35 EDT
As requested, a dandelion mead recipe. Looking back thru my notes this one has
the best pedigree. Musted early in the spring of '91, I still have at least
one bottle left.
Anjuli's wild flower mead
5 gallon batch
16 lbs star thistle honey
approx. 50 dandelion heads ( fresh) (kids pick the flowers and get their
name on the recipe)
Pasteur white champagne yeast ( liquid)
2 tsp acid blend
2 tsp gypsum
1oz irish moss
1 packet yeast nutrient for mead
2 gallons water brought to a boil with the dandeions, boil 10 min. and then
skim out the flowers. Add in the honey,acid blend, gypsum,irsh moss and yeast
nutrient, and water to bring up the volume to 5 gallons. Heat only long enough
skim the albumin from the must. Force cooled then racked to a carboy and
pitched the yeast. After 40 days racked into a soda keg.
Note: In my more recent batches I have tripled the amount of dandelions and
omitted the acid blend. And in any case I have switched from acid blend to
citric acid as I feel that it impacts the flavour of meads less.IMHO
micah millspaw - brewer at large
------------------------------
Subject: question re: citric acid
From: "Kurt Hoesly" <hoesly@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 16 Jun 1998 11:40:34 PDT
Hello, everyone...
I have a question regarding this tea wine recipe that showed up in a
recent MLD:
>TEA WINE (Dry)
>Tea 6 tablesps.
>Sugar 2 lb.
>Citric acid 3 teasps.
>Water 1 gallon
>Yeast and nutrient
For those of us who do a very small amount of brewing/vintning, and
don't have any citric acid on hand, would it be possible to substitute
lemon juice for the citric acid? And if it is, what ratio should be
used?
Thanks! :)
- -kurt
------------------------------
Subject: Mead ingredients compendium?
From: CW <cwelch@cais.com>
Date: Tue, 16 Jun 1998 20:21:53 -0400
Has anybody ever compiled a list of possible ingredients (or ones to be
avoided) for mead recipes ? I've done a braindump and have a start. If
there are any others email me and I'll add them to the list.
If you have comments on a particular ingredient drop me a line and I'll
keep the list going...
Regards,
CW
spice/herbs:
- ---------------------------------------------
allspice
anise / star anise
caraway seed
cardamom
cassia
cinnamon
cloves
coriander
horehound
Hyssop
mahlab
nutmeg
mint/spearmint
rhubarb
berry:
- ---------------------------------------------
blackberry
blueberry
boysenberry
caneberries
cranberry
currants
dewberry
elderberry
gooseberry
jostaberry
juniper berry
loganberry
mulberries
raspberry (red, black)
strawberry
tayberry
youngberry
fruit:
- ---------------------------------------------
apricot
apple
banana
canaloupe
cherry
chockcherry
dates
grape
grapefruit
guava
honeydew
kiwi
kumquat
lemon
lime
mango
muskmelon
tangerine
tangelo
orange
papaya
passion fruit
pawpaws
peach
persimmons
plum
pumpkin
watermelon
other:
- ---------------------------------------------
dandelion
Chris, Kathy & Katie
http://www.cais.com/cwelch/gsrc/ - Girl Scouting/Guiding Resource Center
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #679
*******************************
