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Mead Lovers Digest #0726
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #726, 14 February 1999
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #726 14 February 1999
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #725, 8 February 1999 (Bill)
Camden ("Philip J Wilcox")
Peach mead? ("Thaddaeus A. Vick")
Resend (JeremiahOT@aol.com)
Campden Tablets (Ppelican@aol.com)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #725, 8 February 1999 (Leonard Meuse)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #725, 8 February 1999 (Leonard Meuse)
has anyone heard of a flower called 'jamaica'? (Steven M Haag)
Re: Campden, take two (Dirk Howard)
mead tariff ("J.J. Hantsch")
Re:Congratulation to the Father to Be-- MLD #722, 26 January (Karl LONG)
oak kegs, etc. (Ppelican@aol.com)
My First Mead (Cyser) - A Total Flop (Carl Wilson)
Mead Yeast Properties - What to Believe? (Carl Wilson)
Gallberry Honey ("Stanley E. Prevost")
NOTE: Digest only appears when there is enough material to send one.
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #725, 8 February 1999
From: Bill <perimage@ripco.com>
Date: Tue, 09 Feb 1999 05:03:35 -0600
> I would like to obtain a comprehensive list of all the commercial
> meaderies currently active and operating in the USA. I understand that
> be AMA started such a listing in their 1995 Meadmakers Journal. Is an
> update available? If not, can you provide me with a good copy of this
> 1995 AMA Meadery Directory?
I have sent a copy of the list portion of a message I posted to
soc.religion.paganism a few months ago. This was taken from the last
issue of Inside Mead. If anyone else wants a copy, let me know.
Bill
- --
@====================================================================
@Motto of the _Order of the Garter_: "Honi soit qui mal y pense."
@Motto of Minsky's _Star and Garter_: "Yoni sois quay valide penes."
@ICQ: 1424-1229
------------------------------
Subject: Camden
From: "Philip J Wilcox" <pjwilcox@cmsenergy.com>
Date: Tue, 9 Feb 1999 08:29:23 -0500
Jake,
2 out of 3 of the above are correct. But they will accomplish different
things. Remember first what they do. Kill, Kill, Kill. Added when you brew
the must they will kill all the natural yeasties and beasties from the
fruit and honey. AND your yeast if you add it to soon. Hence the 1-2 day
wait afterwords.
Added at first racking will kill the active brewing yeast at what every
point they are at right then. 1.054? oops too bad, you now have a stuck
fermentation. 1.022 good thing to do, this will leave you with a nice sweet
mead.
I would never add sulfites at bottling time, unless you like the taste of
sulfur compounds in your meads. The reason we add at racking is so that the
SO4 will bubble out the airlock (Killing everything in its wake) and not
stay in our mead. Some will always stay but usually not enough to notice.
However, if you have friends that are allergic to Sulfites, than guess
what, you just Sulfited your mead, and it would be proper to include on
your labels "Contains Sulfites." Granted this is not neccessary for 99.9%
of the Planet. But there are always those....
Potassium Sorbate on the other hand, you can add at bottling time. This is
a growth inhibitor, not a single use single moment of time killer like
Camden is. If your mead comes out to 1.002 and you want a sweet mead not
the pucker juice you have now, Sulfite it, Sorbate it, then sweeten it to
taste and bottle.
Phil Wilcox
Bumblefrog Meadmaker
------------------------------
Subject: Peach mead?
From: "Thaddaeus A. Vick" <thaddaeusv@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 9 Feb 1999 06:24:11 -0800 (PST)
I have a gallon of wildflower honey sitting around, and I was
thinking of doing it up with peaches this time. Anyone have a recipe
for peach mead? Preferably one that uses canned fruit, since they're
out of season and I don't want to pay Le Big Bucks for them.
==
Thaddaeus A. Vick, Linguist to the Masses
Email: ThaddaeusV@yahoo.com
URL: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Styx/2605
"Give me the songs of a nation, and it matters
not who writes their laws." -- Plato
------------------------------
Subject: Resend
From: JeremiahOT@aol.com
Date: Tue, 9 Feb 1999 13:29:55 EST
could someone please e-mail me issue number 274 I apparantly erased it when
delete-ing junk mail. this eye surgery has messed up my vision temporarily
Thanks
JeremiahOT@aol.com
------------------------------
Subject: Campden Tablets
From: Ppelican@aol.com
Date: Tue, 9 Feb 1999 16:29:30 EST
Jake,
Campden tablets destroy yeast and other micro-organisms, so it depends on what
job you expect of them as to when you add them. Actually, you could use them
at all the times you mentioned: a day before yeast, during a racking late in
the secondary fermentation period, and at bottling time.
A day before yeast pitching, the campden tablet would destroy any wild yeast
or other undesirables, creating a sterile environment for your yeast. At
racking time it could kill the yeast which you introduced and stop
fermentation, stabilizing the mead. After the mead has cleared and you are
bottling, a final campden tablet would insure that all the yeast was dead and
no bottles would burst or corks pop.
Personally, I just use them at the beginning.
Stephen Knowles
Pigeon Forge TN
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #725, 8 February 1999
From: Leonard Meuse <meuse@stanford.edu>
Date: Tue, 9 Feb 1999 14:08:48 -0800
>
>I just looked at the web address David Turnbull posted for Smith Farms
>in Hawaii, and their honey page notes that they occasionally have
>coffee- and macadamia-flower honeys. Has anyone tasted either of
>these honeys before?
>
>Tidmarsh Major
>Birmingham, Alabama
I have used a macademia blossom honey from another vendor
(HawaiiHoney.com), its very good. Rather strong so aging is important
though. You might check out this guy (Walter), there is like 5 varieties
including an extremely good Lehua blossom honey. I havent seen coffee
blossom honey b4, so I think I'll probably try it too.
Len Meuse
Redwood city,CA
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #725, 8 February 1999
From: Leonard Meuse <meuse@stanford.edu>
Date: Tue, 9 Feb 1999 14:13:56 -0800
Pomegranite mead
I bought some "concentrated pomegranite juice" no anything added at a local
upscale grocery store and thought I'd throw it into a mead. I have about
11# of blackberry honey figgered I'd make about 4gals, and feed till the
KV1116 poops out. I'll post again when I have some more data.
Len Meuse
Redwood City,CA
------------------------------
Subject: has anyone heard of a flower called 'jamaica'?
From: Steven M Haag <the-savage@primary.net>
Date: Tue, 09 Feb 1999 19:27:52 -0600
I just bought 500 grams of dried jamaica flowers ($0.50/100 grams--how
could I refuse?) in Gomez Palacio, Mexico. The street vendors sell an
interesting iced drink made from them, and the shop owner where I bought
the flowers said jamaica-flower tea is good for kidney stones. He also
said you can make about 5 liters of drink per 100 grams dried flowers.
Does anyone know the botanical name for the flowers, or a reason to not
make a mead with them, or just have miscellaneous advice?
Steve Haag
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Campden, take two
From: Dirk Howard <dirk@the-sage.com>
Date: Tue, 09 Feb 1999 19:20:10 -0700
"Jake Hester" <jake_hester@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>Can anyone advise me on the best time to add campden tablets? I found
>one web page that insisted they be added to the must/wort/whatever a day
>before the yeast is pitched, one said to dissolve a crushed tablet in
>1/4 cup of water and add it at the first racking, and still another
>source insisted that campden shouldn't be added until bottling time.
>None of these pages justified why to do it that way, it was just part of
>the instructions. What should I do?
First, campden tablets are used to kill yeast.
If you are concerned about naturally occuring yeasts getting hold in your
must prior to your own yeast that you pitch, then you would add campden to
the must and then let the must rest for at least 24 hours prior to pitching
your yeast. I would also highly recommend that you airiate well prior to
pitching.
If you add campden tablets during racking and bottling, you make sure that
the yeast is stopped and will settle out. WARNING! Do not rely on campden
tablets to stop a mead from fermenting so as to leave it sweet. If you
missed any yeast, which is likely, it could start fermenting again. Let
your mead ferment out naturally. When it has fully fermented, then start
adding campden to your racking or bottled mead.
Enjoy!
Dirk
- --
mailto:dirk@the-sage.com
http://www.the-sage.com
------------------------------
Subject: mead tariff
From: "J.J. Hantsch" <jjhantsch@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 10 Feb 1999 09:54:43 -0800 (PST)
Does anyone know what the US tariff on unfinished mead products is ?
Or how it would be calculated ? If I'm bulk importing and bottling
here then I need to have the costs precisely worked out.
Thanks to anyone who can help !!!
JJ Hantsch
jjhantsch@yahoo.com
------------------------------
Subject: Re:Congratulation to the Father to Be-- MLD #722, 26 January
From: Karl LONG <KLONG@ITC.NRCS.USDA.GOV>
Date: Fri, 12 Feb 1999 10:29:02 -0700
In MLD#722, Philip J. Wilcox said:
"Having found out that I am soon to become a first time father. I am
considering laying down a Pipe of Mead for my childs future use. . . .
What Kind of mead should I make?"
Congratulations on becoming a father soon. As for the kind of honey to use, I
would suggest heather. I do not yet know from experience, but I have heard that
it is excelent, but takes at least seven years of aging before it is drinkable.
Several years ago, I did a web search and found people in Scotland who sell
heather honey. I corresponded with one who would ship a large amount of
heather honey to me. It is considerably more expensive than clover or
wildflower honey, but under the circumstances it seems like it would be
appropriate. I don't know if you can get heather honey locally (I don't know
where you live). It would be less expensive if you could. I don't know where
heather is common other than Scotland and England.
If you can't find a source for heather honey, let me know and I'll see if
I can find my source.
Good luck.
Karl G. Long
Lindsay Brothers Mead
Fort Collins, Colorado
------------------------------
Subject: oak kegs, etc.
From: Ppelican@aol.com
Date: Sat, 13 Feb 1999 11:32:30 EST
Thanks to everyone who sent personal email in reply to my question. Here is
the web address of the company with the kegs.
www.cumberlandgeneral.com
cheers,
Stephen Knowles
Pigeon Forge TN
------------------------------
Subject: My First Mead (Cyser) - A Total Flop
From: Carl Wilson <carl_w@prodigy.net>
Date: Sat, 13 Feb 1999 13:43:36 -0600
Last week I prepared my first mead (cyser) using the following:
12 lbs raw honey
3 gallons apple cider
1/8 tsp grape tannin
1 tsp acid blend
2 tsp yeast energizer
2 packets Cotes Des Blancs yeast
This cyser seems to be turning out as a total flop due to lack of
fermentation. I prepared a yeast starter using some cider, honey and
yeast energizer. After a short period of activity the starter went
still. Thinking that the yeast must have consumed the sugars and went
dormant, I pitched the yeast starter ASAP. Several days later and no
activity to speak of.
I then made a second starter using only honey, water and yeast energizer
with NO CIDER. At this point I suspected that my cider may have
contained preservatives. The next morning the new starter was chugging
away like mad. I pitched the starter and got some activity a few hours
later which quickly died out. My conclusion is that the cider
more-than-likely contained preservatives that were not listed on the
label.
So if you want to make a cyser, make certain that there are NO
preservatives in the cider. They apparently may or may not be listed.
------------------------------
Subject: Mead Yeast Properties - What to Believe?
From: Carl Wilson <carl_w@prodigy.net>
Date: Sat, 13 Feb 1999 13:50:44 -0600
Reading various webpages on the subject of mead I've been trying to
determine which strains of yeast are good for mead making and which are
not so good. The problem is that there is a great deal of conflicting
information. For example, some say that Montrachet is great for meads.
Others say that it is absolutely terrible! Where does one find an
accurate description of the properties of various wine yeasts strains
and their suitablity for making mead?
------------------------------
Subject: Gallberry Honey
From: "Stanley E. Prevost" <sprevost@ro.com>
Date: Sun, 14 Feb 1999 01:31:15 -0600
Hi, y'all -
Today I made a sweet pyment/cyser with 10 lbs of gallberry honey and 8 cans
of frozen apple and grape juice concentrate, and Wyeast Sweet Mead yeast.
O.G. 1.114. The honey is locally produced. I have lived in the south all
my life, and here in North Alabama for 30 years, and have never heard of a
gallberry.
I am new to meadmaking, this being just my second batch. The first was last
weekend. This one is "Moon-Your-Honey Honeymoon Mead", named in honor of my
betrothed son. It might have to wait for their second honeymoon. But I
digress. I have read the debates about boiling vs not boiling, and the
compromise of pasterurizing. So for the first batch I did the sub-boiling
thing. But today I just couldn't bring myself to do it to this honey.
I have never known a honey with such a pronounced floral character! It
wasn't apparent until the honey was diluted and warmed. It's floral
fragrance filled the room, smelled like the room was full of flowers! It
seemed anti-nature somehow to do anything to drive off that wonderful
fragrance.
So I haven't done anything to protect the mead from strange yeasts or
bacteria. Should I sulfite it? When, how much?
Maybe this is just the rantings of a beginner getting to know honey. Will
this fragrance carry over into the finished mead?
Stan
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #726
*******************************
