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Mead Lovers Digest #0780
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #780, 11 January 2000
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #780 11 January 2000
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
blueberry Heaven (Gregg Stearns)
Mazers ("Alan Meeker")
SG from honey ("Alan Meeker")
Re: starting gravity (Gregg Stearns)
honeymoon acording to randomhouse (Bill Shirley)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #779, 9 January 2000 (kathy/jim)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #779, 9 January 2000 (OxladeMac@aol.com)
salicylic acid (dworkin@village.org)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #779, 9 January 2000 (JazzboBob@aol.com)
Low starting gravity (NLSteve@aol.com)
Daz Buoch von guter Spise Mead and hops (Myrriah Lavin)
re: Starting Gravity Always Too Low (Dick Dunn)
Low gravity ("Spies, Jay")
The Name of This Digest ("Douglas Whynott")
Mead Lover's Digest #779, 9 January 2000 (Dave Burley)
NOTE: Digest only appears when there is enough material to send one.
Send ONLY articles for the digest to mead@talisman.com.
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: blueberry Heaven
From: Gregg Stearns <gregg@ispi.net>
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2000 00:29:12 -0600
Well, my blueberry melomel that's been going for 2 weeks is at 10.38%
alcohol. Racked it off the fruit last night.
For those interested in the recipe:
2 lbs 14 oz Honeyman's Sweet Clover
1 lb. frozen IGA blueberries
1 gallon Culligan bottled water
1 package Edme ale yeast (I rehydrated prior to pitching
according to the package directions)
1 tsp Yeast Nutrient
1 tsp Irish moss
Starting gravity: 1.090 Final Gravity: still fermenting
1/7/00: 1.006
A copy can be found at:
http://members.xoom.com/Malcor/mead5.html
I would like to take this time to plug my site. It is no competition
for the MLD, but a good place for newbies to get
their questions answered.
http://members.xoom.com/Malcor/index.html
I'll keep you appraised of the Blueberry melomel. So far, it has begun
to clear nicely, and I will probably check the
gravity in a few days. It may have finished (it appeared that the only
fermenting still going on was the blueberries, which
have been removed. it is at 10.3% alcohol right now, so that seems
pretty good!), so I may try to bottle it, and achieve
a sparkling mead (trust me, i know the danger, adn I won't risk
exploding bottles).
- --
Gregg Stearns | 237 South 70th | tel: +1.402.441.3292
Editor Vnews Insider | Suite 220 | fax: +1.402.483.5418
gregg@ispi.net | Lincoln, NE 68510 | http://www.ispi.net
------------------------------
Subject: Mazers
From: "Alan Meeker" <ameeker@welchlink.welch.jhu.edu>
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2000 10:16:06 -0500
Rob, my wife is a potter and could probably make one to whatever
specifications you'd like...
- -Alan Meeker
Baltimore
ameeker@welchlink.welch.jhu.edu
> Does anyone know where I can find someone who sells or can make a good
> authentic Mazer?
>
> Thanks, Rob
------------------------------
Subject: SG from honey
From: "Alan Meeker" <ameeker@welchlink.welch.jhu.edu>
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2000 10:20:33 -0500
Rob writes:
> In either case, no matter how much honey I use the Starting Gravity is
> never near what the recipe says it should be, and in any case is
> extremely low. I've used up to 21 pounds of honey for a 7 gallon batch
> before, and the gravity has never been above 1.080. Can this possibly be
> correct?
Yes it can be approximately correct. Sources I've seen show the SG
contribution from honey to be about 1.030-1.035 units per pound of honey in
one gallon volume. You have 3 pounds per gallon which would be 1.090 at the
low end of these figures and this is close to your 1.080 value, maybe your
volume measurement is a bit off or you're using lower gravity honey. Try
using less water next time...
- -Alan Meeker
Baltimore
------------------------------
Subject: Re: starting gravity
From: Gregg Stearns <gstearn2@bigred.unl.edu>
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2000 10:29:54 -0600
ORIGINAL POST:
>
> Subject: Starting Gravity Always Too Low
> From: rob <rob@nurwibsco.com>
> Date: Wed, 05 Jan 2000 00:06:24 -0600
>
> I've been making mead for a while. Usually I use a recipe from a book,
> but sometimes I make my own recipe.
>
> In either case, no matter how much honey I use the Starting Gravity is
> never near what the recipe says it should be, and in any case is
> extremely low. I've used up to 21 pounds of honey for a 7 gallon batch
> before, and the gravity has never been above 1.080. Can this possibly be
> correct?
>
> Thanks
>
> ------------------------------
I think an important thing to consider is your honey source. Not all
honey contains the same amount of sugar, proteins, etc. These
variations will definitly affect the gravity. If you have a high sugar,
high protein (as in bee leftovers) honey, the gravity will be higher
than a lower sugar/protein honey.
If you have been using the same honey, try a different source for the
next batch, and see what happens.
- --
Gregg Stearns | gstearn2@bigred.unl.edu
http://members.xoom.com/Malcor/index.html
Malcor's Homebrew HQ
------------------------------
Subject: honeymoon acording to randomhouse
From: Bill Shirley <bshirley@shirl.com>
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2000 11:39:44 -0600
The Randomhouse etymologists had this to say
in september of 1996 on the origin of the word
honeymoon....
(from http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/?date=19960930 )
The original sense of honeymoon was 'the period of pleasure immediately
following a marriage', that is, before things get settled into a routine
and the bride and groom get sick of each other.
Semantically, it comes from the concept of honey being sweet, and sweetness
being pleasurable--sweet meaning 'pleasurable' has been used in English
for over a thousand years. Moon either refers to 'a month' (i.e. roughly
the period between full moons), being the amount of time everything's
peachy, or, metaphorically, to the moon itself, which begins to wane again
as soon as it has turned full.
-bill
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #779, 9 January 2000
From: kathy/jim <kbooth@scnc.waverly.k12.mi.us>
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2000 13:14:52 -0400
Phil's phears about oxidizatin are not what I experienced.
I put my apple cider in plastic 2L bottles to freeze and pour
off the sugar and alcohol. I went thru several iterations
and had something with a little burn, but, the exposure to air
made it have a vinegary tang.
I bottled the frozen part as cider light, and it wasn't bad,
Next time Phil's in Lansing, we'll crack a bottle to see if 4-5 years
ageing helped.
wassail....jim booth cidre maker ordinaire
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #779, 9 January 2000
From: OxladeMac@aol.com
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2000 13:23:02 EST
In a message dated 1/9/00 11:32:29 PM Central Standard Time,
mead-request@talisman.com writes:
<< Subject: Starting Gravity Always Too Low
From: rob <rob@nurwibsco.com>
Date: Wed, 05 Jan 2000 00:06:24 -0600
I've been making mead for a while. Usually I use a recipe from a book,
but sometimes I make my own recipe.
In either case, no matter how much honey I use the Starting Gravity is
never near what the recipe says it should be, and in any case is
extremely low. I've used up to 21 pounds of honey for a 7 gallon batch
before, and the gravity has never been above 1.080. Can this possibly be
correct?
Thanks >>
You're right, that does seem low. Honey has somewhere around 35 gravity
points per pound per gallon. (It varies a few points depending on several
factors - I usually take 35 as an average.) 21 pounds for 7 gallons is 3
pounds per gallon, times 35 points = 105, so your OG was probably somewhere
around 1.105.
If I had to guess, I would say you probably took a gravity reading of a
stratified must - i.e. it is denser on the bottom than on the top. This
seems to be a common occurance at my house. You can actually see the darker,
heavier portion on the bottom and sometimes pure (clear) water on top. This
happens when you add hot must to a carboy or primary filled with a gallon or
two of water. The solution to the problem is to thouroughly shake the
primary to mix it before taking your gravity reading. I usually wait until
there is no temperature differential (i.e. it is all at room temperature),
then shake it up.
The other possiblity, of course, is that your hydrometer isn't working
correctly.
Good Luck!
Ox
------------------------------
Subject: salicylic acid
From: dworkin@village.org
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2000 14:21:35 -0700
kathy/jim <kbooth@scnc.waverly.k12.mi.us> wrote:
: Talked to a HB shop operator and he had some customers who made
: cider, and when fermented to the right sweetness, the family
: recipe from grandpa said to add salicylic acid to kill the yeast.
:
: Salicylic acid is available from pharmacies as is a precurser for
: aspirn.
Well, I have to admit there's some attraction in the idea, just so you
can say it's hangover-resistant....
Dworkin
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #779, 9 January 2000
From: JazzboBob@aol.com
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2000 14:16:05 EST
In a message dated 1/10/00 12:33:21 AM Eastern Standard Time,
mead-request@talisman.com writes:
<< In either case, no matter how much honey I use the Starting Gravity is
never near what the recipe says it should be, and in any case is
extremely low. I've used up to 21 pounds of honey for a 7 gallon batch
before, and the gravity has never been above 1.080. Can this possibly be
correct?
>>
I estimate OG of honey to contribute 35 points per pound per gallon.
However, the water/moisture/sugar concentration of Honey does vary. Charlie
Papazian has a chart for calculating gravity from a 1 qt sample in his Home
Brewers Companion.
The biggest variation that I encounter in recipes is when they do not clearly
state the total volume of water and honey ratio. One gallon of honey =
app.12# weight. So when I'm brewing a 5 gallon batch with an OG 80 I start
with 4 gallons of boiling water and dissolve the gallon of honey into it to
get a total yield volume of 5 gallons.
12# honey x 35 OG per # of honey = 420 points divided by 5 gallons = OG
app 1.084
Many people make the mistake of adding 12 # honey to 5 gallons water which
would result in a lower gravity then intended by the recipe.
In your question example the OG could easily have been 80 if you added 21 #
honey to 7 gallons water. Do the math : 21 x 35 = 735 points 7 gallons
water plus 2 gallons honey volume = 9 gallons total 735 points / 9 gal =
81 OG net
Use more honey or less water and be sure to thoroughly mix it up and you will
get higher gravity readings.
------------------------------
Subject: Low starting gravity
From: NLSteve@aol.com
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2000 15:55:27 EST
Rob says:
<< In either case, no matter how much honey I use the Starting Gravity is
never near what the recipe says it should be, and in any case is
extremely low. I've used up to 21 pounds of honey for a 7 gallon batch
before, and the gravity has never been above 1.080. Can this possibly be
correct? >>
Probably not. Three possibilities I can think of:
1.) A lot of honey is not getting dissolved before you measure.
2.) Hydrometer is damaged (does it read 1.000 in distilled water?).
3.) You're measuring at a hot temperature (way above 60 deg. F), for which
you need to factor in a correction. Your post didn't mention if you were
heating the must.
Good luck.
------------------------------
Subject: Daz Buoch von guter Spise Mead and hops
From: Myrriah Lavin <madstone@ctc.net>
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2000 20:49:15 -0500
I finally was able to find some references to hops and light sensitivity on
the web, and I thought others here who haven't had experience with hops and
beer brewing might be interested. For reference, the original recipe was
given in MLD #541 by Paul Placeway and is as follows:
=========
Daz Buoch von guter Spise
(14th C German mead recipe in _Daz Buoch von guter Spise_)
1 Gal (US), water
6 lbs. honey (clover, orange blossom, etc.)
2 oz. hops (Saaz (Czech.) pellets)
2 handfuls Sage
1 oz oak chips (light)
1 packet yeast (Lalvin K1-V1116 "high alcohol")
Bring water to a boil. Add honey and boil for 10-15 mins, skimming and adding
water as necessary to maintain 1.5 gal. total liquid. Add hops and sage, and
simmer 10 more mins (possibly adding a bit more water). Take off heat and
cool to pitching temp (below 70 F.). You should now have around or just under
1.5 gal. of must. Hydrate yeast according to packet directions, and add to
must. SG = 1.160 (!)
Ferment in a cool place (e.g. cellar). Rack at 1-2 weeks, and again after
fermentation has stopped and mead has substantially cleared (about 2-3 months
for this batch -- we ended up with 1 gal. of mead for aging). Age in
fermenter for another 6 months. Bottle, and age in bottle for at least a year.
==========
My question was whether I needed to worry about excessive light reacting with
the hops to cause "light-struck" mead. The (simplistic) answer is that if I
had followed the recipe as stated, I probably would have to worry about the
hops reacting with light because they had been boiled, causing the hops' alpha
acids to isomerize and become soluble in water, which would then react with
light. However, I don't boil, pasteurize, or sulfite, so in essence, I'm dry
hopping my mead, which should only give me the flavor and aroma components of
the hops, and perhaps a slight suggestion of bitterness from any oxidation of
the beta acids which are water soluble without boiling. My mead probably
won't taste the same as the original recipe, but from the sip I had of it when
I racked it to the secondary, it tastes like it will be very interesting!
Some of the info I found online was at:
- -A Good Beer Gone Bad
About.com's column on home brewing by Rob Nelson. This one's about
skunked beer.
http://beer.about.com/home/beer/library/weekly/aa012198.htm?iam=mt
- -HopUnion USA's page on hops and hop products. Has section on alpha acids
and light.
http://www.hopunion.com/produse.htm
- -Norm Pyle's Hops FAQ. Has a section on dry hopping.
http://realbeer.com/hops/FAQ.html
Myrriah Lavin
madstone@ctc.net
------------------------------
Subject: re: Starting Gravity Always Too Low
From: rcd@raven.talisman.com (Dick Dunn)
Date: 10 Jan 00 20:40:31 MST (Mon)
rob <rob@nurwibsco.com> wrote:
> ... no matter how much honey I use the Starting Gravity is
> never near what the recipe says it should be, and in any case is
> extremely low. I've used up to 21 pounds of honey for a 7 gallon batch
> before, and the gravity has never been above 1.080. Can this possibly be
> correct?
No; unless you've got a suspect source for honey that isn't really honey,
your gravity measurement must be off. 3 lb per gallon should put you
*well* over 1.100. Some rules of thumb below.
The most likely source of the problem is stratification. Tell us about
your procedures for mixing the honey at the start, and maybe about taking
readings. What I mean by stratification is that you don't get the honey
thoroughly mixed, so you've got denser layers near the bottom of the carboy
(or whatever you use for a fermenter). Normally you'll be drawing your
sample for the gravity reading from the top of the fermenter where the
density is lower.
Honey can vary in specific gravity, of course, but the range is relatively
small for the following reasons: The bees don't do any more work in con-
centrating the honey than they need to; that sets an efficiency upper limit
on SG. (Also, the bees don't want it to tend to crystallize.) But they
have to reach a certain sugar concentration or the honey will spoil. That
says they've got to get the moisture content under 20%.
It would be possible for an unscrupulous producer to adulterate honey with
something like water or a plain commercial syrup and thereby give you
something with a lower gravity, but I'd be kind of surprised to see this
if you're buying domestic honey from an established source.
Rules of thumb: Honey has SG of about 1.5. A gallon of honey weighs about
12 lb (US measures). The 12 lb is pretty close; the 1.5 is high, but
close enough for setting up recipes or doing a quick check in your head.
(1.45 is a better number if you've got a calculator handy.)
For example, suppose you make a 5-gallon batch using 1 gallon of honey and
4 gallons of water--you predict a starting gravity of about 1.100. It will
probably turn out to be between 1.090 and 1.100.
Or take your example of 3 lb honey per gallon of must: 3 lb will be about a
quart of honey, thus 3 quarts water, about 9 lb for 8 pints predicts 1.125
(one and one-eighth when doing it in your head). Again the quick calc is
an overestimate; it might be 10 points or so lower but you know if you make
a must in this ratio and get a reading under 1.100 you've got something
wrong.
- ---
Dick Dunn rcd@talisman.com Hygiene, Colorado USA
...If you plant ice, you're gonna harvest wind.
------------------------------
From: joel tracy <demaigne@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2000 20:28:39 -0800 (PST)
I read something a while back about someone
asking for recipes for vanilla meads. I don't
remember what kind of response was offered. I just
bought some vanilla beans, and though I've used minute
amounts of vanilla extract in batches, I've never used
the bean. I read somewhere that they can be pretty
potent. The directions on the container even say they
can be reused, depending on their original use. Any
suggestions? I'm looking for anything pertaining to
their use--independently or as part of any kind of
mixture.
Also, after reading about the use of apple butter
for fermenting, I'm beginning to wonder if there isn't
anything that cannot be used. What about coffee
beans? Any feedback on that?
Many thanks,
de Maigne
------------------------------
Subject: Low gravity
From: "Spies, Jay" <Spies@dhcd.state.md.us>
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2000 10:26:59 -0500
All -
Rob complained about low OG's in his must. Using up to *21* lbs of honey in
a 7 gal batch (yikes!) he gets 1.080 musts.
This is a little perplexing. With 12 lbs of honey in a 5 gallon batch, I'm
hovering right around 1.090 to 1.100, give or take. With 21 lbs in a 7
gallon batch, you should have an ungodly high OG (maybe even too high to
adequately ferment right from the git-go.) Methinks the only 3 culprits are
these:
1) Your hydrometer is either toast or your readings are skewed (Maybe the
hydrometer is sticking to the side of the flask?) This is probably least
likely, since taking proper hydrometer readings is usually one of our first
learned skills as brewers/meadsters.
2) You have not stirred the must sufficiently and the honey is all on the
bottom of the pot (it's heavier, it'll sink until you mix it in) and your
readings incorporate only the watery upper layer, or:
3) Your must is too hot. Hotter liquids will give a lower gravity reading.
If you don't have a handy-dandy correction chart, be sure to cool the must
to 65 degrees F to get an accurate reading. That's the temp at which the
numbers on hydrometers work.
Anyhoo, about a gallon of honey in 5 gallons should get you where you want
to go, more or less (1 gallon weighs about 12 lbs). You have almost twice
that volume. Which leads me to possibility 4, that you are weighing your
honey inaccurately. Hopefully not likely.
Hope this helps -
Jay Spies
Wishful Thinking Basement Brewery
Baltimore, MD
------------------------------
Subject: The Name of This Digest
From: "Douglas Whynott" <whynott@cheshire.net>
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2000 12:07:44 -0500
I have a question about the nature of the name of this digest. Of the various
drink-related digests, this is the only one with an adjective describing an
emotion. There's the cider digest, the home-brewers digest, etc., and there's
the mead-lover's digest. I'd like to know about the lover part of the name.
I have been reading the homebrew digest regularly, and it's very informative.
I'm learning all kinds of things about brewing beer, and other stuff too.
Some of the posts are beyond me but I read them anyway. There are a lot of
personality clashes too, and at times the HBD seems like a big beer party, or
maybe like the end of that old TV show called the Waltons, except instead of
John-Boy, Mom and Dad and Betty Sue saying "Good night" it's "YOU'RE FULL OF
IT!" and "SHUT UP I HATE YOU!" and "LIGHTEN UP!" and "I'M THIRSTY!" Maybe
it's in the nature of the drink, I don't know.
Which gets me back to mead-lovers. I've written this post because there have
been two recent posts, possibly by the same person, asking where he can find,
buy and taste mead, and I don't think there's been an answer. Beer drinkers
have great brewpubs galore to visit, but the mead drinker? Hmm. So if us
novices can't find it or buy it, could some of you tell us about the qualities
of the drink itself? Why are you a mead lover? What does it taste like?
What's the effect of drinking it? Gayre, who in his book comes as close
as I've seen to communicating this love of mead, says, among other things,
that mead has been thought of as an aphrodisiac. Is that true? Is that
what this love thing is about? Or is it something else of a higher (or
possibly lower) nature?
I realize that this gets beyond the fact-realm and into subjective response,
but again, the name of this site seems to open up such inquiry. Any
information would be appreciated.
Doug Whynott
------------------------------
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #779, 9 January 2000
From: Dave Burley <Dave_Burley@compuserve.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2000 12:43:52 -0500
Message text written by INTERNET:mead@talisman.com
><
Joyce Miller suggests Clementines as a
source of zest. I also peel oranges and
other citruses for this but do it before I
peel them and use a vegetable peeler
to avoid the white pith.
Dave Burley
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #780
*******************************
