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Mead Lovers Digest #0778
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #778, 4 January 2000
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #778 4 January 2000
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Freeze concentration method ("Don Van Valkenburg")
Re: Sugar content of blackberries (BillPierce@aol.com)
Honeymoon origins ("Alan Meeker")
Re: Mead-Wedding History (Tidmarsh Major)
Using hops in mead (Myrriah Lavin)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #776, 27 December 1999 (JazzboBob@aol.com)
RE: Mead Lover's Digest #777, 30 December 1999 ("DENNIS KEY, RN, PACU (REC...)
Braggot Aging ("Jeff S.")
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Freeze concentration method
From: "Don Van Valkenburg" <don@steinfillers.com>
Date: Thu, 30 Dec 1999 17:21:11 -0800
Here is a method I have used with success to make a port.
- ---I'll get to the method, but first the story---
I have been making wine a couple years now and always reluctant to toss the
skins after pressing as my process is not extremely efficient and there is a
lot of juice left in the skins. I add sugar/water (or honey/water) back
on top of the skins and do a second fermentation, and wine, albeit of lesser
quality. This second wine became the perfect candidate for
experimentation. It was a drinkable table wine, but not something I would
enter into a contest.
The method:
Rack (or pour) into a PLASTIC water bottle. I like using a smaller 2.5
gallon and freeze only 2 gallons - completely freeze the whole thing. Bring
out of freezer and invert over another carboy putting the opening inside a
funnel resting into the top of the lower carboy. Balance or steady the
heavier frozen block above the lower empty container and wait for the
alcohol do melt and drip into the lower carboy.
How much concentration will depend on how much ice you leave in the top
container.
Even in the center of the block of ice, the alcohol seems to find its way
out and forms channels as it melts.
This is VERY simple and works well.
One thing you will find with any high alcohol beverage that it is "hot" and
quite harsh. Do what is done with most liqueurs - add sugar (or honey), or
blend it with another sweet mead. Sugar tends to mask the alcohol and
smooth it out. At the higher alcohol levels, you will not have any chance
of refermentation. No yeast would stand up to that high of alcohol.
Don Van Valkenburg
Stein Fillers Brewing & Winemaking Supply
brew@steinfillers.com
www.steinfillers.com
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Sugar content of blackberries
From: BillPierce@aol.com
Date: Fri, 31 Dec 1999 11:18:03 EST
In MLD #777 Shannon Menkveld asks:
> I was wondering if anyone on the list had any data about the
> contribution of blackberries to specific gravity and color. I am making
> a blackberry melomel, and want the info for my ingredient database. My
> software uses pts/lb/gal, for both S.G. and color (SRM). Any feedback
> will be appreciated.
In the March/April 1999 issue of Brewing Techniques, Gary Spedding of the
Siebel Institute addresses the issue of sugar content of fruit used in
brewing. He cites information from the 1993 Foods and Nutrition Encyclopedia
that lists the sugar content of blackberries at 7 percent (or .07 lb. of
sugar per lb. of fruit).
Given the fermentability of corn sugar at 37 gravity points (a pound of sugar
in a gallon of water will have a specific gravity of 1.037), the fermentable
contribution of blackberries would be 2.59 gravity points per pound (or 7
percent that of corn sugar).
You can use these figures in your own calculations.
I have not seen any information on the contribution of fruit to the color of
beer or wine.
Wassail!
- -- Bill Pierce
Cellar Door Homebrewery
Des Moines, IA
BillPierce@aol.com
------------------------------
Subject: Honeymoon origins
From: "Alan Meeker" <ameeker@welchlink.welch.jhu.edu>
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2000 08:36:07 -0500
Dan McFeeley did a great job researching the idea that the term "Honeymoon"
owes its origins to some sort of nuptial mead-drinking practice. Kudos for
looking into this Dan! I've often wondered whether or not this was true or
just apocryphal. From what you show it really looks like a classic case of
several people cross-referencing each other without any authoritative
references to back the story up. Keep us posted as to what you find out...
- -Alan Meeker
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead-Wedding History
From: Tidmarsh Major <ctmajor@samford.edu>
Date: Mon, 03 Jan 2000 09:33:42 -0600
Also arguing against the folk etymology of 'honeymoon' as derived
from an ancient tradition of drinking mead for a month after the
wedding is the Oxford English Dictionary's treatment of honeymoon
(which it first cites in 1546, hardly an ancient reference):
"originally having no reference to the period of a month, but
comparing the mutual affection of newly married persons to the
changing moon, which is no sooner full than it begins to wane."
Waes hael,
Tidmarsh Major
Birmingham, Alabama
------------------------------
Subject: Using hops in mead
From: Myrriah Lavin <madstone@ctc.net>
Date: Mon, 03 Jan 2000 22:29:19 -0500
I've just started a one gallon batch of Daz Buoch von guter Spise from a
recipe in the MLD archives, using 1 oz. of Saaz hop pellets. This is the
first time I've ever used hops. I've heard about hops being implicated in
"light-struck" beer. Do I need to worry about this with a metheglin or a
braggot? Are there any other things I should know about using hops in mead?
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Myrriah Lavin
madstone@ctc.net
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #776, 27 December 1999
From: JazzboBob@aol.com
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2000 00:19:58 EST
In a message dated 12/28/99 12:09:34 AM Eastern Standard Time,
mead-request@talisman.com writes:
<<
I would be interested in hearing about experiences with making plain meads
with various kinds of honey. In your experience, what honeys best contribute
their fragrances and aromas to the final product? >>
I have experimented and made many Meads from single varietal honeys. I
currently have 3 batches each made the same way with the following recipe.
They were brewed over a 3 week period so that the ambient room temperature
conditions were similar. I used 25# of honey for each brew -
Basswood/Tupelo/Goldenrod were the varieties of honey. I brought 5 gallons
of water to a boil and dissolved the honey into my big pot. I brought it
back to a boil for a brief 2 minutes which was just enough time to form a hot
break and enable me to skim the white clumps of gunk out of the honey. I
added 2 oz. Beverage People Mead yeast nutrients and immediately chilled it
down to 70 degrees. I oxygenated with pure medical OX and an SS metal stone
for 4 minutes @4psi. I put 3 1/2 gallons into a glass carboy with an OG of
1.125. I put the remaining must into a 7 gallon carboy and added water to
get just over 5 gallons with an OG .090. I pitched both carboys with 50grams
rehydrated FermiBlanc Yeast. This yeast is similar to Epernay yeast. I buy
it in bulk and pitch in quantity with excellant results. The following
results happened.
Basswood Honey OG 125 FG 1.020
OG .90 FG .001
Tupelo Honey OG 125 FG 1.038
OG .90 FG 1.005
Goldenrod Honey OG 125 FG 1.112
OG .90 FG .098
Can't describe the tastes yet since all 6 batches are in secondaries since
the summer waiting to be bottled. However, it is obvious that each honey
type had different fermentability characteristics.
I have also brewed from Maple Blossom Honey, Orange, Clover, Alfalfa, Desert
Cactus and Wildflower. In general, I personally like brewing from clover and
alfalfa because they are more delicate and light in color and flavor. They
are more predictable and easier for me to get consistent results from. The
darker and wildflower honeys offer more complex flavors and oddities since
they have more flavor to start with. I prefer to use clover as a base for
most of my fruit and spiced meads so that I have a neutral start point.
There have been several combinations that I thought were complimentary such
as my Pulque Mead made from Desert Cactus Honey and Agave Nectar or my Wild
Elderberry Mead made from wild berries and wildflower honey from the local
area where the berries were picked.
Too bad about the demise of the AMA. They were a good organization that was
producing a good newsletter. The loss of their prez Suzanne was most
unfortunate and she was irreplaceable.
------------------------------
Subject: RE: Mead Lover's Digest #777, 30 December 1999
From: "DENNIS KEY, RN, PACU (RECOVERY ROOM) 272-2720" <DKEY@mozart.unm.edu>
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2000 7:30:34 -0700
TO TIM GREEN:
I have made several meads with fruit juice. One I call Persephone's Passion
uses six quarts of Knudsen's "Just Cranberry" and a gallon of honey for a three
gallon batch. I used champaign yeast and fed the must the last quart of honey
a cup at a time as it kept fermenting until fermentation stopped. Also I once
used two gallons of Welch's White Grape and Peach juice with a gallon of honey
in a three gallon batch with the same yeast and feeding technique. Both came
out semi-sweet and very yummy!
Never Thirst,
Dione
------------------------------
Subject: Braggot Aging
From: "Jeff S." <fjalar_zymu@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2000 08:22:49 -0800 (PST)
I'm currently brewing a fairly high gravity
(approx. 1.130) Braggot. It's a five gallon batch
made with:
9# honey (Mesquite)
8# Liquid ME (Light)
2 gallons of Blackberries
2oz. bittering hops (N.Brewer@11%)
1 oz. finishing hops (Fuggles@6.5%)
1 oz. aromatic hops (Kent Goldings@5%)
2lbs grains (cracked & steeped in water)
4 oz. Vanilla Extract (alcohol evaporated in
boil)
Scottish Ale Yeast
I know that Braggots -like Melomels- ferment
quicker than traditional meads, and it looks like
this one should finish out in about three weeks
at approx. 8% abv. My question is how long should
it condition in the bottle? I am thinking of
priming it for carbonation and bottling in 22 oz.
beer bottles. In normal beer,
carbonation/conditioning usually peaks at around
2 weeks. I'm more concerned about the flavors
conditioning than the bubbles; does anyone have
any ideas?
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #778
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