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Mead Lovers Digest #0811
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #811, 6 July 2000
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #811 6 July 2000
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
RE: Rosewater Rhodomel (m_shapiro@bigfoot.com)
Mellon / Pumpkin Honey ("Jayne & Steve Robb")
On my strawberry mead (w.w.mccormack@ev1.net)
Re: peony ("Cindy M. Renfrow")
Bottleing Questions ("Kelly Levely")
varietal honey, no-chem meads (Chuck)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #810, 26 June 2000 (Vamp@aol.com)
Rose Petal Mead? ("Spence")
mead help (Inari-chan)
Chia Tea Mead ("Matt Maples")
Dr. Roger Morse (Potgold@aol.com)
More on honey boiling (Potgold@aol.com)
Stuck ferment? (Randy Barnes)
Good Temperature Ranges? (JLong@tcadvertising.com)
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.
Digest archives and FAQ are available at www.talisman.com/mead, or
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: RE: Rosewater Rhodomel
From: m_shapiro@bigfoot.com
Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 20:07:19 -0400 (EDT)
On Mon, 19 Jun 2000 Nathan Kanous wrote:
> I've recently stumbled into some flower petal "waters". Namely, rosewater
> and orange blossom water. Has anyone had any experience using such in
> mead, rather than using flower petals? Thoughts? Sweet vs. dry? Any info
> would be appreciated.
Not a rhodomel, but I did make a rose petal wine with a combination of actual
petals and rose water. It turned out very nice and I hope to do it again,
sometime, if I can't start growing a decent supply of antique roses.
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 Farm Winery
------------------------------
Subject: Mellon / Pumpkin Honey
From: "Jayne & Steve Robb" <robbjs@newbernnc.com>
Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 22:02:29 -0400
A friend told me that his brother uses bees to pollinate mellon plants
(primarily water mellons) and pumpkins. He does not have any of the honey
available, so I cannot taste it. Has anyone made any mead from this type of
honey, and if so was it any good?
------------------------------
Subject: On my strawberry mead
From: w.w.mccormack@ev1.net
Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 22:19:24 -0500
Thank you to all on this list who offered advice on my "stopped" Strawberry
Melomel.
First, let me address some concerns. I realize that a gallon of anything with 3
lbs of honey in it should have an OG of higher than 1.020. That is actually why
I'm so sure about that reading - I took it 3 times. I don't know what happened,
but that reading is accurate. That OG was taken with everything in the must -
strawberry juice and honey.
I have racked the mead sampled it and taken a new SG. The mead is now at .98
and tastes dry and tart. I'm not sure what to expect of this by bottling time,
but if it doesn't defy the laws of chemistry, I'm going to need to sweeten it
before I bottle. (Yes, I'm using sulfite and will stop all fermentation before I
sweeten.) Any other suggestions?
I'll try this recipe again in a few months with a few changes to make it easier
to confirm all of the measurements, and one change for taste. Considering the
tartness tastes a *lot* like that of a lemon, I think I'm gonna halve the amount
of citric acid. :)
Now, where'd the rest of my SG go?
Will
Oh, the SG was taken at a temp of 75, not 60, degrees f.
Thanks again, all!
W. W. McCormack
Reply to w.w.mccormack@ev1.net
------------------------------
Subject: Re: peony
From: "Cindy M. Renfrow" <cindy@thousandeggs.com>
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2000 14:16:12 +0200
Dear Nathan,
Please do some more research before using these flowers. I know the
flowers were used in medieval times (interchangeably with peony roots) to
cure epilepsy. The roots were also used to cure nightmares, palsy, etc. The
seeds were used to bring on labor, and were also used (infrequently, from
what I can tell) as a spice.
Here's a page from Mrs. Grieve's herbal about Peonies:
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/p/paeony01.html
HTH,
Cindy Renfrow
cindy@thousandeggs.com
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.thousandeggs.com
------------------------------
Subject: Bottleing Questions
From: "Kelly Levely" <klevely@mi.nrcs.usda.gov>
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2000 09:18:57 -0400
Hello All
I want to know if you can bottle in glass screw top bottles? I want to
bottle a non-sparkling mead? Is there special caps or a capper that
needs to be used?
Thanks for the input.
Kelly L.
------------------------------
Subject: varietal honey, no-chem meads
From: Chuck <meadmakr@enteract.com>
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2000 10:08:07 -0500 (CDT)
In MLD #810 "Eric Brown" <apicoltore@hotmail.com> penned:
> I'm a firm believer in the potential beauty of varietal
> honey, and my aim is to express that beauty in my mead
> in as pure a form as possible. Any suggestions on how
> to really display the varietal character of the honey?
That would depend mostly on the nature of the honey. Very
dark varietal honeys may not make the best mead when used
as 100% of the honey source. A couple of examples I can give
are buckwheat and blueberry. Both are almost black and the
flavor of 100% meads made from them are not pleasant. The
blueberry was surprising; it had a nice aroma and a strong
pleasant flavor, but that strong flavor, when fermented,
translated as oxidation to some people, if they were not
familiar with the honey (especially BJCP judges).
> I'm also rather a purist, and I would prefer not to use
> prepared yeast nutrient, pectic enzymes, sulfites, etc.
> What additives do you all think are absolutely necessary
> and what can I get by without? Does anyone have experience
> using bee pollen as a yeast nutrient? I've heard talk of it,
> but that's all. Also, what are the most natural means of
> producing a clear mead?
I'm not sure that people who know me would call me a purist
(8^>), but I try to not use any chemicals in my meads, It is
also my firm belief that heating or cooking your must is not
only not necessary but it is also harmful to your meads. I
believe that heating your must actually removes the nutrients
necessary for a healthy fermentation, and it is because of
this that so many recipes call for added chemical nutrients.
I have never had a mead spoiled by infection, and I make a
lot of meads using these methods. For that matter,
I've never *heard* of a mead being spoiled by infection.
My show meads (only honey, water, yeast) generally ferment
out in less than a month; melomels usually much faster.
Of course, a healthy amount of yeast is critical to this
equation. A Wyeast smack-pack doesn't have enough yeast; you
must make a starter and step up one or two times. five gram
dry yeast packs are enough for a five gallon batch. Whether
your yeast ferments out dry or sweet is a matter of which
yeast you use and your familiarity with it's fermentation
characteristics. For example, I have found that Lalvin
K1 V1116 will finish at 1.005 every time with an OG of
1.100 (with no aeration/oxygenation).
A couple of other points. If you start with too high an
original gravity (I consider greater than 1.150 too high)
you may experience fermentation problems. The use of tea,
or tannin, in it's various forms, seems to promote rapid
clearing of meads.
Cheers,
Chuck Wettergreen
meadmakr@enteract.com
Geneva, IL
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #810, 26 June 2000
From: Vamp@aol.com
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2000 13:42:24 EDT
Dear Friends,
Well, I managed to totally destroy my first batch of mead. The few gallons
that were left, I drank some of, but it left a nasty hangover as soon as we
finished the glass!! The last gallons or so, as you know turned to
turpintine, or something that smells like that!
But the lovely mead that I made from the Mountain Honey of NC and Tennessee!!
Well that came out quite lovely..and I bottled it this week-end. I also
brought a gallon of it for friends to try next to Maddonna's house in
Miami..at a pool party and there was some curiosity..I told them it was
moonshine, because none of them had ever heard of Mead!! (Ha ha!!). Its so
costly to make and time consuming. Next time I want honeywine, I will buy it
from the web.
Vamp
------------------------------
Subject: Rose Petal Mead?
From: "Spence" <drwlg@coollink.net>
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2000 14:34:29 -0400
My aging father speaks of one of his uncles that used to use honey and rose
petals to make a fermented drink about 70 years ago. He wanted me to try to
come up with a recipe since he has many nice roses in his yard. Can some
one tell me about "rose petal mead"... how many petals? I made my first 5
gallon batch of mead about 3 weeks ago and it is doing fine. Made 2 gallons
of strawberry mead about a month ago and it is fine as well. Been
homebrewing for 4 years and made about 70 gallons of wine, so I am looking
forward to something new for my dad. TIA!
Spence
If you're not bleedin'... you're not having fun!
------------------------------
Subject: mead help
From: Inari-chan <natasha@drum.org>
Date: Mon, 3 Jul 2000 14:14:57 -0400 (EDT)
I have a batch of mead that I corked too early. It's blowing it's corks
right now. What can I do to save the mead? Can I just uncork them and
recork them, should I pour it all into a carboy and wait again? I can't
find any info on what to do *after* the mistake is done.
Natasha
------------------------------
Subject: Chia Tea Mead
From: "Matt Maples" <matt_lists@hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, 3 Jul 2000 12:39:16 -0700
Joshua (aka Elfboy0) and I have been e-mailing back and forth about making a
chia tea mead. I finally got mine started on Saturday. I thought someone may
be interested in what I came up with for mine. What follows is the last
e-mail I sent to him.
Joshua;
I finally got mine started on Saturday. This is what I decided on for a five
gallon batch.
20 each cloves
100 each pepper corns
100 each green cardamon pods
6 each 3 inch cinnamon sticks
.75 cup chpped fresh ginger
2.5 tsp anis seed
5 Tbl Black tea
juice of one lime
12lb wildflower honey
2 quart starter red star Cot des blanch yeast
OG 1.094
Lightly crushed the spices and put them in one gallon of water and simmered
for 30 min. Poured the hot spice water (strained out the spices) over the
honey then brought the whole thing up to 5 gallons @ 75 deg then pitched. I
airated for 45 min then sealed it up.
When I woke up on Sunday morning the kitchen was filled with a wonderful
floral/spice aroma. It is fermenting away. I used a bucket for primary so I
can't tell you how vigorously it is fermenting but it is good and healthy.
I had never used cardamon before. What an awsome spice!!! Kind of a cross
between rosmarry and ginger. I plan to use it in many more things to come,
from beers to sausages to whatever else I can think of.
I still think you are wrong about the anis. At the .25 tsp/gallon I
shouldn't get a pronounced licorice flavor But I think it will add a good
depth to the mix. You were right about the orange peal though. After some
deep sniffing and some deep thought I decided to omit it.
At 1.094 I'll end up with 12% alcohol. I am going to play the residual
sweetness level by hear (or tastebud). After smelling the brewed spices it
may lend itself to being half way dry. I will probably sweeten it back up to
about 1.005 to see if that will work, if not I will try 1.008 but 1.012 is
as high as I pland to go.
Keep me updated on how yours is going. Has it slowed down at all?? I really
do think that it was just a fast healthy ferment ie nothing to worry about.
Keep in touch.
Matt Maples
May mead regain its rightful place as the beverage of gods and kings
------------------------------
Subject: Dr. Roger Morse
From: Potgold@aol.com
Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2000 11:13:19 EDT
The July issue of Bee Culture magazine has an extensive obit for Dr. Morse,
who wrote often on meadmaking and related topics. Dr. Morse was the one who
commented that the aging, traditionally needed for mead was primarily to work
off the harsh taste introduced by boiling honey.
The magazine is online at airoot.com, but there is usually a lag before
the current issue is posted. It should be available from your library or a
beekeeper friend right now.
Dave Green
The Pollination Home Page http://pollinator.com
------------------------------
Subject: More on honey boiling
From: Potgold@aol.com
Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2000 11:22:07 EDT
The July issue of Bee Culture magazine has an interview with Bob Kline who
now is carrying on Dr. Morse's work on ultrafiltration of honey to avoid
boiling and the harsh tastes that result in meads. It describes the process
changes that Bob has brought about in commercial mead making that greatly
hasten the production.
At an investment of $12,000 to $25,000, this process is out of reach for
the home brewer, so there is a need to be working on alternatives that are
not so costly.
Dave Green
The Pollination Home Page: http://pollinator.com
"Use fine honey for fine mead -- and don't ruin it!"
------------------------------
Subject: Stuck ferment?
From: Randy Barnes <rbarnes@sdccd.cc.ca.us>
Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2000 15:57:34 -0700
I've been reading the digest for almost five years (on and off), and have
read many discussions about restarting stuck ferments. I have one that seems
to resist many of the recommendations I've come across in the past. Here are
the details:
On May 30, 1999, made ~4.5 gallons of traditional mead with 15.5 lbs. of
sage-avocado honey purchased from a local beekeeper. Didn't boil, but held
at 170 degrees for 15 minutes. Cooled to 80 degrees, pitched 2 packages of
Lalvin EC-1118 yeast that had been rehydrated at 104 degrees. This fermented
at 65-70 degrees in a plastic bucket fermenter.
On August 1, 1999, I racked to a glass carboy (apparently didn't check
gravity). On August 29, gravity was 1.035 and I topped up with approx. 1/2
gallon water and 1 lb. honey. Racked again November 21, and the gravity was
1.045!
Realizing that the fermentation was stuck, I pitched another package of
EC-1118 yeast, rehydrated. Also added 1/2 tsp. yeast energizer. At this
time, the pH of the mead was 3.6.
On May 28, 2000, the gravity was still 1.040. Thinking that the low pH might
be the problem, I racked again and topped off with water mixed with 1/2 tsp.
chalk to try to raise the pH slightly. I also pitched a packet of Lalvin
K1-V116 (rehydrated) thinking that the different yeast might restart the
ferment. There seemed to be slight activity, with positive pressure in the
airlock and a very tiny ring of bubbles around the neck of the carboy.
Checked gravity last Sunday, and it's still at 1.040.
At first I thought that this was simply a very slow ferment, but it's been
over a year now and the mead is still very sweet. Doesn't taste infected, in
fact it has started to clear nicely since I added the yeast in May.
Any ideas?
Also last Sunday I made 11 gallons with Orange Blossom honey (total 35 lbs.
honey). This time I added 4 oz. of The Beverage People's mead nutrient and
Premier Cuvee yeast. 5 gallons will be traditional, 3 gallons with plums and
3 gallons with white grapes (amount depending on the size of my harvest!).
Anyone made or tasted plum melomel? I would imagine I need quite a bit of
plums to get much flavor.
Thanks for your assistance,
Randy in San Diego
------------------------------
Subject: Good Temperature Ranges?
From: JLong@tcadvertising.com
Date: Thu, 6 Jul 2000 10:45:06 -0700
Hello everyone!
I tried posting this question before but received no responses to it,
so I thought I would post it again in hopes that one of the venerable mead
guru's who are on the list will favor me with some advice?
My question is actually two part: What is the best temperature range
for fermenting mead? What would be the mediocre temperature range? And
what would be the unacceptable range?
The second part is: What is the best temperature range for aging
mead? What would be the mediocre temperature range? And what would be the
unacceptable range?
I look forward to everyone's responses as I am trying to locate the
best place in my home for these two steps in the mead making process. I
thank everyone in advance for all there help.
Sincerely,
- -John
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #811
*******************************
