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Mead Lovers Digest #0803
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #803, 30 April 2000
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #803 30 April 2000
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Digest archives, other info on-line (Mead Lover's Digest)
An alternative to syphoning & aging honey brandy ("Stevenson, Randall")
Mead Lover's Digest #802, 25 April 2000 (Dave Burley)
Re: Siphon Sucking (Greg Duncan)
Re: dread thread (Bruce Conner)
Maple sherry (Bruce Conner)
Spring is in the air. ("Matt Maples")
Re: Makes Me Look Pretty Good! (Dan McFeeley)
Zymergy ("Matt Maples")
Re: fermentation restarts (Elfboy0@aol.com)
siphon sucking (Chuck)
6th Boneyard Brew-Off, Champaign IL ("Brian J. Paszkiet")
bacteria and oxygen (Dane Mosher)
Zymurgy and MLD (Mead Lover's Digest)
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
via anonymous ftp at ftp.stanford.edu in pub/clubs/homebrew/mead.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Digest archives, other info on-line
From: mead@raven.talisman.com (Mead Lover's Digest)
Date: 30 Apr 00 20:44:53 MDT (Sun)
I've finally cobbled together another archive point for the Mead-Lover's
Digest, along with a little bit of other information on mead. I'll keep a
copy of the FAQ there, along with Dan McFeeley's meadery list and (I hope)
other information that Dan has done so well at compiling. See
http://www.talisman.com/mead
Archives of digests for previous years can be found there in a couple of
compressed formats. Digests for the current year are in plain text at
http://www.talisman.com/mead/curyr
Let me know if there's other material related to the MLD that you'd like to
see there...and of course, if anything looks broken as seen from your
browser, I'd like to know it.
- ---
Mead-Lover's Digest mead-request@talisman.com
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor Boulder County, Colorado USA
------------------------------
Subject: An alternative to syphoning & aging honey brandy
From: "Stevenson, Randall" <rstevenson@LDI.STATE.LA.US>
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 13:55:23 -0500
I use a plastic, food-grade pail for a primary and have an identical one
that I use for filling bottles. About three-quarters of an inch from the
bottom is a hole through which I attached a plastic spigot with a turncock.
This works grandly and retains most of the lees. It is another item to
sterilize, but I find it easier than a syphon hose to clean.
On the second note, I've hypothetically tasted some honey brandy that was
aged in an oak cask. The oak flavor was too strong. I would think that
adding a couple of handfulls of oak chips (of the appropriate variety of
oak, of course) to a glass carboy filled with honey brandy would impart a
limited oak flavor. Ideally, one would use a large cask to limit the
surface area to volume when aging in oak where a limited oak flavor is
desired. The slow "leaking" of air and brandy through the oak (The angels
are entitled to their share !!!) is part of the aging process that mellows
the brandy. Assuming a relatively small quantity of honey brandy were to be
available, one may try
1) using plastic (which is semi-permeable) and oak ships
2) limit the time the brandy is in the oak cask
3) try using the glas carboy with a celophane seal to allow limited
breathing, or ...
4) send the brandy to me for extensive sampling and some besotten
opinions.
Wassail,
Randall Stevenson
"Planning is the substitution of error for chaos."
------------------------------
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #802, 25 April 2000
From: Dave Burley <Dave_Burley@compuserve.com>
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 17:31:34 -0400
Message text written by INTERNET:mead@talisman.com
>just a thought-bacteria need Oxygen to survive,<
Actualy Kirk that's not true. Lactobacillus does just fine in an anaerobic
environment along with many others.
Dave Burley
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Siphon Sucking
From: Greg Duncan <gduncan@azstarnet.com>
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 15:40:51 -0700
Angel's Siphon Sucking Solution!
Go to your local Boat and RV store and buy and in-line pump bulb for a gas tank
to an outboard boat motor. (under $10) My husband thought I was crazy when I
first thought of it but I've been using one for years now and believe it or not
I've never had a problem with it adding its own flavor. Also the bulb can be
disassembled enough for cleaning.
I have mounted mine close to the racking cane for the best results, i.e. 3 or 4
pumps to get the siphon going, but if you're worried about the flavor you can
put it on the end of your siphon tube and pull it off at the last moment. But
you will have to pump and pump and pump... to get it started.
Angel
PS There is a homebrew competition in Tucson AZ in May.
Check it out at:
http://www.quimbytech.net/flightline
------------------------------
Subject: Re: dread thread
From: Bruce Conner <bconner@mediaone.net>
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 18:57:40 -0400
Guess I should de lurk for the first time in a year or more. :') OK,
the solution is at hand and it's easy. It's a matter of adding a "T"
section to your siphon hose. You put one end of the T in your receiving
bottle and clamp it off. You suck on the other part of the "T". When
the siphon is going (into your mouth) you clamp that hose off. Now open
the fisrt clamp. Siphon started! No chance of anything getting in your
stuff, either. For a detailed picture and animated gif of how this
works, have a look at: http://www.cybercom.net/~bconner/syphon.html
and http://www.cybercom.net/~bconner/Anisyphon.gif
You can also restart a lost syphon this way cleanly. Hope this helps
some.
Bruce Conner
------------------------------
Subject: Maple sherry
From: Bruce Conner <bconner@mediaone.net>
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 19:12:06 -0400
OK, since I have delurked, this might as well be told. I have recently
bottled a gallon batch of maple sherry. It was maple wine originally
(1 qt Grade B syrup to 3 qt water, pasturized 10 min at 150F, nutrients,
Wyeast dry mead yeast with a 1 cup dry malt extract starter of nominal
gravity) So far so good eh? Yes, well it looked good for the first
couple of months too. I let it go for a few more months, added some
bentonite and racked to a fresh bottle.
Then I forgot it was in the back of the closet. For 2.5 years. Let's
just say the airlock dried out! I came across it when I was packing to
move to a new house. I looked at it and it was clear and a dark, dark
amber. Hmmm. well, might as well seal it up and take it along, I'll
taste it after I get moved in.
6 months later...
I remember the stuff sitting in the back of yet another closet and
decide to taste it just to see what sort of liquid cardboard I have
produced. Sanitized a glass tube and took a little sample. Hey, this
aint bad! In fact, it's darn good! Big maple whollop, still a bit
sweetish, and a marvelous sherry flavor. Not cardboardy at all. Call
over wife. Give her a taste. She *demands* that I bottle it right
away.
So I did! Nice little 8 oz bottles for later enjoyment. Even made a
cute lable.
So after a perfect start, I did most everything wrong. Left it on the
lees too long before racking, left it racked with no water in the lock
for a couple of years (with some sediment there too, I might add).
Result? Nectar!
I'm sure gonna do it again, but with a 5 gallon batch this time. Maybe
I'll stuff some cotton in the airlock to keep fruitflies out during the
second part of the operation.
If you like sherry, this is a nice little long term project. It might
be ready well before nearly 4 years have passed, I don't know. I'll be
checking on that with the next batch. An interesting thing to do with
maple syrup in any event. Smoky and rich.
Bruce Conner
------------------------------
Subject: Spring is in the air.
From: "Matt Maples" <matt_lists@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 08:28:28 -0700
After taking a small break from brewing and being that spring is in the air,
I am ready to start mead making in earnest!! I have started 8 gallons going
in the kitchen 3 of which are an Oregon Grape Melomel (it may not win awards
but it seems like it will be an interesting brew). Bottled 3 gallons of a
banana spice mel that has been bulk aging for over 2 years (Yummmm). I've
got elderberries in the freezer, a cab/Merlot pyment that needs blending,
and a chi mead recipe to develop. No questions just the comment that life is
good and the season is upon us.
Matt Maples
May mead regain it rightful place as the beverage of gods and kings.
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Makes Me Look Pretty Good!
From: Dan McFeeley <mcfeeley@keynet.net>
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 11:07:35 -0500
On Sun, 23 Apr 2000, in MLD 802, Roger Flanders wrote:
>Digest Janitor Dick Dunn recently took me to task, and rightfully so,
>for my "dreaded siphon-sucking" technique. (But what else could we
>expect emanating from a town named "Hygiene.") I wish I could see
>Dick's face when he reads this excerpt from a 4/21/00 post to the
>Irish Beekeeping List:
>
> "The answer is to make better mead in the first place and one
> useful tip is to use soft water collected off the roof, strained
> and boiled, of course. I once got third prize in our branch show
> by using water from a roof frequented by pigeons. I lie not."
> (signed) Rex Boys
Well, the Rex Boys may have an unsual natural method of adding extra
nitrogen to a honey must, but the use of rain water has a long history.
The earliest reference I know of appears in Pliny the Elder's _Natural
History_ Book XIV, sect. XX, about 77 AD. Pliny gives a 3 to 1 ratio
for rainwater and honey, and recommends rainwater that has been stored
for five years. He says others that are more expert use newly fallen
rainwater, boiling it down to 1/3 of the original quantity.
Brother Adam also advocates soft water or rainwater which he says is
absolutely essential for fine mead. He recommends distilled water if
soft water cannot be had, however, Acton & Duncan warn that distilled
water can be lacking in essential trace elements needed by the yeast
for a good fermentation. They write that English water in general
is often lacking in magnesium, causing stuck fermentations. A pinch
of Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate) was usually enough to get the
fermenation going again.
Soft rainwater would be a good idea in an era where other sources
were sometimes suspect. Spring water with enough essential trace
elements is a good choice today or even tap water that hasn't been
tampered with too much by the local water company. My home town
in N.J. was infamous for its chemically treated water -- impossible
to find a good cup of coffee there!
<><><><><><><><><><>
<><><><><><><><>
Dan McFeeley
mcfeeley@keynet.net
------------------------------
Subject: Zymergy
From: "Matt Maples" <matt_lists@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 09:15:57 -0700
I'm sure some of you have read the latest issue of Zymurgy. It has three
good articles about mead and mead making. Even if you do not really like the
mag. you may want to pick up this one. It has a very nice table in it
showing the component breakdown of many different types of honey. I think
they did a bang-up job. There was only one or two points that I would take
issue with but all and all a very informative showing.
Also the MLD was prominently shown as a good source of information
(which of course it is :-)). But I would be curious to know (Mr. Dunn) if
our membership jumps in the next month or so because of it.
Matt Maples
May mead regain it rightful place as the beverage of gods and kings.
------------------------------
Subject: Re: fermentation restarts
From: Elfboy0@aol.com
Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2000 07:56:26 EDT
>From my moving experience, I think I have to support the idea of
stratification. I have a batch of Vanilla Mead, 3 gallons, that was made with
15 lbs of honey. This is my first mead without fruit, so in treating it like
my other batches, the initial must contained the same huge amounts of honey,
around 5 lbs per gallon. The yeast was extremely unhappy with this, and sat
for a while doing virtually nothing at all (this is the batch I posted about
a couple of months ago). Shaking would stimulate it for all of 5 seconds with
a rush of bubbles. From what it looked like, the yeast was pushed to the
*top* of the liquid level. A couple of weeks ago I added a fresh dose of
yeast that got a really nice chance to start first, and the batch went from
virtually nothing to perhaps a bit better than virtually nothing. In packing
the carboy, it moved and shook it significantly. Driving with it in the car
did it more so. I now have a nicely fermenting carboy.
My theory here is that the starting gravity was so high, that the initial
yeast sat on the top. Therefore, any alcohol created didn't have very far to
go to get to the top. So, the yeast was very soon in a high alcohol
environment, and if it didn't die (this would be probably an excessive
condition), there at least wouldn't be much to ferment.
I realize that this case may be on the extreme side - I like sweet, strong
meads, which means extremely high starting gravities. I don't honestly know
if a gravity can be high enough to push yeast to the top. If this *can*
happen, I don't know what the level to do so would be. *If* this happens,
*and* it is a significantly low enough level that it would happen in the
average higher-gravity batch, perhaps this can explain the situation in other
people's batches? (As I've never even measured the gravity of my meads, I'm
really stretching the concept of "educated guess" on this :)
- Joshua
------------------------------
Subject: siphon sucking
From: Chuck <meadmakr@enteract.com>
Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2000 07:18:09 -0500 (CDT)
In MLD 802 Kirk (KANDANANB@aol.com) said,
> just a thought-bacteria need Oxygen to survive, just
> like people, Mead and especially beer are pretty full
> of co2, which would suffocate us and bacteria.
> Personally I don't know of any infections firsthand
> due to mouth siphoning.
Lactobacillus bacteria is the primary infectant. Your
mouth, including your saliva glands are loaded with it.
And "Brian Lundeen" <blundeen@rrc.mb.ca> also wrote,
> This bit of silliness aside, I don't think anyone has
> ever demonstrated that sucking on a syphon has ruined
> a batch of mead or wine or beer. And there is
As a so-so beer judge and (former) long-term president
of a homebrew club, I've tasted a great number of lactic
beers, Since lactic acid bacteria is most prevalent in
the human mouth, and doesn't survive very well in the
open air, I'd have to say that most of those infected
beers got that way from poor sanitation and "some"
process involving a transfer of lactobacillus from mouth
to beer. Mouth siphoning is the most likely culprit.
> no way anyone is going to get sick from a transfer of
> bacteria through such a medium. You expose yourself to
> more organisms (some potentially dangerous)
Sick? No, but do you *like* having your pilsner or cyser
taste sour?
Chuck
meadmakr@enteract.com
Geneva, IL
------------------------------
Subject: 6th Boneyard Brew-Off, Champaign IL
From: "Brian J. Paszkiet" <bpaszkie@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2000 12:07:19 -0500
Since we will be judging meads and ciders at our competition, I
thought this announcement might be of some interest.
Brewers, start your kettles! Judges, mark your calendars!
The 6th Annual Boneyard Brew-Off will be held on June 10,
organized by the Boneyard Union of Zymurgical Zealots (B.U.Z.Z.),
Champaign Illinois. Entries will be accepted May 26 through
June 5 in all 1999 BJCP categories (beer, mead, and cider).
We are also continuing our tradition of a No One Gets Out
Alive High-gravity category, with a hedonic judging of any
beer or mead with a starting gravity over 1.070.
Details are available on the World Wide Web at
<http://www.uiuc.edu/ro/BUZZ/contest6.html>. Entry forms
will be available for download, and snail-mailed out to
regional clubs and judges, in the next week or so.
Judges can sign up now on the web.
To receive a hard copy of the materials, send us your
mailing address.
Contacts:
Competition Organizer: Brian Paszkiet <bpaszkie@uiuc.edu>
Registrar: Brian Beyer <brianb@soltec.net>
Judge Director: Joel Plutchak <plutchak@uiuc.edu>
------------------------------
Subject: bacteria and oxygen
From: Dane Mosher <dmosher@xroadstx.com>
Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2000 16:07:33 -0500
> Siphon sucking
> just a thought-bacteria need Oxygen to survive, just like people,
> Mead and especially beer are pretty full of co2, which would
> suffocate us and bacteria.
> Personally I don't know of any infections firsthand due to mouth
> siphoning.
>
Anaerobic bacteria, such as Lactobacillus, do not need oxygen. In fact,
they can not grow in the presence of oxygen. And they can ruin a
fermentation. There are also bacteria known as facultative anaerobes,
which grow best in oxygen-free environments, but get by in an aerobic
environment also. I wouldn't rule them out from being in your mouth.
You can easily avoid the whole issue by appending a sanitized airlock to
the end of the racking hose and sucking through the airlock. When mead
has mostly filled the hose, remove airlock and let 'er rip.
Dane Mosher
Real Ale Brewing Co.
Blanco, Texas
------------------------------
Subject: Zymurgy and MLD
From: mead@raven.talisman.com (Mead Lover's Digest)
Date: 30 Apr 00 16:09:17 MDT (Sun)
Matt Maples wrote, about the latest issue of Zymurgy:
> Also the MLD was prominently shown as a good source of information
(in the little sidebar written by the janitor of the MLD!)
> (which of course it is :-))...
You wouldn't have expected me to bad-mouth it, would you?
>...But I would be curious to know (Mr. Dunn) if
> our membership jumps in the next month or so because of it.
I've been watching since I got my copy of Zymurgy, which I think was about
2 weeks ago. There have been maybe a few more subscriptions than average,
but my sense of it is that it's barely statistically significant. The MLD
has been steady at around 1050 subscribers for quite a while. I would
have expected more new subscriptions from the Zymurgy article than I've
seen.
- ---
Mead-Lover's Digest mead-request@talisman.com
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor Boulder County, Colorado USA
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #803
*******************************
