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Mead Lovers Digest #0785
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #785, 25 January 2000
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #785 25 January 2000
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
asleep at the switch (more articles to come) (Mead Lover's Digest)
RE: pineapple mead (Gregg Stearns)
Re: Carboys for the Po Boy (Dave Polaschek)
Re: Wedding Mead (Dave Polaschek)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #784, 20 January 2000 (OxladeMac@aol.com)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #784, 20 January 2000 (OxladeMac@aol.com)
gysers (bobbylew@ix.netcom.com)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #784, 20 January 2000 (OxladeMac@aol.com)
Books and brewing ("Robert Goulding")
Not fermenting batch... story with it... (Yacko Warner Yacko)
RE:Holy sparkling mead Batman! (Bruce Conner)
Buying Honey ("Roger Flanders")
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #784, 20 January 2000 ("Alan Meeker")
Carboys for a Po Boy ("Stephen J. Van der Hoven")
sweet mead yeast (Warren Place)
Re: Bitter meads (Dan McFeeley)
Find your local beekeeper to gain remarkable meads ... (Robert MacKimmie)
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. When
subscribing, please include name and email address in body of message.
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in pub/clubs/homebrew/mead.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: asleep at the switch (more articles to come)
From: mead@raven.talisman.com (Mead Lover's Digest)
Date: 25 Jan 00 17:15:33 MST (Tue)
Your diligently indolent digest janitor got distracted by reality (such as
it is) for a couple of days and neglected to push out a digest when he
should have. The parties responsible for the delay were fun parties
No, wait, I didn't say that...
The parties responsible for the delay have been disciplined.
But anyway, dear readers, since your contributions have continued unabated
during the delay, I had far more material than is usual for a digest. Fear-
ing that somebody's mail software might get its knickers in a knot over the
size of the digest, I held off some of the articles that should have
appeard in this digest. They will appear in the next digest, which is
likely to come out pretty soon after this one.
Bottomlinetime: If you submitted an article as much as a few days ago and
it's not in this digest, please be patient.
And *please* don't let this put you off from contributing! I'm as much at
a loss as anyone to explain the recent upswing in articles, but I think
it's a Good Thing.
- ---
Mead-Lover's Digest mead-request@talisman.com
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor Boulder County, Colorado USA
------------------------------
Subject: RE: pineapple mead
From: Gregg Stearns <gregg@ispi.net>
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2000 15:50:58 -0600
Original post:
- -------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Pineapple mead
From: Joe Fiorenza <sidartha@raccoon.com>
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2000 19:20:50 -0600
First off, thanks to those of you who post informative,
topical, information to the MLD. I truly appreciate all of
your hard work.
As the subject line indicates - this post is about pineapple
mead. This is only my second mead, the first being a
cranberry mead that contrary to what i've read here on the
MLD had absolutely no problem fermenting. I believe the
culprit was thought to be benzoic acid? Regardless that
turned out fine.
After the first relative success I decided that I wanted to
get a little tropical. After several long and drawn out
discussions with another subscriber to the MLD about various
tropical combinations I decided that pineapple would be the
way to go.
(And I quote - bannanna mead would taste horrible!)
Here is the recipe:
2 fresh pineapples (at 4 bucks a pop I had to skimp a
little)
2 cans pineapple (in its own juice - no *ose's)
7 46 ounces unsweetened pure pineapple juice (hyvee brand)
12 lbs Iowa Honey (produced on a farm in the middle of no
where from what I could tell)
1 pkg. Red Star Champagne Yeast
- -------------------------------------------------------------
Make sure your pineapple juice doesn't have preservatives in it either.
Those will seriously screw up the fermentation process (like the
cranberry thing).
One thing that often works is buying NON preserved frozen concentrates
of juices.
In my area, you can't even get unpreserved apple juice/cider!!
Good luck!
- --
Gregg Stearns | 237 South 70th | tel:
+1.402.441.3292
Editor VnewsInsider.com | Suite 220 | fax:
+1.402.483.5418
gregg@ispi.net | Lincoln, NE 68510 | http://www.ispi.net
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Carboys for the Po Boy
From: Dave Polaschek <davep@davespicks.com>
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2000 18:33:58 -0600
"Stephan Butcher" <butcher@drizzle.com> wrote:
>What are some other options? Can I use food grade plastic containers? Why
>not? What exactly are the requirements for the container?
Yes. I have a 7-gallon food-grade plastic fermenter that I use as my
primary for beers and meads. It's got a handy notch in the side at the
5-gallon level, which means I seldom have to worry about it blowing over
or making a batch that's too big to rack into a 5-gallon glass carboy.
Plastic is oxygen (and probably other gases) permeable. It's not suitable
for long-term storage, but it's fine for a primary fermenter. Beyond
that, the biggest problem is that it can get scratched, and the scratches
can hold all kinds of bugs that will infect your brew. Make very sure of
your sanitation if you're going to use plastic, and if it gets severely
scratched, toss it and get a new one.
I'd recommend against the plastic 5-gallon bottles, mostly because
they're very hard to get clean. The price savings gets wiped out pretty
fast if you lose a batch of mead to a dirty fermenter.
- -DaveP
Dave Polaschek - Polaschek Computing, Inc. - davep@best.com
PGP key and other spiffy things at <http://www.best.com/~davep/>
"If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." - unknown
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Wedding Mead
From: Dave Polaschek <davep@davespicks.com>
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2000 18:37:28 -0600
"Stephan Butcher" <butcher@drizzle.com> wrote:
>I am getting married in March and I just realized that the yeast I used for
>the last 2 batches are going to be working right up until the event and
>won't be ready. Are there any mead recipes that mature enough, quick enough
>to have by the end of March?
<http://www.best.com/~davep/mme/cgmrecipe.html> can be done in three
weeks, which would give you over a month in the bottles. It would still
be pretty young, but I've had this one be drinkable in under two months
start to finish.
When you're in a hurry, you should definitely make sure you have a
hearty, fast-fermenting strain of yeast and you get a good starter going.
I used to use Edme Ale Yeast when I was rushed, and it seldom let me
down. Red Star Champagne yeast was the other "hurry up" yeast I used.
Did I mention you should make sure you have a good vigorous starter if
you're in a hurry? You should.
- -DaveP
Dave Polaschek - Polaschek Computing, Inc. - davep@best.com
PGP key and other spiffy things at <http://www.best.com/~davep/>
"Stamp out philately!" - graffito, Fort Belvoir, VA Library
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #784, 20 January 2000
From: OxladeMac@aol.com
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2000 21:39:40 EST
In a message dated 1/20/00 3:37:36 PM Central Standard Time,
mead-request@talisman.com writes:
<< I have been brewing myself in to a corner and I only have 3 carboys! I
have
shopped around for new (and used) carboys and the results are pretty
depressing. The best I could find was 14.00 (5 gallon). Being in Seattle,
the garage sales won't be starting for a while and there was nothing in the
papers.
Butcher >>
I feel your pain, man!
If you are lucky, you will have a bottled water supplier somewhere near you.
I live close enough to Tulsa, Oklahoma that I have friends pick up carboys
full of water for me at Fizzo water company. It's a pretty amazing deal -
they will sell you the empty carboy for, I think, $12. If, however, you
happened to want some really excellent brewing water, you can get a full
carboy for $10. What a deal, huh?
Check around. There are still some bottled water companies around. Most use
those cheap plastic carboys, but a few still carry real glass ones. I myself
am picking up 5 more carboys of water this weekend.
Good Luck!
Ox
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #784, 20 January 2000
From: OxladeMac@aol.com
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2000 21:43:12 EST
In a message dated 1/20/00 3:37:36 PM Central Standard Time,
mead-request@talisman.com writes:
<< Howdy!
I am getting married in March and I just realized that the yeast I used for
the last 2 batches are going to be working right up until the event and
won't be ready. Are there any mead recipes that mature enough, quick enough
to have by the end of March?
What about zapping the yeast in their now and bottling now? Ho hum...I
sound so desparate.
Thanks anyway... >>
It depends on what you want. If you want something you will recognize as
mead, I'm not sure I can help you. If you want a honey based light drinking
beverage, I know someone who has a recipe for a fizzy metheglin that is ready
in 1 week. He brews it in one of those Edme pressure kegs. You are, in
effect, drinking an actively fermenting beverage. Sounds icky, but it is
really really good. I don't think I could really call it a mead, however.
If you want the recipe, I can ask him for it.
Ox
------------------------------
Subject: gysers
From: bobbylew@ix.netcom.com
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2000 21:49:19 -0500 (EST)
I think most mead makers, (and dry hoppers) have
experienced the gyser (Blowout) effect.
My experience was with a plum melomel. Not only did the
stopper get clogged, but it was in so tight that when I
pulled it out, most of my mead hit the ceiling. Had I not
gotten to it sooner I would probably have had a grenade
in the kitchen. A syphon tube is not a solution. chopped
or purrayed fruit will trap CO2, rise, and clog the hole.
The closer to the top of the carboy, the more the problem
is accentuated because there is less space for the CO2 to escape.
Your choices are, 1: leave the fruit in large chunks.
2: put fruit in cheese cloth weighted down with clear glass marbles.
3: Leave 8" empty space in the carboy
4: Do primary fermentation in Plastic bucket
5: Add fruit to the must after vigorous fermentation.
Rapid fermentation took about 48
hours to get to a roll. When I say roll - I mean it. When
I woke up for work on Monday morning I was meet with a
carboy that was overflowing with pulp and gunk. The
ceiling was also decorated with an interesting pineapple
splatter pattern.
Have you ever tried to mop a stucco ceiling?
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #784, 20 January 2000
From: OxladeMac@aol.com
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2000 21:53:49 EST
In a message dated 1/20/00 3:37:36 PM Central Standard Time,
mead-request@talisman.com writes:
<< I've used the Lalvin EC 1118 yeast several times and it is so attenuative
that I always get a dry (too dry for me) mead. (I lucked out with one batch
an produced a sparkling apricot melomel that tasted just like a good dry
champagne.) In an attempt to make an orange mel following Wout's recipe (but
using local organicly grown navel oranges instead), my IG was 1.08 and I
added enough honey, teasing the mead, that the adjusted IG would have been
1.14. I was hoping for a sweet mead and added the zest at SG 1.014 to kill
the yeast and obtain a FG of about 1.01. Is this right? or am I going to
still have a dry mead? Can I add more honey after the fermentation has
stopped to produce a sweet mead? What gravities distinguish sweet from
semi-sweet from dry?
Wassail,
Randall Stevenson >>
I know that there are those out there who will disagree, but I think the
savior for sweet meads is a weak yeast. I have used champagne yeast, and
will never do so again. Unless you interceed, or have an amazingly high OG,
it's going to end up dry. That's what champagne yeast was designed to do -
eat everything. And I don't really care for the flavor that champagne yeast
leaves. Do you really want your mead to taste like champange?
I use a neutral ale yeast, like Edme, Windsor, or London. Ale yeasts can be
made to go very high on the alcohol scale, but they typically don't. They
usually leave residual sweetness, and poop out around 10-11%. Usually these
yeasts will do thier job, and then fall out of solution. That's the thing I
really like about them - they precipitate much better than most wine yeasts.
After a month or two, they're usually well on thier way to clearing. I
started a traditional mead batch in October with 4# of orange blossom, a
couple lemons, and Windsor ale yeast. It was already clearing by X-mas. It
definately has a "young mead" twang to it, but it is FAR more drinkable at 2
months than stuff I made with champagne yeast is at 14 months.
Hope this helps
Ox
------------------------------
Subject: Books and brewing
From: "Robert Goulding" <sanctuary@RAPIDNET.COM>
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2000 22:16:42 -0700
There is a Mead book called "Brewing Mead, Wassail! In Mazers of Mead" By
Lt. Colonel Robert Gayre & Nigg with Charlie Papazian.
Published by Brewers Publications
A division of the Association of Brewers.
PO Box 1679, Boulder, Colorado 80306-1679 USA
Tel. (303) 447-0816 * Fax (303) 447-2825
It is a two part book, the first part, "Wassail! In Mazers Of Mead" was
first published in 1948 By G. Robert Gayre in England. Papazian has added a
mead making section at the back. It is an interesting history book on mead
and ancient drinks in particular.
I have been making Mead for a couple of years or so and would like to share
my general techniques. I get pretty good results. First, though, a word
about mead hangovers. One of the reasons for Mead hangovers is drinking the
stuff when it is too young. This applies to Mead and beer. I am a member
of a local brew club here in Rapid City, South Dakota. The president of the
club is much more knowledgeable than myself about the chemistry of the whole
thing and he tells me that the alcohols themselves change with aging. The
chemical constituents of the alcohols change with age and they are much more
hangover inducing the younger they are. I have found this to be true in my
own experience. Now that I have a good supply instead of drinking
everything I made as soon as it was done fermenting I get much less
hungover. Another thing about hangovers that the medical people tell me is
that the sweeter the beverage is the more headache pain it will produce,
something to do with blood sugar levels and resulting oxygen deprivation to
the brain. Drinking water seems to help.
Techniques:
Boiling honey - if you want to, go ahead. I don't, and here is why. All of
the particles of whatever is in the honey (wax, insect parts, whatever) will
settle out in the lees anyway so boiling and skimming is not necessary for
that purpose. Sterilization IS important however. I bring my water to a
boil, turn off the fire and add my honey and other ingredients. 170 degrees
to 180 degrees (Fahrenheit) for 15 to 20 minutes will kill virtually all
known pathogens. After the honey is mixed in well (to avoid scorching it if
I have to turn the fire back on) I add the rest of my ingredients. Unless I
am adding frozen fruit I do not usually even have to apply fire again
because the temperature stays hot enough, long enough, to sterilize the must
without needing to heat it any further. I am fortunate enough to have an
excellent local honey supplier who does not heat process their honey at all.
They go through a cold filtration process (7 times!) that yields honey that
tastes like flowers. My plain, unflavored Mead still has that flower
flavor! I lose that in the boiling, it is a very delicate flavor. All heat
carmelizes all sugars to some extent and I prefer as little carmelization as
I can get.
Fruit: As a general rule (VERY general - not all fruit is the same) I use
at least 1 pound of fruit for each gallon of finished product plus 1 pound
for the pot. With blackberries 6 pounds for 5 gallons is sufficient but
more doesn't hurt a bit. I am going to try 10-12 pounds of them for my next
5 gallon blackberry batch. Strawberries, (unless you have them from your
own garden and can get them fully ripe and sweet), seem to take at least 10
pounds for a 5 gallon batch. That produces a wonderful strawberry flavor.
If you are not using frozen fruit you need to cut it up because freezing
does help get the goodness out. Frozen blackberries come apart in the must
quite nicely. If I do use fruit I do cook it but I do not boil it because I
think I lose flavor there just like I lose flavor from boiling honey. The
fruit flavors seem to come through better the gentler I am to the must. I
maintain that pathogen killing 170 to 180 degree temperature for at least
15-20 minutes but I do not boil. That might be part of the lack of flavor
problem one person wrote about. My strawberry and blackberry Meads are to
die for (if I do say so myself - but I have lots of agreement from my
friends and acquaintances. After 2 or 3 weeks I rack off of the fruit
because that is what I was taught to do. I think it is important not to
leave the fruit in too long but I can't remember why right now, bad flavors
I think. 2 weeks is what I was taught but I have forgotten until 31/2 weeks
with no discernible ill effects.
My favorite recipe:
Dr Kings Mead (Circa 1600)
3-5 lemons (depending on size) cut in half, squeezed over and then dropped
into the must.
3-6 nutmegs (also depending on size and how finely you chop or grind them)
5 quarts (15 pounds) honey
Above is the original ingredients list, I have modified it to include the
following:
1 12 oz bottle of Roses Sweetened Condensed Lime Juice
1 Tbsp dried orange peel
1 oz stick cinnamon (Even after I rack off the fruit I leave the cinnamon
sticks in until I bottle)
Yeast nutrient (amount according to the package or bottle directions, I
usually go a little less then it says)
No additional acid, the lemons are enough.
Boil 3 gallons water and add the above ingredients, (turn off the fire
first, don't scorch the honey!), mix the nutmeg with a little of the hot
water first so that it doesn't clump up on you.
Heat at least for 15 -20 minutes at 170-180 degrees ( the original called
for boiling and skimming off the scum until there wasn't any - you can if
you want to)
Let cool and add champagne yeast for a 10-12 % yield. I use Red Star
Pasteur Champagne yeast (dry) in some of the must I have taken out and
cooled (a cup or two) and then just let the rest of the must cool (covered)
overnight. When the must is cool my yeast is way ready to go and I pour the
must into my primary fermenter and mix in the yeast starter. (I know there
is a technical term for pre-starting dried yeast this way but I don't
remember what it is). I then add water to the 5 gallon mark. Having
distilled water available might be a good thing depending upon your water
supply.
Lemon, lime, orange, nutmeg, cinnamon and honey!
Rack it off of the fruit after 2 weeks or so. This generally takes a month
or so to finish fermenting (less if you use more yeast nutrient) and is
drinkable in another month or two. It gets better up to a year and then it
seems to be not quite as good after that. None of it has lasted much longer
than that either so who knows. If any of you try it please let me know how
you like it. I think that it is wonderful.
One last thing. Mead makes people happy. Maybe that is why it is called
the Mead Lovers Digest. People cry in their beer and brawl on liquor, but
smile and laugh when drinking Mead. I cannot be unhappy when I have a
glass, it always improves my outlook.
Wassail!
Robert Goulding
Rushmore Hostel - Robert's Roost
Rapid City, South Dakota 57701-3633
sanctuary@dtgnet.com
http://w1.dtgnet.com/robertsroost/
605-341-3434
605-348-7799
------------------------------
Subject: Not fermenting batch... story with it...
From: Yacko Warner Yacko <yacko@mint.net>
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2000 09:09:19 -0500
I had an experimental batch started to see 'just how much honey can I
start a mead with' and used 36# in 6 gallons. Killer. Literally. The
poor little yeasties probably exploded themselves from osmotic pressure.
I split the batch in two, coming out almost 50/50 on the batches (now
expanded it to 12 gallons in two carboys). I added some Lalvin 1118
(started with water and nutrient first) to both a couple weeks ago. One
started off incredibly and is still clicking along.... the other has not
started. I moved it to 'right next to the heat register' in the hallway
to get it's temperature up to around 70f and it still won't go. I've
also added a double Lalvin 1118 since the single lalvin 1118, so since a
couple weeks ago I've tossed 3 packs in! Both were started with warm
water and nutrient.
This second batch hasn't started itself yet and I'm getting a little
annoyed/upset (relax dont worry have a .... much better).
Some labels to make things clearer:
Batch 1 = the original 36# batch
Batch 2 = the split 36# (now ~18#) that IS fermenting)
Batch 3 = the split 36# (now ~18#) that is NOT fermenting)
Ideas I thought of:
- - rack batch 2 to tertiary, rack batch 3 ontop of the lees of batch 2
- - split batch 3 again, try pitching again to two more batches.
- - dump it all
- - rack half of batch 2 off to tertiary, start adding honey water
solution of batch 3 to batch two gradually - feeding the fire, as it
were.
I would appreciate some suggestions. Thanks folks.
j
- --
It would seem that evil retreats when forcibly confronted.
-- Yarnek of Excalbia, "The Savage Curtain", stardate 5906.5
------------------------------
Subject: RE:Holy sparkling mead Batman!
From: Bruce Conner <bconner@kalypso.cybercom.net>
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2000 09:58:49 -0500 (EST)
The most controllable way to get a sparkling mead is to force carbonate
it. 5 gallon soda keg works fine. Or if you want to experiment a bit,
you can get those little caps that go on a 2 liter plastic soda bottle and
force carbonate that way. I did that on a one gallon test batch,
carbonating 1/2 of it for comparison to the still. (It was also a Wyeast
sweet mead, 3.5 lbs/gal clover honey) It came out great! Still have some
little 8 oz bottles of that in storage and the carbonation is good some 4
years later. Regular crimp cap bottles, nothing fancy.
I did use bentonite and chilled the mead to about 32F for a few days to
get the yeast out of suspension, BTW. Works quite well.
Waiting for my Yeastlabs Sweet Mead yeast to come in before starting a 5
gallon batch using Vetch honey from castlemark. Might have to go with the
wyeast if nobody can get the stuff. What's the current feeling on sherry
yeasts? Any particularly good ones?
Bruce Conner -Tewksbury MA
------------------------------
Subject: Buying Honey
From: "Roger Flanders" <flanders@probe.net>
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2000 10:43:38 -0600
(I already offered this suggestion to Angela by
responding directly, but after reading so many
alternative suggestions from Mead Lovers, decided
maybe my "common knowledge" wasn't quite as common
as I thought.)
Why buy "retail" when there are beekeepers' groups
all over the country? Here in Nebraska, our
club's state-wide membership ranges from wannabees
to advanced hobbyists to large-scale commercial
beekeepers. I'd bet most states' cooperative
extension services could offer information on how
to contact these associations/clubs, or contact
the state apiarist. He or she definitely would
know how to contact them. Or search the Web.
Our association's members -- especially the
serious hobbyists -- would love to learn about any
potential new market for their honeys. Just last
week I bought a gallon of "mystery" honey about
the color of tar from a fellow member, after
explaining I wanted to experiment with something
different than my own predominantly clover-based
honey. He charged me three bucks, with the
promise he'd get to taste it next year. Go to a
beekeepers' club meeting; at the very least,
you'll meet some interesting people...
- --Rog Flanders
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #784, 20 January 2000
From: "Alan Meeker" <ameeker@welchlink.welch.jhu.edu>
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2000 12:07:16 -0500
Lots of interesting questions here!
> Subject: Pineapple mead
> From: Joe Fiorenza <sidartha@raccoon.com>
> 1) is there such a thing as a "surfactant" of sorts that
> could or does minimize such "blowouts"
There are anti-foam agents on the market. They are used in the biotech
indusrty and in research labs to keep the foam down in bacterial and yeast
cultures - makes things less messy and, I believe, improves aeration.
I've seen some agents offered in homebrew catalogs and know some people have
used them in making beer. The suprise here is that they seem not to affect
head formation/retention in the final beer so it may be that they are
eventually metabolized by the yeast or inactivated in other ways... Of
course, the (potential) head retention problems shouldn't be a concern for
meads. Still, I wonder if it wouldn't affect the body or mouthfeel of the
mead?? Seems to me you'd be better off going to a larger container,
splitting the batch between two containers, or coming up with a sterile
blow-off system and recirculating the blow-off.
> 2) I noticed that the pineapple juice had ascorbic acid as
> one of the ingredients. What are the chemical and taste
> implications of having this additive to the mix, if any?
Pineapple juice will have all kinds of organic acids present and if they
aren't metabolized by the yeast they will contribute to the final acidity of
your mead. Ascorbic acid may actually be a benefit because it has
anti-oxidant properties, in fact some people add ascorbic acid to their
meads for just this purpose.
> Subject: Polyclar
> From: Anne Trowbridge <altrow@uswest.net>
> Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2000 23:05:16 -0700
>
> Polyclar attracts tannins, most particularly oxidized
> tannins. Your polyclar may have stripped some of the
> tannins in your mead. I've heard winemakers say that the
> tannins are the backbone of wine;
But there should be little to no tannins present in your mead unless it is a
melomel (sorry I missed the initial question). Tannins are indeed desireable
in wines and they come from the grape skins. If mead is made strictly from
honey alone there won't be any tannins to pull out. Some recipes call for
adding grape tannins to the mead (available commercially).
> From: "Stephan Butcher"
>
> What are some other options?
> Can I use food grade plastic containers? Why not? What exactly are the
> requirements for the container?
> I can very likely get some of the new 5-gallon plastic water jugs they use
> for coolers, is there anything bad about using them?
The major objections I have heard against the use of plastic containers are:
1) they are easily scratched and bacteria can "hide" in these scratches even
through cleaning procedures only to come out later and contaminate your mead
or beer (not sure I buy this one entirely) 2) there are chemicals such as
plasticizers and metals that may leach out of the plastic and contaminate
your mead causing off-flavors (bad) or even potential health problems
(worse). This will depend on the type of container you are looking at -
there are "food grade" containers readilly available and these should be
safe.
>Are there any mead recipes that mature enough, quick enough
> to have by the end of March?
Stephan, I have had some fruit meads finish VERY quickly - in a couple of
weeks. I think this is likely due to all the added yeast nutrients from the
fruit allowing good yeast viability/performance. My advice is to try a fruit
mead and PITCH A LOT OF YEAST ! Like at least a gallon's worth of healthy
active well-aerated yeast for a 3-gallon batch of mead. It probably wouldn't
hurt to add some yeast nutrient or yeast energizer as well...
> Subject: What gravity determines sweet/semi-sweet/dry in mead?
> From: "Stevenson, Randall" <rstevenson@LDI.STATE.LA.US>
> I've used the Lalvin EC 1118 yeast several times and it is so attenuative
>...I was hoping for a sweet mead and added the zest at SG 1.014 to kill
> the yeast and obtain a FG of about 1.01. Is this right? or am I going to
> still have a dry mead?
Randall, I've never heard of using zest to kill the yeast, does this work??
My experience with EC1118 is that any further added sugar will be eaten
(eventually). All my EC1118 meads have ended up dry.
> "William Arthur Millett" writes:
> > Has anyone experienced bitterness in meads? I have a few lots that
are...
One possibility is from dying yeast ("yeast autolysis"). When the yeast die
they can lyse releasing their contents and these can cause bitter tastes, I
believe this is the origin of the term "yeast bite."
Staling is another possibility, some of the products of oxidized alcohols
may be perceived as being bitter. If the flavor develops over time then I'd
put my money on one or both of these mechanisms... I suppose contamination
is also a possibility to consider.
- -Alan Meeker
------------------------------
Subject: Carboys for a Po Boy
From: "Stephen J. Van der Hoven" <sjvander@mines.utah.edu>
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2000 17:30:52 -0700
Sorry to disappoint Butcher, but carboys are the best option for mead
aging and $14 for a carboy (new or used) sounds like a pretty good deal
to me. I have price them in several states and catalogs and they
usually run $18-20 new. I recently purchased some for $10/ea from
someone who was getting out of the brewing business and thought I was
getting a great deal. As has been discussed here a number of times,
plastic buckets (or water jugs) for long term aging is not a good
option. Oxygen will diffuse through the plastic and that's not good for
your mead. Kegs are another option, but way more expensive than
carboys. If your going into serious mead production, you're gonna have
put out $10-20/ea for carboys.
------------------------------
Subject: sweet mead yeast
From: Warren Place <wrplace@ucdavis.edu>
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2000 17:43:54 -0800 (PST)
Gregg wrote:
>By the way, this recipe used Wyeast sweet mead yeast, which I hear often
>goes dormant, then ferments a little more after it's stirred up (i.e.
>bottled or racked)
>Gregg Stearns
I have noticed this also. I made it a point to rock the carbouy
during early primary fermentation to rouse the yeast and release some CO2.
It went very well. Ferment was pretty slow so I racked it. Now is
appears to be going to beat the band, again! This just goes to show how
useful a hydrometer can be in determining secondary fermentation when you
aren't too lazy to use it.
This brings me to a new item. In trying to keep the yeast in
suspension and evolve some CO2, a magnetic stirrer would be great. If you
work in a lab, you probably know what I'm talking about. You drop an
inert, plastic-coated magnet into the solution and use a table with a
rotating magnet beneath it to stir the liquid. I looked in the Fischer
catalog and they wanted nearly $1000 (US) for a stirrer suitable for 5
gal. Anyone build one of these for less? My ferments seem to slowly
ferment to "dryness" (or not dry with Wyeast sweet mead yeast) but I like
healthy ferments. I get more sleep that way. I would switch yeasts but
haven't found one that quits at such a low alc% and is very neutral in
flavor.
Warren Place
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Bitter meads
From: Dan McFeeley <mcfeeley@keynet.net>
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2000 08:48:24 -0600
On Thu, 20 Jan 2000, in MLD 784, Wout Klingens wrote:
>>I have read that bitterness may be due to the type of honey used. Has anyone
>
>Possible. But not likely. If the honey isn't bitter, the mead shouldn't be.
>But bitter in honey is extremely difficult to detect because sweet is the
>opposite to bitter, so I've heard.
>
>>Can anyone help me out on this one?
>
>I hope others can. When I put this question before the readers some years
>ago I didn't get any reaction. So I found a solution for myself. I hope it
>works for you as well. First off I had bitterness in the carboy, so a lot
>sooner than you do. So I stopped using CaCO3, a possible cause of bitterness
>if you use too much. I noticed that adding acid (tartaric) helped. So I
>started that, whenever I noticed bitterness. At the same time I started
>adding tannin to help to clear up the mead. After every racking I blanketed
>with CO2. After that I never had any bitter batch ever. I don't add acid
>anymore. My guess is, that the tannin helped preventing oxydation, which
>could have been the cause of bitterness.
I don't think the tannn acted as an antioxidant, i.e., as something
preventing oxidation, but acted in other ways that helped correct for
oxidation. Phenolics in honey are contributed by the floral source, from
what I understand, and some of these phenolics can impart a bitter taste to
a mead when oxidized. It all depends on the floral source and the type of
honey being used in the mead. The phenolics tend to link up with the
proteins, forming protein/phenolic complexes that can contribute to haze
in meads. Tannin helps precipate these complexes, which would also help
remove oxidized phenolics contributing a bitter taste to meads.
Wout's suggestions take a two-fold approach to managing oxidation problems
- -- preventing exposure to excess O2 by blanketing with CO2, and the use
of tannin to help precipate protein/phenolic complexes that can create
a bitter taste when oxidized. Charlie Papazian, in _The Homebrewers
Companion_, also suggests purging a carboy with CO2 prior to racking
in order to reduce problems with oxidation.
Roger Kime and C. Y. Lee at Cornell university have done research in the
area of honey proteins and clarification of apple juice. Their work has
been helpful to me in understanding the kind of reactions Wout is describing,
but I haven't read their published research thoroughly enough to give a good
report to the digest. Wout's post prompted me to respond with what I've
learned so far, which isn't much! I'll be sure to post a fuller report
in the future.
<><><><><><><><><><><>
<><><><><><><><>
Dan McFeeley
mcfeeley@keynet.net
------------------------------
Subject: Find your local beekeeper to gain remarkable meads ...
From: Robert MacKimmie <rm@citybees.com>
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2000 15:45:41 -0800
Regrding honey sources ...
OxladeMac@aol.com said "Angela says":
>>> "I'm wondering if you know of sources to purchase honey?
>>> I've searched our local health food stores, grocery stores
>>> and even looked for beekeepers in our area (SF Bay Area, CA - no luck)."
Where ever you are, find a local beekeeper or beekeeper's association and
buy some of their honey. There is nothing finer than varietal honeys from
your local neighborhoods or outlying areas. Unheated and lightly filtered
honeys are unbelievable.
My honeys in San Francisco vary wildly from neighborhood to neighborhood and
the same hive can produce a completely different honey from season to season
- - Spring honeys are sweet and flowery, while Fall honeys (no snow to keep
bees from flying) are strong, powerful flavors that really have spice to
them.
I can't afford to sell my honeys cheaply, but many small time beekeepers, or
bigger beekeepers for that matter, can offer honey for a reasonable price.
Tasting the difference between a Sue Bee Clover honey mead and a San
Francisco Pacific Heights or Cow Hollow honey is beyond the descriptions I
read all the time on this list.
Support your local beekeepers by using their honeys for your mead. The
difference in local, unheated, fragrant honeys is remarkable.
r@citybees.com
San Francisco, CA
www.citybees.com
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #785
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