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Mead Lovers Digest #0839
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #839, 21 February 2001
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #839 21 February 2001
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
clarification ("Alan Meeker")
Re: Storing mead (Dave Polaschek)
Re: Storing mead (Dave Polaschek)
aged honey [was Re: question] (Dave Polaschek)
Re: Champagne corks (Michael Kaiser)
cloudy pear mead ("Paul Hudert")
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #838, 13 February 2001 (BillPierce@aol.com)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #838, 13 February 2001 (Marc Shapiro)
Well, that didn't go as planned. ("Michael Yacht")
Sweetening Meads at Bottle Time ("Jeffrey Zajac")
Stability of Honey (Nathan Kanous)
NOTE: Digest appears when there is enough material to send one.
Send ONLY articles for the digest to mead@talisman.com.
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Digest archives and FAQ are available at www.talisman.com/mead. There is
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: clarification
From: "Alan Meeker" <ameeker@mail.jhmi.edu>
Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 14:06:24 -0500
Jack asks about a cloudy pear mead he has:
> Some of the options that I have not tried yet are polyclar,
> isinglass, cold refrigeration and/or filtration. Or one final
> option, smile and drink cloudy mead.
Another possibility for the cloudiness is pectin. You can buy the enzyme
pectinase commercially to degrade it which /I think/ should help clarify it.
Not sure if starch haze is a reasonable possibility or not for pears but you
could also try some amylase.
- -Alan Meeker
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Storing mead
From: Dave Polaschek <davep@davespicks.com>
Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 13:22:31 -0600
some-guy@juno.com wrote:
>How should I store it?
I store meads in the same closet that holds my wines. It averages about
65F in the winter and about 75F in the summer. Never had a problem.
Room temperature is fine for storage. Darkness is nice, but the major
reason to keep beer in the dark is because of the hops. Meads which don't
have hops can be stored where they get indirect light with no problem
(especially if bottled in brown glass).
> Also, should extra care be taken in storing lower gravity
>meads? Since a ~5% abv. mead would have neither the higher
>alcohol content nor hops to slow it from turning to liquid
>evil, would refrigeration be an absolute necessity after
>a month or so?
I've never worried about this, and never had a problem. If you were
sanitary during fermentation, bottling and any other handling, there's no
reason the mead should spoil. It's in a sealed bottle, and as long as the
seal is good, the mead should remain good.
I've used this sort of lacksadaisical storage for meads, aging some to
nearly five years with no ill effects. The only bottle I've had spoil is
one where the crown-cap wasn't completely sealed (it was put on crooked).
- -DaveP
Dave Polaschek - Polaschek Computing, Inc. - davep@best.com
PGP key and other spiffy things at <http://www.best.com/~davep/>
"Open Source": adj. software developed by a loose confederation
of drunken graduate students under the mistaken belief that
their work is actually worth something to someone.
- Alex Rosenberg
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Storing mead
From: Dave Polaschek <davep@davespicks.com>
Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 13:22:31 -0600
some-guy@juno.com wrote:
>How should I store it?
I store meads in the same closet that holds my wines. It averages about
65F in the winter and about 75F in the summer. Never had a problem.
Room temperature is fine for storage. Darkness is nice, but the major
reason to keep beer in the dark is because of the hops. Meads which don't
have hops can be stored where they get indirect light with no problem
(especially if bottled in brown glass).
> Also, should extra care be taken in storing lower gravity
>meads? Since a ~5% abv. mead would have neither the higher
>alcohol content nor hops to slow it from turning to liquid
>evil, would refrigeration be an absolute necessity after
>a month or so?
I've never worried about this, and never had a problem. If you were
sanitary during fermentation, bottling and any other handling, there's no
reason the mead should spoil. It's in a sealed bottle, and as long as the
seal is good, the mead should remain good.
I've used this sort of lacksadaisical storage for meads, aging some to
nearly five years with no ill effects. The only bottle I've had spoil is
one where the crown-cap wasn't completely sealed (it was put on crooked).
- -DaveP
Dave Polaschek - Polaschek Computing, Inc. - davep@best.com
PGP key and other spiffy things at <http://www.best.com/~davep/>
"Open Source": adj. software developed by a loose confederation
of drunken graduate students under the mistaken belief that
their work is actually worth something to someone.
- Alex Rosenberg
------------------------------
Subject: aged honey [was Re: question]
From: Dave Polaschek <davep@davespicks.com>
Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 13:34:02 -0600
Dan McFeeley <mcfeeley@keynet.net> wrote:
>Sorry Dave, gotta quibble just a little with your statement of honeys
>lasting for hundreds or even thousand of years.
You're right of course, Dan. The honey will not be as good as new after a
very long time. But my hyperbole aside, the shelf-life of honey is such
that it's still quite usable after "a couple years", and probably usable
for brewing (though perhaps a bit bland) for longer than that, especially
if stored in a cool location.
As when using any natural ingredient, it's best to inspect it before just
throwing it in. If the honey looks good and still smells like honey, I
wouldn't be afraid to use it. If it's a black, tarry mess, I'd probably
consider finding another use for it.
And thanks for the explanation of HMF.
- -DaveP
Dave Polaschek - Polaschek Computing, Inc. - davep@best.com
PGP key and other spiffy things at <http://www.best.com/~davep/>
"The ready availability of suicide, like sex and alcohol, is one
of life's basic consolations." - Edward Abbey
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Champagne corks
From: Michael Kaiser <kaiseriron2@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 12:43:11 -0800 (PST)
>Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #837, 8 February 2001
>From: Peter Matra <petermatra@mobile.att.net>
>Date: Fri, 09 Feb 2001 10:54:45 -0500
>
>I've never corked anything for carbonation before. Do you need a floor
>corker? and wiring like Champagne to hold in the cork? Does this cost a lot
>of money?
Peter,
My first corked sparkling mead was a lemon-ginger. I wanted it to stay
sparkling, so I asked the local homebrew doode what to do. He sold me
some plastic corks, with wire cages. At bottling time, it was easy to
push the corks(plastics?) on with just the palm of my hand, (I swing a
hammer all day for a living, your methods may vary)then give it a whack
with a large sculpting mallet, then on with the wire cages. I even
bought some foil covers to go over the whole thing ...looked very
nice...
So to answer your question:
Nope, ya dont need a floor corker, or cork press, if you use plastic
corks
Wiring is advisable. Buy the foils too, they look great.
Its cheaper than cork-corks, tho the initial expense of champagne
bottles is worth the the money. They are a tough, thick bottle that
will last a long time.
Plastic corks are reusable, if you can find them after they have been
jettisoned by some sod that does not know that when opening a bottle of
sparkling wine,
it should make no more noise than a womans contented sigh.
Enjoy,
Michael Kaiser
IronSmith Design
=====
IronSmith Design
http://ironsmith.sphosting.com
- -The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the
source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger,
who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead:
his eyes are closed. --- Albert Einstein
- -an uair a theld an gohainn aer bhath 'se is dearr a bhi reidh ris.
When the Smith gets wildly excited 'tis best to agree with him.
--- Gaelic proverb
------------------------------
Subject: cloudy pear mead
From: "Paul Hudert" <paulgarbanzo@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 16:45:19 -0500
>Subject: Clarifying techniques
>From: Jack A Stafford <miscjas@phylum.rsc.raytheon.com>
>Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2001 09:33:25 -0800 (PST)
>
>My pear mead (perry) that was made with unfiltered pear juice.
>After nearly two years it is still very cloudy. Last fall I
>added bentonite, which did not work.
>I've been shining a flashlight into the carboy's shoulder
>area to see if it's starting to clear up. Nope, not clearing.
>
>Some of the options that I have not tried yet are polyclar,
>isinglass, cold refrigeration and/or filtration. Or one final
>option, smile and drink cloudy mead.
>
>Cheers,
>- --
>Jack
>Costa Mesa, California
>
I have had the same experience with my pear meads and pearys, I don't know
if it will help, but i will share my experiences
I made a 1 gallon batch of Honeyed peary (unfiltered pear juice with a
really spicy honey, the honey tasted like cinnimon and nutmeg! (don't know
what it's really called, because I thought I was buying a gallon of Tupelo..
but it's not Tupelo!) anyway, I was thinking it would make a great wassail
mead..
it was cloud, and remained cloudy for many months after it finished
fermenting.
I added bentonite. waited 2 weeks. noticed some difference. it wasn't
quite as murky, but it was still opaque. so taking some advice from a
friend of mine, I swirled the gallon jug gently, but with enough force to
get the bentonite up in the suppension again. This helped quite a bit, but
was still a long way from clear. I waited 2 more weeks, and did it again.
I did this probably 4 times. in the end, i had a mostly clear peary. I
could shine a light through it and see it through it clearly, but it was
definately not "crystal clear". I figured that was as good as it was going
to get, and bottled it.
I also have a 5 gallon batch of pear mead. basic mead recipe, add several
diced pears. this is completely opaque. adding bentonite didn't do
anything to it. it's been a couple weeks, and I racked them into plastic
buckets as I'm moving to California in 2 weeks. we will see what it looks
like when I get to San Francisco... if we have electricity..
perhaps when I get out there we can compare notes!
Paul
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #838, 13 February 2001
From: BillPierce@aol.com
Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 17:57:17 EST
In MLD #838, Jack Stafford asks about finings for clarifying his perry. He
mentions that he used sanitized cat litter (bentonite) without results. The
problem is that the bentonite must be finely powdered and mixed extremely
well with boiling water to form a slurry rather than in granular form.
Actually, I recommend Sparkolloid for clearing meads and ciders. It is
available at beer/winemaking shops and has worked for me without fail when a
mead has not cleared on its own.
Wassail!
- -- Bill Pierce
Cellar Door Homebrewery
Recently relocated to Salt Lake City
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #838, 13 February 2001
From: Marc Shapiro <m_shapiro@bigfoot.com>
Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2001 01:30:42 -0500
> Subject: Re: pH and acid
> From: Cassells <gordon@castlemark-honey.com>
> Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2001 13:01:40 -0400
>
> Ouch! Good start Marc, you're right a high pH is, in fact a low acid solution
.
>
<SNIP>
>
> Honey is a terrible buffer. In fact, it has almost no buffering to it.
>
> Grains and fruits have LOTS of buffering.
Nathan already corrected me off-list on this one. Sorry ;-( my goof.
As I told Nathan, it has been a looong time since I had any chemistry
and I do my brewing, vinting and winemaking by what works, not by
chemistry and numbers. I hope I didn't mess anyone up there.
Fortunately we have enough people on the digest to give correct answers
to chemistry questions. Maybe I'll just stay quiet on those questions
in the future and let those more knowledgeable answer them.
- --
Marc Shapiro "If you drink melomel every day,
m_shapiro@bigfoot.com you will live to be 150 years old,
http://www.bigfoot.com/~m_shapiro/ unless your wife shoots you."
-- Dr. Ferenc Androczi, winemaker,
Little Hungary Farm Winery
------------------------------
Subject: Well, that didn't go as planned.
From: "Michael Yacht" <yacht@sgi.net>
Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2001 11:21:32 -0500
I've been a lurker on this digest for a while. Started my first batch
of mead ever in October. Everything seemed to be going as planned.
Fermented nicely, took good gravity measurements and everything. It
wasn't clarifying, which I heard was common, so I tried sparkalloid.
The stuff worked great. Overnight the stuff was almost totally clear.
Except ...
There is this snot-like mass in the middle of the carboy.
I figure this is bacteria .. can someone tell me? I'm totally bummed, I
was looking forward to bottling it this month.
I didn't use campden tablets at all, because I heard they take a while
to age out. I was very careful with all my instruments, using bleachy
water to disinfect everything, and using bottled water to rinse. I
guess I didn't do a good enough job (sigh).
So, I guess I have two questions:
1) Is that snot-like white mass in the middle of my glass carboy
bacteria? If so, is there anything I can do to salvage the mead or
should I just dump it down the sink?
2) Will campden tablets save this from happening again? How long do
they take to age out?
(ok, so that was two multipart questions).
- -Mike
------------------------------
Subject: Sweetening Meads at Bottle Time
From: "Jeffrey Zajac" <lawsearch@earthlink.net>
Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2001 14:32:09 -0800
I have a lime mead that has ended up too dry, and is basically ready to
bottle at this point. My plan is to sweeten it at bottling time and to add
potassium sorbate as a stabilizer. My questions are these: (1) what is the
best way to sweeten the mead? Should I add a concentrated honey/water
solution or is another sweetener superior for this purpose? (2) If I add a
solution with honey at bottling time, will this affect the clarity of the
mead? Any comments would be greatly appreciated? Thank you.
Jeff Zajac
Highland Park, NJ
732-249-103
------------------------------
Subject: Stability of Honey
From: Nathan Kanous <nlkanous@pharmacy.wisc.edu>
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2001 08:41:58 -0600
Howdy,
I've read the recent postings and found myself contemplating just a bit. I
think that the one missing link between the two postings is storage conditions.
I don't recall who indicated that honey will lose much of it's wonderful
aroma and such with any extended storage. If this were the case, then all
of our mead would be just bland and boring with no noticeable honey aroma.
Aha, there's the kicker. Either the stuff stays forever (ala the Pyramids)
or it disappears instantly. I think one critical issue is
storage. Namely, keep it sealed. If honey is allowed exposure to the
environment, it's much more likely to lose the aromatics than if it's
hermetically sealed.
Now, these are two extremes, but I think that reality lies somewhere in
between. Yeah, if we don't pay much attention to how we store our honey it
won't be nearly as stable. If we're careful with it, it should store quite
well for a relatively long period of time (certainly not decades....more
like a year, or two....or three...or...)
Just stirring the must.
nathan in madison. wi
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #839
*******************************
