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Mead Lovers Digest #0846
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #846, 22 April 2001
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #846 22 April 2001
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Pear Juice ("Warren Ransom")
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #845, 10 April 2001 (Phil)
Re: MLD #845 (Mick)
Re: CO2 Blanket ("Lane O. Locke")
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #845, 10 April 2001 (Kevin)
Pseudo-cask conditioning question (Eileen.Tronolone@Sun.COM)
Re: Pseudo-cask conditioning question (NeophyteSG@aol.com)
Re: Hochdorf Tomb (NeophyteSG@aol.com)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #845, 10 April 2001 (Terry Estrin)
Re: Berry Melomel Recipe and CO2 headspace (Spencer W Thomas)
Re: Cask Flavors (JazzboBob@aol.com)
Re: Perry (JazzboBob@aol.com)
pumpkin corrections, pear juice, buying honey ("Eric Brown")
(no subject) (Thealderete@aol.com)
Re: Hochdorf Tomb (Dan McFeeley)
My 1st & 2nd batches: some questions (Jay Swartzfeger)
YWyeast-3184 and low pH (Mark Ottenberg)
NOTE: Digest 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. There is
a searchable MLD archive at hubris.engin.umich.edu/Beer/Threads/Mead
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Pear Juice
From: "Warren Ransom" <wransom@cwhassociates.com>
Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 10:54:01 -0400
I just made a melomel with 3 gallons of pear juice and it took off like a
rocket (and a real stencher, I might add, pear gives off the most robust
fermentation odour I have encountered so far). but, I included both honey
and pear juice. pear juice alone should work fine, I believe, similar to
apple juice and grape juice.
depending on the alcohol level you want, you may want to add honey anyway,
but I'm not sure of the sugar content of pear juice versus the other juices,
so I unfortunately cannot offer potential alcohol content (my OG readings
included the honey...).
good luck!
warren
>Subject: Would pear juice work?
>From: "brother william" <rileyg@mindspring.com>
>Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 23:13:24 -0600
>
>
>I have two bartlet pear trees that produce prolifically. I have a juicer
>that seperates pith from juice. I should be able to get several gallons of
>juice. Would this work in place of honey or do I need to use it for an
>additive to honey?
>
>I am just thinking of getting started in this.
>
>
>Accipe Spiritum Sanctum
>
>Riley Grotts
>A.K.A. brother william (at faire)
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #845, 10 April 2001
From: Phil <dogglebe@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 08:28:12 -0700 (PDT)
> Has anyone tried a make a fake-cask conditioned beer
> or mead by
> trying to replicate the cask flavor by adding...say,
> bourbon or
> sherry to the boil (evaporating the alcohol, but
> leaving the
> "cask-iness" of the liquor behind in the wort/must
What I have done in the past is soak some wood chips
in cheap scotch for a few days and then dried them out
in a toaster oven prior to adding them to the batch.
It seems to work nicely.
Phil
=====
visit the New York City Homebrewers Guild website:
http://www.pipeline.com/~dogglebe/nychg.html
------------------------------
Subject: Re: MLD #845
From: Mick <mwn@harborside.com>
Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 11:17:50 -0700
RE: Would pear juice work?
Hi kids! To answer Brother Williams's question about using pear juice,
I've made several meads with pears that I've run through the juicer
before adding to the brew. I find that juicing hard fruits (such as
apples, pears, etc) makes a mead that is clear with a delightful fruit
flavor. Juicing seems to pull more flavor from the fruit, as opposed to
soaking slices of fruit in the fermenter. And it makes an easier
clean-up after racking to the secondary.
Cheers!
Mick
------------------------------
Subject: Re: CO2 Blanket
From: "Lane O. Locke" <Shaggyman@kc.rr.com>
Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 13:41:41 -0500
Shaggyman still contends that CO2 is an effective and cheap way to keep
oxygen out. I have a degree in law enforcement, not physics, but my chemist
spouse and taster says it should be obvious that a liquid is not going to
absorb a gas and LOWER the pressure in a closed vessel, thus sucking in air.
The gas will only go into solution in a significant amount under pressure in
excess of ambient. If you open a bottle of beer or champagne, what
immediately happens? That's right- the CO2 dissolved in the liquid will
come OUT of solution as a gas because the system continually seeks
equilibrium, and immediately takes advantage of the lowered pressure to do
so. That is why we need strong closures on carbonated liquids- to hold the
pressure above atmosphere and preserve the gas in solution. Enough of that.
A side argument is that CO2 contains oxygen, and could conceivably undergo a
chemical reaction or spontaneously degrade and lose it's carbon, thus adding
free oxygen to the equation. I dunno- seems brought from a long way off to
me.......
Nitrogen has never been known to dissolve in a water-based liquid at normal
temperatures and pressures, and is certainly not going anywhere if you
vessel is sealed, even with only a fermentation lock. And it is not pricey,
either.
You will note that nitrogen is the blanket gas of choice in most wineries,
and is even used to sparge bottles on the bottling line.
It is pretty unbeatable for still mead on tap from a Cornelious bottle or
keg.
- ----- Original Message -----
From: <mead-request@talisman.com>
To: <mead-list@talisman.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2001 9:06 AM
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #845, 10 April 2001
>
> CO2 Headspace Filler:
>
> Dave Burley questions the use of CO2 as a headspace filler, so I have
> feedback and questions. >
> If this is not a good method, why does it work?
>
>
> >Shaggyman contends that CO2 is good for excluding oxygen. CO2 is soluble
> >in water and would quickly dissolve in any mead when it is used as a
cover
> >over mead or other beverage. Oxygen would then be drawn in unless you had
> >an hermetic seal which will maintain a vacuum ( dangerous with glass
> >bottles).
>
>
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #845, 10 April 2001
From: Kevin <eevilmouse@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 13:27:46 -0700 (PDT)
>Subject: CO2 blankets
>From: "Alan Meeker" <ameeker@mail.jhmi.edu>
>Date: Sat, 31 Mar 2001 11:44:12 -0500
>A CO2 blanket can be an effective trick. Sure, as Dave noted, CO2 is fairly
>soluble but remember, what you are typically covering with the this CO2
>headspace is a solution (your fermented mead) that is /already/ fairly well
>saturated with CO2 so very little of the added CO2 will be able to dissolve.
>I bought a small CO2 cylinder and regulator which I use for the purpose of
>excluding oxygen and have been very pleased with the results, never have
>seen any "suck back" through the airlocks. It is also nice for starting
>siphons during transfers - sanitary and oxygen free!
>Happy brewing
>- -Alan Meeker
Could you describe how you do this process? I would
like to know for I worry about contamination in the
siphon process, as well as looking for convient ways
of CO2ing..
-Kevin
=====
A fine is a tax for doing wrong.
A tax is a fine for doing well. -Emm
------------------------------
Subject: Pseudo-cask conditioning question
From: Eileen.Tronolone@Sun.COM
Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 16:39:10 -0400 (EDT)
John Baxter Biggins <jbbiggin@med.cornell.edu> wrote:
>Has anyone tried a make a fake-cask conditioned beer or mead by
>trying to replicate the cask flavor by adding...say, bourbon or
>sherry to the boil <snip>
I did a rosemary mead this way. I chopped the rosemary finely and
allowed it to sit in 1/2 a bottle of Sandeman's port until it had
absorbed all the port. I got this idea from Cindy Renfrow's book,
"A Sip Through Time". See www.poisonpenpress.com for the book.
I used port because I was trying to recreate a "sack" cask flavor.
See www.liii.com/~redsonja/mead13.html for the recipe. People at
the NYHBG meeting really liked this one a lot. I could taste the
port a little, but that might've been because I knew it was there.
- - Eileen
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Pseudo-cask conditioning question
From: NeophyteSG@aol.com
Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 18:28:13 EDT
Rather than add bourbon or the like, try adding oak chips in your secondary.
I'm currently "oaking" a blackberry Merlot and a blackberry melomel using
this technique.
Warm Regards,
Shawn
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Hochdorf Tomb
From: NeophyteSG@aol.com
Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 18:28:21 EDT
As a historical brewing buff, do you have any referencee/quotable references?
Warm Regards,
Shawn
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #845, 10 April 2001
From: Terry Estrin <testrin@sfu.ca>
Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2001 05:53:36 +0000
David Sherfey wrote wrote:
> I would queston the use of 20 lbs of honey for one
> reason. When this thing finishes it is gonna be thick. Even if you use
> the juice, sparge and squeeze method mentioned by Mark Shapiro later in
> MLD844, there will still be a lot of fluff in the bottom of the carboy when
> it finishes,
And Myron Sothcott wrote:
> I would cut the honey to 15 pounds
> to start, check the specific gravity when fermentation slows,
> and feed more honey to get a final gravity for the level of
> sweetness desired. <snip>
> Next, I would probably cut the total fruit back to about 10 pounds.
Yes, there will be a lot of fluff at the bottom, but it will pay off in
flavor. I have used 20 pounds of honey and 10 pounds of fruit for a 5 gallon
batch. The result was on the sweet side (which I like) and intensely fruity.
I don't recall what Mark Shapiro's "juice, sparge and squeeze method" was,
but what I did was do the fermentation in two stages, the first being fruit
only. After a couple of weeks of intense fermentation, I poured the whole
slurry through a nylon mesh bag (squeezing as hard as I could). At that
point (the second stage) the honey was added (like Myron suggests).
cheers,
Terry Estrin
P.S. I agree with everything David Wagner says about making melomel!
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Berry Melomel Recipe and CO2 headspace
From: Spencer W Thomas <spencer@engin.umich.edu>
Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2001 12:37:02 -0400
>>>>> "David" == David Sherfey <sherf@warwick.net> writes:
David> Dave Burley questions the use of CO2 as a headspace filler,
David> so I have feedback and questions. I have used this method
David> for years with what I think is great success. When I do
David> this, nothing grows on the surface and when I have
David> forgotten to in the past the result was scum on the surface
David> (you can rack out from under this). ...
David> If this is not a good method, why does it work?
A couple of thoughts on this question here...
1. When you "fill" the headspace with CO2, you push out all the oxygen
that is currently in the headspace. Over time, oxygen will diffuse in
through the fermentation lock, rubber stopper, etc. But this will be a
slow process, and the total oxygen exposure will be lower than if you
started out with ambient oxygen in the headspace.
2. You may also be "blowing out" airborne mold, yeast and bacteria, so
these don't have as much of a chance to settle onto/into the mead and
produce a surface scum (or other undesirable effects.)
=Spencer
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Cask Flavors
From: JazzboBob@aol.com
Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2001 22:52:24 EDT
I usually think of cask flavors as the aromatics and tastes that happen when
beer or wine is stored in wood. Oak barrels are the most common types,
although other woods are used and there are differences in American and
European oak as well.
There have been many discussions on the role and appropriateness of oak
tastes in beer and mead and the challenges of storing in wood barrels. Oak
will add tannins and woody flavors too. A little goes a long way in a mead.
Wood chips or Oakmore are the most common substitute and the easiest way for
home brewers to introduce the effects into their brew. I like to create my
own flavors from the original sources and ingredients, not blend in someone's
other commercial products. For example, real fruit -- not artificial
extract, or smoked malt -- instead of Liquid smoke.
You can introduce a small amount of chips at the end of the boil so that they
are disinfected. Or boil a tea from the wood and add that. Some folks like
to steep chips in grain alcohol to make an oak extract that can be blended to
taste. Just make sure to do something to treat the wood or you will
introduce some wild bugs.
Bob Grossman
>
> Subject: Pseudo-cask conditioning question
> From: John Baxter Biggins <jbbiggin@med.cornell.edu>
> Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 21:32:58 -0500
>
> Has anyone tried a make a fake-cask conditioned beer or mead by
> trying to replicate the cask flavor by adding...say, bourbon or
> sherry to the boil (evaporating the alcohol, but leaving the
> "cask-iness" of the liquor behind in the wort/must) I suppose this
> is similar to adding liquid smoke & other adjuncts to duplicate other
> styles. Just curious.
> - --
> John B. Biggins
> Cornell University Medical College
> Weill Graduate School of Medical Sciences
> Student -- Program in Pharmacology
>
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Perry
From: JazzboBob@aol.com
Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2001 23:00:55 EDT
Pear juice is used to make perry. It's somewhat like cider but has the
flavor of pears instead of apples.
I recently enjoyed a glass that a friend made last year. I imagine that you
will have enough juice to make a straight perry. Blend in some honey if you
want to be creative and make something a bit stronger and complex.
Bob Grossman
>
> Subject: Would pear juice work?
> From: "brother william" <rileyg@mindspring.com>
> Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 23:13:24 -0600
>
>
> I have two bartlet pear trees that produce prolifically. I have a juicer
> that seperates pith from juice. I should be able to get several gallons of
> juice. Would this work in place of honey or do I need to use it for an
> additive to honey?
>
> I am just thinking of getting started in this.
>
>
> Accipe Spiritum Sanctum
>
> Riley Grotts
> A.K.A. brother william (at faire)
>
------------------------------
Subject: pumpkin corrections, pear juice, buying honey
From: "Eric Brown" <apicoltore@hotmail.com>
Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2001 13:14:48
As a former commercial beekeeper, I'm going to try to clarify a few things
about honey and beekeeping.
Regarding the words "apiary" and "apiarist," an apiary is NOT a beekeeper.
An apiary is a place where bees are kept, although "beeyard" is the term
that beekeepers almost always use. "Apiarist" does mean beekeeper, but I've
never heard a beekeeper talk about beekeepers as "apiarists." Unless you're
on a mission to make the English language more complicated, I recommend you
all just call beekeepers "beekeepers."
Dave's comment that "you should call all honeys clover with a bit of
whatever" is completely wrong. It's quite possible that clover could be the
only substantial nectar flow where he lives in Wisconsin (I don't know about
WI specifically), but there are hundreds of varietal honeys to be found with
no clover honey mixed in. In North Carolina, for instance, most soils are
too acidic for the clover to yield any appreciable nectar, and there are
plenty of places where there isn't any clover to start with. Moreover, any
honey collected at times of the year when clover isn't blooming will not
contain clover honey.
To add to Phil's recommendations about buying local honey, I want to point
out some potential difficulties. First, from my experience (I'm also a
crazed honey collector), most farmers' markets and stores that try to convey
something of that image are not selling quality local honey. At the very
least, before you get excited about your "local" honey, make sure your honey
doesn't say in small print: "product of USA, China and/or Argentina." I
think the best way to get local honey is to go directly to the local
beekeeper. Your county agricultural extension agent should be able to help
you or at least connect you with a local beekeepers' organization. Keep in
mind there aren't very many commercial beekeepers around, especially around
major population centers. Finding local honey will require A LOT of effort
for most people.
One can certainly make wine from pear juice, but it won't be sweet enough to
substitute 1:1 for honey. The nutrients available to the yeast and very
likely the acidity will also be different.
>if your final reading was 0% you merely need to subtract 0% from 6.5% and
>have your alcohol level....if it was fermenting it was making alcohol...
Judging alcohol content by specific gravity is only a rough approximation.
A 1.000 specific gravity reading does not mean that all the sugars have been
converted to alcohol, besides which not all your dissolved solids are
sugars. Because water is heavier than alcohol, the specific gravity that
corresponds to a fully fermented mead will be less than 1.000, and it will
vary according to the amount of alcohol. This is the reason why alcohol by
weight and alcohol by volume are different values.
Eric
------------------------------
Subject: (no subject)
From: Thealderete@aol.com
Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2001 07:57:05 EDT
I just have one question. Is Mead (any kind) availible for purchase? I just
visited the Mead Maker's page and became interested. Mead making is not a
hobby of mine, hence, my ignorance. I would like a taste of history though!
Thank you
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Hochdorf Tomb
From: Dan McFeeley <mcfeeley@keynet.net>
Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2001 08:58:16 -0500
In MLD 845, On Mon, 2 Apr 2001, Paul Gatza wrote, in part:
>I stumbled into a page on the 1978 dig of the Hochdorf Tomb in a book
>called "The Celts, Conquerors of Ancient Europe" by Christiae Eluere
>as part of the Discoveries series published by Harry N. Abrams Inc.
>The piece is short with excellent pictures and illustration.
>
>The piece describes a bronze 125-gallon cauldron ornamented with
>Greek-style decorative lions set atop a wooden tripod. Nine drinking
>horns were found in the tomb, the largest nearly 4 feet long, holding
>5 quarts. Pollen analysis of the cauldron showed that the base was
>honey and included "local plants such as thyme, mountain jasmine,
>plantain, knapweed and meadowsweet."
>
>The site appears to be part of the "symposium" ritual, a banquet at
>which the dead man's companions assembled for the last time. Other
>symposium sites have been found at Halstatt. Prince Hochdorf was
>buried between 540 and 520 B.C.
Just to add to Paul's notes on Celtic meads and the symposium -- actually
an adaption of the Greek symposiun -- at about the 6th century B.C.,
expanding trade with the south introduced Mediterrean wine to the Celts,
quite possibly with the establishment of the Phokaian colony at Massalia
(France). As a status symbol for the Iron Age Celt of wealth, Mediterrean
wine and the various utensils associated with serving wine in Greek
households, such as cauldrons, straines, flagons, buckets, and drinking
cups, became popular in the Celtic regions and were first found in royal
graves dating from the Hallstatt period. The customary meads and honey
ales remained the beverage of choice in Celtic homes of lesser status
although not entirely absent from upper class meals, as the grave of the
Hochdorf prince shows.
The adaption of Mediterrean styled utensils was a necessity in part due
to the custom of shipping wine as a concentrate. The large cauldrons
were needed in order to mix the wine with water and bring it back up
to a proper drinking strength. Celtic artisians were also adapt at
working styles and techniques from other countries into these utensils,
turning out Attic styled cups or Etruscan flagons. Some of them were
imported, such as the immense bronze krater from the grave of the
princess at Vix.
Many writers such as Christiane Eluere in the book Paul quotes from, felt
that along with the importation of Mediterrean wine, Mediterrean customs
such as the Greek symposiun were also taken up by the Celts. Not everyone
follows this view, however, saying that in spite of Celtic fondness for
Mediterrean wines, their drinking customs remained indigenously Celtic.
In "The Celtic Drinking Banquet," (www.iath.virginia.edu/~umw8f/Barbarians/
Essays/drink.html) Constanze Witt shows many strong distinctions between
Celtic and Greek drinking festivals. The Greek symposiun took place in
a private room and was an all male affair. The participants reclined on
couches offering prayers and poetry while drinking wine. Food was not
consumed at these gatherings. Music and song was supplied by the
banqueters themselves, philosophy was sometimes discussed and as the
festival and wine drinking progressed, there may be games of 'kottabos,'
flinging the dregs of wine at a target. The symposiun would finish with
a drunken processional through streets, called a 'komos.'
The Celtic banquets, in contrast, combined food and drink, nor did the
participants recline at the meal as did the Greeks. Onlookers drew back
in cultured horror at many Celtic practices at these meals, such as the
careful but leonine tearing of meat from the joints, only stopping to use
a small knife set aside for the purpose if necessary, and of course, much
was made of Celtic thirst at these meals. The choicest portion was set
aside for warriers of highest valor, sometimes leading to quarrels over
who was most deserving. Greek observers saw nothing in common with their
symposia, but instead made comparisons to the feasts of the Greek heroes
in the Iliadic past. Along with Witt's observations there is another item
of note -- the grave of the Celtic princess of Vix also contained a cauldron
and drinking vessels, a violation of the all male Greek symposiun.
A fault common to all the Classical writers was their complete failure to
observe and understand the social and even sacral significance of alcoholic
beverages to the Germanic and Celtic peoples they called barbarian. The
Hochdorf honey mixture was much more complex than the picture given by
Eluere in _The Celts: Conquerors of Ancient Europe_. Analysis allowed the
identification of approx. 58 different herbs, however, there were an almost
equal number of sources that could not be identified. A total of more than
one hundred different plants had been used in the honey, some of which
had been brought from great distances and would have required special
expeditions. The oversized iron drinking horn with its eight accompanying
and normal sized drinking horns, coupled with the extremely complex honey
mixture clearly indicate a place in Celtic society for alcoholic beverages
as having both communal and sacral functions (_Lady with a Meadcup_, 1996
pp. 34-35).
I'm going to quit here -- this is getting a little too long as it is. A
lot has been written on the significance of alcoholic beverages to the
Germanic peoples but little on possible parallels with the Celts. There
are some intriquing instances, such as the centrality of the meadhall to
the Anglo-Saxons and the name given the great banqueting hall at Tara,
the legendary seat of the high kings of Ireland, as 'Tech Mid chuarda,'
the meadcircling house.
<><><><><><><><><><>
<><><><><><><><>
Dan McFeeley
mcfeeley@keynet.net
------------------------------
Subject: My 1st & 2nd batches: some questions
From: Jay Swartzfeger <jswartzfeger@home.com>
Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2001 18:01:33 -0700
Hi all,
First I'd like to say how valuable a resource MLD is-- it's been great
going through the archives to find all those tips to make my first batch
the best it can be.
Anyway, I have some comments/questions about my first 2 batches if any
veteran would care to offer advice, enlightenment, etc.
My first batch is a 1 gallon batch using 2.5# of local (Arizona) desert
bloom honey and champagne yeast. I didn't boil-- I heated the must just
enough to make the honey easily dissolve while I stirred. It's pretty much
a straightforward mead except for the few cloves and 2 cinnamon sticks I
threw in. It's been bubbling nicely for a week now, and I'm probably
getting a bubble every 6-7 seconds or so in the airlock.
I have 2 questions about my 1st batch.
1) After a week in primary, I have a very fine layer of sediment on the
bottom (probably between 1/8 - 1/4 of an inch thick). How long can my
primary sit atop this sediment? I've read lots of different things... do I
wait until my fermentation has slowed considerably? Wait a week? A month?
2) Based on the general ingredients/techniques listed above, does it look
like my first batch will run on the dry side? That's what I'm looking for,
but now I'm worried it may run too dry/hot because of the champagne yeast.
My second batch... wow, what a wonderfully terrifying experience it's been.
:)
I decided to try a Raspbery Melomel, this time in my newly acquired 3 gal.
carboy. My 3 gallon batch used 10# of Arizona desert light amber honey, 3#
of frozen raspberries, the juice from 1 lemon and a packet of champagne
yeast. Unlike the first time, I had a yeast starter going a few hours
before I even started on the must. Again, I didn't boil-- I heated the
must just enough to make the honey easily dissolve while I stirred. I
thawed the raspberries and crushed them while still in the bags. Like an
idiot, I forced all 3# of raspberries through the narrow neck of the
carboy (definitely plastic buckets next time for a melomel-- I'm terrified
of having to rack this mess). I let the must cool a bit and then poured it
on top of the berries sitting on the bottom of the carboy. Pitched the
yeast, aerated/shook like a madman and then attached the airlock. BTW, I
left a few inches of headspace, because I had a sneaking suspicion that it
would quickly fill (which it did, even more than I expected).
The first surprise was that the berries were floating on the top... I don'
t know why, but I had expected them to sit on the bottom.
The second surprise was when I checked on my batch 3 hours later-- the
headspace I left in the carboy were now GONE! The raspberries were now
pushing dangerously close to the bottom of the stopper. I very carefully
carried the jug and placed it in my bathtub (I figured an explosion would
be much easier to clean up in my tub than in the laundry room). I left the
room for a few minutes to consider my options, then came back in to
discover that the water in my airlock was now a deep reddish/purple! Ok, I
was freaking at this point. :) I quickly sanitized a fork, carefully
removed the airlock and began to fish out chunks of raspberries. I
basically used instinct, taking out what I thought was 'enough' to leave
this monstrosity room to grow.
I've been keeping a close watch on it, and I'm happy to report that my
batch is behaving quite nicely now. However, I can't believe how ACTIVE
this thing is. It's like a living/breathing/undulating fermenting bubble
monster! My first batch glubbed once every 6 seconds or so; this beast is
glubbing once a second (or more) in the airlock.
Ok, now my questions on the second batch:
1) Is it an issue that the raspberries are sitting on top of my whole
batch? Will they eventually drop to the bottom?
2) Based on my ingredients (about 3.3# honey per gallon, juice of 1 lemon,
pasteur's champagne yeast), will this turn out semi-dry?
3) Will my finished product lack aroma because I used the fruit in the
primary?
4) Has anyone ever used fruit in both the primary and secondary?
5) I fear that once I rack into my secondary, the absence of all that
fruit will leave a LOT of extra space in my carboy. Do I fill that extra
space with spring water (which could dilute it)? Do I throw in some extra
honey? Am I worrying too damn much? :)
Thanks for dealing with this long post... I'm absolutely mad for mead
right now. If I had 1000 carboys, I'd have 1000 batches bubbling away...
TIA,
Jay Swartzfeger
Scottsdale, AZ
jswartzfeger@home.com
------------------------------
Subject: YWyeast-3184 and low pH
From: Mark Ottenberg <mark@riverrock.org>
Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2001 22:08:32 -0600
Hi Folks:
My first batch of mead in 3 years and curses, what I consider as low pH and
a stopped fermentation.
This time I used what was locally available, Wyeast 3184 -- Sweet Mead
Yeast. Has anyone else had problems with this yeast?
My pH's are constantly at or below my measurable pH range, which is now
2.8. I know that mead ferments at low pH, but I think this is TOO LOW.
I tried removing a half gallon of a 5 gallon batch and replacing it with
water only to find the pH returning to 2.8 and the fermentation stopping a
few days later.
I am about to try adding something to raise the pH, but don't remember what
to use. Calcium Carbonate should work, but in my stupor from the current
winter cold, I don't remember where to get it. I'm afraid of using
something like NaOH simply because of the buildup of sodium will probably
affect the taste. Or should I simply kick back, have a homebrew stop
measuring the pH and wait, wait, wait???
Peace,
-- Mark
mark@riverrock.org
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From: Joyce Hersh <msmead@doctorbeer.com>
Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2001 20:57:11 -0400
Well, after a long hiatus, I am finally ready to begin brewing again. I
have been thinking of trying the Wyeast Sweet and Dry mead yeasts. Does
anyone have any data on how much sugar these yeasts will chew up? What's a
good starting gravity for each yeast, and what ending gravity can I expect
to end up with?
- -- Joyce
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End of Mead Lover's Digest #846
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