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Mead Lovers Digest #0936
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Errors-To: mead-errors@talisman.com
Reply-To: mead@talisman.com
To: mead-list@talisman.com
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #936, 12 June 2002
Mead Lover's Digest #936 12 June 2002
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Amercian Oak ("David Craft")
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #935, 10 June 2002 ("Joel Baker")
Blackcurrents ("Alan McKay")
Sweetening up my mead ("Steve Gaskin")
The passing of a mead innovator (Steve Daughhetee)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #935, 10 June 2002 (Christopher C Carpenter)
Blackcurrants (was Re: Adding Fruit) ("Christopher Hadden")
Re: Sweetening up my mead ("Christopher Hadden")
Potassium sorbate ("Dave Burley")
RE: Mead Lover's Digest #935, 10 June 2002 (David Chubb)
Sweetening mead ("Ken Schramm")
What to do with a mediocre mead? (Belinda Messenger)
honey (jcainva@juno.com)
Re: Blackcurrants (Terry Estrin)
RE: Subject: Sweetening up my mead ("P. D. Waltman")
exchanging meads ("David Craft")
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: Amercian Oak
From: "David Craft" <chsyhkr@bellsouth.net>
Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2002 18:33:15 -0400
Greetings,
American Oak ( Querkus Alba) is really more commonly known as "White Oak".
I think it may even be referred to as American White Oak. White Oak toasts
nicely and has a milder tannin compared to Red Oak and many
others...............
Regards,
David B. Craft
Battleground Brewers Homebrew Club
Crow Hill Brewery and Meadery
Greensboro, NC
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #935, 10 June 2002
From: "Joel Baker" <lucifer@lightbearer.com>
Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2002 17:57:02 -0600
> Subject: Blackcurrants (was Re: Adding Fruit
> From: "Geoffrey T. Falk" <gtf@cirp.org>
> Date: Wed, 5 Jun 2002 23:55:18 -0600 (MDT)
>
> Anyone had experience making blackcurrant mead? The fruit is pretty
> tart. any recipe would be welcome if it's been tested and turned out
> well.
Just about to go into bottles, from bulk aging: "Black Hearted Devil"
12# blackberry honey
3# clover honey (bringing up to 15#; should have been blackberry, but I
couldn't get it in small quantity)
5 gallons pure spring water (purified, not filtered)
3# frozen blackberries (from the freezer section at the store, organic)
5# dried black currants (aka 'Mediterranean Raisins', no preservatives)
Lalvin 71-B Mead Yeast
Yeast nutrient
Do a standard yeast starter well ahead, as always. Rehydrate the currants
(in some of your 5g of water) for ~30m. Use a blender to hack up both the
currants and the blackberries; optionally add pectinase, and even more
optionally let it sit for a while to work (I almost always add it, and
never bother letting it sit 12 hours; I let it work while things ferment).
Put all the honey and as much water as you can into a big saucepan, stir
until it dissolves, then heat it until pasteurized (you can heat the water
and then add honey, but I've had problems with predicting volume, and just
prefer to dissolve it first to avoid scorching). I use the 160'F no-boil
method, myself, but I won't go into that debate.
Dump it all together, and let it ferment. Primary fermentation took me
about a week, in a 76'F water bath (I love having spare aquarium kit),
but was well going (watch the currants on the currents) within just a
few hours after initial pitch. No problems with trying to blow the lock
off, but I let it aerate with a muslin cover for the first 24 hours just
to be certain.
Use a 6.5 gallon carboy, or you *will* run out of room; however, the pulp
takes up enough of the water that the first racking fit into a 5g, for me.
OG: OG 1.110, pH < 4.6 (before addition of a small amount of Cal. Carb.)
FG: Unavailable (hydrometer problems)
Finished very tart, lots of kick, and a purplish red that's almost black
in the carboy, but more brownish in a bottle (IE, with sufficient light).
Images at:
http://users.lightbearer.com/lucifer/mead/batch003_20020210_1.jpg (low light)
http://users.lightbearer.com/lucifer/mead/batch003_20020210_2.jpg (back light)
http://users.lightbearer.com/lucifer/mead/batch003_20020210_3.jpg (overlit)
(No pictures of it in-bottle available yet)
> An unrelated question:
>
> 1) Where to source gallon jugs? (I mean Imperial gallons, 160 oz, 4.5
> litre... Making a U.S. gallon batch of something is not worth my time.)
> These are great for small batches, making 6 standard wine bottles. In
> North America you are lucky to run across them. I retrieved four from my
> dad's basement, bought 20-30 years ago... they had to be cleaned up
> pretty well before using.
I get US gallon jugs regularly by buying organic cider in them at the store
(and sometimes just use that as a base for brewing, but...)
I haven't the remotest clue where to get Imperial Gallon jars; I seriously
doubt most US places will bother to carry them, since most brands bottle in
the US for US consumption, and thus, use US bottles...
- --
***************************************************************************
Joel Baker System Administrator - lightbearer.com
lucifer@lightbearer.com http://users.lightbearer.com/lucifer/
------------------------------
Subject: Blackcurrents
From: "Alan McKay" <amckay@bodensatz.com>
Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2002 20:12:41 -0400 (EDT)
> Anyone had experience making blackcurrant mead? The fruit is pretty
> tart. any recipe would be welcome if it's been tested and turned out
> well.
I dunno, but I just planted 3 blackcurrent bushes so should know
in a couple of years ;-) I planted a whole big patch of raspberries
as well.
But frozen fruit will usually break apart very readily so I wouldn't
worry about it at all.
> 1) Where to source gallon jugs?
Dairy Queen used to get concentrates in 160oz jugs. I have a
whole whack of them. But that was 15 years ago or more and most
likely they use plastic now.
cheers,
- -Alan
------------------------------
Subject: Sweetening up my mead
From: "Steve Gaskin" <stevegask@ihug.com.au>
Date: Tue, 11 Jun 2002 10:17:39 +0930
Hello Stefan,
Most of the meads I have made are slightly sweetened, since (like you) I
am not keen on the taste of dry.
I usually ferment to dryness, and then rack, and add honey to taste
(Heat sterilised as you suggest), plus 1 Campden tablet per 5 litres
along with 1 tsp Sorbate per 10 litres - all at the same time. Then
return to the vessel for bulk aging.
The only time I've had problems was when I bought a batch of very old
sorbate (unknown to me) and the fermentation restarted. As soon as I
located a supply of fresh Sorbate, I got the ferment to cease.
Steve
>I have a question as to what the proper way to sweeten a mead should
be. Do I add the Potassium sorbate, let sit for a day >and then
sweetento taste? I have heard that it is recommended to add Potassium
Sorbate and a Campden tablet to make >that all those lil yeasties are
extinct before adding additional honey? Also this would conceivably
stabilize the mead >somewhat. So when sweetening do I boil a little
water, turn off the heat and then dissolve the honey to be added to the
>fermentor ? Can someone enlighten me to the proper method to bring a
little sunshine to my otherwise dry mead?
>Cheers,
>Stefan
------------------------------
Subject: The passing of a mead innovator
From: Steve Daughhetee <sdd6@cornell.edu>
Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2002 23:49:31 -0400
This obituary appeared in the Cornell Chronicle on June 6, 2002.
Robert W. Kime, operations manager of Cornell's Fruit and Vegetable
Processing Pilot Plant at the New York State Agricultural Experiment
Station in Geneva,
N.Y., died May 27 at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, N.Y. He was 56.
A dedicated food scientist, beekeeper and outdoorsman, Kime was
committed to developing value-added products using the best that New
York growers have to offer -- honey, apple cider, vegetables and fruit juices.
"His expertise was valuable to scientists across the station and to
individuals in the private sector who contracted to use the pilot
plant," said station Associate
Director Robert Seem.
Kime was an innovative thinker who shared in several patents at the
experiment station. He and food scientist Cy Lee developed an
ultrafiltration method for
honey that improved the sensory quality of traditional mead.
Ultrafiltration has helped create major new markets for honey
producers all over the world. The two
also obtained a patent on the utilization of honey to clarify fruit
juice in processing.
"Bob got as excited about the products we were creating as we did,"
said Chris Stamp, one of the owners of Lakewood Vineyards in Watkins
Glen.
"Kimey," as many at the station knew him, also was a beekeeper and
the owner of Kime Farm Honey.
"Bob did so much for beekeepers," said entomologist Nick Calderone,
who directs Cornell's beekeeping program in Ithaca. "He was always
coming up with new
ways for the industry to use bee products."
Kime also was an avid outdoorsman and naturalist. Writing about Kime
in the September 1998 issue of Harper's magazine, Susan Brind Morrow,
a long-time
family friend, called him "the best wing shot in western New York."
Kime was born in Waterloo, N.Y., graduated from SUNY Morrisville in
1966 and received his B.S. in 1968 at the University of Georgia in
Athens. First
employed at the experiment station in 1968, he left in 1969 to return
to the University of Georgia for graduate studies, and then came back
to the station in 1970 as
a research technician. In 1979, he was promoted to research support
specialist. In 1995, he was appointed operations manager of the food
processing pilot plant.
He was first vice-president of the Empire State Honey Producers'
Association (ESHPA), a member of the Finger Lakes Beekeeper Club,
Ducks Unlimited and the
National Wild Turkey Federation. Among his many awards, he was named
the ESHPA's Beekeeper of the Year in 1990.
Kime is survived by his wife, Linda Horton Kime; his daughter,
Colleen Kime, of Romulus, N.Y.; his son, Shawn (Carrie) Kime, of
Geneva; his mother,
Dorothy Kime, of Geneva; a sister, three brothers, and several aunts,
uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins.
Memorial contributions may be made to Mercy Flight Central Inc., 2420
Brickyard Road, Canandaigua, N.Y. 14424; or to the South Seneca
Ambulance Corp.,
7100 N. Main St., Ovid, N.Y. 14521.
June 6, 2002
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #935, 10 June 2002
From: Christopher C Carpenter <chris.carpenter@ndsu.nodak.edu>
Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2002 22:55:03 -0500
Thanks a lot...that would be White Oak (Alba means White)
Now I feel a lot better for not letting a tree slip between
my grubby fingers.
Chris
- --On Monday, June 10, 2002 3:19 PM -0600
mead-request@talisman.com wrote:
> Handbook of Enology: The Microbiology of Wine says that
> American Oak is "Quercus alba".
------------------------------
Subject: Blackcurrants (was Re: Adding Fruit)
From: "Christopher Hadden" <chadden@contecrayon.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Jun 2002 00:40:13 -0500
> Anyone had experience making blackcurrant mead? The fruit is pretty
> tart. any recipe would be welcome if it's been tested and turned out
> well.
Have you ever had White Winter's Black Mead? It's made with black currants
and I believe fermentation takes place on the whole fruit. You might want to
drop Jon (the owner) a line for more info. http://www.whitewinter.com/
> An unrelated question:
>
> 1) Where to source gallon jugs? (I mean Imperial gallons, 160 oz, 4.5
> litre... Making a U.S. gallon batch of something is not worth my time.)
> These are great for small batches, making 6 standard wine bottles. In
> North America you are lucky to run across them. I retrieved four from my
> dad's basement, bought 20-30 years ago... they had to be cleaned up
> pretty well before using.
I'm not sure where to get Imperial gallon jugs but a 2.6 U.S. gallon (9.8 L)
fermenter might suit your needs. If you make slightly more than 2 gallons,
you'll still have enough headspace for the active fermentation and should
end up (after racking) with ten 750 mL bottles. Midwest Homebrewing Supplies
sells them: http://www.midwestsupplies.com/
Christopher Hadden
- --
chadden@aboutmead.com
http://www.aboutmead.com/
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Sweetening up my mead
From: "Christopher Hadden" <chadden@contecrayon.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Jun 2002 01:12:22 -0500
> I have a question as to
> what the proper way to
> sweeten a mead should be. Do
> I add the Potassium sorbate,
> let sit for a day and then sweeten
> to taste? I have heard that it is
> recommended to add Potassium Sorbate
> and a campden tablet to make that all
> those lil yeasties are extinct before adding
> additional honey? Also this would conceivably
> stabilize the mead somewhat. So when sweetening
> do I boil a little water, turn off the heat and then
> dissolve the honey to be added to the fermentor ?
> Can someone enlighten me to the proper method to bring a
> little sunshine to my otherwise dry mead?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Stefan
>
> Not all those that wander are lost.
> -J.R.R. Tolkien, novelist and philologist (1892-1973)
Frodo lives!
A few days ago, I transformed a somewhat harsh, bone dry traditional mead of
mine into a wonderfully smooth and sweet one. The OG was 1.090 and the final
gravity was 1.000. After two years of aging, I decided it was ready to be
sweetened.
I added about 1.5 lbs. honey to the 2.5 gallon portion I was working with to
bump the gravity up to 1.020 - sweet. When I added the honey, I preheated it
first to about 160?F for 15 minutes to pasteurize and to make it easy to
pour and dissolve. The addition of the honey made the mead hazy again so I
fined it with Sparkolloid. At the same time, I added potassium sorbate and
potassium sulfite to inhibit subsequent fermentation by yeast or otherwise
and dropped the temp to near freezing to cold stabilize. It was crystal
clear within a day. After a few weeks of cold storage, the final result is
an extremely smooth, eminently drinkable mead. I am really pleased with the
results.
My two cents,
Christopher Hadden
- --
chadden@aboutmead.com
http://www.aboutmead.com/
------------------------------
Subject: Potassium sorbate
From: "Dave Burley" <Dave_Burley@charter.net>
Date: Tue, 11 Jun 2002 09:39:23 -0400
Stefan,
Potassium sorbate's function is to prevent the yeast colony from expanding
and potassium metabisulfite is to prevent the existing colony from
fermenting any added sugar. Both are necessary to stabilize a sweet
beverage.
Dave Burley
------------------------------
Subject: RE: Mead Lover's Digest #935, 10 June 2002
From: David Chubb <dchubb@virpack.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Jun 2002 09:47:40 -0400
Vicky Pounded Plastic Protuberances to Produce:
>Laura,
>
>I believe that might be Mike Faul at mfaul@rabbitsfootmeadery.com.
>He and I are scheming to get his stuff into the Carolina Renaissance Faire
>next year.........
>
>
>Vicky Rowe, the Meadwench
>Proprietor of Gotmead.com - compendium of mead info http://www.gotmead.com
The same Faire that is just north of Charlotte, NC?
If so, do you want to entertain the idea of having a bottle swap
there. I have a few bottles of previous batches that I can swap for those
with other people. I think the idea of a Homebrew get-together at a Faire is
a superb idea. However the Faire organizers usually want someone at the
faire to sponsor such an event.
I am planning on doing a couple batches here this summer (one
Blackberry Melomel, One black cherry Melomel (there is a HUGE black cherry
tree down the road from me....and not the type of cherry that is the small
tart berries....the huge tree type that produces black cherries the size of
marbles...very tastey).
This early part of the summer I am planning on trying a Honey Suckle
mead. The problem is going to be getting enough of the "honey suckle
essence" to be profitable. I was planning on collecting flowers and making
the must right away. Probably only going to be a small 2 gallon batch. (I
have 2 gallon "mini" carbouy)
Another batch I was thinking of doing this fall is using Beach
Grapes to make a Pyment. For those of you who have had them they are
wonderfully sweet and flavorful grapes with extra thick rubbery skins. (Some
call them Quahogs, or Muscadine grapes) This batch wouldn't have much
honey....just enough to add complexity to the mix....prolly some clover
instead of using the usual Wild flower honey I get cheaply (I get honey in
barter for about 1/4 of my batches of mead).
Greetings from SWVA and Wassail,
David "WyrdOne" Chubb
------------------------------
Subject: Sweetening mead
From: "Ken Schramm" <SchramK@resa.net>
Date: Tue, 11 Jun 2002 09:46:12 -0400
WRT: Sweetening up my mead ("Berggren, Stefan")
Potassium sorbate is my preferred method. Unless you have been very
careful about avoiding it , you have been consuming it regularly for a
long time, and it is very effective for sweetening up too dry meads. It
doesn't actually kill the yeasties, just arrests their metabolic fermentation
processes. Half a tsp. per gallon aand 24 hours sounds perfect.
KDS
------------------------------
Subject: What to do with a mediocre mead?
From: Belinda Messenger <davispigeon@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Jun 2002 10:09:22 -0700 (PDT)
So you spend time and resources on a mead and even
after aging for a year or more, it still isn't all
that tasty. What do you do?
I made a little cocktail this weekend with a funky
mango melomel that just doesn't taste quite right (2
years old, semi-sweet, weird aftertaste and no real
mango flavor).
So I mixed it 1:1 with Mike's Hard Lemonade and people
couldn't get enough of it.
Thought it was an interesting "mead consumption"
topic.
Anyone else?
------------------------------
Subject: honey
From: jcainva@juno.com
Date: Tue, 11 Jun 2002 17:12:44 GMT
I'm new to making mead, and have a question regarding
the source of honey. I've read numerous guides and
opinions on making mead, and there seems to be a
somewhat common recommendation to avoid "blended
honeys", many of which use honey from Argentina.
What is the concern?
Currently, I have a light mead, dark mead, and a
chocolate mead fermenting. The light mead and the
chocolate mead are about a month old, and were
racked into secondary fermenters after reaching a
SG of about 1.004. The dark mead was started last
week. Based on how the light and chocolate meads
are coming around, I hope I have patience enough
to wait on them!
Jack
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Blackcurrants
From: Terry Estrin <testrin@sfu.ca>
Date: Tue, 11 Jun 2002 22:15:55 -0700
In response to Geoffrey Falk's request for a blackcurrant melomel recipe,
here's one that worked well for me:
10 kg (22 1bs) unpasteurized fireweed honey.
2 kg (4.4 lbs) unpasteurized dandelion honey.
13 lbs frozen organic blackcurrants.
Enough water to bring up the initial honey-only must to 23 litres, no acids
or tannin added, but did add 2 tbsp. gypsum and yeast nutrients.
Yeast: Lalvin K1-111V (did starter), 2 packets.
Overall proportions per gallon: honey 4lbs/ fruit 2 lbs.
Started by mixing honey and water to 23 litres total volume. Sulphited and
added yeast nutrients and gypsum. Got the starter going. 24 hours later
added the very healthy starter.
About a week later, took about 13 lbs of frozen blackcurrants and chopped
them up a bit in the food processor, and then brought the slurry to a boil
in small batches in a heavy-bottomed pot (it burns very easily). Cooled it
off and added the deep purple slop to the highly-active must. That's it,
basically.
Terry Estrin
Vancouver, B.C.
------------------------------
Subject: RE: Subject: Sweetening up my mead
From: "P. D. Waltman" <pdwaltman@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 12 Jun 2002 13:14:31 -0700 (PDT)
I have never used Sorbate in sweetenning up my meads.
I've let time take its toll and rackings to separate
the mead from the old yeast, and then add new honey
(often, but not always, diluted with a little hot
pre-boiled water). Then watch the airlock for a few
weeks and taste to see if the honey is where I want to
be.
So far upon bottling I have not had carbonation start
up, but most of these sweetenned meads have not gone
more than 2 years in the bottle yet.
Dennis Waltman
------------------------------
Subject: exchanging meads
From: "David Craft" <chsyhkr@bellsouth.net>
Date: Wed, 12 Jun 2002 18:08:55 -0400
Greetings,
Our homebrew club is having a Mead Meeting in August. I have two to try,
Blackberry Sparkling and Prickly Pear. Most of our members have not made
mead.
I have Plum Orange to trade, it is not quite aged enough yet.
I can purchase some traditional mead locally. I would like to have more to
try. Would anyone like to trade some mead? I have the plum-orange in 750 wine
bottles. It was made around Christmas and has been bottled since March. It
fermented and cleared quickly and should be ready by Christmas.
Please respond directly,
Thanks,
David B. Craft
Battleground Brewers Homebrew Club
Crow Hill Brewery and Meadery
Greensboro, NC
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #936
*******************************
