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Mead Lovers Digest #0918
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 #918, 9 April 2002
Mead Lover's Digest #918 9 April 2002
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Re: Mead Questions, Mead Judging ("Gregory Lorton")
yucca mead? (Maureen)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #917, 6 April 2002 (Ups474@aol.com)
Re: How long for the fruit in the primary? ("Ken Taborek")
Re: Mead Questions ("Ken Taborek")
Re: Braggot (BillPierce@aol.com)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #917, 6 April 2002 (Christopher C Carpenter)
Braggot ("Micah Millspaw")
Stuck Mead ("Kemp, Alson")
Re: Lugershallmead (Spencer W Thomas)
re: Braggot ("Alan Duke")
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: Re: Mead Questions, Mead Judging
From: "Gregory Lorton" <glorton@cts.com>
Date: Sat, 6 Apr 2002 10:47:08 -0800
First post here! :-)
For Ivorypearl - Two weeks was probably early to rack the mead out of =
primary. Also, the hydrometer readings sound a little off. (Could the =
first reading have been 1.120, rather than 1.102?) The gravity should =
have dropped during the two weeks (assuming the temperature was more or =
less the same).
Probably more importantly, did you include yeast nutrient in your =
recipe? If not, you may want to get some (at a homebrew shop), add a =
few teaspoons, and probably pitch some new yeast also.
For Magnus Vinje and his mead contest in BC - Check out the BJCP website =
for style guidelines and a mead scoresheet (with judging criteria). The =
style guidelines for mead are at
http://www.mv.com/ipusers/slack/bjcp/styleguide25.html
A PDF of the mead scoresheet can be found at
http://www.mv.com/ipusers/slack/bjcp/comps.html
The BJCP homepage is http://www.mv.com/ipusers/slack/bjcp/index.html
Cheers (Wassail!)
Greg
------------------------------
Subject: yucca mead?
From: Maureen <eveningstartwo@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, 6 Apr 2002 11:52:20 -0800 (PST)
Has anyone heard of this? Or better yet, made any? I
live on 80 acres in Colorado and I've got *a lot* of
yucca and I was wondering if I could make good use of
it. I was thinking about the blossoms sorta like
dandelion mead.
Maureen
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #917, 6 April 2002
From: Ups474@aol.com
Date: Sat, 6 Apr 2002 17:00:43 EST
to oak mead, I like to use untoasted American oak chips that I cover with a
shot of brandy (one ounce- by weight- of oak chips to start with), and add to
5 galons of mead. I taste the mead two weeks later, and if it's not "oaky"
enough, I add another ounce of oak chips (covered with brandy) and check
again in another two weeks. using this method, I prevent over-oaking the
mead- a good thing, since you can't remove oak flavor from mead. I now never
use more than 4 ounces of oak in 5 gallons of mead. I remember one batch
that I over-oaked, I almost tossed it out, instead, I saved it, and blended
it with an un-oaked mead, and came out with 10 gallons of mead that was
perfect, so don't worry too much if you over do it. Checking it once a week
will prevent any over-oaking from occuring, anyway.
------------------------------
Subject: Re: How long for the fruit in the primary?
From: "Ken Taborek" <Ken.Taborek@Verizon.net>
Date: Sun, 7 Apr 2002 00:21:44 -0500
> Subject: How long for the fruit in the primary?
> From: "William Boutwell" <wboutwell@emeraldhomeloan.com>
> Date: Wed, 3 Apr 2002 16:20:47 -0800
>
> I recently did a batch of watermelon melomel with 12# of wildflower honey
> straight from the beekeeper. I boiled for 5min, skimmed the gunk off and
> poured the hot must onto the juice and chopped meat from 12# of sweet
> seedless watermelon. I added the nutrient and 2paks Pasteur Champage yeast
> and sealed up the plastic primary with airlock. The OG was 1.090
> It has been
> bubbling along for 2 weeks now. At what point should I remove the fruit?
> This is my first melomel and I did not add pectic enzyme powder. Can the
> enzyme be ( or should it ) be added at the first racking?
> Also, I plan to do another melomel with diced sweet pears
> soon. Any pros
> out there with any exp. with either fruit?
>
> Thanks for the help, this forum is wonderful!
> - -William
William,
I've made primarily melomels, and I leave the fruit in until it's ready to
rack. If I add the fruit in the primary that means that the airlock
activity is less than a pulse per minute, and if I add the fruit in the
secondary it means basically the same thing. So, the fruit essentially
stays in the fermentor until it's time to rack. Then I squeeze and wring
the fruit bag to extract all of the fruit goodness, and then rack.
Cheers,
Ken
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Questions
From: "Ken Taborek" <Ken.Taborek@Verizon.net>
Date: Sun, 7 Apr 2002 00:34:41 -0500
> Subject: Mead Questions
> From: Scott_Warzecha@apsnet.com
> Date: Tue, 2 Apr 2002 10:15:45 -0500
>
>
>
> Hello,
> I am new to the digest and was wondering if anyone could
> helpme out with a
> few questions. I started my first batch
> of Mead about two weeks ago (3-20-02). It is a metheglin. I
> watched my airlock
> during this time and it was bubbling, but slowly, not like
> described on the
> digest. I racked into the secondary on 4/1/02. I did not see a
> lot of foam in
> the primary fermenter or when I racked into the glass carboy. I
> attached my
> airlock and waited for my airlock to bubble. I am worried
> because I see no
> activity and because when I tasted the mead it was very sweet.
> It did not taste
> bad, no off tastes but it did not taste like it had much alcohol
> to it. I read
> somewhere that a mead that tastes sweet may mean that
> fermentation has ceased.
> I used cote de blanc by red star as a yeast. Anybody have any
> idea what is
> going on here? Am I jumping the gun with my concern or could there be a
> problem? Any suggestions would be very welcome. I am not good with the
> hydrometer. I tried my best to use one, not sure if done
> correctly but I tried.
> On 3/20/02 I took a reading and it read approximately 1.102 and
> on 4/1/02 it
> read 1.171. Does anyone have feedback on those readings? Thank
> you in advance
> for your help.
>
>
> Cheers
> Ivorypearl
Scott,
You'd be well served if you learned to read your hydrometer correctly. It's
your single best tool for beer/wine/mead making.
Your reading indicate that the specific gravity of your must increased over
the period from 3/20 to 4/1. This indicates either a large April Fool's
joke on you by your mead, or a misread hydrometer... :)
The higher the hydrometer reading, the denser the fluid, and since alcohol
is less dense than water, as your must ferments your hydrometer reading
should be going _down_, not up.
To read your hydrometer correctly, you need to take a sample of your must,
place it in a tall and narrow container suitable to float the hydrometer,
and read the specific gravity while the hydrometer is floating. Examples of
things that can falsify your readings are: Your hydrometer is resting on the
bottom of the container; your hydrometer is in a fluid with a lot of
suspended solids (such as chunks of fruit); your hydrometer is in a fluid
with a lot of dissolved CO2 that is buoying up the hydrometer as CO2 bubbles
deposit themselves on the hydrometer; etc.
Use common sense, be careful, and you'll find that reading a hydrometer is
not difficult at all.
Cheers,
Ken
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Braggot
From: BillPierce@aol.com
Date: Sun, 7 Apr 2002 19:35:17 EDT
In MLD #917 Nathan Kanous asks about braggot. I have brewed braggots on a
couple of occasions. Far and away the most successful was a batch that
consisted of 35 percent Maris Otter pale ale malt, 10 percent CaraPils malt,
5 percent light crystal malt and 50 percent light clover honey. I mashed the
grain, boiled the runoff, hopped with Hallertaus to 12 IBUs for bittering
only (no flavor or aroma hops) and added the honey at the end of the boil. I
pitched Wyeast 1318 and fermented at 64 F, racked to secondary for three
months and bottled (primed with corn sugar and carbonated to 2.9 volumes of
CO2). The O.G. was 1.061 and the F.G. was 1.008. The resulting beverage was
much more like beer than mead, although it did have a soft, fruity quality
and faint honey aroma that was very pleasant. It was well liked by lovers of
lighter American beers (the body was relatively thin) despite being nearly 7
percent alcohol by volume. On a whim I entered it in a smaller Midwest
competition (90 entries), where it won the best of show award.
Wassail!
- -- Bill Pierce
Cellar Door Homebrewery
Highwood, IL
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #917, 6 April 2002
From: Christopher C Carpenter <chris.carpenter@ndsu.nodak.edu>
Date: Sun, 07 Apr 2002 20:28:33 -0500
Greetings Unto the Mead hall.
As another who has little experience with adding Oak to Mead, I have
another couple of "Gotcha's" to ask also. First, is there a recommended
variety of Quercus (Oak) for this purpose, or will any do, and second, Are
there any "Oaking Fer Dummies" tips,, ie. lighter tasting Honeys should be
brewed drier.... etc..It would be interesting to find out if some of my
meads would have been improved by the addition of... Or the necessity of
Oak.
Thanks, I ALWAYS learn from you guys... you are great
Chris Carpenter
- --On Saturday, April 06, 2002 10:50 AM -0700 mead-request@talisman.com
wrote:
> I am about to "oak" a mead for the first time. Are there any
> gotchas I should look out for? Two questions are: How do you
> sanitize the chips(I have Hungarian oak chips), and how much
> do you use for a 5 gallon batch of mead? Anybody have a
> tried and true method they want to share? TIA
------------------------------
Subject: Braggot
From: "Micah Millspaw" <MMillspa@silganmfg.com>
Date: Mon, 08 Apr 2002 10:53:01 -0500
>Subject: Braggot
>From: Nathan Kanous <nlkanous@pharmacy.wisc.edu>
>Date: Wed, 03 Apr 2002 08:25:19 -0600
>Howdy,
>I've always been a bit curious about braggot. Searching the web comes up
>with some recipes, but what expertise can we get from this forum regarding
>recipe formulation and such? How many of you make braggot
>regularly? Hopped braggot? Fruit Braggot? Mazer cup winners? Any
>thoughts appreciated.
>nathan in madison, wi
I like to make my braggots rather drambue like. To get that effect I use
smoke malt in the grain bill. Some times I use peated malt sometimes
home smoked malt. I most often make a batch of braggot at the same
time as I am brewing a smoked malt beer. I just split off the amount of
wort that I want and blend it into the must. All of my braggots so far
have been lightly hopped. No late or dry hopping, just boil hops.
Nottingham ale yeast seems to work pretty good as it is very alcohol
tolerent and it flavour profile compliments the malt aspect of the braggot.
One thing that I have noticed is a longer maturation time than most other
meads styles (although it could just be my preferences). I haven't had a
braggot (my own) that I thought was drinkable at less than 5 years. The
other day I opened a peated one that was bottled in '96, it was excellent,
but it had seemed mediocre in '00.
Micah Millspaw - brewer at large
------------------------------
Subject: Stuck Mead
From: "Kemp, Alson" <alson@corp.cirrus.com>
Date: Mon, 8 Apr 2002 09:15:02 -0700
Scott wrote that he had a stuck mead:
> I watched my airlock during this time and
>it was bubbling, but slowly.
Not too uncommon. I'm a reasonably experienced mead
brewer and I had a 3 month fermentation last winter. I use
additives, too.
>I racked into the secondary on 4/1/02.
When you racked into the secondary, you probably racked
the must off of the bulk of the yeast, so you can expect
fermentation to slow dramatically.
Couple of suggestions:
1) Go look at Digest #914 for my post on Clayton Cone's
yeast guidelines. As Clayton pointed out, if you start well, you
can ferment a mead in a week. I had one ferment out to dryness
in >3< days.
2) I restart stuck meads by:
a) make a strong yeast starter
b) dissolve 1gram/gallon of must of both superfood and
DAP in small amount of warm water. So for 5G of mead, add 5grams
of superfood and DAP to a few ounces of water.
c) get new carboy.
d) add dissolved nutrients to carboy.
e) rack must into carboy. splash the must along side of
carboy to oxygenate the must a bit.
f) add yeast starter to racked must/mead
g) pray.
3) Be glad that the must didn't stick at 1.030 and 11%
alcohol!
-Alson Kemp
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Lugershallmead
From: Spencer W Thomas <spencer@engin.umich.edu>
Date: Mon, 08 Apr 2002 13:32:57 -0400
Why on earth did this person drink it room temperature and warmed?
It's like a white wine and should be drunk chilled, IMHO.
=Spencer
------------------------------
Subject: re: Braggot
From: "Alan Duke" <aduke@comtechpst.com>
Date: Tue, 9 Apr 2002 12:17:34 -0400
Subject: Braggot
From: Nathan Kanous <nlkanous@pharmacy.wisc.edu>
Date: Wed, 03 Apr 2002 08:25:19 -0600
Howdy,
I've always been a bit curious about braggot. Searching the web comes up
with some recipes, but what expertise can we get from this forum regarding
recipe formulation and such? How many of you make braggot
regularly? Hopped braggot? Fruit Braggot? Mazer cup winners? Any
thoughts appreciated.
nathan in madison, wi
Hi Nathan,
I brewed my first Braggot last year. Since I wasn't sure what to expect,
I decided to split a batch of beer in half. It worked so well that I plan
to use the same technique every time I brew beer. Here are my notes. Best
of Luck!
Alan
OatMeal Stout (& Braggot) AD 8/6/01 - 9/23/01
MASH:
1 Gallon spring water at 175 F
1/2 lb Roasted non-malted Black Barley
1/2 lb Black Patent Malt
1/2 lb Chocolate Malt
1/2 lb Torrified Wheat Malt
1/2 lb Briess Bonlander 2row Malt
1 lb Old Fashioned Rolled Oats
Temp after adding grains 154 F
Held for 45 minutes
SPARGE:
1 & 1/2 gallon filtered water at 172 F
BOIL:
~2 Gallons wort
2 oz Kent Goldings Pellets (Alpha 5%)
1 oz Cascade Pellets (Alpha 7.3%)
6 lb Muntons Plain Extra Dark Spray Dried Malt
3 teaspoons Gypsum
Total Boil time 1 & 1/2 Hour
FERMENT:
2 Gallon boiled wort
3 Gallon cold filtered water
Danstar Manchester Dry Yeast
O.G. 1.057
(Hydrogen Sulfide smell during most active part of fermentation)
Racked to Secondary after 7 days
SECONDARY:
Rested for 3 weeks in Secondary
S.G. 1.022
(Hydrogen Sulfide smell gone)
SPLIT BATCH (BRAGGOT)
Racked 2 gallons Stout with the yeast cake on to
3 lbs of honey pasteurized in 5 pints of water
Stout Braggot OG 1.058
(Honey Must OG ~1.140) Smells GREAT!!
Slight Hydrogen Sulfide smell returned on 3rd day of re-started
fermentation...gone on 7th day Fermented and Rested in 2.8 gal carboy total
3 weeks
FG 1.012
Bottled 13 X 22 oz (Fisher) and 2 X 16 oz (Grolsch)
Primed 3/8 cup corn sugar boiled in 1 pint water
Not as hoppy as the beer, but oh so smooth!
SPLIT BATCH (STOUT)
Bottled 30 X 12 oz (Bass)
Primed 0.5 cup corn sugar boiled in 1 pint water
BIG Full bodied taste nice hop aroma and flavor
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #918
*******************************
