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Mead Lovers Digest #0968
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 #968, 10 November 2002
Mead Lover's Digest #968 10 November 2002
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Re: Agave mead (Steven Sanders)
Re: Rhodomel (Steven Sanders)
Re: rhodomel (Vicky Rowe)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #967, 8 November 2002 (Belinda Messenger)
Re: Eucalyptus ("Dan McFeeley")
Priming vs diluting ("Randy Goldberg MD")
Conversion chart including gluconic acid ("Dan McFeeley")
Planet Buzz and the new Buzz: Ask for Mead (Ken Schramm)
NOTE: Digest appears when there is enough material to send one.
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Re: Agave mead
From: Steven Sanders <geigertube@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 8 Nov 2002 09:35:37 -0800 (PST)
- --- mead-request@talisman.com wrote:
> Subject: Agave Mead
> From: "David Craft" <chsyhkr@bellsouth.net>
> Date: Sat, 2 Nov 2002 19:53:08 -0500
>
> Greetings,
>
> I started an Agave mead in August. Sorry to bring
> this up again. It seems
> stuck at 1.10 starting at 1.11. It fermented for
> about a month and quit.
> It has some nice yeast slurry on the bottom but has
> almost cleared and no
> activity that I can tell. I have roused quite a few
> times.
>
> I started some Sherry yeast and pitched that a few
> weeks ago, nothing.
>
> Should I wait, I have heard it can take a year, but
> at this rate, never!!
David,
I heard that a lot of the agave nectar/syrup available
has unlabeled preservatives in it.. This could be your
problem.. You could try and overwhelm it with yeast,
pitch 4x or more of your normal rate, but im not sure
that would work. I think that St Pats used to sell
agave nectar, but they stopped because of this
preservative issue..
Regards,
Steven
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Rhodomel
From: Steven Sanders <geigertube@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 8 Nov 2002 09:45:30 -0800 (PST)
> Subject: rhodomel
> From: MIUKAT@aol.com
> Date: Sun, 3 Nov 2002 16:03:42 EST
> just wondering, i would love to make it myself, but
> have no access to fresh
> roses at this time. i made rose brandy. it is a few
> years old, but the flavor
> is still good, even though the color has oxidized a
> bit. has this happed in
> the rhodomel after a while, too? thanks, christina
Using dried petals is also a possibility.. I made a
dry mead a while back using dried roses, and though I
had to age it for a bit, (~ 1 1/2 years) it turned out
pretty well. Although, Ive never made a batch with
fresh ones (yet) so I cant really say how it compares
to fresh.. But it had a strong rose nose :) and was
pretty tasty. It was a bit astringent, though. But I'm
not sure if that was because of the dried roses, or
just a quality of the rhodomel in general.
Regards,
Steven
=====
Two and two are merely four.
Often less, but never more,
And I, for all the worlds advance,
An upright mammal, wearing pants.
http://www.studiosputnik.com
------------------------------
Subject: Re: rhodomel
From: Vicky Rowe <rcci@mindspring.com>
Date: Fri, 08 Nov 2002 13:21:49 -0500
>hi, in reference to the rhodomel and freezing rose petals, wouldn't the
>petals lose some potency and color after thawing, and could you make a rose
>syrup based on x amount of honey and water taken from the original recipe and
>add petals to it throughout the blooming season until you are satified with
>the strength?
>just wondering, i would love to make it myself, but have no access to fresh
>roses at this time. i made rose brandy. it is a few years old, but the flavor
>is still good, even though the color has oxidized a bit. has this happed in
>the rhodomel after a while, too? thanks, christina
Hi Christina,
Well, I froze the petals both to preserve them as I gathered throughout the
blooming
season, and to break up the cell walls for fermentation. I guess you could
make a
rose syrup, or extract the flavor using vodka. I just tossed a mesh bag of
frozen
rose petals into my must and let it hang out there all during the second
fermentation.
I can't speak to oxidation on my rhodomel, since it just got made this
year, and hasn't
had a problem with that yet.
However, at this time, it is a deep rose in color, and the taste and smell
are exactly like
live roses smell. Nice, and sort of different, but the basic reaction has
been 'oooohhhhhh'
with folks closing their eyes with happy smiles.......
Wassail!
Vicky Rowe - who really needs to do this again, real soon now.......
Makin' mead? Drinkin' mead? Find articles, recipes, advice and hundreds of
links to anything you want to know about mead at http://www.gotmead.com
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #967, 8 November 2002
From: Belinda Messenger <davispigeon@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 8 Nov 2002 12:51:11 -0800 (PST)
Subject: 1000 or so
From: rcd@talisman.com (Dick Dunn)
Date: Sun, 3 Nov 2002 23:41:15 -0700 (MST)
Dick,
You had me going for a bit...then I remembered the
"Salad Mead" you proposed one April 1st.
Whew, I'm glad there is someone else who can't
(won't?) stay within the confines of a recipe. I have
had fits trying to write the recipes for my meads
since mead-making is more of a process for me...sort
of a "hmmm, not much cherry taste at the 1st racking,
think I'll throw in some cherry cider and a bit more
honey..." Of course, this is probably why I have such
long ferments, since I'm always tinkering it.
Wassail!
Bella
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Eucalyptus
From: "Dan McFeeley" <mcfeeley@keynet.net>
Date: Fri, 8 Nov 2002 15:54:06 -0600
On Mon, 4 Nov 2002, in MLD 967 (33 to go!), Peter Nolan wrote in part:
>New Zealand and Australia, close as we tend to be in culture and
>interest, are very unrelated botanically. New Zealand has some magic
>honies, certainly more renowned than Australian ones, but from
>completely different flora.
You might want to take a look over at the Australian Honey Research
site at http://www.fst.uq.edu.au/staff/bdarcy/honey/ Apparently
Australian Jelly Bush honey has antibiotic properties nearly as potent
as the famed New Zealand Manuka honey. Other interesting factoids:
There are over 33 different floral sources used by beekeepers in the
production of Australian honey. Eucalyptus floral sources include
blue gum, yellow box, river red gum, stringy bark, yapunyah, bloodwood,
blue top ironbark, grey ironbark, gum top ironbark, and narrow leafed
ironbark. Non Eucalyptus sources include Tasmanian leatherwood,
brush box, heath, jelly bush, tea tree, crow ash and sunflower. There
is also an Australian stingless bee that produces honey.
Obviously Australia's honeys are as unique as its flora and fauna.
There seems to be an unexplored potential here for Australian
meadmaking.
<>:<><><><><><><><><>
<><><><><><><><>
Dan McFeeley
mcfeeley@keynet.net
------------------------------
Subject: Priming vs diluting
From: "Randy Goldberg MD" <goldberg@bestweb.net>
Date: Fri, 8 Nov 2002 19:16:27 -0500
> If you can prime a dry mead with sugars to raise the
> gravity, thus stimulating the fermentation, why can you not
> add more water to a mead to lower the gravity (and alcohol
> content), to a level it will start fermenting also?? I
> would think you could do this in as controlled a manner as
> priming.
>
> Please comment on this concept, for I also would like to
> make sweeter carbonated meads instead of dead dry.
The balance, as I understand it, is between the maximum gravity the yeast
will live in at the start of fermentation (too much sugar kills the beasties
as readily as it does you or I, by more or less the same mechanism of
cellular dehydration) and the maximum level of alcohol the yeast can
tolerate at the end of fermentation. If you start with a high gravity, with
a low tolerance yeast, you get a sweet low-alcohol mead. If you start with a
low gravity with a high tolerance yeast, you get a bone dry mead; if you add
more sugar, you get more fermentation.
So, the question becomes, "At the end of fermentation, am I at the maximum
alcohol tolerance of my yeast, or have they run out of sugar completely?" If
the yeasts are all dead of alcohol poisoning, adding water will only dilute
the mead, not restart it. Similarly, if there's no sugar left, lowering the
gravity and alcohol levels won't restart fermentation.
The trick, I think, is to run out of sugar JUST BELOW the maximum alcohol
tolerance of the yeast, ferment to dryness, then add more sugar (or honey,
as the case may be). The yeast ferments the new sugar in the bottle,
producing carbonation, and dies quickly because it's so close to it's
tolerance, leaving behind residual sugar, so you get a sweet carbonated mead
without a bottle bomb. Sounds like a tricky balancing act to me.
Randy
****************************************
RandomTag: "I'm a doctor, Jim, not your love slave."
------------------------------
Subject: Conversion chart including gluconic acid
From: "Dan McFeeley" <mcfeeley@keynet.net>
Date: Sun, 10 Nov 2002 10:41:48 -0600
This is another version of the corresponding acidity chart I posted
a few MLD's back. This one has a column for gluconic acid, the
primary acid found in honey and mead. As you can see, it takes
a *lot* of gluconic acid to equal the acidic strength of tartaric
acid.
CORRESPONDING ACIDITIES OF VARIOUS ACIDS
Tartaric Malic Citric Gluconic Sulfuric
1.0 0.893 0.933 2.55 0.65
1.5 1.34 1.4 3.25 0.975
2.0 1.787 1.867 5.1 1.3
2.5 2.233 2.333 6.375 1.625
3.0 2.68 2.8 7.65 1.95
3.5 3.127 3.267 8.925 2.275
4.0 3.574 3.733 10.2 2.6
4.5 4.02 4.2 11.475 2.925
5.0 4.467 4.667 12.75 3.25
5.5 4.914 5.134 14.025 3.575
6.0 5.36 5.6 15.3 3.9
6.5 5.807 6.067 16.575 4.225
7.0 6.254 6.534 17.85 4.55
7.5 6.7 7.001 19.125 4.875
8.0 7.147 7.467 20.4 5.2
8.5 7.594 7.934 21.675 5.525
9.0 8.041 8.401 22.95 5.85
9.5 8.487 8.867 24.225 6.175
10.0 8.934 9.334 25.5 6.5
<><><><><><><><><><>
<><><><><><><><>
Dan McFeeley
mcfeeley@keynet.net
------------------------------
Subject: Planet Buzz and the new Buzz: Ask for Mead
From: Ken Schramm <schramk@mail.resa.net>
Date: Sun, 10 Nov 2002 20:47:45 -0500
Well, if you didn't go, you missed the mead bash of this (and probably
the last) century. It was a complete scream.
I met many impressive folks, including David Myers from Redstone, Ron
Fischer, Charles McGonegal from Aeppeltreow, Denice Ingalls from Sky
River, Robert Capshew; I know I'll forget folks, but I have yet to meet
a meadmaker I didn't like. And Dan McFeeley and Chuck Wettergreen
(again). Nice pepper meads, guys. And a host of folks with great mead
in the meadmakers' lounge. And Ron Lunder, finally!
I had too many good meads to detail, but a few that stick in my mind are
T&A Vintners hibiscus metheglin, David's "Meadmosa" with Black Raspberry
mead and OJ, and both Dan and Chuck's chipotle/jalapeno methegins. I
tasted great honeys (watermelon! Yow!) and ate great food, including
great apples brought in by Aeppeltreow, and a terrificly complex and
aromatic perry.
The biggest take-home message: what we need is (for lack of a better
word) Buzz. We need to create a regular and consistent commentary and
demand for mead among the public, retailers and restaurant/bar owners.
I am bummed that I didn't think of it when the question was posed during
the panel discussion, but my new motto/battle cry: :"Ask For Mead." Ask
at the restaurant. Ask at the bar. Every time you go to have a drink,
ask if they have any meads. Ask at the grocery store, the liquor store,
the beer store. Ask for mead. "Do you have any mead?" And when the
answer is "yes," BUY IT. If you want to go a step further: ask for your
favorite mead by name.
Sure, there is a lot to be done to get the good word about mead to the
public, through every media outlet we can get to (and trust me, several
of us will be working our butts off on that) but the grassroots
development will work wonders if we stick to it.
Hobbyists may question the payback, but the answer is simple and
undeniable. The more the commecial meadmakers can learn, the more
infomation they will have to help us improve our meads. Commercial QC
has led to almost every substantive quality-raising development in beer
and winemaking, and hobbyists reap the rewards right alongside the
commercial folk.
Ask For Mead.
New discussion thread: If there was a New American Mead Asociation,
what would you want it to be and do?
Ask for Mead.
Ken Schramm
Troy, MI
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #968
*******************************
