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Mead Lovers Digest #0939
From: mead-request@talisman.com
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Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #939, 28 June 2002
Mead Lover's Digest #939 28 June 2002
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
saving yeasts ("Charles wettergreen")
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #938, 24 June 2002 (Belinda Messenger)
Re: Rose Mead ("Joshua Laff")
Re: Mead Questions ("Kemp, Alson")
Low alcohol content (Peg Wimmer)
lavender mead (Taryn East)
First Mead (Hop_Head@webtv.net)
honey and pH, woodland honey ("Dave Burley")
Re: Med questions ("Dan McFeeley")
cranberry mead (Jack)
Update on the rose mead (Vicky Rowe)
NOTE: Digest appears when there is enough material to send one.
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: saving yeasts
From: "Charles wettergreen" <chuckwm@hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, 24 Jun 2002 10:20:12 -0500
In MLD #938 "Brett Moore" <bn_moore@hotmail.com> asked:
<snip>
>3. I have looking into purchasing a number of oak wine aging >barrels.. Is
>oak aging used much in mead production? does it add to >or remove from the
>natural character of the mead? any experiences?
When Wout Klingens and I went to Brittany (France) to talk to professional
meadmakers, mead there was made *only* in oak wine barrels. These guys had
old stone barns filled with (I dunno, 50 gallon) barrels from some of the
finest wineries in France. As M. Gautier said, pointing to one very new
barrel, "This one once contained a *very* expensive wine."
Their method was simple: mix it up, pitch, siphon it into the barrel, and
wait for it to fall clear. Their meads did not have a significant amount of
tannin and were some of the best meads *I* have ever tasted. But then I
still haven't drunk the 7 year-old mead (at that time) that (84 year-old
former resistance fighter) M. Barbe' gave me in 1999. :)
Also David Martin <david@airgeadstudio.net> wrote:
>I have been doing some reading about yeast culturing. Does anyone in >the
>list have any experience with keeping yeast cultures? Especially >long term
>storage of frozen yeast?
>
>I use White Labs or wyeast liquid cultures at the moment and as they
> >arefairly dear here on Oz, they make up a large part of the cost of >each
>brew. I figure as long as it's not too difficult/time >consuming/risky,
>keeping a culture of the yeasts I use frozen will >save me a lot of money.
Back when I used to brew (beer) alot, I used to culture yeasts. It resulted
in a significant savings in my costs. Saving yeasts on slants is very easy
and they will literally keep for years in your refrigerator. And all you
need to use them is an oxygen bottle and some canned wort. Blast the wort
with O2 and take a little scrapings from the slant and you've got starter.
I'd caution against freezing yeasts. That, I believe, takes some specialized
equipment and treatments. However, to culture yeasts all you need is one of
those platinum loop wire thingys, a propane torch, some baby food jars
pressure-cooked with agar in them, and exceedingly rigorous cleanliness
standards.
Cheers,
Chuck
meadmaker\beekeeper\Geneva, Il
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #938, 24 June 2002
From: Belinda Messenger <davispigeon@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 24 Jun 2002 10:28:10 -0700 (PDT)
I worked in a lab where we had to keep many strains of
yeast clean and viable...even in a fairly clean,
setting with industrial-quality equipment, it was a
difficult proposition. Many strains can survive
freezing, but you won't know until you go to defrost
your culture and you have survivors (or NOT). There is
also a great deal of work done on what to freeze your
yeastie-beasties IN. Sterile skim milk seemed to work
best for us. Also, long-term freezing in a home
freezer will be subject to freeze-thaw cycles, a major
killer of cells. My advice...try to be as clean as
possible (sterilize your medium, containers and
anything that will come into contact with your yeast)
and freeze down lots of cells. Use a starter culture
and wait until the bubbling stops before freezing. I
would not suggest freezing the lees of a finished
fermentation...too many of your cells will be dead.
Excuse the ramble and I hope this is somewhat helpful.
Good luck!
From: David Martin <david@airgeadstudio.net>
Date: Sat, 22 Jun 2002 15:44:50 +1000
Hi All
I have been doing some reading about yeast culturing. Does anyone in the
list have any experience with keeping yeast cultures? Especially long term
storage of frozen yeast?
I use White Labs or wyeast liquid cultures at the moment and as they are
fairly dear here on Oz, they make up a large part of the cost of each brew.
I figure as long as it's not too difficult/time consuming/risky, keeping a
culture of the yeasts I use frozen will save me a lot of money.
Thanks.
Cheers
Dave
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Rose Mead
From: "Joshua Laff" <elfboy0@netzero.net>
Date: Mon, 24 Jun 2002 11:12:59 -0700
Vicky Rowe <rcci@mindspring.com> writes:
> Checked it on 6-10, and it has a lovely dark rose color, and a
> wonderful rose flavor, but it also has a slight sort of oily/soapy
> film on the top which I'm hoping will age out. It is otherwise
> fabulous, and I'm planning on racking off the roses in about
> another week, maybe less.
Assuming that your cleaning and rinsing techniques were all good, I think
you may find that the oily/soapy film is actually some of the essence of the
rose oil! Supposedly, the essential oil of rose was discovered in a similar
fashion, when one of the Queens of England (I forget which one) noticed an
oily film on the water surface of a body of water (lake?) where a number of
rose petals were floating.
- - Joshua
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Questions
From: "Kemp, Alson" <alson.kemp@cirrus.com>
Date: Mon, 24 Jun 2002 13:42:57 -0700
Brett,
Here are answers that only partially address the
questions that you asked.
>1. I am a little confused as far as PH.
pH and TA (titratable acidity or total acidity or ...)
are only loosely related, so adding acid does not necessarily
dramatically reduce your pH (especially the weak acids that we
use in brewing).
One reason I add acid is to balance taste (especially if
the mead is a little sweet). How are pH and TA related? Well,
APPROXIMATELY:
TasteOfAcid = TA (g/L) - pH
>2. Has anyone had any experience with woodland honey?
I have no experience, but would love to try some!
Anywhere to order it online?
>3. I have looking into purchasing a number of
>oak wine aging barrels.
My advice: if you're not sure, don't purchase them for
mead making. I love a bit of oak in my mead, for the same reason
that I like it in my Chardonnay. BUT the easiest way to add the
oak is via oak chips purchased from your local homebrew store.
Add a pinch or two of oak chips to a glass of mead, cover and let
sit in 'fridge for a couple of hours. Viola! Oak in your mead.
If you like it, swell. If not, then you haven't wasted the
considerable money on barrels (unless the barrels are also for
other wines).
>4. Also not sure about making a sweeter mead.
Racking the mead off of the gross lees is a GREAT way to
stick a mead. I find this method particularly effective:
1) taste fermenting mead for sweetness
2) if too sweet, wait a couple of days and goto (1)
3) put 50ppm worth of SO2 and an appropriate amount of
sorbate into a clean carboy.
4) rack mead into clean carboy.
The SO2 will shock the yeast into submission and the
sorbate will keep them from budding/reproducing (?).
-Alson
------------------------------
Subject: Low alcohol content
From: Peg Wimmer <pudljmpr@swva.net>
Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2002 19:17:15 -0400
hello all,
I have attempted two batches of melomel (one mixed berry - one
lemon/ginger) using a local wildflower honey as base. In both batches the
initial 24 hours was lackluster in the bucket. Once racked to the carboy,
however, the bubbling continued for about 6 weeks and I thought all was
well. Both batches cleared and the aroma was very good.
My quandry is that neither batch gives you anything but a sugar rush. The
alcohol content is less than water by the hygrometer. There is carbonation
in both batches and the flavor is light on the palette. The honey was
almost pure sugar and I used a champaigne yeast, so the alcohol production
should have been good. Any insight as to where I went astray? My recipes
are listed below:
Mixed berry - 1 1/2 pint frozen strawberries/1 pint frozen blueberries; 18
lbs wildflower honey; 1 gallon well water in initial must/3.5 in carboy; 1
pkg. Champaigne yeast; 1 tsp. tartaric acid.
Lemon/ginger - 1 cup Real Lemon Lemon Juice; 1 tblsp. thin sliced fresh
ginger root; 14 lbs wildflower honey in must; 4 lbs added at first rack; 1
gallon well water in initial must/3.5 in carboy; 1 pkg. Champaigne yeast.
Peg - Meadmaking newbie
------------------------------
Subject: lavender mead
From: Taryn East <mead.lover@taryneast.org>
Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 13:32:37 +1000
After all the wonderful stories about lavendar mead i've decided to jump
on the bandwagon and have a go myself :)
Of course it was helped along by the fortuitios moving-out of a friend
of mine - who happened to have a large lavender bush - ruthlessly
pilliaged by me before the settlement date ;)
Anyway - my lavender flowers are currently steeping and I was just
wondering - is there a specific name for a lavender mead (eg Rhodomel
for rose mead etc etc)?
thanks in advance
Taryn
This .sig temporarily out-of-order.
We apologise for any inconvenience
- The Management
------------------------------
Subject: First Mead
From: Hop_Head@webtv.net
Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 07:42:10 -0400 (EDT)
I just picked up 15 lbs of Orange Blossom honey for my first mead. What
do I do now? What else do I need and how do I put it together?
------------------------------
Subject: honey and pH, woodland honey
From: "Dave Burley" <Dave_Burley@charter.net>
Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 10:41:16 -0400
Brett Moore has some questions:
The pH of honey is not "incredibly low" but honey is unbuffered ( i.e. has a
low amount of organic acids and acid salts) unlike malt or fruit. As a
result, any acid produced by the fermentation drops the pH quickly. This low
pH stops or hinders the yeast enzymes and the fermentation stops or proceeds
very slowly.
Not a good thing IMHO due to the potential for malo-lactic fermentation and
other fermentations producing off flavors from the sugar. But others
disagree. To solve this problem use calcium carbonate additions to maintain
the pH in the 4s until the fermentation is complete in a week or three. No
need to wait a year!
- -----------------
Where did you hear that woodland honey was the honeydew from ants/aphids??
I find that extremely unlikely.
More likely woodland honey is produced by bees whose crofts are in the
woods, like our sourwood honey here in South Carolina.
Dave Burley
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Med questions
From: "Dan McFeeley" <mcfeeley@keynet.net>
Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 12:23:49 -0500
On Thu, 20 Jun 2002, in MLD 938, Brett Moore wrote, in part:
>1. I am a little confused as far as PH.. I know that acid is
>occasionally added to change the dryness of the beverage.
>But does honey not already have a incredibly low PH? also
>what is the best PH range to keep the must in for strong
>fermentation? Also what is the optimum temperature for
>fermentation and later aging?
I haven't made a habit of checking the pH of honey musts,
but I usually get about 4.0. Other meadmakers whom I've
asked the same question have observed similar pH levels.
That's more or less just about right, maybe a little high for
staving off bacterial infection, on the other hand, honey
itself resists bacterial growth. Generally speaking, honey
is something that you can more or less leave alone when
it comes to pH levels. Don't muck with it by adding
acid at the start of the fermentation, let it do its thing and
everything will come out well.
Optimum temperature? My personal opinion is something
in the low 60's. Mead does well when efforts are made
to preserve the volatile flavor and aroma components of
the honey. Cool temperatures for fermentation will help
here.
Any one else for questions 2, 3, and 4?
<><><><><><><><><><>
<><><><><><><><>
Dan McFeeley
mcfeeley@keynet.net
------------------------------
Subject: cranberry mead
From: Jack <jcainva@juno.com>
Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2002 18:13:40 GMT
Greetings All. Does anyone have a recipe for making a cranberry mead (I
know, it would actually be a melomel) using canned whole cranberries? If
so, could you post it? I was thinking it would make a nice drink for the
holidays.
Jack
------------------------------
Subject: Update on the rose mead
From: Vicky Rowe <rcci@mindspring.com>
Date: Thu, 27 Jun 2002 16:01:52 -0400
As promised, here's an update on the rose mead:
I tasted it two days ago, and it still has this faboo rose coloring,
great rose smell, and a wonderful rosey flavor. The oily residue
seems to have dissipated, and I figure I'll rack it next week. I'm
tickled to *death* that this is going so well! I can't wait to share
it with a lady I know at the Carolina Renaissance Festival who
shared hers with me last year....
Vicky Rowe
Webmistress - www.gotmead.com - scads of mead and mead-making info
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #939
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