Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Mead Lovers Digest #0988
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 #988, 22 January 2003
Mead Lover's Digest #988 22 January 2003
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Excess Sulfite ("Shaggyman")
Re: Plastic or Glass? (Marc Shapiro)
acidic sulphite solution ("Stephen J. Van der Hoven")
Re: Clearing a non-boiled/non-heated mead... ("Kemp, Alson")
Maple Mead - Finally! (Marc Shapiro)
Re: sulphite use (EveningStar)
Famous Meaders in history ("Dan McFeeley")
Famous mead drinkers ("Brendon Cloete")
Re:Floating Fruit (Glenn Matthies)
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: Excess Sulfite
From: "Shaggyman" <shaggyman@kc.rr.com>
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 07:00:53 -0600
Ooooops!
Embarrassed it is I am- in drawing off a liter from bulk storage through
a bottling tap, I neglected to remove the airlock first.
The resulting negative pressure persuaded the contents of said airlock,
consisting of a strong sulfite/acid solution, to enter the container and
mix with it's contents. Most of you are not familiar with my Cabernet
Sauvignon Pyment, but you would probably agree it is much better without
that strong sulfur taste.
Any suggestions for diminishing the effects of my negligence?
Lane O. Locke
"If it hurts- STOP"...Shaggyman
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Plastic or Glass?
From: Marc Shapiro <m_shapiro@bigfoot.com>
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 10:02:25 -0500
Steven M. Parrish said:
>
> I've been using a plastic fermenter but dont like it for 2 reasons. I cant
> see what is going on -( and the lids are a pain in the rear to get off.
>
> Any pros for staying with plastic or any cons for switching to glass primaries?
I have been making wine, mead and beer for (Oh My God!) nearly thrity
years, now. (Where did the time go?) I used plastic for mead once,
early on, and will never use is again. These days, the only time that I
use a plastic bucket type fermenter is if I have fruit that needs to be
macerated. The initial fermentation is on the fruit, but this is
usually only for a few days. Then I get everything into a glass carboy.
Also, with the exception of macerating fruit, I do not do a seperate
primary and secondary fermentation, as so many people do. I ferment in
the original carboy until I have only one, or two bubbles per minute
through the airlock, then I rack to a clean carboy for clearing. By
this time virtually all of the fermentation is done. I still leave it
under an airlock because there will be a little fermentation going on,
but usually not enough to affect the SG by more than a point, or two.
Whatever the SG is when I rack that first time is pretty much what it is
going to be at the end. Usually, my initial racking is between 0.998
and 1.030.
HTH
Wassail!
- --
Marc Shapiro "If you drink melomel every day,
m_shapiro@bigfoot.com you will live to be 150 years old,
Please visit "The Meadery" at: unless your wife shoots you."
http://www.bigfoot.com/~m_shapiro/ -- Dr. Ferenc Androczi, winemaker,
Little Hungary Farm Winery
------------------------------
Subject: acidic sulphite solution
From: "Stephen J. Van der Hoven" <sjvande2@ilstu.edu>
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 09:18:52 -0800
Mark Kornell asked about his sulphite solution being acidic and corroding
the jar lid. Several people responded, but I wanted to add my two cents
worth. The sulphite solution has SO2 as well as some O2 (at least
initially). These two will chemically react to form H2SO4 (sulfuric
acid). This explains the corrosion (rust) on the jar lid and also the
anti-oxidation properties of sulphite. So, a plastic container would work,
but don't let it sit around for too long. O2 will diffuse through the
plastic, using up the SO2 and making the solution more acidic. I suspect
that the SO2 will diffuse out of the plastic as well. Maybe a glass jar
with a plastic lid?
Steve
_____________________________
Stephen J. Van der Hoven
Assistant Professor
Department of Geography-Geology
Illinois State University
Campus Box 4400
Normal, IL 67190-4400
Phone: 309/438-3493
Fax: 309/438-5310
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Clearing a non-boiled/non-heated mead...
From: "Kemp, Alson" <alson.kemp@cirrus.com>
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 09:00:28 -0800
From: "Ken Taborek" <Ken.Taborek@verizon.net>
>What is in a sanddune mead?
Sand Dune honey, silly! Got some from a beekeeper up in
Arcata, CA. Apparently he puts his bees out in the sand dunes
and they produce honey from the local dune plants. It's probably
Clover honey with brown food coloring...
>I have never boiled my must and have only had one batch that
>failed to drop clear using only time and pectic enzyme.
Why do you use pectic enzyme? I use pectic enzyme in red
winemaking in order to break down the pectin in the grapes, but
is there pectin in honey?
Okay, the real problem I have is that I added 75g of rose
petals to a clear mead for two days and the rose petals clouded
everything up. The Rhodomel is wonderfully fragrant, though
(almost undrinkably so).
-Alson
------------------------------
Subject: Maple Mead - Finally!
From: Marc Shapiro <m_shapiro@bigfoot.com>
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 12:09:59 -0500
Well, I'm finally taking the plunge.
I have been thinking about doing a maple mead, or a pure maple syrup
fermented beverage, for many years. My interest was resparked a few
years ago when I started reading the Vorkosigan books by Lois McMaster
Bujold. The maple mead made on the Vorkosigan lands is legendary for
its alcoholic strength, so, last year, when it was available, I
purchased some White Labs High Gravity Ale Yeast. I am finally getting
around to using it.
Here are my plans:
Since this is somewhat experimental and the cost of maple syrup is
rather higher than honey (even at the currently inflated honey prices) I
purchased a three gallon carboy for this batch.
I want to use only half of the yeast, and bulk up the remainder, so that
if this works I can do it again. I have no idea when this yeast will
again be made available to the amature brewer.
I plan to make the must of approximately equal parts of honey and maple
syrup, with a OG of between 1.090 and 1.100. Once the SG drops to about
1.010 I will rack off 0.75 gallon into a seperate gallon bottle. This
bottle will be the high test stuff.
The carboy will be topped up with must as close as possible to the
original and fermentation will be allowed to continue normally. This way
I will get about three gallons of normal strength maple mead.
The gallon jug, meanwhile, will be syrup fed pure maple syrup to force
it to as high an alcohol content as possible. Since the yeast is
supposed to be able to attain 22% to 23% alcohol, I am hoping to be able
to achieve at least 20%.
What I have done so far:
I made up a starter of approximately equal parts of honey and syrup, to
a SG of 1.040. I added yeast nutrient to this starter and heated this
to between 160 F and 170 F. I removed about an ounce of this which was
heated in the microwave just to the boiling point. Both starters were
cooled to about 90 F. I shook the vial of yeast thoroughly and poured
half of it into the bulk of the starter solution, which was covered and
left in the warmest part of the kitchen. I then topped off the yeast
vial with the boiled and cooled starter. This wasd placed next to the
other starter.
That was last night. As of this morning, both starters are going well.
I will make up the must this evening and get the batch under way. Once
the yeast vial stops fermenting and settles out I will remove as much
liquid from the top as possible. If there is a similar quantity of
yeast to the original, then I will boil and cool a small quantity of
Brita filtered water and top off the vial with this. If there is not
enough yeast then I will top off with a similar low gravity must to what
I used originally, and hope that a second vial fermentation will bulk
the yeast up enough.
I know that it might be better to properly culture the yeast on agar,
and I have plenty of baby food jars to do this in, but I just don't see
the need. I have read several articles on the net about culturing
yeast, and bought a pamphlet on it when I got my carboy, but it is just
too much work for my needs. For my normal wines and meads, I have a
half kilo canister of Lalvin K1 in the deep freeze. I have been using
this for many years and have enough to last me many more. I have no
need to culture this. As for the High Gravity Ale Yeast -- if this
experiment proves useful then I will want to do it again, but not likely
more than once a year. That's just not enough to make traditional
culturing worth the effort. If this works, then I will have a vial to
use next year, and I will split it to use for the year after, as well.
I probably can't expect to continue this more than another year or so
after that, so, in a few years I will start checking for when White Labs
is going to make the yeast available again, and I will get a new
culture.
I will keep the list posted on what is happening, and when it is done I
will let you know the results.
Wassail!
- --
Marc Shapiro "If you drink melomel every day,
m_shapiro@bigfoot.com you will live to be 150 years old,
Please visit "The Meadery" at: unless your wife shoots you."
http://www.bigfoot.com/~m_shapiro/ -- Dr. Ferenc Androczi, winemaker,
Little Hungary Farm Winery
------------------------------
Subject: Re: sulphite use
From: EveningStar <EveningStarTwo@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 10:47:02 -0700
> Subject: Re: sulphite use in making mead
> From: "Ken Taborek" <Ken.Taborek@verizon.net>
> Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 11:50:03 -0500
> Sodium or potassium metabisulphite are not needed for mead making
> They aren't needed for wine making either. Grape juice and yeast get
> the job done. But the vast majority of commercial wineries use
> sulfites despite this. Why? Because they have the benefit of years
> of experience and knowledge to draw upon. The rest of us can avoid a
> lot of potential pitfalls by taking advantage of this knowledge and
> experience.
> Sulfites protect the wine/mead in several different ways.
> They:
>
> Protect the must from unwanted yeast and bacteria;
> Protect against oxidation;
> Help preserve color;
> Extend the shelf life;
>
> Stating that sulfites are not needed in mead making is similar to
> saying that commercial yeasts are not needed in mead making, and that
> home mead makers can just let the yeast on the fruit or in the air or
> honey ferment their must. It's a true statement, but it doesn't begin
> to explain the negative impact that following this advise can have on
> the readers mead.
I must disagree.
First of all, you are comparing commercial _wineries_ to the home mead
maker. There aren't that many commercial meaderies but it would be a
better comparison. And most of the ones in the US haven't been around
all that long. For my product, color isn't *that* important and shelf
life has not been a problem. I still don't understand the oxidation
debate--I know there is one but I guess my methods work. Maybe I could
make it better but *shrug*. And I haven't had any issue with unwanted
yeast and bacteria--I really think that is a cleanliness issue.
I don't use sulfites (surprise!) but I'm also not making 5000 gallon
batches of anything. So I think that things are different for the home
mead maker.
Maureen
------------------------------
Subject: Famous Meaders in history
From: "Dan McFeeley" <mcfeeley@keynet.net>
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 12:10:09 -0600
A few more famous mead consumers . . .
The Norse god Odin, the All Father ranks high on the list
of mead lovers. According to the accounts in the Edda,
Odin was able to win the mead of inspiration from the
giant Suttung, posing as a suitor for Suttung's daughter
Gunnlod.
Here are a few other samplings from Gayre's _Wassail! In Mazers
of Mead_ and Amy Ransome's _The Sacred Bee_.
>From Gayre, pp. 54, 59-60:
>From the widespread distribution of the word mead in all its variants
throughout the Ayran world, it is clear that we ought not to limit our
study of its use to our Anglo-Saxon and Norse ancestors in these islands.
Their enemies, the British Celts in the West and the Slavs in the East,
were not unacquainted with its use, and so far as the Britons were
concerned, they held it in no less high esteem than did the court of
King Alfred the Great or the earlier and ruder Harolds, Olafs and Beowulfs.
Pliny, speaking of the British Celts, tells us that "these islanders
consume great quantities of honey-brew" (mead). We also learn that it
was drunk by the Gauls, in nearby France, where we learn they had a rich
mead called 'zythus' and a less generous one known as 'corma'.
Britain was, of course, called, among the Celts, by the bardic name of
the "Honey Isle of Beli" which, no doubt not only referred to the quality
of its honey, but had an oblique reference to the mead wine held in high
esteem by the Celtic nations.
One of our principle sources of information on Celtic mead lies in the
'Mabinogion' and related documents. Since these were written down in
the Middle Ages, after they had often been handed down for generations
by oral tradition, they obviously relate to much earlier times.
[....]
Among the Irish (as may be gathered from the Ultonian reference to the
satisfying qualities of old mead) the culture of the bee was as important
as among the Welsh, and a large part of the native Celtic (Brehon) laws
is devoted to it. Besides its use as a sweet and for cooking, its
principle use was, as elsewhere, for making mead, and, perhaps, at an
earlier cycle, ale too before the malting of barley had been discovered.
At any rate up to the Middle Ages mead and ale were the two chief drinks
of the Irish. In Gaelic poetry we read of the golden-haired Niamh
describing paradise to Ossian, and saying -- "Abundant there are honey
and wine." While a princess handed to the great Irish hero, Finn Mac
Cumall, a silver cup filled with mead, with the words -- "Mead, delectable
and intoxicate." Indeed, mead was in great request among them, and it was
known as the dainty drink of the nobles, and the great royal hall of Tara,
where the High-King of all Ireland ruled, was called the House of the
Mead Circle.
Even (Irish) saints partook of mead. We find that St. Findian lived for
six days a week on bread and water, but, on Sundays, he feed upon salmon
and a "full of a cup of clear mead." There are also connections between
mead and the famous and popular St. Brigit, who, as Our Lord changed water
into wine, changed vats of water into mead. When the King of Leinster
came to drink the mead prepared for him it could not be found. Whereupon
St. Brigit, equal to the occasion, blessed the empty vessels which
immediately filled with mead.
A variant of mead was also drunk by the Gaels, and this was hazel mead.
We read, in the seventh-century poem, 'King and Hermit,' of Marvan drinking
this liquor, and Joyce tells us of hazel mead drunk from cups of gold.
>From Ransome, pp. 189-190:
As among the Germanic peoples, mead was the drink of the gods. When the
gods and heros sat down to meat, they devoured whole oxen and drank their
mead from vats. In the Celtic Paradise there are rivers of mead. The Irish
gods when they were sent to exile sought a paradise, situate in some unknown
isle of the west; the chief of the gods who went there was Manannon, son of
Le'r,(1) and he sang a song extolling this land of the gods:
Rivers pour forth a stream of honey
In the land of Manannan, son of Le'r
(1) He gave his name to the Isle of Man. Note that the fairies came from
the west; Fairlyland, the underground paradise, is in the west.
In some of these songs there is mention of a hazel-mead. A poem of the
seventh century, "King and Hermit," tells of Marvan, the king's brother,
who became a hermit and who rejoiced in the honey, the cup of "mead of
the hazel-nut," and the swarms of bees, the "little musicians of the
world," which God had given him; and in the story of the four children of
Le'r who had been changed into swans, but retained their human mind, the
daughter, Finola, remembering their former happy life, sang:
Yet oft have we feasted in days of old,
and Hazel-mead drank from cups of gold.
Dr. Joyce, in his _Social History of Ancient Ireland_ infers from these
poems that "hazel nuts were sometimes used as an ingredient in making mead,
probably to give it a flavour." In the Highlands of Scotland, however, an
elixir is still remembered by the people made of "Comb of the honey and milk
of the nut." The Highlanders regard the hazel as a "milk" tree, the "milk"
being the white juice of the green nut. In many countries the Mother-
Goddess" is connected with trees whose fruit produces "milk"; it was, as we
have seen, an ancient custom to feed newborn infants on milk and honey
and this hazel-mead may be a remembrance of this custom.
(note -- it is not recommended to feed honey to infants. Modern studies
have shown an association between numbers of reported cases of infant
botulism and feeding honey to infants. The cause, it is theorized, is that
because infants under one year of age cannot fight off botulism spores
as easily, they are that much more susceptible to sources such as honey,
which can contain a minimal amount of spores -- not enough to hurt an
adult but sometimes enough to harm an infant.)
<><><><><><><><><>
<><><><><><><>
Dan McFeeley
mcfeeley@keynet.net
------------------------------
Subject: Famous mead drinkers
From: "Brendon Cloete" <kluta@telkomsa.net>
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 19:45:54 +0200
In the previous digest, Dan and Jay answer the "Famous mead drinkers"
post. Jay gave me the following answer:
One point I've never understood, however, was what kind of mead they were
drinking. My meads often have alcohol levels over 12%. I can't envision the
Vikings as pinkie-raising tipplers, but if they quaffed mighty masers of a
high alcohol beverage like a premium octane mead to fire up for a campaign I
doubt if they could get up the next morning and attack England.
Hi Jay
You are right. Someone with more accurate info can correct me here, but
from what I have heard, the mead they drank was equivalent to our beer,
being roughly about 5%. In those days, they lacked the knowledge to
make higher proof alcohols. As process improved, mead evolved into what
it is today, the equivalent of a honey wine.
Brendon Cloete.
------------------------------
Subject: Re:Floating Fruit
From: Glenn Matthies <borst@wzrd.com>
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 17:31:30 -0500
Kelly Levely ask about sinking a floating bag of fruit.
Get some glass marbles, sanitize in boiling water and add them to the
bag. Their weight will sink the bag to the bottom. Marbles are easy to
sanitize, impart nothing to the mead and should be available at a "dollar"
type store near you.
Glenn
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #988
*******************************
