Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Mead Lovers Digest #1009
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 #1009, 21 April 2003
Mead Lover's Digest #1009 21 April 2003
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Sweet Mead / Pet Peeve ("nlkanous ")
Re: Sweet Mead / Pet Peeve ("Arthur Torrey (no spam please!)")
buffers (Zertwiz@aol.com)
Melomels from Jam (Ken Vale)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1008, 14 April 2003 (Dennis Key)
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: Sweet Mead / Pet Peeve
From: "nlkanous " <nlkanous@mail.pharmacy.wisc.edu>
Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2003 08:32:18 -0500
Good Morning,
In the last MLD, Arthur Torrey comments about the origin of the word
"Winometer" and "Vinometer" and mentions how this type of instrument
may not be useful for a mead maker as mead typically has more residual
sugars than the wine for which the instrument is designed.
This is just a pet peeve of mine, but so commonly when I mention mead
to people around me I get those "oh yuck, that stuff's so sweet" comments
and many are unwilling to try my mead. I don't care too much
for sweet wines or mead, myself. I like mine dry.
I guess this is little more than a post for those looking in from the
outside that may just be getting interested in mead to let them know
that not all meads are sweet. Some of us like and prefer our meads dry.
nathan in madison, wi
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Sweet Mead / Pet Peeve
From: "Arthur Torrey (no spam please!)" <atorrey@cybercom.net>
Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2003 18:59:55 -0400
I agree completely Nathan, and have had and made meads ranging from icky
sweet, kool-aid w/ booze flavour to dry as a bone. I think it is regrettable
that every commercial mead I've tried has been on the overly sweet side, since
it gives those of us who make drier meads a bad reputation.
My personal preference is for a medium-sweet to semi-dry taste, I like to
end up with an SG at bottle time of between 1.015 and 1.005, which my brew
supplier knows, but I didn't mention. I gathered the impression that they
carried the winometers because of customer requests, but didn't really
reccomend them. I didn't get a real specific number from them, but it sounded
like in order to work at all, the SG needed to be down below 1.000.
ART
On 2003.04.15 09:32 nlkanous wrote:
> Good Morning,
> In the last MLD, Arthur Torrey comments about the origin of the word
> "Winometer" and "Vinometer" and mentions how this type of instrument
> may not be useful for a mead maker as mead typically has more residual
> sugars than the wine for which the instrument is designed.
>
> This is just a pet peeve of mine, but so commonly when I mention mead
> to people around me I get those "oh yuck, that stuff's so sweet" comments and
> many are unwilling to try my mead. I don't care too much
> for sweet wines or mead, myself. I like mine dry.
>
> I guess this is little more than a post for those looking in from the
> outside that may just be getting interested in mead to let them know
> that not all meads are sweet. Some of us like and prefer our meads dry.
>
> nathan in madison, wi
------------------------------
Subject: buffers
From: Zertwiz@aol.com
Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2003 02:54:20 EDT
ok first off i would like to know how to get the ph to where the yeast will
be nice and happy and what ph might that be abouts. iv herd that yeast is
needed but aperently that is somthing of a misnomer. id like not use any
thing that would add flavors to the mead eather lol well there the task so
how do we get here
chris anderson
------------------------------
Subject: Melomels from Jam
From: Ken Vale <kenvale@rogers.com>
Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2003 08:14:24 -0400
Hello Everyone,
My parents like to make jam, lots of jam, which they ship to us kids
as part of a christmas care package (as a family we are well dispersed).
I don't eat jam as part of my regular breakfast so I have quite a lot of
it stockpiled up and everytime I see it I think to myself, "I should do
something with that." A couple of recipies for melomels that I have
found on the internet suggest using jam in place of fruit, though you
have to make sure that it doesn't have preservatives in it. My parents
don't use preservatives in their jams but they do add pectin and sugar.
This leaves me wondering how much pectic enzyme I need to add and what
amount of jame is equal to what amount of fruit? I realise that nobody
out there knows the recipie that my parents use to make jam so percise
answers are impossible, I'm looking for suggestions or thoughts.
Thanks,
Ken.
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1008, 14 April 2003
From: Dennis Key <dione@swcp.com>
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2003 08:09:53 -0600
In reply to Ronnie Anderson's question about sweetening a dry mead: I
use the general technique described in Duncan & Acton's Mead Making in
which you add 1/4 cup per gallon of honey the the must when fermentation
has almost stopped. You continue this until the yeast's tolerance is
reached and there is no further fermentation. If you are careful and
perhaps reduce that to 1/8 cup per gallon as you approach the limit, you
can produce an off dry to semisweet mead depending on your taste.
Knowing when your must is approaching its limit is a matter of empirical
observation. Champaign yeast has a high tolerance for alcohol and I
have produced meads in the 18-20% range that are semisweet. These
yeasts will produce bone dry mead if you stop short of their tolerance.
In your specific case, I'd rack the mead several times to leave as much
yeast behind as possible then add potassium sorbate to prevent
refermentation and carefully add pasteurized honey until it tastes right
to you.
May You Never Thirst,
Dennis Key
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #1009
*******************************
