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Mead Lovers Digest #1000
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Errors-To: mead-errors@talisman.com
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To: mead-list@talisman.com
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1000, 13 March 2003
Mead Lover's Digest #1000 13 March 2003
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
mead and the MLD...reflections upon issue #1000 (Mead Lovers Digest)
Re: aeration (Steven Sanders)
RE: aeration ("Kemp, Alson")
My first mead ("Lindi Edens")
egg shell method ("Leonard Meuse")
()
()
Congratulations on reaching 1,000 ("Chuck Wettergreen")
1000 Mead Lovers' Digests! (CLSAXER@aol.com)
aeration (Bill Taylor)
Re: aeration ("Randy Goldberg MD")
RE: Milk & Honey Mead ("Kevin Morgan")
dandelion ("Micah Millspaw")
3# Gallon test Batch ("Thad Starr")
PH / Acid levels / priming ("J& C Cameron")
Any examples of aging in plastic? (jlparkinson)
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: mead and the MLD...reflections upon issue #1000
From: mead@talisman.com (Mead Lovers Digest)
Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2003 10:13:15 -0700 (MST)
Well, gang, here we are at issue 1000 of the Mead-Lover's Digest. Big
hairy deal, huh?
A few tidbits you might find interesting:
First issue of the digest appeared: 25 September 1992
Average interval between digests (recently): 4 days
Average number of articles per digest: 11
Average size of digest: 385 lines
Current number of subscribers: 1188
When you reach a milestone (even if it's just numerology) you tend to look
back and take stock. How is mead doing, anyway? Here's a little bit, from
an admittedly US-biased perspective.
I think it's doing well. In the US, there's a respectable number of
meaderies that appear to be successful. Homebrewing competitions generally
have mead categories with believable numbers of entries. There are mead-
only competitions--the Mazer Cup is well-respected. Last year there was
a mead-oriented conference, Planet Buzz. I think that the Mazer Cup and
Planet Buzz are particularly significant because they have been success-
ful with a focus on mead, as opposed to mead being the kid-brother tag-a-
long at a beer event. It means that mead is coming into its own. In
at least some regions of the US, you can find meads in the store that are
credible, well-made, serious products. Mead is moving beyond its gimmicky
"medieval Olde Englishe" marketing hook. There's still a lot of ground to
cover before you can buy good mead just anywhere, or before you can order
a glass of mead in the typical nice restaurant. But at least the motion is
in the right direction.
What are the downsides?
Honey supply is expensive and unpredictable...the market is volatile,
particularly with massive imports of cheap (but poor) honey. Varroa and
tracheal mites, and careless agricultural spraying, are making life very
difficult for the producers. Support your local beekeeper!!
The homebrew supply business has fallen on hard times (although it may have
leveled out in the past year? or is that "bottomed out"?). In our area,
most of the homebrew shops closed within the past handful of years. Now,
these shops may or may not be your source for honey, but they are the
source of equipment for most of us, and they're also often an informal
gathering-place for brewers and mead-makers, with a bulletin board or
flyers about events. So with fewer shops there's less opportunity for
some folks to find help and people to talk to.
Books about making mead are mostly mediocre and old (except for a couple of
truly execrable books of a few years ago). But that will be fixed as soon
as Ken Schramm's book comes out.
There is no mead-maker's organization, nothing akin to the American Home-
brewer's Association. The American Mead Association collapsed shortly
after the death of its president and driving force in early 1996. There
have been a couple attempts to re-start it, but they've fizzled. At this
point I can't decide whether it's such a bad thing, as I have to think that
if there were a real need for a formal mead organization, it would have
happened some time in the past seven years. But some folks would like to
see one.
Finally,
A special thanks to John Dilley, wherever he may be. John started the
Mead-Lover's Digest and maintained it through issue 227.
- ---
Mead-Lover's Digest mead-request@talisman.com
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor Boulder County, Colorado USA
------------------------------
Subject: Re: aeration
From: Steven Sanders <geigertube@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2003 09:34:46 -0800 (PST)
>Subject: aeration
>From: darrell.leavitt@plattsburgh.edu
>Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2003 06:28:00 -0500
>Is there any agreement about aeration, just after
>cooling, as there is
>with brewing beer? I have never aerated my mead (as
>I religously do
>with
>beer), but am prepared to do so...if there is some
>semblence of
>agreement
>on this...
>thankyou.
I aerate every batch. You can make a fine mead without
it, but I dont see any advantage to not aerating,
while aerating should give a healthier, faster
ferment. If you dont heat your must, there is an easy
way to aerate and mix your honey and water together. I
think this technique started with Lane
Locke/Shaggyman.. Just use an electric drill with a
paint/plaster mixer attached to it. Add your honey and
water together,and give it a good blast with the
mixer. The mixing action is powerful enough to aerate
the must pretty well, and you dont have to dork around
with heating the honey or anything to make it dissolve
in the water more easily.
steven
=====
http://www.studiosputnik.com - Brushing your rock-n-roll hair since 1998.
------------------------------
Subject: RE: aeration
From: "Kemp, Alson" <alson.kemp@cirrus.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2003 10:00:16 -0800
>Is there any agreement about aeration?
Agreement in the wine- or mead-making community?! Never!
I firmly believe in aeration during the first few days of
fermentation. In a sugary or alcoholic solution, yeast won't
aerobically ferment the sugars, but they will use the oxygen to
form lipids used to make cell walls able to withstand high
alcohol solutions.
"Handbook of Enology: Vol 1" refers to yeast hulls as
"oxygen substitutes" because the yeast hulls contain the lipids
that yeast would need oxygen to produce. Either give the yeast
oxygen or give them yeast hulls.
"Handbook of Enology: Vol 1" also has some research on
using various additives to lead to more complete fermentations.
Oxygen on the 2nd or 3rd day of fermentation is a veryveryvery
effective "additive". Much better than some-more-DAP/energizer.
... and before anyone cries about oxidation (I hate
oxidation, too), yeast are a powerful "antioxidant" and will use
any oxygen in solution. In fact, even when the yeast are dormant
or autolyzing they are "antioxidant". This is >one< of the
reasons that batonage (sp?) is used on white wines aged sur lies
- - stirring the lees gets it in contact with oxygen that has
seeped through the barrel walls.
Usual disclaimer: many fermentations have completed
without the benefit of aeration, but why risk it...
-Alson
------------------------------
Subject: My first mead
From: "Lindi Edens" <lindiedens@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2003 12:30:04 -0600
Well, to commemorate the 1000th MLD, I am celebrating with my 1st mead. You
may, or may not, recall that I've made a concord mead, with dry wine yeast
and much frustration. I put some sort of substance in it to clear, and it
turned it into gel (yuck!), but after much waiting it cleared into a very
astringent wine. (Rubbing alcohol anyone?) Well, this was just no good, so
I added another 3 pounds of honey and 1 gallon of water, and let it sit some
more (mainly as I never got around to racking and bottling). So, lo and
behold, I bottled it, and woo! Hold on to your hats! This stuff, while
very alcoholic, is very good. I'd say it is a perfect winter mead. It will
warm you up with only 1/2 a glass! But, alas, I've lost my taste for red
wines/meads, so now I'm going to attempt to reproduce this recipe with white
grape juice, instead of concord. I'm thinking it will make a very nice
summer/fall mead. One of these days, I'll get around to making an actual
mead (you know, with just honey, water and yeast ;)). But, I'm poor, and
honey is expensive, so 1 mead a year is all I can swing right now.
Congratulations MLD on your 1000th edition!
------------------------------
Subject: egg shell method
From: "Leonard Meuse" <meuse@u.washington.edu>
Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2003 10:39:43 -0800
Phil,
I reccomend using potassium carbonate as it gives no off flavors - ok,
less...but you'd need to add a LOT to get the wierd flavors. Just the anti
chalk flavor part makes it more suitable than either egg shells or calcium
carbonate. You should be able to pick it up at any reasonable sized homebrew
supply establishment. as far as how much to add, well not much is my
guess...but m not an expert with the chemistry stuff.
wassail,
Leonard
subject: egg shells
> From: "phil" <pcwojdak@earthlink.net>
> Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 11:53:35 -0800
>
> Hi all,
>
> My home brew shop told me to put a teaspoon of acid blend per gal. of
> melomel. It's way to bitter for me.
>
> I have read that adding egg shells (agfter boiling and crushing) can
> reduce some acid. I have also read that to much gives a chalky flavor.
> Does anyone know how much I can get away with putting into a 5 gal.
> carboy and how long I can leave it in there?
>
> Phil
------------------------------
Subject:
From: <vince@scubadiving.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2003 15:18:05 -0500 (EST)
RE: aeration: aeration is good for any type of yeast to have a healthy
start (division phase). Mead should not be different from beer in that
regard.
RE: bacteria: unless you have a microscope or you can submit a sample for
culture, it's difficult to know if you have a bacterial infection. Usually
you find out indirectly because you have an unexpected off-taste, sourness,
acidity, bitterness or astringency (some of the above can also be created
without bacteria). These bacteria are not likely to be harmful and are
likely to be dead due to the alcohol content. Note that bacteria are
everywhere. If you leave food in your refrigerator, it's growing bacteria
every day, the fridge just slows it down so it doesn't become putrid in a
day or 2 but it doesn't stop it (by the way, milk is the worst - you better
drink beer-or mead instead). If it was my mead, I would drink it (unless
the taste is too bad).
RE: glass vs. plastic secondaries: it depends on what kind of plastic. I'm
still waiting for some evidence that polyethylene is not appropriate for
secondaries (therefore I believe it is).
Question about shipping mead: the upcoming mazer's cup made me wonder how
you guys are shipping your mead for competitions that are away from home.
Someone (Alson?) mentioned in earlier issues the possibility of exchanging
mead with some other mead makers. Some states are not accepting shipping of
alcohol and shipping as a "yeast culture" may involve mandatory special
packaging and extensive costs. Could you share with the group if you have a
relatively inexpensive and reliable way to ship mead (or beer for that
matter)? Thanks
*1000* thanks to Dick for janitoring this digest!
Vince
"The church is near but the road is icy; the bar is far away but I'll walk
carefully." Russian proverb
------------------------------
Subject:
From: <vince@scubadiving.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2003 15:21:32 -0500 (EST)
one more thing:
RE: Egg shells: Acid blend is acidic, not bitter. Make sure your bitterness
does not come from another source (i.e., tannins). Also, if you tried your
mead just after primary fermentation, it will be harsher (especially if
still cloudy from the yeast) but with time (and clarification) it will
mellow out. Just try to avoid hasty judgements.
Egg shells are a natural form of Calcium carbonate. I wouldn't bother with
eggs (unless you want a truly organic experience), I would add calcium
carbonate (from your store). Don't add the powder, it will foam, add it in
some water (that you can boil for sanitation). I wouldn't add too much (I
personally use the acid blend). Taste and see if you like it better.
Vince
------------------------------
Subject: Congratulations on reaching 1,000
From: "Chuck Wettergreen" <meadmakr@rcn.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2003 18:32:31 -0600
Congratulations to the members of the Mead Lovers Digest upon
reaching the 1,000 mark.
Of course we know that it wouldn't be as good, and as valuable,
and as exciting to read, were it not for the hard work and
dedication of our able digest janitor, Dick Dunn.
Congratulations Dick, and thank you. Your work is well
appreciated. And, congratulations also to your able predecessors,
who hung in there when no one had a clue what mead was. You've
all brought us the long way home.
Cheers, and
Ask for Mead!
Chuck Wettergreen
meadmaker
beekeeper
------------------------------
Subject: 1000 Mead Lovers' Digests!
From: CLSAXER@aol.com
Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2003 00:16:07 EST
Congratulations on making a Grand Mead!
Thank you Dick for 1000 issues of Mead Lovers' Digest. Your hard work to
support the making and enjoyment of mead is truly appreciated.
Carl Saxer
Way Down by Orlando (and often Hilo)
------------------------------
Subject: aeration
From: Bill Taylor <jazz@QNET.COM>
Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2003 21:46:56 -0800
>Is there any agreement about aeration, just after cooling, as there is
>with brewing beer? I have never aerated my mead (as I religously do with
>beer), but am prepared to do so...if there is some semblence of agreement
>on this...
>thankyou.
>
>..Darrell
I aerate my meads pretty consistently now. Mostly I think the advantage is
that you will get to a lower gravity a bit faster, maybe 4 - 6 weeks rather
than 6 - 8. Not a huge advantage, but it is there. Typically I will
aerate from an airstone about 6 hours. That might seem long, but I haven't
noticed any problems, and usually, I will see bubble formation within 12
hours of cutting off the air, so the yeast seem to like it as well.
One thing that aeration definitely helps is in the yeast starter. In this,
you are definitely hours or days ahead. In my latest batches (Avocado
honey) I took some of the nutrient, honey and water and made about 600ml of
must in advance. I pitched the yeast onto it, and aerated about 12 hours.
Meanwhile I was making the real batch. OG was about 1.110 in 5 gal. I
pitched the yeast and aerated the whole batch for another 10 hours. I had
a finished ferment (few bubbles, yeast settling) on the first batch in
about 4 weeks.
In the second batch, I aerated 6.5 hours, and I got down to about 1.032 in
12 days. I added honey back up to 1.070 and was back to 1.040 14 days
later. It is still going, so I have hopes of getting down to about 1.026.
Sweet and strong.
I'm definitely sold on a strong yeast starter. Long aeration of the must
might not be the best, but it seems to work, so I keep doing it.
Bill
------------------------------
Subject: Re: aeration
From: "Randy Goldberg MD" <goldbergr1@cox.net>
Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2003 07:31:35 -0500
> Is there any agreement about aeration, just after cooling, as there is
> with brewing beer? I have never aerated my mead (as I religously do with
> beer), but am prepared to do so...if there is some semblence of agreement
> on this...
I aerate very simply, by pouring my must from the kettle into my fermenter,
rather than using a siphon. That should be all the aeration your yeast
needs.
Randy
****************************************
RandomTag: It said, "Insert disk #3", but only two will fit!
------------------------------
Subject: RE: Milk & Honey Mead
From: "Kevin Morgan" <kevin.morgan2@verizon.net>
Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2003 09:06:20 -0500
I brewed up a batch of this in Oct 2002 based on a 'Zymurgy' article
where they call it Lactomel. This mead is so well liked by the home
brew club that I will never know how well it ages, however, the author
of the article claims that this mead is best consumed young.
>Subject: Milk & Honey mead... Is it beyond hope?
>From: "Arthur Torrey (no spam please!)" <atorrey@cybercom.net>
> About a year and a half ago, I tried making up a batch of 'Milk and Honey'
>mead (aka keffir or koumiss) using a recipe from 'The Alaskan Bootlegers
Snip
I was most dismayed and embarrassed to open a bottle this past Imbolg, and
find that while it was still (barely) drinkable, the stuff was pretty horrible
with a sour, vinegary taste. It was also cloudy white tinted instead of
clear. I've sentenced what was left in the bottle to use as cooking mead,
cause even I won't drink it willingly.
Snip
I alway aerate, after all, yeast is yeast, and yeast need oxygen to
reproduce........Kevin
Subject: aeration
From: darrell.leavitt@plattsburgh.edu
Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2003 06:28:00 -0500
Is there any agreement about aeration, just after cooling, as there is
with brewing beer? I have never aerated my mead (as I religously do
with
beer), but am prepared to do so...if there is some semblence of
agreement
on this...
thankyou.
..Darrell
Plattsburgh, NY
------------------------------
Subject: dandelion
From: "Micah Millspaw" <MMillspa@silganmfg.com>
Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2003 08:48:28 -0600
From: Micah Millspaw
To: mead@talisman.com
cc:
Subject: dandelion mead
>Subject:
>From: "Aaron Ardle" <aardle@columbus.rr.com>
>Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 20:31:27 -0500
>also,
>what would a dandelion mead be called?
>aaron
I would call it yummy. Or a metheglin. I would think that
dandelions are a herb.
Micah
------------------------------
Subject: 3# Gallon test Batch
From: "Thad Starr" <Starr@epud.net>
Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2003 10:10:41 -0800
Hi Meaders!
A while ago I asked if anyone had heard of or used Muntons Yeast and how it
faired. It seemed that it hasn't been used much, or the ones using it
weren't reading the MLD that day. So I decided to do a little experiment
with side by side comparisons of a few other well known yeast strains. The
well know yeasts were Lalvin K1V-1116 and Lalvin ICV-D47. It's been a
little over 2 months now, and each is becoming it's own distinct mead. I
started by using some really light and yummy clover honey (I think is was
sweet white clover, not the low Dutch) and mixed in a bucket 4 tsp Wyeast
yeast nutrient. Mixed well and racked to 3- 1 gallon jugs. I then pitched
the yeast dry directly into the jugs and shook them like nuts. I don't
pasteurize or boil the musts, but only heat the honey enough to mix well
with water.
My notes on the progress. Started 01/04/03
SG 1.124 (kinda high, oops)
TA .1
PH 3.62
Racked on 01/15/03
KV1-1116 D47 Muntons
SG 1.054 SG 1.046 SG 1.062
PH 3.48 PH 3.55 PH 3.52
Racked on 02/22/03
KV1-1116 D47 Muntons
SG 1.038 SG 1.020 SG 1.046
PH 2.81 PH 2.97 PH 2.90
Tasting notes. This is where it gets interesting.
01/15/03
KV1 Sour, yeasty with a little nutty flavor or malty. No honey aroma
D47 Light flavor, smells and tastes like seltzer water
Muntons Fruity! Tastes just like a peach, no "young" flavor at all.
Smells like honey and peaches
02/22/03
KV1 Hot, still yeasty. Nut flavor is still there. Long tart finish Hard
to taste the honey
D47 All I taste is yeast and Alka-Seltzer with alcohol
Muntons Very peachy still, tons of honey flavor and aroma. Could easily
drink and enjoy now.
I think I have found my new favorite yeast. I gave a drink of this to some
friends and they all thought it was flavored with peaches.
Someone a while ago was trying to make a peach melomel (Dick ?) and said
that they had used like 45 #'s of peaches to get the flavor. Try this, all
you taste is peaches.
I'll update as this finishes. I'm very curious to see where the flavors go.
Thad
------------------------------
Subject: PH / Acid levels / priming
From: "J& C Cameron" <cte71259@centurytel.net>
Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2003 17:04:06 -0600
Greetings,
i just pit up a batch of Basic mead.
Honey water and yeast. my statings gravity was 1.086 i used about 2.5 to
2 3/4 lbs honey. So this will be a dryu mead. I was wonder about Ph and
Acid levels. What should they be and what do i need to test the must?
When should i test? i cant for this batch but can for the next one. Also
i have never been real good at priming. ent hints on priming?
Thanks jim
------------------------------
Subject: Any examples of aging in plastic?
From: jlparkinson <jlparkinson@telstra.com>
Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2003 11:29:32 +1000
Yes I know that the one thing everyone agrees on, is that you don't age
in plastic due to oxygen permeability making your mead taste like
cardboard (or at best like a sherry).
Nonetheless, I am after actual evidence from anyone who (probably by
mistake) left their mead for more than 6 months in plastic, and
preferrably a year or more.
I have a theory that if the must contains tannin (or oak chips), it may
be able to "better withstand" the oxygenation - not make an exceptional
mead, but at least be drinkable.
This is based on what I read somewhere about tannin and oxygen dropping
out of solution during the aging process.
So please provide the following:
- - type of plastic secondary that was used (or was it the primary that
never got as far as a secondary)
- - Length of time spent in the plastic secondary
- - was tannin in the must (and what type: tea, fruit peel, oak, ...)
- - taste: rocket fuel, cardboard, sherry, drinkable, good, divine, ...
- - colour (or color in the US): brown, dull, normal, or ...
- - was it on the lees (or had it been racked, and how many times)
TIA
James
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #1000
*******************************
