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Mead Lovers Digest #1025
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 #1025, 7 July 2003
Mead Lover's Digest #1025 7 July 2003
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Mead harbor is no more (DSulkowski@clarion.com)
Re: astringency problem ("Kemp, Alson")
RE: boiling pot ("Leonard Meuse")
Re: astringency problem ("Randy Goldberg MD")
Re: Hangovers ("Randy Goldberg MD")
Re: Pectinase ("Randy Goldberg MD")
A word for the day. (Mark Taratoot)
Can You Keg Mead? (Joe Azzarello)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1024, 2 July 2003 (Belinda Messenger)
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
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Mead harbor is no more
From: DSulkowski@clarion.com
Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2003 12:42:35 -0400
After a breif stint into the commercial mead world, and a 2nd Place award
at Planet Buzz I am sorry to say Mead Harbor is no longer around.
Expendatures couldn't meet income. If anyone wants to try their hand at
commercial wine production (or a heckova lotta personal supply) and is
interested in 125Gallon (500L) Stainless Steel fermenters, please let me
know - I will make a heck of a deal to anyone on this list. Thanks for the
great run guys. Sincerely, Drew of T&A Vintners LLC.
------------------------------
Subject: Re: astringency problem
From: "Kemp, Alson" <alson.kemp@cirrus.com>
Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2003 11:24:07 -0700
Robert Sandefer wrote:
>The solutions to excessive tannin are:
>1. Use less fruit per gallon in the next batch --
>which will reduce the amount of tannin.
2. Remove the fruit from the mead earlier (i.e.,
>cut exposure time) -- which should let less tannin make
>it into the must.
>3. Experiment with various cherry varieties in hopes of
>finding one low in tannin.
>4. Age your cherry melomels longer allowing tannin
>polymerization to cut down the harshness of the tannin
>that has made it into the drink.
5. Add gelatin or egg white to the wine/mead to remove tannins.
There's little tannin (relative to red wine) so you only
need to use a bit. I think that I used about 0.5g/G of
food-grade gelatin or about 3 grams for 5 gallons.
I just did this on an oak-aged mead which had become too
astringent. Took a couple of weeks to clear, but it worked quite
well. I would recommend using less gelatin. Gelatin needs
something to bind to to settle out and if there isn't enough
tannin to bind to the gelatin, you might get a haze.
-Alson
------------------------------
Subject: RE: boiling pot
From: "Leonard Meuse" <meuse@u.washington.edu>
Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2003 12:17:48 -0700
Devon was looking for a good deal on a new boiling pot in MLD #1024
I dunno if the pot is as good, but I did just happen to find this... 28qt
pot, with burner, but wait thats not all - its a full turkey fryer setup for
$56 check it out at amazon - all disclaimers (not employed etc- a little
bitter i never bought stock though...)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005K4ZE/qid=1057172879
/br=2-1/ref=br_ts_slwth_th_1/104-0127167-3431957?v=glance&s=outlet&n=3D526814
> ------------------------------
>
> Subject: Is this a good deal on a boiling pot?
> From: Devon Miller <Devon.Miller2@verizon.net>
> Date: Tue, 01 Jul 2003 00:00:54 -0400
>
> I've found what looks like a very sweet deal on a 30qt stainless pot,
> complete with tap and 170K btu burner.
> Priced at $109.99 it seems almost too good. Has anyone used this?
>
> Here's where I found the good price:
> http://www.globalmart.com/page/s/sms30bv.htm
>
> Here's the manufacturer's site:
> http://www.masterbuilt.com/store/sms30bv.html
>
> Devon Miller
------------------------------
Subject: Re: astringency problem
From: "Randy Goldberg MD" <goldbergr1@cox.net>
Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2003 16:09:43 -0400
> 4. Age your cherry melomels longer allowing tannin polymerization to cut
> down the harshness of the tannin that has made it into the drink.
FYI, for those of you who might not be "in the know" - this is the same
process that causes red wines to age so beautifully.
Randy
****************************************
RandomTag: All men are created unequal. - [Lazarus Long]
------------------------------
Subject: Re:Hangovers
From: "Randy Goldberg MD" <goldbergr1@cox.net>
Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2003 16:12:39 -0400
> I had thought that the main cause of a hangover was a dehydrated brain
> brought on by the drying effect (and isn't there a diuretic effect, too?) of
> alcohol, and the best way to prevent one was to consume quantities of water
> nearly equal in volume to the mead you're drinking.
Correct. Ethanol tends to move water from cells into the bloodstream, where
it is excreted by the kidneys (so the diuretic effect is secondary to the
osmolar effect). This cellular dehydration is the primary cause of hangover.
Randy
****************************************
RandomTag: "'...With liberty and justice for all.' What part of ALL didn't
you understand?" -- Sen. Pat Schroeder (D-Colo)
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Pectinase
From: "Randy Goldberg MD" <goldbergr1@cox.net>
Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2003 16:14:45 -0400
> I've found that adding pectic enzyme to all my melomels, heated or no,
> greatly aids in their clearing.
>
> Sometimes the aid to clarification is remarkable, producing a clear mead
> from a cloudy one in mere days, after months of little to no clearing has
> occurred.
Note that pectinase is an enzyme, and therefore, by definition a protein. It
is therefore subject to conformational changes that affect its activity. The
higher the percentage of ethanol in your solution, the less effective the
pectinase will be - which is why all the instructions urge you to add
pectinase at the beginning of fermentation. It will work at the end, but you
may need more pectinase, or more time, to acheive the desired effect.
Randy
****************************************
RandomTag: (A)bort, (R)etry, (T)apdance?
------------------------------
Subject: A word for the day.
From: Mark Taratoot <taratoot@peak.org>
Date: Thu, 3 Jul 2003 18:11:52 -0700 (PDT)
Greetings!
I subscribe to a service that sends a "word a day" during week
days. Funny it should be that a couple weeks ago an interesting
homonym/homophone showed up that I wanted to share. The word is
meed. Pronounced the same as our beverage of choice, this noun
comes from the same root (middle English; mede). How interesting
that the definition is "Reward; recompense; wage."
So, you really should consider your mead the fruit of your labor;
the payment of your patience, and your just reward. In fact, I
think I'll go have myself a glass right now! My only problem
will be picking one out!
- -m
p.s., If you are interested in A Word A Day, send an e-mail to
wsmith@wordsmith.org with "Subject:" line as "subscribe <Name>"
or visit http://www.wordsmith.org/awad/subscribe.html No
affiliation other than a subscriber trying to fill my brain with
words I may never use.
- --
Mark Taratoot
taratoot@peak.org
------------------------------
Subject: Can You Keg Mead?
From: Joe Azzarello <environjoe@chartermi.net>
Date: Fri, 04 Jul 2003 23:26:33 -0400
Hello!
I am new to making Mead and in fact have just started my first batch. I
have been homebrewing for a while so I do have some experience with the
process. My question is about the fermentation and bottling/kegging
process. Do I need to leave it in a carboy for 2 to 6 months to ferment?
Can I ferment in carboys for a couple of weeks and then transfer it with
the priming sugar to a corny keg and let it finish off in there? I try
to avoid bottles since they are so much work. Does anyone keg Mead or
should I bottle it?
Thanks for the help.
Joe
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1024, 2 July 2003
From: Belinda Messenger <davispigeon@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2003 08:06:59 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: astringency problem
From: Robert Sandefer <melamor@vzavenue.net>
Hmmm...tannins, you think? I don't know. It seems more
sour/tart to me although I had a judge call it
astringent (and acidic). I could certainly try
isinglass to drop the tannins but I'm afraid that
might also clear the lovely dark red color.
The tartness seems to be masked somewhat with
sweetening.
Does that provide any further hints?
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #1025
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