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Mead Lovers Digest #1042
From: mead-request@talisman.com
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Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1042, 8 September 2003
Mead Lover's Digest #1042 8 September 2003
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
yeast starters- pollen ("Micah Millspaw")
Prickly Pear mead ("Jim Barnhart")
FW: aspartame ("Murphy-Marsh, Leigh")
yeast name inquiry (JazzboBob@aol.com)
Cyser query ("Michael")
Compleat Debate/Copper Chiller? (Rick Dingus)
NOTE: Digest appears when there is enough material to send one.
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: yeast starters- pollen
From: "Micah Millspaw" <MMillspaw@silgancontainers.com>
Date: Wed, 3 Sep 2003 06:56:34 -0500
>Subject: starters made from honey
>From: apte@parc.com
>Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2003 10:43:45 PDT
>>Ken Schramm writes:
>>Nutrient availability is also
>>critical, and I would never use plain honey to establish a starter
>>population. as it is woefully bereft of nitrogen, biotin and other
>>micronutrients.
>Yes, but.... I have been making starters using honey for some time
without difficulty. The key >is that I add a good chunk of pollen-comb
into the starter to increase the nutrient level. I >have no idea if it
really helps, but the starters have generally krausened in 3-4 days with
no >added yeast (ie, a wild yeast starter). I also use lots of bubbles.
>raj
This discussion seems awfully familiar. Anyway, I have been playing with
using pollen only in lieu of any manufactured yeast nutrients. I
collected the pollen from approx 5 pounds of fresh dandelions (manual
labor). I added the resultant small bag of yellow powder to a 20 P must.
A healthy yeast starter was pitched. The fermentation was quite vigorous
and was complete in 28 days (it may have been done a little sooner, I
didn't check for a while)
Perhaps the ancients were already on to this and were fermenting away in
an efficient manner.
BTW it looks like I will be going out to this mead fest in Boulder next
month, are others from the MLD going? If so is there any sort of get
together planned?
Micah Millspaw - brewer at large
------------------------------
Subject: Prickly Pear mead
From: "Jim Barnhart" <jimmydo2@earthlink.net>
Date: Wed, 3 Sep 2003 13:48:50 -0700
Hello again Folks:
I will be starting my prickly Pear Mead this weekend
My Honey is waiting, My Yeast is in the mail, and my Prickly Pears have been
frozen (I have found I get a better yield if I freeze my Prickly Pears)
Now I just need a Recipe
I have not found any recipes to match my ingredients
I was thinking of using 35 Pounds of Prickly pears with about 10 pounds of
Honey
A dash of Yeast Nutrient
a dash of Acid Blend
Perhaps some tannin and a bit of Pectic Enzyme.
I figured I would boil the Prickly Pears in my Brewpot for a couple of
hours, so I can hopefully get most of the Gunk off the top.
Then Drop the temp to about 170 and put in the Honey, Nutrient and acid
blend for about 20 Min at this temp.
Using my Chiller, drop to about 80 Degrees - Transfer to a 6.5 gallon
Carboy, add water to top it off and then pitch my yeast (White Labs sweet
mead).
I would rather use a Recipe, and I do remember seeing a recipe around called
for 75-125 Prickly pears, but the only ones I can find around right now cal
for 6-12 pounds of Prickly pears..
Any Ideas?
Jim Barnhart
------------------------------
Subject: FW: aspartame
From: "Murphy-Marsh, Leigh" <Leigh.Murphy-Marsh@wmc.com>
Date: Thu, 4 Sep 2003 10:58:12 +0800
If you would like something to sweeten Mead without letting the yeast
ferment further try Lactose. It is sold in brew shops pure and yeast
cannot break it down (Normal brewing yeast can't). Plus it is just a
type of sugar and not a chemical sweetener. Not cheap though. About $6
AU for half a kilo where I shop. Haven't used it personally but don't
see why it shouldn't work fine.
If you want some good info about brewing and yeasts and just about
anything else to do with brewing preperation (does not deal specifically
with Mead) try www.homedistiller.com . It has some great info there. It
mostly deals with the science of distilling but covers topics such as
yeasts, preperations, sugars to use, how the yeast uses it, etc.
Cheers,
Leigh.
'There are only two ways to live your life, one is to think that nothing
is a miracle and the other is to think everything is a miracle.'
Albert Einstein.
------------------------------
Subject: yeast name inquiry
From: JazzboBob@aol.com
Date: Fri, 5 Sep 2003 11:08:51 EDT
Does anyone know the yeast strain name of Wyeast Sweet Mead # 3184?
For example, Wyeast 3021 is Pasteur Champagne. This strain is available in
dry form. I would like to know if a comparable dry yeast is available for
sweet mead 3184.
There are several yeast types and names listed by Schramm in his Compleat
Meadmaker book but 3184 isn't mentioned. Also, the book names Wyeast 3237 as
both Prise de Mousse and Steinberg. It couldn't be both. My Wyeast catalog
indicates 3237 is Steinberg. Is 3184 by any chance a strain of Prise de
Mousse or Epernay?
cheers, Bob Grossman in Philly
------------------------------
Subject: Cyser query
From: "Michael" <novelguy@myway.com>
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 2003 14:22:50 -0400 (EDT)
Hi Dick,
I've been reading and rereading your journal and finding it inspirational.
One question springs to mind regarding making cyser:
Is it possible to make cyser using fresh apples instead of juice or cider?
It's coming up on apple season here in my neck of the woods, and there's
a good harvest to come. I like using fresh ingredients anyway, and the
honeycrisp apples promise to be outstanding this year.
Thanks,
Michael A. Feldman
------------------------------
Subject: Compleat Debate/Copper Chiller?
From: Rick Dingus <rick.dingus@ttu.edu>
Date: Sat, 06 Sep 2003 23:42:24 -0500
I think newcomers and old timers alike will find The Compleat Meadmaker a
good and useful reference because it presents new and traditional ideas and
methods related to meadmaking in a thoughtful and accessible format. I
also appreciate Ken Schramm's stated interest (MLD #1041) in having it serve
as a catalyst for continued debate and refinement. So, I raise a question
about one practice he recommended In the book: the use of a copper coil
immersion chiller (especially in a melomel, where a higher acid must is
likely.)
Long familiar with using an immersion chiller for brewing beer, I used one
the first time or two I made mead. I wasn't sure, but I thought I detected
a slight metallic taste in those meads. Whether or not that actually had
anything to do with the chiller, it set me to thinking about the warnings
I'd read about being careful not to use such a chiller in anything other
than a relatively low acid environment like beer. I also noticed that with
higher acid musts, my chiller came out shiny and clean, without the dull
coating that occurred with beer--the dull coating I understood protected and
insulated against the leaching of metal. I discussed this with several
sources and was mostly warned off of using my chiller in anything besides
beer because of the "possibility" of leaching toxic levels of copper in
higher acid musts.
(See http://winemakermag.com/mrwizard/25.html)
Even so, I'm not sure how seriously to take this warning. I raise it here
to see what Ken and the rest of you think. A chiller is usually in contact
with wort or must for less than an hour. Perhaps that's not enough time to
leach sufficient metal to worry about. Based on cautionary recommendations,
I've been combining heated (and concentrated) musts with chilled water to
achieve my desired volume and temperature, and that works OK. But if it's
not critical, I'd like to maintain the option of dusting off my trusty wort
chiller and putting it to use once in awhile when I make a melomel.
Can anyone help to clarify this? Thanks for any feedback.
Rick
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #1042
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