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Mead Lovers Digest #1081
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1081, 9 March 2004
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #1081 9 March 2004
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
peptic enzyme (Mark Ottenberg)
berries and pectin enzyme (Jeff Renner)
Apple Cider and/or Apple Juice Meads ("Kalliope")
Re: (no subject) Pectic enzyme / cyser recipe ("Ken Taborek")
Pectic enzyme (Randy Goldberg MD)
11th Annual BUZZ Off Home Brew Competition (including meads) ("Christopher...)
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: peptic enzyme
From: Mark Ottenberg <mark@riverrock.org>
Date: Fri, 05 Mar 2004 10:43:47 -0700
At 09:59 AM 3/5/2004 -0700, you wrote:
>Subject: (no subject)
>From: HerbMyst@aol.com
>Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 09:18:01 EST
>
>Hi All,
> I resently bottled my first mead, a raspberry melomel. I think when it
>is finished it will taste great but I just found out I can't have any berries
>(docs orders) so I want to make a mead I can drink. I found a recipe on the
>internet that sounds good. My problem is this, the recipe calls for 1/4 tsp.
>peptic enzyme. I need to know: why do I need it, is there a substitute
>ingredient, what is it and where can I buy it cheaply? If this helps here
>is the
>recipe: 2 gallons apple cider, 21 pounds honey, 1 pkge lager yeast, 1 c brown
>sugar, 2.5 gal water, and the peptic enzyme. Any help with the recipe will be
>appreciated also. I'm still very new to this.
>Thank-you!!
>Venus
21 lbs of honey and 2 gallons of apple cider in a 5 gallon batch? Are you
sure your recipe is right? In my not highly experienced, but somewhat
mead-wise mind, this is going to result in a starting specific gravity that
is WAY too high for the yeasties to work with. You might be able to do it
by feeding much of the honey later after the sg goes down, but even then ...
I also don't understand the reason for the brown sugar.
Peace,
-- Mark
------------------------------
Subject: berries and pectin enzyme
From: Jeff Renner <jeffrenner@comcast.net>
Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2004 12:48:35 -0500
Venus wrote:
>I just found out I can't have any berries (docs orders)
Can you share with us just what the problem is with berries? I have
never heard of such a prohibition and can't imagine what would be the
problem. "Berries" covers a lot of territory, so to speak, from
members of the rose family to the heath family and so on.
Is this the kind of doc who runs his/her fingers through your hair
and smells them to see what your body can't tolerate? Or something
like this? I am a sceptic of this kind of "diagnosis."
Regarding your question about pectic enzyme - this is to
reduce/eliminate pectin haze, which I think would disappear with
again anyway, so I wouldn't worry about it. But, it does look like
you are using an awfully lot of honey, plus the brown sugar and the
fermentable sugar in the apple juice. Lager yeast is probably not
the ideal choice for a cyser anyway, and only one packet is woefully
underpitching. Along with the high starting gravity, I think this is
a recipe for a stuck fermentation. However, this thought is based
not on experience but rather on eyeballing it. Did the person/source
you got the recipe from ferment this successfully?
I hope you can drink you raspberry melomel when it's ready.
Jeff
- --
Jeff Renner in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA, JeffRenner@comcast.net
"One never knows, do one?" Fats Waller, American Musician, 1904-1943
------------------------------
Subject: Apple Cider and/or Apple Juice Meads
From: "Kalliope" <kalliope10@swbell.net>
Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2004 11:31:35 -0600
>>>Subject: (no subject)
From: HerbMyst@aol.com
Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 09:18:01 EST
Hi All,
I resently bottled my first mead, a raspberry melomel. I think when it
is finished it will taste great but I just found out I can't have any berries
(docs orders) so I want to make a mead I can drink. I found a recipe on the
internet that sounds good. My problem is this, the recipe calls for 1/4 tsp.
peptic enzyme. I need to know: why do I need it, is there a substitute
ingredient, what is it and where can I buy it cheaply? If this helps here
is the
recipe: 2 gallons apple cider, 21 pounds honey, 1 pkge lager yeast, 1 c brown
sugar, 2.5 gal water, and the peptic enzyme. Any help with the recipe will be
appreciated also. I'm still very new to this.
Thank-you!!
Venus
I just made 2 batches of an 'Apple Pie Mead' that I got off the internet.
The recipe called for 1 gallon of honey, 2 gallons of Apple Cider, which
I substitued with 2 gallons of Pure Organic Apple Juice, apple pie spices,
(cinnamon, nutmeg, etc.) and I added 1 in batch, 2-Premier Cuvee yeast
and acid blend & nutrients & in 1 batch, 2-champagne yeast (to get rid
of it). The Premier Cuvee batch started in 2 hours, and within 7 started
foaming all over place! We just so happened to put the batch in a bathtub
due to space requirements and thank the Mead Gods I did! It foamed for
over an hour (I took the air lock off because it started clogging it up and
it spewed all over the bathroom when I did) I left the air lock off for the foam
to run out and it is doing great now. No further problems with foaming. The
champagne batch has some foaming but nothing like the Premier Cuvee batch.
I just did this on Tuesday, and both are fermenting quite well now. Smells
heavenly and the must tasted great, exactly like an apple pie.
Questions:
1. Did I put too much yeast in it?
2. Is it the apple juice that caused the foaming from hell?
3. Is it the Premier Cuvee? Do I only need to add 1 pkg to any future batches?
4. When I use apple juice, should I let it ferment in a primary bucket
until the foam settles down?
Thank you for any replies.
Skold,
Karen
------------------------------
Subject: Re: (no subject) Pectic enzyme / cyser recipe
From: "Ken Taborek" <Ken.Taborek@verizon.net>
Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2004 15:15:10 -0500
> Subject: (no subject)
> From: HerbMyst@aol.com
> Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 09:18:01 EST
>=20
> Hi All,
> I resently bottled my first mead, a raspberry melomel. I think when it
> is finished it will taste great but I just found out I can't have any berries
> (docs orders) so I want to make a mead I can drink. I found a recipe on the
> internet that sounds good. My problem is this, the recipe calls for 1/4 tsp.
> peptic enzyme. I need to know: why do I need it, is there a substitute
> ingredient, what is it and where can I buy it cheaply? If this helps here
> is the recipe: 2 gallons apple cider, 21 pounds honey, 1 pkge lager
> yeast, 1 c brown sugar, 2.5 gal water, and the peptic enzyme. Any help with
> the recipe will be appreciated also. I'm still very new to this.
> Thank-you!!
> Venus
Venus,
You may exclude the pectic enzyme, it's not a required ingredient. What it
does for you is to help your mead clear by converting haze causing pectins
into (I believe, but I'm no chemist) pectic acid. Fruit and fruit juices
contain pectins, and apple juice is fairly high in pectins, especially if it
was made from tart apples. Some meads can clear without pectic enzyme, but
I use it in any mead with a fruit or fruit juice component. Just a few
drops can clear a stubborn haze in days, it's really an amazing thing to
observe.
If you choose to investigate the use of pectic enzyme, you should be able to
find it at any homebrewing store, or available through online order. It
comes in either liquid or powder form, and the cost is trivial, well under
$5US. I'm considering throwing out my tiny (I think it is 1/4oz) eyedropper
bottle of liquid enzyme and purchasing a new one, just because it's a couple
of years old and I want to ensure that it's still active.
For your cyser recipe, it might turn out just fine as it was printed. I
make my cysers with no water, just apple juice or cider. Four gallons of
cider and 1 gallon (12 lbs) of honey makes a wine strength must. A white
wine yeast or a cider yeast will emphasize the apple aroma of the finished
mead.
Best of luck to you!
Cheers,
Ken
------------------------------
Subject: Pectic enzyme
From: Randy Goldberg MD <goldbergr1@cox.net>
Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2004 18:39:55 -0500
> From: HerbMyst@aol.com
> Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 09:18:01 EST
>
> I resently bottled my first mead, a raspberry melomel. I think when it
> is finished it will taste great but I just found out I can't have any
> berries (docs orders) so I want to make a mead I can drink. I found a
> recipe on the internet that sounds good. My problem is this, the recipe
> calls for 1/4 tsp. peptic enzyme. I need to know: why do I need it, is
> there a substitute ingredient, what is it and where can I buy it
> cheaply? If this helps here is the
> recipe: 2 gallons apple cider, 21 pounds honey, 1 pkge lager yeast, 1 c
> brown sugar, 2.5 gal water, and the peptic enzyme. Any help with the
> recipe will be appreciated also. I'm still very new to this. Thank-you!!
> Venus
Pectic (not peptic) enzyme is used to break down pectins from fruit. Pectins
are large polymers of carbohydrates, similar in some ways to starches, which
are responsible for the setting of jellies when heated. Unheated, in your
mead, they will cause haziness/cloudiness. You do not necessarily need to
use the pectic enzyme, although you may be left with a cloudy beverage which
may or may not clear on its own. There is no substitute, and you should be
able to get it from your brewing supply store where you get your yeast (look
in the refrigerated section).
By the by, the drink you're making, with both apple cider and honey, is
sometimes called "cyser", and often takes a long time to age.
PS Peptic enzyme is the enzyme your stomach makes to break down proteins,
and isn't used in brewing.
****************
Randy Goldberg MD
Random Tag: I have a new "User Surly" computer...
------------------------------
Subject: 11th Annual BUZZ Off Home Brew Competition (including meads)
From: "Christopher Clair" <buzz@netreach.net>
Date: Sun, 7 Mar 2004 08:31:13 -0500
Brewers Unlimited Zany Zymurgists (BUZZ) is proud to announce that the 2004
BUZZ Off home brew competition will be held on Saturday, May 22nd at Iron
Hill Brewery & Restaurant in West Chester, PA. For another year we will be
a qualifying event for the prestigious Masters Championship of Amateur
Brewing (MCAB) as well as the Delaware Valley Homebrewer of the Year. All
BJCP recognized styles including meads and ciders are eligible for entry.
For complete details and forms, please visit the BUZZ web site at
http://hbd.org/buzz.
Entries will be accepted between April 26th and May 16th. For drop off and
mail in locations please refer to the BUZZ web site. Please, do not send
entries to Iron Hill.
BJCP Judges and stewards will be needed. If you are interested please
contact me or another committee member (contact information can be found on
the web site). All judges must be BJCP certified.
Good luck and cheers!
Christopher Clair
buzz@netreach.net
http://hbd.org/buzz
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #1081
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