Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Mead Lovers Digest #1063
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 #1063, 19 December 2003
Mead Lover's Digest #1063 19 December 2003
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Re: Grains of Paradise (Tom Davidson)
Re: shipping mead ("Lane Gray, Czar Castic")
finding Grains of Paradise (spice) ("Kenneth R. Irwin")
Grains of Paradise (Dave Johnson)
Medieval spices (Avraham haRofeh of Sudentur)
Crystalized Honey ("King, Derek")
grains of paradise (Karen Heim)
Re: chunk honey (Robert Sandefer)
results on spontaneously fermented mead with pollen ("Raj B. Apte")
("Maurice St. Aude")
Help! Fermentation never started! ("John P. Looney")
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: Re: Grains of Paradise
From: Tom Davidson <tj.davidson@comcast.net>
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 18:43:40 -0500
Dave in Madison wrote:
> Now if I can find Grains of Paradise (another period spice).
http://www.thespicehouse.com/product/product_144_description.php
------------------------------
Subject: Re: shipping mead
From: "Lane Gray, Czar Castic" <CGray2@kc.rr.com>
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 18:21:08 -0800
I've shipped my mead in Sioux City Birch Beer and Sarsasparilla bottles,
which I then reuse after sterilizing. I then just avoid fibbing by
calling them beverages, and saying that the recipient has never seen a
bottle of Sioux City soda. Never gotten challenged...
- --
Lane Gray
Yes, I'm a minion of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial
------------------------------
Subject: finding Grains of Paradise (spice)
From: "Kenneth R. Irwin" <kirwin@wittenberg.edu>
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 19:19:23 -0500
You can find Grains of Paradise from the Pepperers Guild at Pennsic (or at
least, they had them a few years ago). I don't know where they get them,
but I've never found them anyplace else.
slainte,
Ken / ska Cainnech mac Cinead
At 04:25 PM 12/16/2003 -0700, Lazurus106@aol.com wrote:
>From: Lazurus106@aol.com
>
> Now if I can find Grains of Paradise (another period spice).
>
>Dave in Madison, WI USA
>AKA Cnut Ragnarsson
Ken Irwin kirwin@wittenberg.edu
Reference/Electronic Resources Librarian (937) 327-7594
Thomas Library, Wittenberg University
------------------------------
Subject: Grains of Paradise
From: Dave Johnson <davejohn@jetlink.net>
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 17:48:36 -0800
My quick internet seach came up with this location. I found it via
Google. Good Luck.
http://www.americanspice.com/catalog/search.html?SEARCH=21&WORDS=%22Grains%2Bof%2BParadise%22
------------------------------
Subject: Medieval spices
From: Avraham haRofeh of Sudentur <avrahamharofeh@herald.sca.org>
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 21:43:30 -0500
> To those doing historical based mead making I just noticed That Penszeys
> Spices Catalog had Galangal listed. I am blessed with one of there retail
> stores
> here in town so a road trip was called for. This is a spice that I have
> seen
> listed in many period mead recipts a relative of ginger. They call it a
> flowery
> and intense. Cheap too a 1/4 pound of ground was $3.79 US.
> Now if I can find Grains of Paradise (another period spice).
Many spices called for in medieval and Renaissance recipes, including grains
of paradise, galangal, long pepper, sanders and cubebs can be ordered from
The Pepperer's Guild, whose homepage is located at
http://members.cox.net/periac/pepperers.html
****************
Avraham haRofeh
(mka Randy Goldberg MD)
Random Tag: Democracy is based on the assumption that a million men are=
wiser than one man. How's that again? I missed something. - [Lazarus
Long]
------------------------------
Subject: Crystalized Honey
From: "King, Derek" <DKING@tsionline.com>
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 22:30:30 -0500
I have recently come into posession of 1 Lb. of crystalized clover honey.
When I rehydrate the honey and use it for my must, will there be any
appreciable flavor loss due to the dehydration process? Or should I hold off
on using the stuff for my must base, and just use it to top off my must as
it ferments?
Dying to know....
Derek King
------------------------------
Subject: grains of paradise
From: Karen Heim <axejudge@accessus.net>
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 21:58:42 -0600
I've bought them before; when my ex-husband got remarried, he asked me
to cater the reception in a medieval style (yes, it was a fairly
amicable split). Anyway, a quick Google search reveals the following
online sources:
http://www.americanspice.com/catalog/search.html?SEARCH=21&WORDS=grains%2Bparadise
(sorry if that one gets chopped up)
http://www.dragonmarsh.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=Dragonmarsh&Product_Code=10620&Category_Code=_H+List
http://sandsofthyme.scifstore.com/module/store/viewentry/723/
I'm sure there's plenty more.
Karen
------------------------------
Subject: Re: chunk honey
From: Robert Sandefer <melamor@vzavenue.net>
Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2003 14:03:57 -0500
A few months ago I did a set of experimental batches (1/3 gal each). Among
them was a comb honey mead:
I purchased 24 oz of comb honey. I placed it in a quart of 95F water and
squished and squeezed the combs with my hands. I removed the large wax
chunks by hand and used a strainer to get most of the smaller wax bits
out. The cleaned wax weighed roughly 4 oz.
I added yeast nutrient and boiled to sterilize. I proceeded as normal. I
did however notice a layer of wax had made it into the fermenter. It
looked disturbing but should be harmless.
I also remember that the cleaned, squished wax was relatively clean--i.e,
there was little honey left in it so recovery of a great deal of the honey
from chunk honey is achievable if messy.
On the practical side, I would watch the temperature of the wash
water--too warm and the wax will melt.
Hope this helps.
Robert Sandefer
------------------------------
Subject: results on spontaneously fermented mead with pollen
From: "Raj B. Apte" <raj_apte@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2003 11:49:23 -0800 (PST)
Hi all,
I would like to report on a six month experiment to
make mead 'simply'. I bought 24# of settled honey and
1# of pollen from a local beekeeper. I mixed up a 1L
solution of water and honey at 1.050, put a lock on
it, and waited. In a week, when it was active, I
stirred in another bit of honey. Two days later I made
two five-gallon batches, 1.080 and 1.120 by stirring
cold honey into cold filtered water. I added 1 T of
pollen to each carboy and half of the starter. At no
point did I add yeast, heat, nutrients, acid or
anything else. The fermentation took two months, and
then I racked to secondary with oak chips. I bottled
the heavy brew last weekend.
It finished 1.020 and 12.5P on the refractometer,
which is 1.030 real residual with 11 %abv. According
to promash software, the corresponding OG was 1.100,
so clearly 1.020 worth of honey went into yeast
production and bacteria.
The taste was balanced between dry and sweet with a
nutty flavor like the pollen and a yeasty flavor like,
well, young mead. It was medium cloudy--not as opaque
as orange juice, closer to old grapefruit juice. Most
interestingly, I titrated it. pH was 3.4 and TA was
0.47% tartaric. Did I mention that I added no acid?
I'm guessing that bacteria did the acidification for
me.
Many of the show meads I've tasted resemble a blend of
vodka, water, and fresh honey--all aroma and no
bouquet. This fermentation struck a good balance. Will
let you know about the lighter mead soon.
Happy New Year,
raj
------------------------------
Subject:
From: "Maurice St. Aude" <bludrgn@rogers.com>
Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2003 23:17:59 -0500
Re:Kieselson MLD# 1059
Sorry it took me so long to reply to this question, but I have been away
from my computer for several weeks now. Super-Kleer KC is esentually the
same product as Claro KC. There are two packets inside of the bag, the
smaller of the the two is the kieselsol - a silica gel developed by
Bayer (yes the asperin people) in the 1940s the larger packet is the
Chitosan - the gelatine. This is the ideal clearifing combination for a
low tannin wine or in this case mead. The proceedure for use is simple.
Once the fermentation has come to a halt and you are ready to clarify
add the smaller packet (the kieselsol), to the carboy and stir gently.
Reseal the carboy and let it sit for 24hr. At this point add the larger
packet (the gelatine) and let the carboy clarify over the next 7 days,
then rack the mead off the sediment.
Hope this helps.
Maurice
Subject: Re:kieselsol
From: Rick Dingus <rick.dingus@ttu.edu>
Date: Fri, 28 Nov 2003 14:28:15 -0600
I've used gelatin as a fining agent before, which works well for beer
and wines that have tannin. I've noticed mead makers here recommending
kieselsol. Made up of 2 parts, it apparently removes both negative and
positive charged materials from suspension.
I bought some Super-Kleer KC to try, but the instructions are a bit
vague. After stirring part 1 (kieselsol) into suspension, should I wait
awhile before adding part 2 (chitosan)? If so, how long? Does it
really matter which is added first and, if so, why? I'm assuming that
chitosan is like gelatin. What is kieselsol and how does it work?
Thanks for helping to clarify my mind as well as my mead.
Rick
------------------------------
Subject: Help! Fermentation never started!
From: "John P. Looney" <valen@tuatha.org>
Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2003 23:06:21 +0000
Back in 1998 or so, I experimented with mead making, and was reasonably
successful. After running into problems of the female kind (AKA "You are
*not* making smelly alcohol stuff in this house!"), my brewing experiments
were forced on hiatus.
Finally, I convinced a single man with a warm hours let me show him how
to make mead.
We started two carbouys brewing last sunday.
10 litres apple juice
7lb honey
10 litres water
This was bubbling within 12 hours, and is still popping away. I'm going
to decant it Real Soon Now, leave it another week or so, then decant into
some glass demijohns.
The second, which was:
4 litres raspberry & cranberry juice
700g of crushed frozen fruit
8lb honey
16 litres water
hasn't started bubbling yet. I thought at first that I put the yeast in
too early and boiled it to death, so a day later, put another dose of
yeast in. No luck.
The only think I can think of was that the juice manufacturer lied, and
put preservative in the juice that kills yeast. Could there be any other
reason ? Would that be enough fruit, that it wouldn't require yeast
nutrient ? Given it's been ten days, is it too late to try get it started
again by adding nutrient (recently purchased) and more yeast ?
john
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #1063
*******************************
