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Mead Lovers Digest #1054
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 #1054, 30 October 2003
Mead Lover's Digest #1054 30 October 2003
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Re: How long in the fermenter is safe? ("Kenneth R. Irwin")
sulfur stink (linda@us.epigenomics.com)
Digests will be erratic (Mead Lovers Digest)
Australian honey (Ross McKay)
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Subject: Re: How long in the fermenter is safe?
From: "Kenneth R. Irwin" <kirwin@wittenberg.edu>
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2003 08:41:10 -0500
Hi Leigh,
I figure you can pretty much leave mead in the fermenter for as long as you
want. I sometimes find that mead that sits on lees for a long time tastes
better. I often leave mead in the fermenter for several months after
fermentation is finished; and then as I rack into smaller containers, some
parts of a batch may sit on lees for years. I do stuff the old-fashioned
way with no clarifiers or clays, and I find that letting it just sit for
months is a great way to get nice clear mead with no additives.
I might be careful, though, about leaving mead with fruit-bits in it to sit
for too long. I do a lot of orange-mead, and I reckon it's finished when
the orange peels drop to the bottom of the fermenter. At that point,
they're easy to get out of the narrow mouth a a carboy because they are
cohesive but pliable. A few months later they might just be gooey blobs
that would be too gross to deal with easily.
joy
Ken
Quoth Leigh:
>How long can you safely, after fermentation has finished, leave the mead
>in the fermenter (properly airlocked of course) or is it unlimited in
>time?
Ken Irwin kirwin@wittenberg.edu
Reference/Electronic Resources Librarian (937) 327-7594
Thomas Library, Wittenberg University
------------------------------
Subject: sulfur stink
From: linda@us.epigenomics.com
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2003 13:44:28 -0800 (PST)
I have two 5-gallon carboys of semi-sweet mead going right now, one made
with Lalvin D-47 yeast, the other with Pasteur Champagne yeast. They've
both been fermenting for just under two months. (Though I keep a journal,
I failed to note on the carboys which is which! rats...) One smells
great, the other is a bit darker in color and has a nasty sulfur smell
(pardon my language, but I can best describe it as "f*rty"). I noticed on
an old Cider Digest post that insufficient nitrogen can cause yeast to
change metabolism and produce H2S. My questions are: 1. Can I salvage the
sulfur batch? and 2. Do either of these yeasts have a reputation for
funkifying mead?
Thanks so much for any advice!
- -Linda
"Sometimes, to have a little good luck is the most brilliant plan." -
Crimes and Misdemeanors
------------------------------
Subject: Digests will be erratic
From: mead-request@talisman.com (Mead Lovers Digest)
Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2003 17:14:30 -0700 (MST)
The digest schedule will be erratic for a couple of weeks while the
janitor is off playing around. That doesn't mean two weeks of dead air,
mind you, only that I'm not sure when I'll be at the keyboard.
- ---
Mead-Lover's Digest mead-request@talisman.com
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor Boulder County, Colorado USA
------------------------------
Subject: Australian honey
From: Ross McKay <rosko@zeta.org.au>
Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2003 08:27:35 +1100
G'day,
In some of the older mead making books, the use of Australian honey is a
Bad Thing (tm). It seems that the folk who wrote this didn't get out
much and probably didn't come across many Australian honeys, because
there are at least some that are pretty good for mead making (and making
other fermented beverages).
The subject came up again down here in Oz on one of the beer brewing
lists, and I thought that maybe it was an opportune time to find out
from fellow Aussies just what the go is.
The honey mentioned on the brewing list was Leatherwood. One list
participant said that it produced a medicinal tasting mead. I'm pretty
sure that in discussions with other meadmakers in Oz that this isn't a
universally held opinion of Leatherwood, but I'd like to hear from
others on the MLD before I bother forking out $5-$10 / kilo to find out
for myself.
So, what honeys Down Under have you tried in meads (and melomels,
metheglyns, etc), and what would you recommend other Aussies have a go
at using?
cheers,
Ross.
- --
Ross McKay, WebAware Pty Ltd
"The lawn could stand another mowing; funny, I don't even care"
- - Elvis Costello
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End of Mead Lover's Digest #1054
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