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Mead Lovers Digest #1090
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1090, 6 April 2004
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #1090 6 April 2004
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Re: Thesis on development of an australian mead (Randy Goldberg MD)
Thesis on development of an australian mead (Talon McCormick)
Re: royal jelly/pollen ect (Scott Alberts)
MLD #1089: Thesis on development of an australian mead ("James P")
Re: MLD#1089, 1Apr04, Bee products, Synthetic corks ("Arthur Torrey (no sp...)
11th Annual BUZZ Off Home Brew Competition (including meads) ("Christopher...)
Does headspace in a glass carboy matter? ("Benny")
NOTE: Digest appears when there is enough material to send one.
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Re: Thesis on development of an australian mead
From: Randy Goldberg MD <randy_goldberg@alumni.binghamton.edu>
Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2004 05:38:15 -0500
> I have only until August/Sept to come out with a new mead and that
> includes fermentation. That gives me like 4 months for pri/secondary
> fermentation. Could that be done?
It can be done - whether it will taste good is another question all
together. A mead can be drunk as soon as primary fermentation is complete, a=
matter of 3-6 weeks - the question is, would you want to? My suggestion
would be to aim for a low-power mead - the heavier the starting wort, the
longer it takes to age, typically.
> I've seen a Chitosan liquid fining for wine that like works in hours.
> could that help in speeding my fermentation time?
Chitosan won't have any beneficial effect on your fermentation. Like all
fining agents, its only function is to clarify your mead - remove
particulate matter that makes it cloudy.
****************
Randy Goldberg MD
Random Tag: Bulimia is one of those subjects that can ONLY be discussed ad
nauseam.
------------------------------
Subject: Thesis on development of an australian mead
From: Talon McCormick <nmccormick@earthlink.net>
Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2004 08:38:51 -0500 (GMT-05:00)
- --------------SNIP----------------------------------
Subject: Thesis on development of an australian mead
From: "Benny" <fatcat@internode.on.net>
Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2004 21:58:30 +1000
Hi guys! I am doing a Bachelor in Food Technology and am developing a new
australian mead for my final year thesis. Hope to draw from the experience
of all you mead lovers out there!
Could someone help me with some questions I have until my <Compleat
meadmaker> arrives from the US?
I have only until August/Sept to come out with a new mead and that
includes fermentation. That gives me like 4 months for pri/secondary
fermentation. Could that be done?
I've seen a Chitosan liquid fining for wine that like works in hours. could
that help in speeding my fermentation time?
thanks for all the help!
ps: if there is anyone in brisbane that wishes to attend the sensory
evaluation for my mead when it is done.. just drop me a mail!
later.
- --------------END SNIP------------------------------
Well Benny, you have 4 months, that's plenty of time to do 2 full 30 day
fermentation cycles and do one aging of about 45 days prior to bottling.
I don't know how you can really speed up fermentation time as the yeast will
only work as fast as it can process the sugars, however, making sure you've
plenty of nutrient in there for them is always helpful. I've never tried
the clarifying agent Chitosan, so I can't tell you what affect it will have.
However, if you want it to clarify faster, I usually use Irish Moss while
I'm pasturizing my honey and it seems to help speed things up with regard
to clarifying. I've only made 3 gallon batches thus far to completion and
they are really clear on the racking into the aging stage. The sweet ones
seem to take more time to clear than the dry ones, in my experience.
I wish you the best of luck on your thesis and your mead,
Talon.
------------------------------
Subject: Re: royal jelly/pollen ect
From: Scott Alberts <scottcorps@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, 3 Apr 2004 06:05:52 -0800 (PST)
My first mead was a "whole-hive" mead. My introduction
to home-brewing came from a guy who lent me this book
called "Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers: The Secrets
of Ancient Fermentation" by Stephen Harrod Buhner.
Buhner writes extensively on the purported medicinal
and nutritional qualities of honey, bee pollen,
propolis and royal jelly. If you're interested in
learing about those ingredients, that's a great book.
He also throws in a lot of mead lore. Incidentally,
that was a great batch of mead, although I did have to
hunt for liquid royal jelly, and the stuff I found has
mixed with ginseng. Incidentally, there's an
interesting note on bee venom which I shall make fair
use of here:
"Angry bees were often an inadvertent ingredient of
mead making. A hive was located, dug out of it's
hiding place, and the whole thing was placed in a
kettle to cook off the wax. The bees were anything but
passive in this process. Bees, bee larvae, and the
queen were often still present in the hive, and angry
worker bees ferociously assaulted the hive stealers,
following the hive as it moved."
I'm not recommending you harvest honey in this way,
but I'd be interested to try a mead made with bee
venom (expensive stuff).
- --Scott
------------------------------
Subject: MLD #1089: Thesis on development of an australian mead
From: "James P" <jlp765@hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, 05 Apr 2004 09:19:45 +1000
Benny,
Great to know another Brisbanite out there :-)
Your main issue will be the honey flavour (and cost). Unless you get
non-eucalyptus
honey, then you will be probably doing a semi-sweet to sweet mead, and
balance
the eucalyptus flavour with lemon (and ginger and other spices for a
metheglin).
A Clarifying agent I use is a two-pack from the Home Brew store, that is
Kieselsol &
Gelatin. It seems to drop clear in a day or two if you place your carboy in
the fridge
(assuming it isn't a pectin haze).
If you are keen on a tasting session (Kenmore), drop me a line.
Cheers,
James
------------------------------
Subject: Re: MLD#1089, 1Apr04, Bee products, Synthetic corks
From: "Arthur Torrey (no spam please!)" <atorrey@cybercom.net>
Date: Sun, 4 Apr 2004 21:42:36 -0400
Buhner, in his book (see earlier digests for reference info) reccomends 1 Oz.
each of Propolis, Pollen and Royal Jelly, in a blend of 3 gallons of water and
6 Lbs of honey. His recipe calls for boiling the honey/water mix, then adding
the other bee products during cooling. He tells you not to strain, and to
ensure the undisolved solids go into the primary fermenter.
I don't feel the amounts are that critical, and I typically use about 1 tsp of
propolis, 1-2 TBL of Pollen, and 1 tsp of freeze dried royal jelly (Purchased
from Glory Bee foods, at a far lower cost than their fresh Royal Jelly) This
is for a 5 gallon batch, but I don't change the amount all that much for a
smaller one.
I put the bee products in a nylon fermentation bag (along with any other
things like fruits or herbs that I will filter out after primary), as the
propolis especially will tend to make a hard to clean up mess of the primary
if you throw it in loose. You don't even want to think about scrubbing
propolis off the inside of a carboy!
I haven't done close before & after measurements of SG, but the bee products
don't seem to have a significant effect on the SG as the numbers I get are
consistent with the SG estimates on the charts for predicting SG based on
amounts of honey added to the water. Considering that the amounts added are
comparitively small and of limited solubility, I wouldn't expect there to be a
major impact either.
> Subject: Bee Products in mead questions.
> From: Talon McCormick <nmccormick@earthlink.net>
> Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2004 07:29:55 -0500 (GMT-05:00)
>
> SNIPPET FROM DIGEST
> Try these links
> http://www.apitherapy.org
> http://www.apitherapy.com
> to learn more about the bee products.
> Pollen in Mead is good for your health! It was the drink that kept the
> Vikings going over to America without getting scorbut or other diseases from
> lack of nurishment.
> Greetings from Japan
> Gabi
> http://www.amie.or.jp/daruma/daruma-new1.html
> END SNIPPET
>
> I took a look at the links and they are informative and I have some of the
> problems listed in the diseases section of apitherapy.com and probably
> could benefit greatly from using the pollen in my meads. So that I can
> edit my recipes correctly, what bee products other than pollen would be
> recommended to put in my meads and what quantities should I add them per
> gallon as I make several different sizes? Would I expect a slight rise
> in specific gravity?
>
> Thanks,
> Talon.
The Guardian Resin synthetic corks I have used are very easy to sterilize, the
instructions are to mix up a batch of sulfite solution (1 Campden tab in 1 Gal
or 1 oz. metabisulphite in 1/2 gal water) in a glass bowl and dip them in
it. I use a 2 Qt. Pyrex VisionWare pot w/ about 1 tsp metabisulphite in 1
qt. of water, and dump my bag of corks in it when I start bottling, pulling
them out as needed. This is FAR easier than standard corks, as there is no
presoaking needed.
I now use a floor corker which really squeezes the corks, but works quite
well. My GF, who usually corks while I fill the bottles reports that they are
a bit less effort to use than real corks in the same machine. The floor
corker is also MUCH easier to use than the twin lever hand corker I started
with. The other advantage of a floor corker is it seems to deal better with
what I call the "Flange top" bottles that some wines come in now. I could
never get the cork flush with the top of the bottle with a hand corker, but
the floor corker takes them in stride. (I don't care for the flange tops, but
when you are relying on friends saving you bottles, you take what they save
for you. I tend to use the flange tops for 'throw away bottles that I use
when I give a bottle to someone and don't expect to get back the empty)
The only problems I have found with the synthetic corks, and it may be due to
the floor corker that squeezes them down far more while inserting than the
hand corker, is that they are more sensitive to the neck ID of the bottle than
regular corks. I find that in many cases the corks will slide part way back
out of the bottle, apparently due to the pressure of air trapped in the bottle
when the cork is inserted (I only make still meads) It is possible to push the
cork back in by hand, and after a few cycles of this the cork will stay put.
I also sometimes get very minor leakage past the cork when storing the bottle
on it's side. This is worst with some of the bottles I've gotten (mostly
Harvey's Bristol Cream) that used 'barstop' type corks as opposed to wine type
corks. IIRC, when I did some measuring, the wine bottles had an ID of about
.69" and the barstop bottles were around .74"
Note that these corks were the lower priced of the two grades of synthetic
corks that my brewing supply place (New England Beer & Wine Hobby, Woburn MA)
offered. I haven't tried the more expensive variety yet, perhaps they will
seal better. I understand that both varietys use about the same sterilizing
technique.
> Subject: Dealing with Synthetic cork(q)s
> From: Patrick Devaney <damien777@yahoo.com>
> Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2004 05:25:01 -0800 (PST)
>
> Hi Everyone,
>
> Does anyone have adivce on how to properly
> sterilize synthetic corks? I'm just using them for the
> first time, and they came in a loose bag and I'd like
> to make sure they're OK before I bottle.
>
> Thanks!!
>
ART
------------------------------
Subject: 11th Annual BUZZ Off Home Brew Competition (including meads)
From: "Christopher Clair" <buzz@netreach.net>
Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2004 19:18:57 -0400
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
------------------------------
Subject: Does headspace in a glass carboy matter?
From: "Benny" <fatcat@internode.on.net>
Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2004 23:05:56 +1000
Can someone please tell me if the amount of headspace during secondary
fermentation matter? Mine is a 11.5L glass carboy and I have to conduct Gas
Chromatography on the mead weekly. So would drawing out samples and thus
dropping the level of mead have a significant effect on the mead? Thanks!
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #1090
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