Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Mead Lovers Digest #1170
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1170, 25 March 2005
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #1170 25 March 2005
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
re: BeeKeepers (Sharon Labchuk)
Corks, caps n' where to stick 'em... (bobbylew@ix.netcom.com)
Re: In desperate need of help (Marc Shapiro)
RE: Super Rocket Fuel ("Al Boyce")
RE: Mead Lover's Digest #1169, 22 March 2005 (David Chubb)
Need help (Russ.Hobaugh@erm.com)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1169, 22 March 2005 (Ben Waggoner)
desperate mead maker ("Janis Gross")
Re: In desperate need of help (Dick Adams)
Re: In desperate need of help ("Paul Shouse")
Rocket Fuel? (Vuarra)
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
A searchable archive is available at www.gotmead.com/mead-research/mld
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: re: BeeKeepers
From: Sharon Labchuk <slabchuk@isn.net>
Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 00:52:16 -0400
I'm a beekeeper too but I started keeping bees before I discovered mead.
Since you're in Arizona, you should check out Dee Lusby's operation.
She has 1000 hives, all organic. I completely changed my beekeeping
practices when varroa mites arrived in my area a couple of years ago.
I had never used any pesticides or antibiotics in my hives and didn't
want to start, so I joined her organic beekeepers list and now commune
with like-minded beekeepers.
Most people think honey is natural but it's far from it with the over-sized
disease-prone commercial bees, all the chemicals used by beekeepers,
the sugar feeding and the moving about of hives to sprayed fields for
pollination.
Check out organic beekeeping at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Organicbeekeepers/
Sharon Labchuk
>I started keeping bees because of my mead habit. I found a
>local beekeeper so that I could save money and somehow I now
>have 6 hives. I harvested 4 gallons of honey about 5 weeks ago
>and more should be coming in soon. (I'm very afraid to calculate
>$/lb).
>
>I am in Arizona so can't help you out much, but I wouldn't limit
>yourself to mead making beekeepers (or meadsters with bees?).
>All the beekeepers I've met have been willing to bend over
>backwards to help out people new to bees. I found a local club,
>BACA (Beekeepers Association of Central Arizona) that has been
>a tremendous resource - full of great people. I would look for
>the local equivalent.
>
>Oops - hopefully make that owner of 7 hives; I picked up a
>swarm before work today.
>
>Let me know how you get on. Be careful of your time; I have
>10 carboys going of which at least 4 need to be kegged/bottled
>and empty carboys waiting for a batch but never seem to find
>the time now. I blame it on the kids, not the other hobbies.
>
>I've wondered how many other mead makers have turned into
>beekeepers - anymore out there?
------------------------------
Subject: Corks, caps n' where to stick 'em...
From: bobbylew@ix.netcom.com
Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 00:52:20 -0500 (GMT-05:00)
Let me begin by stating that I am a traditionalist, and no matter how
many articles
appear in Scientific America about how specialized, and multi functional
synthetic corks have become, or worse, An article about fungus in
Tej bottles... I read the article posted from two weeks ago, (sorry I
didn't save the link) and I had wished that they had gone a bit further
with their investigation. Little doubt is left that the cork is the
source of the problem, but we don't know if it is how they are stored,
or more likely, simply a poor quality cork.
I have read that all cork comes from 400 year old oak trees from the
last remaining
virgin forest of Europe in Spain and Portugal. Cork is the inner layer
of the bark of them really old trees. Historically, the demand for cork
was always slightly greater than the supply, as only so much bark can be
removed from a tree without jeopardizing it's well- being. A variety of
factors, including the popularity of Australian and South American wines,
and the free trade agreement in Europe, (finally a middle class family
in Sweeden could afford a french wine) Created a demand that could only
result in a new market for spongy plastic wanna be corks.
Fouxe corks are about half the price in bulk. Their popularity has
caused a drop in demand
for real corks made from entirly 100% actual cork. The Spaniards, responding
to drop in demand, turn some of the forest into farm land/real estate/
or any other profit making venture.
I know that it is difficult as a home brewer to get good quality corks.
Problem also is that
not all wine bottles have the same size mouth. I prefer to go with a
wider cork, just to be safe.
I have probably bottled close to a thousand bottles over the last 10
years, Mostly by cork. I
have even done group tastings, cork held up significantly better than
crown caps, those damn plastic stoppers used in champagne bottles (a
necessary evil for the sparkly stuff), And better than the runner up,
Grolsh bottles. Now, My limited foresight has my batches designed for
such tests only dating back 5 years. It may be that when I do a 10 year
old tasting, that the cork sealed bottles will not hold up as well.
I also have a personal reason for favoring cork. I am an
environmentalist. I want the Virgin
forest in Europe to remain untouched by man's quest for development.
The popularity of synthetic corks has already caused a removal of some of
the forest. Thus, cork becomes more expensive, and a cheaper quality is
then marketed to the homebrewer. No doubt, the known and respected brands
will stay with cork, and probably have no trouble what-so-ever with fungal
contamination. When the Rothchilds switch to artificial, then so will I,
till then, I am sticking with tradition. Viva la CORK.
------------------------------
Subject: Re: In desperate need of help
From: Marc Shapiro <mshapiro_42@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 01:11:48 -0500
DIHarpster@aol.com wrote:
>
> I am about to give up. I have tried every mead recipe I can get my hands
> on.. including duplicating the sweet show mead from the "Complete Mead Maker"
> and it all comes out like super rocket fuel after the first two months.
> It never gets any farther before going bad. I use only the chem sanatizer
> from my local supply shop, water that I boil the night before and then
> chill over night, and 100% all natural honey from a local health food store.
> Can a man get a break?
Just what do you mean by "super rocket fuel?" Is it simply stronger
than you like, or drier than you like, or is there some other taste that
is developing. If it is too strong, use less honey. If too dry, try
stablizing and sweetening once fermentation is complete. If it tastes
like gasoline, check your sanitation and make sure that the "chem
sanitizer" is completely rinsed out of all equipment. Just what kind of
sanitizer is it, anyway?
You might want to try this spiced cyser (apple metheglyn?). It has
never failed for me. The finished product should be fairly dry and
between 12% and 13% alcohol.
4 gallons apple juice
12 lb (1 gallon) honey
7 - 10 sticks of cinnamon
5 - 7 thin slices of fresh ginger root
20 - 25 cloves
Heat one to two gallons of apple juice to just below the boiling point.
Remove from heat, place the spices in a muslin, or cheesecloth bag and
place them in the hot juice. Cover the juice and allow the spices to
steep overnight. (By which time, your kitchen should smell heavenly.)
While the spices are steeping, make a starter of just apple juice and
yeast. Step up the starter to about a quart and let it sit overnight,
as well. Pour the spiced juice into your fermenter. Heat another
gallon of juice to just below boiling, remove from the heat and stir in
the honey. When the honey is thoroughly blended, add this to the
fermenter and top up with remaining apple juice and add your yeast starter.
This usually ferment for anywhere from 4 to 6 weeks. Rack once
fermentation has ceased and there is at least 1/2 inch of sediment in
the carboy. Racka gain when there is significant sediment and again a
month or two after that. This last racking should leave behind only a
paper thin layer of sediment. Rack one more time, into bottles when you
are ready.
The spices can be adjusted to taste, but I wouldn't change them too much
for the first try. These quantities work well for me and do not add
overpowering levels of spices to the must.
- --
Marc Shapiro
mshapiro_42@yahoo.com
------------------------------
Subject: RE: Super Rocket Fuel
From: "Al Boyce" <aboyce@mn.rr.com>
Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 08:02:57 -0600
On Tue, 22 Mar 2005 22:04:05 EST, DIHarpster@aol.com wrote:
>> it all comes out like super rocket fuel after the first two months.
DI -
There are a few things that cause mead to become "rocket fuel"...
* Too vigorous a yeast
* Too much honey
* Too hot a ferment temperature
* Too fast of a ferment
* Drinking it too early
If you are using proven recipes, you can probably rule out the first two.
Try chilling your mead in an water bath to keep THE FERMENT TEMP to around
70 F. for a few weeks to a couple months. This will also slow down your
ferment.
Don't throw out your "hot" mead! Fusel alcohols ("rocket fuel") seem to
disspate with time in the bottle. Put your rocket fuel away and forget it
for a couple years, then try it again. You may be happily surprised.
- - Al
------------------------------
Subject: RE: Mead Lover's Digest #1169, 22 March 2005
From: David Chubb <dchubb@virpack.com>
Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 09:58:59 -0500
>Subject: In desperate need of help
>From: DIHarpster@aol.com
>Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 22:04:05 EST
>
>I am about to give up. I have tried every mead recipe I can get my hands
on.. including
>duplicating the sweet show mead from the "Complete Mead Maker" and it all
comes out like
>super rocket fuel after the first two months. It never gets any farther
before going bad. >I use only the chem sanatizer from my local supply shop,
water that I boil the night before >and then chill over night, and 100% all
natural honey from a local health food store. Can a >man get a break?
Sounds like your either not aging long enough or using a yeast with a very
high alcohol tolerance (Port, Champagne, etc). If I'm making a mead that I
don't want to ferment out to a high alcohol content I use Cider yeast.
Even so most meads (even my lower alcohol content ones) really want a
minimum of 4-6 months of aging time to smooth out some. Take those "rocket
fuel" and stick them in the basement and forget about them for a year, then
come back and taste them. I bet they mellow out and taste much better.
------------------------------
Subject: Need help
From: Russ.Hobaugh@erm.com
Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 10:25:52 -0500
DI, 2 months is extremely young for a mead. Depending on alcohol, type of
mead, etc, 2-3 years is sometimes needed to age and mellow mead! My first
mead tasted like rocket fuel, so I just threw the bottles in the back of
the closet, and forgot about it. I found them 2.5 years later and the
transformation was astounding. It was still very high alcohol, but age had
smoothed it out, and turned it into a very nice mead (actually cyser). I
have only had one mead that was really ready to drink at less than 6
months, and that was a lower alcohol strawberry melomel. General rule of
thumb, the higher the alcohol content, the longer you age it.
You need to focus on sanitation, but if you are doing that, mead should
not just go bad. What kind of yeast are you using? If you are using
Champagne yeast, you will get rocket fuel every time! I made the same
mistake in the beginning, and now use Lalvin D47 for most meads. If using
Champagne yeast, the only thing you can do is let it age out.
Russ Hobaugh
Goob' Dog Brewery, Birdsboro PA
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1169, 22 March 2005
From: Ben Waggoner <heathen@cyberback.com>
Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 11:37:32 -0600
On Mar 22, 2005, at 9:24 PM, mead-request@talisman.com wrote:
> I am about to give up. I have tried every mead recipe I can get my hands
> on.. including duplicating the sweet show mead from the "Complete Mead Maker"
> and it all comes out like super rocket fuel after the first two months.
> It never gets any farther before going bad. I use only the chem sanatizer
> from my local supply shop, water that I boil the night before and then
> chill over night, and 100% all natural honey from a local health food store.
> Can a man get a break?
A couple of things come to mind -- and I apologize if
you already know this stuff; I'm not trying to insult
your intelligence.
First of all: Mead usually needs aging before it gets
good. Two months is awfully young -- mead that young is
often described as tasting "Listerine-ish", "medicinal",
and such. My batches definitely taste harsh around then.
Were I you, I'd bottle the mead when it's clear, and if
it's not drinkable then, let it sit for a few months
before testing a bottle. It should get better, maybe
amazingly better, but it's got to have time.
Second of all: Are you giving your mead enough time to
clear? After two months, my batches are usually still
pretty cloudy with yeast -- and yeasty mead tastes musty
(no pun intended) and unpleasant, at least to me. Mead
that's clear enough to bottle will be translucent enough
for you to be able to see through the carboy (if you're
fermenting in glass).
Third of all: How much honey are you using, and with
which yeasts? I didn't like my very first batch, but
that in part was because I'd used relatively little
honey together with champagne yeast, and it came out
very dry and rather thin-tasting. If you were expecting
a thick, sweet, honey-tasting beverage, as I was,
getting something like flat dry champagne can be a
little off-putting. So check your recipe. . .
Hope this helps.
- --
Ben Waggoner
------------------------------
Subject: desperate mead maker
From: "Janis Gross" <totallygross@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 10:42:47 -0700
Dear Desperate,
If your mead is coming out like rocket fuel after only two months, I'd
examine the fermentation temperatures. If you are able to ferment at a
stable temperature between 65 and 73, the yeast (and you didn't mention
which kind you've been using) is less likely to produce the fusil alcohols.
You should also look at your yeast. I've found some yeasts that I will not
use again because of the off-flavors they produce. Please consider buying
Ken Schramm's book, it's a great resource for mead making and it is an easy
read.
Hang in there, the rewards are yet to come!
Cheers!
Janis
------------------------------
Subject: Re: In desperate need of help
From: rdadams@smart.net (Dick Adams)
Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 17:53:09 -0500 (EST)
> Subject: In desperate need of help
> From: DIHarpster@aol.com
> Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 22:04:05 EST
> I am about to give up. I have tried every mead recipe I can
> get my hands on.. including duplicating the sweet show mead
> from the "Complete Mead Maker" and it all comes out like super
> rocket fuel after the first two months. It never gets any farther
> before going bad. I use only the chem sanatizer from my local
> supply shop, water that I boil the night before and then chill
> over night, and 100% all natural honey from a local health food
> store. Can a man get a break?
That super rocket fuel taste can come from several sources.
- - too much honey or too little water as in an hydrometer
reading that is 1,17+
- - infection
- - aluminum cookware
I doubt the honey is the problem, but I stay away from health
food stores. Do you have a LHBS (local homebrew store)? If
so discuss it with them.
Dick
------------------------------
Subject: Re: In desperate need of help
From: "Paul Shouse" <paul_shouse@kmug.org>
Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 09:32:19 +0900
>>Subject: In desperate need of help
>>From: DIHarpster@aol.com
>>Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 22:04:05 EST
>>
>>I am about to give up. I have tried every mead recipe I can get my hands
>>on.. including duplicating the sweet show mead from the "Complete Mead
Maker"
>>and it all comes out like super rocket fuel after the first two months.
>>It never gets any farther before going bad. I use only the chem sanatizer
>>from my local supply shop, water that I boil the night before and then
>>chill over night, and 100% all natural honey from a local health food store.
>>Can a man get a break?
Don't give up yet! A man can get all manner of breaks around here. I'd like to
hear a little more before giving any advice though. How long have you been
making mead? Have you brewed beer or made wine before? What do you mean
exactly by ' rocket fuel'? What exactly is the mead like when it goes bad? How
do you use the sanitizer? How do you clean your carboys and bottles? What
yeast are you using? How long do you leave it in the bottles before sampling?
And so on and so forth..........
It may well be that some form of contamination is sneaking into your process
somewhere, but it could also be that what you are getting is perfectly good
mead, but you are trying it too soon. Please give us a little more
information, and it's almost certain that someone can pinpoint the problems
with your mead.
- -Paul
------------------------------
Subject: Rocket Fuel?
From: Vuarra <vuarra@yahoo.ca>
Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 06:11:30 -0800 (PST)
Quote:
and it all comes out like super rocket fuel after the
first two months.
It never gets any farther before going bad. I use
only the chem sanatizer
Could you be more specific? I've had meads go to
"rocket fuel" after 2 months, but another 16 will make
people beg, borrow or steal for another taste of my
mead.
Just how is it going bad, as well?
Vuarra
Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur.
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound.)
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #1170
*******************************
