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Mead Lovers Digest #1146
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1146, 14 December 2004
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #1146 14 December 2004
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Re: How much carbonation should I expect? (KDauer@aol.com)
RE: Honey & Mead Descriptors.... ("Michael Zahl")
Methlegins.. ("Michael Zahl")
hotmail user caution (Mead Lovers Digest Janitor)
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Subject: Re: How much carbonation should I expect?
From: KDauer@aol.com
Date: Wed, 08 Dec 2004 10:50:43 -0500
>My mead opens with a very loud pop, and it has enough
>pressure to flip the locking lever over 180 degrees, with
>mead spewing up in a one foot high geyser. Is this normal
>or am I not waiting long enough for the fermentation to
>finish. I wait at least one week,sometimes two, from the
>time I pitch the yeast until I bottle.
Mead can be still or carbonated, according to your preference. If you're
looking for a still mead, you're bottling it too soon ;-). My batches
typically are still happily bubbling away after a week, have not even begun
to clear, and are nowhere near ready to bottle. IME I don't usually bottle
until at least a couple of months have passed, sometimes much longer. It's
worth mentioning that excessive carbonation can be dangerous.
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Subject: RE: Honey & Mead Descriptors....
From: "Michael Zahl" <mzahl@neo.rr.com>
Date: Wed, 8 Dec 2004 11:14:49 -0500
The first thing I asked myself when I saw this thread was:
What is the end purpose for creating a nomenclature for meads?
Is it to best describe end product?
Is it to help less experienced brewers to create more consistent results and
"better" their recipes?
Is it to educate the masses, the wine connoisseurs and home beer brewers?
Then, my scientific, anal retentive analytical mind thought...
Variables in mead:
1) Type of Honey
2) Quantity of Honey (per gallon of must)
3) Yeast strain
4) Chemical Additives
5) Fruit, Berry, Spice Additives
Unless we take into account all of these factors, mead descriptors would be
incomplete...
Damn, what a HUGE potential undertaking!
A good place to start in this adventure might be with a set of descriptors
for honeys. It is after all, the single largest variable in making mead
right? So, where's the best place to get ACCURATE descriptions on honey
flavors? Apiaries, honey producers and consumers... Can we get the larger
"non-mead" community involved with creating a system for consistently
describing honey flavors? By including a larger community who is interested
in honey, we will accumulate more data and most likely get a "truer picture"
of what is possible.
THEN once that is relatively accurate and developed, move on to variable #
3...YEAST.....
>From the research I've done online, there is significant data for describing
what different strains of yeast will do, which is another whole set of
variables that one needs to take into account. I think the wine & beer home
brewing communities will also be a great help to us in that regard, because
they're obviously using yeast too!
Backing up to variable #2.. Quantity of yeast used.. well that goes to
sweetness and alcohol content.. Might be the least crucial of the five, with
the exception of Chemical Additives...
Last variable is additives.... Not only things like acid blends, yeast
nutrients and preservatives, but also ANYTHING besides the yeast, water and
honey. This includes fruit, berries, spices and the like. Are we.. Can
we.. Should we limit this to straight "plain" meads??
Actually, and I bow respectfully to those veterans out there, can someone in
a different thread discuss the effects of chemical additives when it comes
to fermentation, aging and flavor please?
Several people have used the terms "subjective" and "objective" in posts
recently regarding wine & mead tasting. There in lies another problem.
Palates vary, and are subject to influence by those more or less experienced
in tasting. In one post someone mentioned how Ken Schramm's comments opened
his eyes, well his taste buds, to a more refined "advanced level" experience
when drinking the beverage. How do we account for the variable of "taste
bud experience?"
Well I guess we'll just have to brew and drink more... DARN!
*hiccups*
Random thoughts...
Michael Zahl
Akron, Ohio
------------------------------
Subject: Methlegins..
From: "Michael Zahl" <mzahl@neo.rr.com>
Date: Wed, 8 Dec 2004 11:30:44 -0500
I was discussing my next batch with my roommate the other night, after he
finished scolding me for the continued mess in our kitchen that I am still
in the process of cleaning up (33 gallons and 5 batches of mead later) when
we our conversation turned to making tea...
I've been debating, researching, polling people, for recipes with cinnamon,
cloves, ginger and the like for my first methlegin. And from what I've read
about spices in mead, you have to be rather careful about the quantities of
spices you use, otherwise it'll be either WAY TO STRONG, or insipid as hell.
He made a suggestion to me that was so remarkably simple yet genius that it
blew my mind..
Put together what you think will make a god methlegin, and make a tea (i.e.
steep it the recommended 20-30 minutes) then sample it as if it were a
tea....
Key thing, be sure to add a half spoonful of the honey that you'll be using
to your cup to dictate the taste....
Now I don't know if that is an earth-shattering revelation or not, but I've
only been doing this for a few years. It never occurred to me to taste test
the "tea part' before setting it off into the must....
What it will do it save me time and honey at any rate...
So there's an idea for people to chew on, and I'd like some feed back on
whether this is a valid method for tweaking methlegins.
Also, I'd like some thoughts on how long to steep the spices...
And any comments on the use of vanilla extract...
*tips his hat*
Michael Zahl
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Subject: hotmail user caution
From: mead-request@talisman.com (Mead Lovers Digest Janitor)
Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2004 21:48:53 -0700 (MST)
If you get your digest(s) via hotmail, beware that hotmail is back to
stumbling and bouncing mail again for no apparent reason.
If you miss the digest(s), you can pick them up on the Web via the archive
location mentioned at the top of each digest. If it gets to be a problem,
consider it a cost of the supposedly-"free" hotmail service.
And if you're considering switching to hotmail for free e-mail, please
reconsider!
- --the janitroid
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End of Mead Lover's Digest #1146
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