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Mead Lovers Digest #1181
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1181, 5 May 2005
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #1181 5 May 2005
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1180, 2 May 2005 ("J.M. Blakeney")
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1180, 2 May 2005 ("Charles Gee")
Oxy Crown Caps (David Craft)
Crown Cap question (Steve Thompson)
Re: Crown Caps (Phil)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1180, 2 May 2005 FILTERS ("Lane O. Locke")
All Natural Selection ("Trevor James")
Re: MMLD #1180, 2/5/05, Honeybee epidemic, crown caps ("Arthur Torrey (no ...)
filters (Zertwiz@aol.com)
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Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1180, 2 May 2005
From: "J.M. Blakeney" <jmblakeney@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 02 May 2005 12:21:19 -0400
Subject: American Honeybee Epidemic
From: "Douglass Smith" <gtg089b@mail.gatech.edu>
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2005 23:01:47 -0400
I recently read a troubling article about a honeybee plague of sorts that
could sweep across the nation. The varroa mite, a mite that attacks honeybee
brood, has become resistant to pesticides that formerly kept them under
control. Unrestrained, these mites could bring the American Honeybee to
extinction (the article said the mites were able to wipe out 50% of the
American Honeybee population in less than a year). The impact of this would
hit us hard at the dinner table, due to the many crops that depend on
pollination to flourish. Something the article didn't quite touch on is what
dwindling (or nonexistent) honeybee populations would do to the supply of
honey, and more significantly, the manufacture of mead. It's kind of scary.
Here's a link to the article:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7656383/
- - - Doug Smith ------------------
The varroa mite and tracheal mites are not new. They have been a problem
for over 10 years now. My first hive was wiped out by varroa. The varroa
mites are like ticks for bees, except it would be like you or I having a
tick the size of a dinner plate attached to us. Tracheal mites are similar
except they attach themselves in the trachea and the bee suffocates when
they become to numerous.
There are currently several varroa and tracheal mite resistant strains
of bees, bee breeders are still working on it. The varroa mites also
seem to be able to be controlled with food grade mineral oil placed in
the hive so that the bees become covered and thereby covering the mites
so they suffocate. Tracheal mites are controlled with menthol placed in
the hive over winter.
A worse (so far) threat to bees in sub tropical areas (Florida, Southern
US, Calif) is the Hive beetle. They destroy the comb, ruining honey and
killing brood.
JMB
- --
J.M.Blakeney
jmblakeney@yahoo.com
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1180, 2 May 2005
From: "Charles Gee" <cgee@mhtv.ca>
Date: Mon, 2 May 2005 09:54:56 -0700
> Subject: Filters
> From: GreenManRN@aol.com
> Date: Sat, 30 Apr 2005 21:13:14 EDT
>
> Greeting all,
>
> I've been a watcher of this digest for a while, but have posted very
> little. I've found this group to be most informative.
>
> My question is about wine filters. I recently bought a Buon Vino Mini
> Jet filter. Anyone use these for mead? I was pleased with some of the
> results, but when I used the superfine filter, mead was shooting
> everywhere
> from the pads. Quite messy. Any advice?
With regard to the above I use this filter set up with good results but
there are some precautions to observe.
Make sure the wine has been fined properly that is it is not cloudy at all
Start with the Number 1 filter pad then go to Number 2 if you really think
that you want that degree of clarity ( every filter takes some of the flavor
out of your mead and the finer you go the more you lose)
Number 3 pads are I think very close to being able to remove even yeast
cells, that is to say they are very fine pores and they clog very quickly.
When they clog up the pump pushes wine/mead out around the filters and hence
one gets gushers with the waste of product that such entails.
I prefer to rely on metabisulphite and potassium sorbate to control yeast
growth in a sweetened batch. and I never go beyond a Number 1 filter with
mead, sometimes I go to a number 2 with white wine (not red it strips too
much color) The filter gives a shine to the mead that improves the looks in
the glass at the expense of taste (very slight loss not perceptible after
the first glass!)
Yours Charles Gee
As for the sterilizing of crown caps I wash in hot water and detergent to
get rid of wax/grease rinse very well and dump into a metabisulphite
solution and use them wet from that. Who on earth needs to boil anything to
achive sterility?
------------------------------
Subject: Oxy Crown Caps
From: David Craft <chsyhkr@bellsouth.net>
Date: Mon, 2 May 2005 12:56:28 -0400
Greetings,
I always use oxygen absorbing crown caps for beer and mead that I intend
to keep for a while. I cannot vouch that it works, but is worth the extra
money for the time and money I have invested in my beverages.
David Craft
Crow Hill Meadery
Greensboro, NC
------------------------------
Subject: Crown Cap question
From: Steve Thompson <srthompson@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 2 May 2005 13:09:02 -0400
<<I am getting ready to bottle up my first meadtastic creation, and I
would like to know if there is any benefit to using oxy-absorbing crown
caps. Unfortunately, I do not have a Co2 tank with which to purge the
bottles, so I am considering the benefits of oxy-absorbing caps. I
would also like to know if it is recommended to boil these caps before
using them. People have mentioned to me that it is a good practice to
boil the caps to ensure they are sanitized. I am thinking the
oxy-absorbing portion of the cap would suffer at this extreme temperature.>>
I have not used the Oxy absorbing caps, however for sanitizing, just
place the crown caps in enough vodka to cover them. No after-taste,
and never had an infection for mead, wine or beer.
Steve
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Crown Caps
From: Phil <dogglebe@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 2 May 2005 10:17:35 -0700 (PDT)
Oxygen absorbing caps for anything that you intend to
keep for a period of time, as opposed to some homebrew
that you made for a barb-b-cue in two weeks.
Do not boil these caps! They become activated when
they get wet. All you have to do is dunk them in
sanitizer as you bottle. If your mead is strong
enough, you may even consider not sanitizing and
simply cap them and tilt the bottle enough to wet the
inside of the cap.
Phil
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1180, 2 May 2005 FILTERS
From: "Lane O. Locke" <shaggyman@kc.rr.com>
Date: Mon, 2 May 2005 12:59:09 -0500
- ----- Original Message -----
Subject: Filters
From: GreenManRN@aol.com
Date: Sat, 30 Apr 2005 21:13:14 EDT
<Greeting all,
<My question is about wine filters. I recently bought a Buon Vino Mini
<Jet filter. Anyone use these for mead? I was pleased with some of the
<from the pads. Quite messy. Any advice?
<Greg
Use the filters in order:
1st coarse (5 micron), then medium (1 micron), then fine .5 micron).
If the mead is crystal clear, you can skip the coarse filter- but even clear
mead won't go through that .5 micron filter without clogging up. If it is
spraying out, it is building too much pressure for the clamping mechanism to
hold, and the filter media must be replaced.
Keep in mind the small size of the Mini probably won't allow over five
gallons to go through without clogging. I recommend using a clarifier
first, or letting it sit until clear before attempting filtration.
Shaggyman
------------------------------
Subject: All Natural Selection
From: "Trevor James" <James@management.uottawa.ca>
Date: Mon, 02 May 2005 12:07:40 -0400
I am a very newbie at making mead. My fisrt batch is currently
in the primary fermenter. I noticed a few posts back that there
are some "All Natural" brewers. I would like to go the same
way, but there is little details for the final brew that I can
find.
PH/Acid
- -------
I know yeast needs a slightly acidic environment to work, but I
can not seem to find any values (PH or %) that I should be
looking for. I used an Acid Blend (following the instructions
as close to as I could) and had an initial reading of 0.1% (SG
1.118).
I would assume if I went natural the acid would be done by a
juice mixture (apple comes to mind) if so any suggestions on
amount and types of juices to add??
Yeast Nutriant
- --------------
Again following instructions, I used a starter pack of yeast
nutriant. I read somewhere that raisins are perfect for this
job. Again how much should I be looking to add?
Primary Firmentation
- --------------------
Are there any advantages/disadvantages to using a glass carboy
over plastic bucket?
Thanks in advance for your time--
james@management.uottawa.ca
------------------------------
Subject: Re: MMLD #1180, 2/5/05, Honeybee epidemic, crown caps
From: "Arthur Torrey (no spam please!)" <atorrey@cybercom.net>
Date: Mon, 2 May 2005 22:08:08 -0400
This is my opinion only, but as a beekeeper I don't think there is tremendous
reason for concern. It was kind of expected all along that the mites would
eventually become resistant to Apistan, currently the most commonly used
miticide. Consequently the use of miticides was always seen as a temporary
stopgap measure to keep the bees alive until better techniques could be found.
1. A much heavier emphasis is being placed on "Integrated Pest Management" or
IPM techniques that use other methods of control such as drone comb, screened
bottom boards, essential oils, etc. and only use the miticides as a last
resort.
2. A great deal of effort has been made to breed bees with mite resistance.
One approach, the so-called 'hygenic queens' are just starting to be released
to market. The offspring of these queens exhibit the behaviour trait of
removing might infested larvae from the hive and discarding them. This
prevents the mites from reproducing and thus eliminates them as a problem. If
it is as effective in the field as it is in the lab, I would expect most
queens to be hygenic within a very few years.
3. There are alternative miticides available. Some, such as 'CheckMite' are
nastier to use than Apistan, and thus are less desirable (Here in MA,
CheckMite requires a special (expensive, somewhat difficult to get) pesticide
aplicators license at present, so essentially nobody uses it) Other
formulations are more natural, but are still at various stages in the approval
process.
In short, it looks like there will be plenty of alternatives by the time
Apistan immunity becomes a big deal.
> Subject: American Honeybee Epidemic
> From: "Douglass Smith" <gtg089b@mail.gatech.edu>
> Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2005 23:01:47 -0400
>
> I recently read a troubling article about a honeybee plague of sorts that
> could sweep across the nation. The varroa mite, a mite that attacks honeybee
> brood, has become resistant to pesticides that formerly kept them under
> control. Unrestrained, these mites could bring the American Honeybee to
> extinction (the article said the mites were able to wipe out 50% of the
> American Honeybee population in less than a year). The impact of this would
> hit us hard at the dinner table, due to the many crops that depend on
> pollination to flourish. Something the article didn't quite touch on is what
> dwindling (or nonexistent) honeybee populations would do to the supply of
> honey, and more significantly, the manufacture of mead. It's kind of scary.
>
> Here's a link to the article:
> http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7656383/
>
> - - Doug Smith -
From all that I've heard, there isn't that much advantage to the O2 absorbing
caps as the amount of oxygen in the headspace of a normal bottle is pretty
trivial, so the value of C02 purging, oxy reducing caps, and so forth is
pretty questionable. I doubt that most people could tell the difference, but
some folks like to use those things, perhaps as much for the 'snob appeal' or
mystique of being total purists.
I feel that while it is best to avoid gratuitous air exposure, there is no
need to be fanatical about it, as the amount of harm done by the exposure in
typical racking and bottling isn't enough to worry about.
As to the prep question, I haven't heard much about boiling regular crown
caps, but I know many folks reccomend rinsing them in a sulfite solution to
sanitize them before use. (That is what I did when making beer, I use corks on
my meads)
I've never used the oxy reducing caps, but I would have expected them to come
in a sealed container with instructions to expose them to the air or other
contaminants as little as possible before use - the reducing compound is only
present in small amounts and I would expect that boiling or soaking before
hand would 'use it up' and make the caps no more beneficial than normal ones.
However that is just my instincts talking, and I would say the important thing
is to read and follow the manufacturers directions on the package...
ART
> Subject: Crown Cap question
> From: Jerry Lombardi <jerry@divmarketing.com>
> Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2005 16:45:44 -0500
>
> I am getting ready to bottle up my first meadtastic creation, and I
> would like to know if there is any benefit to using oxy-absorbing crown
> caps. Unfortunately, I do not have a Co2 tank with which to purge the
> bottles, so I am considering the benefits of oxy-absorbing caps. I
> would also like to know if it is recommended to boil these caps before
> using them. People have mentioned to me that it is a good practice to
> boil the caps to ensure they are sanitized. I am thinking the
> oxy-absorbing portion of the cap would suffer at this extreme temperature.
>
> I look forward to hearing back from everyone.
>
> Thanks,
> Jerry
>
------------------------------
Subject: filters
From: Zertwiz@aol.com
Date: Thu, 5 May 2005 00:22:23 EDT
i use the same filter id go to the web sight they got some info you can down
lode ect on it . one thing about it spraying is you need to make shure you
have run your wine threw the previous grades of filters and you really need to
crank down on the knobs win you use the steril pads i have thought of just
putting nuts on there and tightining them with a wrench . just find dome one
with strong hand and it shuld be ok thow :)
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #1181
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