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Mead Lovers Digest #1157
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1157, 3 February 2005
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #1157 3 February 2005
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Re: bread yeast (Micah Henry)
Re: Bread Yeast ("Lane O. Locke")
Re: MLD #1156, 31/1/05: Bread yeast ("Arthur Torrey (no spam please!)")
Re: Lingonberry Melomel (Galenflys@aol.com)
RE: Mead Lover's Digest #1156, 31 January 2005 Responding to David's re ("...)
RE: Mead Lover's Digest #1156, 31 January 2005 boysenberry mead ("Robert...)
Re: boysenberry mead (Dick Dunn)
2005 Upper Mississippi Mash-Out: By The Numbers ("aboyce@mn.rr.com")
our old buddy Sir Kenelm (Michael Kiley)
muscadine input wanted (Michael Kiley)
NOTE: Digest appears when there is enough material to send one.
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Re: bread yeast
From: Micah Henry <saabman84@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2005 20:54:10 -0800 (PST)
Dick,
Thanks for the note. I had no idea Fleishmann's yeast ever helped win a
competition!
- --Micah in NC
mead-request@talisman.com wrote:
- ------------------------------
Subject: bread yeast
From: Dick Dunn
Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2005 20:07:29 -0700
Arthur Torrey, and Randy Goldberg MD responding:
> > 2. Bread yeast is not generally reccomended for brewing, it tends to give
> > off bad flavors which aren't a problem in bread, but can make brews taste
> > funky.
>
> In fact, some of those flavors are what make bread taste bread-y.
I'm surprised nobody else mentioned it, but some years back, the Best of
Show at the Ambrosia Adventure mead-only competition was made with
Fleischman's bread yeast.
Not saying this is the best way to go about it, and there are various good
wine yeasts chosen for their attributes in making good wine...only that
bread yeast might not be the devil incarnate.
- - --
Dick Dunn rcd@talisman.com Hygiene, Colorado USA
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Bread Yeast
From: "Lane O. Locke" <shaggyman@kc.rr.com>
Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2005 07:29:01 -0600
You forgot to mention she also used canned peach pie filling for that
BOS....
Sacrilege!
Lane O
Got MEAD?
- ----- Original Message -----
> Subject: bread yeast
> From: Dick Dunn <rcd@talisman.com>
> Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2005 20:07:29 -0700
> I'm surprised nobody else mentioned it, but some years back, the Best of
> Show at the Ambrosia Adventure mead-only competition was made with
> Fleischman's bread yeast.
------------------------------
Subject: Re: MLD #1156, 31/1/05: Bread yeast
From: "Arthur Torrey (no spam please!)" <atorrey@cybercom.net>
Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2005 16:50:45 -0500
Point taken Dick, but I would hardly call my post describing bread yeast as
'the devil incarnate'... :) I know people that use bread yeast and get pretty
good results with it, I've also encountered some really raunchy stuff made w/
bread yeast (and admittedly that wasn't the only thing wrong w/ it!) Indeed,
I've made two batches of stuff that got designated 'cooking grade' both of
which used wine yeast so the yeast isn't the only factor.
But I was saying was that my limited experience and most of the reading I've
done all suggest that bread yeast is not the optimal choice, and why. I
figure that brewing yeast is cheap enough that unless you live so far out in
the boonies that it's hard to get to a brew shop, it isn't worth taking the
chance on bread yeast.
ART
> Subject: bread yeast
> From: Dick Dunn <rcd@talisman.com>
> Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2005 20:07:29 -0700
>
> Arthur Torrey, and Randy Goldberg MD <randy@randygoldberg.net> responding:
> > > 2. Bread yeast is not generally reccomended for brewing, it tends to give
> > > off bad flavors which aren't a problem in bread, but can make brews taste
> > > funky.
> >
> > In fact, some of those flavors are what make bread taste bread-y.
>
> I'm surprised nobody else mentioned it, but some years back, the Best of
> Show at the Ambrosia Adventure mead-only competition was made with
> Fleischman's bread yeast.
>
> Not saying this is the best way to go about it, and there are various good
> wine yeasts chosen for their attributes in making good wine...only that
> bread yeast might not be the devil incarnate.
> - --
> Dick Dunn rcd@talisman.com Hygiene, Colorado USA
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Lingonberry Melomel
From: Galenflys@aol.com
Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2005 17:32:42 EST
Greetings, Mazers! Just wondering if anyone has attempted a Lingonberry
Mel. This fruit, a cousin to the cranberry, is native to Scandinavia. It is
now being cultivated and propagated near Madison, Wisconsin. (Side note to big
Dutch, TSA-MSN, This is right in your backyard buddy, know anything about
it?) Lingonberries are highly prized by folks of Swedish/Norwegian/Finnish
extraction, but I must confess that I'd never heard of 'em until I made
acquaintance with some of those folks.
Cheers, Galen Davis, Southwick, Mass
"How pierceful grows the hazy yon, How myrtle petaled thou"
------------------------------
Subject: RE: Mead Lover's Digest #1156, 31 January 2005 Responding to David's re
From: "Robert Keith Moore" <Rob@ineedachef.com>
Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2005 15:04:52 -0800
Hey,
Trust me on this one! Orange juice with honey fermented will NOT work very
well. There is to much acid in the orange juice. I did it. It came out
UN-DRINKABLE!
Please do not waste your time.
------------------------------
Subject: RE: Mead Lover's Digest #1156, 31 January 2005 boysenberry mead
From: "Robert Keith Moore" <Rob@ineedachef.com>
Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2005 15:08:03 -0800
Hey,
The berry pure should make an excellent melomel. I make a berry mead every
year from the berries in my backyard. Let me know if you need a recipe.
------------------------------
Subject: Re: boysenberry mead
From: rcd@talisman.com (Dick Dunn)
Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2005 23:42:00 -0700 (MST)
"John D. Misrahi" <lmoukhin@sprint.ca> asks:
> Is this a fruit well suited for making mead? I have some honey and a can
> of winemaker's bosyenberry puree...and I was wondering if I could make a
> 3 gal batch of mead with it..Comments? Suggestions? Recipes?
Boysenberry is among the best for berry meads (melomels).
OK, I have a soft spot in my heart for that...my first melomel was
boysenberry, 22 years ago, and for a special celebration. The mead and
the celebration both went well.
Really, boysenberry is rather more friendly than blackberry, having not as
much tannin, yet it holds up well over time. I think it's easier than
raspberry...I make more raspberry nowadays but mainly because we have a lot
of raspberries.
Recipe? What's that? If you've got a 3-gallon fermenter, use the can of
puree and use maybe 6-7 lb of honey and a good strong wine yeast. Let it
ferment out to get a dry mead and prime it at bottling for a light level of
carbonation.
- ---
Dick Dunn rcd@talisman.com Hygiene, Colorado USA
------------------------------
Subject: 2005 Upper Mississippi Mash-Out: By The Numbers
From: "aboyce@mn.rr.com" <aboyce@mn.rr.com>
Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2005 17:31:09 -0500
The 2005 Upper Mississippi Mash-Out is history! The organizing
committee would like to thank our sponsors, our volunteers, our
entrants and our guests for helping make this year's Mash-Out
such a HUGE success! You can check out the results and
(soon-to-come) pictures on our website at:
http://www.mnbrewers.com/mashout
SET YOUR CALENDAR! Next year's Mash-Out will be held on Jan 19-21, 2006!
2005 Upper Mississippi Mash-Out: By The Numbers
1 Keg Zum Uerige Sticke Alt for Volunteers
1 "Eis-Anything" Stained Glass Stein Awarded
1 Number of Tiara/Sceptres wielded by Volunteers
2 Best of Show "Mash-Out Chalices" awarded
2 Number of Brewer of the Year Contests represented
3 Characters in the Shortest Beer Name
3.5 Average Beers entered per Brewer
4 th Year of the Upper Mississippi Mash-Out
4 Judging Days
4 Different Beer Cakes at the Beer Dinner
5 States Represented by Judges
6 Courses Served at the Beer Dinner by Chef Manfred Krug
6 Foolish Organizers Tasting Mead leftovers at 3am Saturday
7 Entry Stickers applied per Entry
8 Judging Sessions
9 Best of Show Judges
10 Kegs of "Volunteer" Beer
19 States represented by Contest Entries
22 Mini-BOS Flights
23 Most Beers Entered by One Entrant
24 "New Entrant" Entries
25 Dollar Charge for the Beer Dinner
26 "Eis-Anything" Entries
31 Contest Categories
35 Loaves of Cubed Bread
35 Brew Clubs Represented by Contest Entries
37 BJCP-Trained Judges
47 Characters in the Longest Beer Name
62 Sponsors
68 Flights
80 Volunteers
93 Medals awarded
114 Beer Dinners served
148 Brewers Entered
170 Percent Increase in Entries Over 2004
177 Mini-BOS beers
195 Entries from Outside Minnesota
205 Judge Slots
317 Entries from Minnesota
361 Days until the 2006 Upper Mississippi Mash-Out: 1/21/2006
500 Dollars worth of Door Prizes to Awards guests
512 Beers Entered
600 Pints of Summit Beer consumed
800 Dollars worth of Prizes in Volunteer drawings
1510 Bottles in the Cellar
1792 Scoresheets written
2635 Dollars worth of Prizes to Winners
3445 Plastic glasses
3584 Bottle Stickers
------------------------------
Subject: our old buddy Sir Kenelm
From: Michael Kiley <michael@beeherenow.com>
Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2005 11:06:33 -0500
Greetings all,
I came across our old friend Sir Kenelm Digby in my reading and thought some
of you might enjoy hearing the quote:
<Much more successful was Sir Kenelm Digby's Mediterranean voyage the
following year. Digby was a Catholic courtier, son of one of the executed
conspirators of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot, and accounted 'the most
accomplished cavalier of his time'. Poet, lover, connoisseur, alchemist and
duellist, he was an extravagant figure in public and private life, but his
small squadron was considerably better disciplined and handled than
Warwick's. He appears to have at least recovered his costs, but the Levant
company paid the price as the Turkish government extracted reprisals for his
piracy. Digby's expedition, like its leader was unique.....>
How's that for a portrait of a prototypical meadmaker? Prepare to make
pirate noises!
This is from 'The Safeguard of the Sea, A Naval History of Britain 650 to
1649' by N.A.M. Rogers, which is every bit as good as they say. I take my
cue on spelling from Rogers....these things were very flexible in those
days.
Cheers,
Michael Kiley
- --
Gourmet honey direct from the beekeeper.
<http://www.beeherenow.com >
What's so funny about bees, love and understanding?
------------------------------
Subject: muscadine input wanted
From: Michael Kiley <michael@beeherenow.com>
Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2005 11:06:34 -0500
While I'm here in meadland I'll report on some of my recent projects.
A local beekeeper made me a gift of twenty pounds of an heirloom muscadine
from his family's home place. Called locally 'strawberry grapes' they are
smaller, redder and perhaps a little sweeter than many modern muscadines or,
indeed, the more typical ones also found on that old home place. They have
rugged skins or 'hulls' as they're known hereabouts. His uncle was said to
have made communion wine from them and he was curious to see what kind of
mead they would make.
I made a light wildflower mead with twelve pounds of honey, fermented it in
a primary for a month and then added ten pounds of the grapes, which I had
frozed and thawed twice (once in the truck full of bees on the way to Maine
but that's another story).
After two months I had a pale red mead with light hints of brown. A fine if
light nose and a rich round melomel flavour. Something from the grapes gave
it that sweet note that can be there even after all sugars are gone. The
considerable flavours of the hulls balanced it out with plenty of tannin...a
good pyment indeed. I drank most of it still and then primed and bottled a
couple of gallons, we'll see how that comes out.
We have a considerable muscadine planting here in Georgia but are in Maine
with the bees during harvest time and have lost out to the coons and
critters the two years we've been here. This year I hope to be back and
harvest them ( and a gallberry honey crop ). Has any one experimented with
muscadines, for either wine or mead? My instinct tells me there is real
potential for good melomels there but they're not grapes and must have some
issues of their own.
I'll also weigh in here on what I think of as the Schramm method of making
melomel with a plain primary fermentation and a fruit addition to the
secondary. I think its brilliant. I've done wild blackberry, wild grape
and blueberry versions and the fruit character comes through in a fresh and
delicious way and the tannins add a balance and richness. I've had no
infections without sulphites or boiling. The blackberry version was the best
mead I've made to date. Good work Ken!
Cheers,
Michael Kiley
- --
Gourmet honey direct from the beekeeper....<http://www.beeherenow.com>
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #1157
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