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Mead Lovers Digest #1152
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1152, 15 January 2005
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #1152 15 January 2005
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Re:Vintage dates (Michael Faul)
ph (MICAH MILLSPAW)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1151, White colored melomel ("Lane O. Locke")
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1151, 11 January 2005 (Micah Henry)
Re: Orange Mead, Mead Lover's Digest #1151, 11 January 2005 (Dennis Myhand)
ventage dates (Zertwiz@aol.com)
mead ("Freyja Oestviking")
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Re:Vintage dates
From: Michael Faul <mfaul@rabbitsfootmeadery.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2005 07:43:12 -0800
Yes it is a bizarre legality reason. All commercial wines are regulated
by the TTB (formerly the BATF). The requirements for grape wines are
much simpler than wines made from honey.
All fruit wines are allowed to be made without a formula being approved
where mead is required to have a formula approved prior to being made.
All fruit (read grape) wines are allowed to have vintage information on
the label if the fruit used was from a specific year. Mead (honey wine)
is not allowed to have a vintage on the label. There is one winery that
has a year on their mead but I am pretty sure that they are unaware of
the regulations about formula and label approval.
Mike Faul
Owner
Rabbit's Foot Meadery
Sunnyvale, CA
htp://www.rabbitsfootmeadery.com
> Subject: Vintage dates
> From: "J. Russ" <jruss@jaysbrewing.com>
> Date: Thu, 6 Jan 2005 11:04:39 -0500
>
> I have yet to see any commercial mead with any date on the label like
> wine bottles have. Is there some sort of bizarre legality issue with
> doing this for mead? Or do the producers simply not wish to do it for
> some reason?
>
> I would think it could be rather useful.
>
> Cheers!
> Jay
> www.jaysbrewing.com
> 703-298-4705
------------------------------
Subject: ph
From: MICAH MILLSPAW <mmillspaw@ameritech.net>
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2005 08:41:21 -0800 (PST)
>Subject: Are pH and taste related?
> If acid is added to finished mead to get the pH to
>a certain level, will this be approximate to adding
>acid to taste? I guess what I am asking
>is,how do you know how much acid to add so most
>people will find it to their taste? I didnt add
>anything at all to my first 2 meads and thought they
>were, well, drinkable, but I want to learn more on
>the hows and whys, such as acids, tannins, etc,
>which types of fruit need acids and why or why
>not,etc.
>Eric
this subject sounds familiar,
Adjusting the ph via acid should change the preceived
mouth feel more than the actual taste. For example, if
the ph is too high the mead will be 'flabby' or have a
heavy mouthfeel, this is often mis-perceived as
sweetness. Too low a ph a will present as dry when it
may not actually be dry and the mead will have a thin
mouth feel.
There is a lot of room to manipulate the apparent
profile of a mead relative to the taster(s). This is
what I feel is the real art of mead making.
micah
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1151, White colored melomel
From: "Lane O. Locke" <shaggyman@kc.rr.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2005 10:54:14 -0600
Every batch of wild persimmon mel I have made has finished almost colorless,
even when fresh fruit was added to the finished mel to extract some color.
I don't think the persimmon pigmentation likes to stay in solution.
Lane O
GoSubject: white colored melomel
From: "robscott@freeshell.org" <robscott@freeshell.org>
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 2005 08:32:23 +0000 (UTC)
Does bentonite remove all pigment, or is this a
feature of melomels?
The honeys were from the same source.
Rob Scott
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1151, 11 January 2005
From: Micah Henry <saabman84@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2005 10:31:33 -0800 (PST)
Hi,
I'm new to the list and new to mead, too. Having never tasted mead before,
I searched for mead infomation and found a simple recipe for plain mead on,
of all things, a science website.
I wonder if my ultra-cheap mead setup will produce a decent mead. I found
the technique here: http://www.cavemanchemistry.com/cavebook/chmead3.html
Has anyone here attempted such a simple setup? I have no airlock or
carboy, just 16 oz. of honey, a packet of Fleishmann's bread yeast, juice
of one small lemon, and water to make 2 liters (my "carboy" is a 2 liter
Dr. Pepper jug, washed first and label removed, of course). I release the
CO2 each evening (slowly opening cap) as recap tightly after venting.
It DOES smell good!
I began this "experiment" on Dec. 31 and it's still fermenting away at
last check (1/10/05).
Any tips/suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
- --Micah Henry in NC
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Orange Mead, Mead Lover's Digest #1151, 11 January 2005
From: Dennis Myhand <dmyhand@cox-internet.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2005 16:47:32 -0600
What I have used in making orange meads is the following:
One orange per pound of honey. I use three pounds of honey per gallon
of mead. I use the zest from one orange per two pounds of honey. I
have also added cinnamon to this. I am now in the habit of adding one
tablespoon of lavender per gallon. The flavor is wonderful. It has a
nice tang to it without being harsh or bitter. Orange meads are a
really nice habit to get into. Hope this helps, Dennis
> Subject: Orange meads
> From: myniyer <myn@iyerfamily.net>
> Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2005 21:48:28 -0700
>
> I am fortunate enough to have three orange trees (well, a tangelo, a
> tangerine and a navel orange) and am interested in starting an orange
> mead within the next couple of weeks. Now I need a recipe! I have
> scoured the archives, and read some past discussion... but there
> seems to be a huge variety in recipes and most authors of the recipes
> do not give much indication of how the mead turns out flavor-wise.
> I'm interested in what you all have to say.
>
> So - what makes the best orange mead? Should I use orange blossom
> honey or would that sort of fine flavor be wasted, better with plain
> wildflower? How much honey? How much orange juice? Nutrient or not?
> Zest or not? Vanilla extract? I would prefer final product that
> tastes like an orange Creamsicle.
>
> Thanks in advance -
> Melinda
> - --
> Melinda Merkel Iyer
> http://www.iyerfamily.net/
------------------------------
Subject: ventage dates
From: Zertwiz@aol.com
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2005 01:34:49 EST
as far as vent age dates go all the product must be from the stated years
harvest if you blend years you cant put a vent age date on it (in the us at
least) but if something is of a given vintage there's no reason why you have to.
and the variables in honey aren't as well charted from region to region like
grapes are as the heated debate on here has shown . so is some one really
gonna see a deference in this year over that year well it just depends on what
the bees did that year verses the last so I am guessing they just opt no to
place a vintage on it
------------------------------
Subject: mead
From: "Freyja Oestviking" <freyja_das@hotmail.com>
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2005 19:25:04 +0000
Hi,
I am a member of the Dark Ages Society in England and editor of our society
magazine. We re-enact the late ninth century and are a small group of around
50 members.
I was wondering if I could reproduce your article on Mead in our magazine
and put in the URL for your website so people can take a look - most of us
love to drink mead but don't all know how to make it or even it's full
history.
Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you,
Freyja
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #1152
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