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Mead Lovers Digest #1174
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1174, 6 April 2005
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #1174 6 April 2005
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Re: Oak ("Dan McFeeley")
Re: Black Raspeberry puree (Randy Goldberg MD)
Re: Neverending fermentation? (Randy Goldberg MD)
Mead event in May (Phil)
bottling with co2 and strawberries (MICAH MILLSPAW)
clearing mead ("eric")
Black Raspeberry puree ("William Millett")
re: purging bottles with co2 (Chris Dettner)
And, she's off! ("david.lane ")
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Re: Oak
From: "Dan McFeeley" <mcfeeley@keynet.net>
Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 00:55:27 -0500
There were some good points raised in this thread
regarding low price on used barrels -- they may be
tainted. That may very well be, but from what I've
seen (and I'm certainly no expert here) the price
isn't unusual. Take a look at this URL:
http://winebusiness.com/UsedBarrels/
Can't vouch for the barrels since I've never ordered
one. Maybe someone else with more experience here
can comment?
<><><><><><><><><><>
<><><><><><><><>
Dan McFeeley
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Black Raspeberry puree
From: Randy Goldberg MD <randy@randygoldberg.net>
Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 07:22:54 -0400
> I recently made a batch of mead which I racked onto 5 lbs of black
> raspberry puree. The manufacturer stated that the puree was 13
> brix. I took a reading before racking onto the berries. I expected
> the gravity to get higher after racking onto the berries, but it
> was less. As I was counting on more gravity from the berries for
> my recipe, I ended up adding more honey to increase the gravity.
> Any ideas as to why the gravity reading reduced with the addition
> of the berries?
Dilution. Brix is a measure of sugar CONCENTRATION, not sugar mass. Assuming
your mead had less than 13 brix, mixing the two results in diluting the
sugar.
If you're saying the brix was less than the original un-racked mead... well,
that's simply impossible. One of the readings had to be wrong.
****************
Randy Goldberg MD
RandomTag: Meaning of life: <deleted for lack of space>.
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Neverending fermentation?
From: Randy Goldberg MD <randy@randygoldberg.net>
Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 07:24:48 -0400
>> What's was the starting gravity? What's the gravity now? If the
>> ABV is approaching 18%, then the yeast's essentially done,
>> regardless of what you're seeing. When did you last rack? Is
>> there a significant amount of trub in the carboy? If so, rack
>> again and see if you continue to observe CO2 production.
>> Personally, I consider one bubble every 120 seconds to be more or
>> less finished fermentation.
>
> Starting gravity is unreliable because I added 4 additional pounds
> of honey after 1 week. The current SG is below 1.000, .997 I
> think. Trub=3Dsediment? If so, yes it appears there is significant
> sediment. Unfortunately I don't have an extra carboy to rack to,
> so I can't try that advice.
You're done. If the gravity is <1.000, then essentially all the sugar has
been converted to alcohol. You're not likely to get any bottle carbonation
out of this, either, unless you prime.
****************
Randy Goldberg MD
RandomTag: The only realities are the atoms and empty space.
------------------------------
Subject: Mead event in May
From: Phil <dogglebe@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 05:29:28 -0700 (PDT)
Mark it on your calendar now...
On Tuesday, May 17th, the NYCHG will be holding its annual mead meeting.
Our guest speaker will be Paul Holm, president and head meadist of the Long
Island meadery. As in the past, mead makers from all around gathered here
to exchange meads, recipes and just plain talk about mead.
At last year's meeting, over 6,200 different meads were sampled (I might
be wrong here. I lost count after twenty).
The meeting will take place at Brewsky's, located at 41 East Seventh Street,
between 2nd and 3rd avenues. Starting time is 7:30pm.
Bring your friends. Bring your mead. New members are always welcome.
Phil
------------------------------
Subject: bottling with co2 and strawberries
From: MICAH MILLSPAW <mmillspaw@ameritech.net>
Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 08:50:26 -0700 (PDT)
> I have a mixed berry melomel that I will be
> bottling in May and I plan on using 22 oz beer bottles and caps. I will
> purge the bottles with co2 and before and after they are filled. Is this
> over kill or a common practice?
I don't know how common this is. But I always purge my
bottles with either CO2 or N2 prior to filling with
mead. I do this to eliminate the oxygen in the head
space of the bottle. This reduces the effect of the
mead becoming oxidized in the bottle.
I seems to work well for me.
Also, there were some comments about pastuerizing
fruit (strawberries) prior to use in mead. I do not
see a need to do this and have made many different
fruit meads without any sort of spoilage. Fruit that
has not been heated will have a fresher taste and
bouquet.
Micah Millspaw
------------------------------
Subject: clearing mead
From: "eric" <zeee1@nebonet.com>
Date: Sun, 3 Apr 2005 04:25:01 -0600
Hello Ed
I have only made a few batches of mead and used a clarifier for the first
time a few weeks ago. It was a plum mead fermented for about 3 months before
bubbles were 45 seconds or more in the airlock. I boiled some sparkoloid in
a small amount of water and added it hot to the fermenter, the very next
morning I could clearly see my hand through the carboy, it worked very
quickly and very well for me. The first batches cleared after roughly a
year, in the fermenter or in the bottle.
Eric
From: KitkatnEdrat@aol.com
Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2005 22:27:10 EST
Hi all!
I am new to the forum and making mead. About 3 months ago I made my first
batch. I made a medium sweet mead. Im wondering what is the best way to
make
it clear. Also, I am wondering if it is to late to add oak chips - I have
racked a total of 3 times. I here people talking about adjusting the
acidity
and am wondering the best way to do this?
For another project I'm planning on making a strawberry-kiwi melomel and
wonder how much fruit/honey I should add to formulate a 5 lb recipe?
Thanks,
Ed
------------------------------
Subject: Black Raspeberry puree
From: "William Millett" <wmillett@fractal.com.br>
Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 21:27:32 -0300
Shawn,
the most probable reason is that your original must (honey and water) had a
higher concentration of sugars (ie. higher gravity) which was diluted by the
raspberry puree.
13 brix gives a gravity of approximately 1,050 equivalent to 136 g/L of
sugar in water (in round numbers). Your honey must certainly had a higher
gravity, so when you added the puree to the must, a dilution occured and the
gravity of the final mixture was less than the original value.
I generally measure the gravity of juices and purees after straining, so
that I have the true value due to the sugars dissolved. I use this value in
the calculations to know how much honey is necessary to achieve the intended
original gravity.
Hope this helps
William.
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Black Raspeberry puree
From: "SHAWN WICHMAN" <WICHWAYS@MSN.COM>
Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2005 10:13:33 -0700
I recently made a batch of mead which I racked onto 5 lbs of black raspberry
puree. The manufacturer stated that the puree was 13 brix. I took a reading
before racking onto the berries. I expected the gravity to get higher after
racking onto the berries, but it was less. As I was counting on more
gravity from the berries for my recipe, I ended up adding more honey to
increase the gravity. Any ideas as to why the gravity reading reduced with
the addition of the berries?
S Wichman
------------------------------
Subject: re: purging bottles with co2
From: Chris Dettner <chris_21122002@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 19:06:54 -0700 (PDT)
David wrote:
"Chris,
I have not heard of purging bottles of mead with CO2 before. Is this
a brewer's practice? Many people use sulphites to ensure that the
mead is not infected with wild yeasts and other microbiota, and
potasium sorbate to inhibit the yeast from restarting the fermentation
process in the bottle. This stabilizes it for long-term storage. I
don't sulphite or use sorbate, though, so I usually keep the bottles
in the fridge. I also ferment to dryness, which also lessens the
chances of the yeast waking up and creating bottle bombs."
First of all many thanks to everyone for the replies and opinions. David,
I only do this to minimize the exposure to oxygen of the mead. It is not
a brewers practice unless you keg your beer which I do. Before racking
beer to a keg I purge it with co2. I just figured since the mead would
be staying in the bottle for a much longer period of time then beer, the
less exposure to oxygen the better. I first rack the mead into a purged
keg. I then use the keg to fill bottles which have had some co2 shot into
them and then cap them. I know this is probably not necessary but I use
no sulphites and no heating so I figured I would not take any chances.
thanks,
chris
------------------------------
Subject: And, she's off!
From: "david.lane " <david.lane@utahisp.com>
Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2005 08:32:52 -0600
My pomegranate mead cordial finally took off.
I have no idea if it got infected, so I?ll taste
it carefully in a couple months.
Three attempts with EC-1118 failed. Finally,
I bought a packet of WYeast Eau de Vie and that
did the trick.
Someone in a web forum I visit suggests that
the pH is simply too low, so I may add some
potassium carbonate at some point, possibly
when I rack.
It?s interesting that a nearly identical recipe
using pomegranate juice rather than cranberry
juice should have such difficulty.
David
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #1174
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