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Mead Lovers Digest #1199
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1199, 13 July 2005
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #1199 13 July 2005
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Boysenberries and sorbate (Dave Sherohman)
re: Plastic Carboys (David Collins-Rivera)
Anyone in Portland, OR? ("Robert Farrell")
Make it stop ("David Craft")
Subject: Braggot Recipe ("eric")
Re: moving mead (Dick Adams)
Anyone in the Portland, OR area? (Jeff Peck)
Mead with Figs? ("A.J. Rhoda")
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1198, 9 July 2005 (jtollefson83@comcast.net)
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Boysenberries and sorbate
From: Dave Sherohman <esper@sherohman.org>
Date: Sat, 9 Jul 2005 12:51:26 -0500
On Sat, Jul 09, 2005 at 11:17:25AM -0600, mead-request@talisman.com wrote:
> > Subject: moving mead
> > From: Mike Grau <mikegrau@yahoo.com>
> I have a friend who just gave me a bunch of boysenberries picked from a
> neighboor's tree. It is just about a gallon ziplock full, but they haven't
> been cleaned of leaves, twigs, etc. yet.
>
> I have them currently in the freezer and plan to add them to a batch of
> simple
> I currently have brewing. I was wondering though about what sort of ratio I
> should use (Is one scant gallon of frozen berries enough, for a five gallon
> batch of mead, or do I need to add more.)
I haven't done boysenberries before, but 3 quarts of (pulped)
cherries or raspberries has worked great for me in the past, giving
the brew a definite flavor and color of the fruit. Strawberries
didn't come through so clearly in that quantity, but their flavor is
very light anyhow, so I can't say I'm too surprised.
I'm sure that a (scant) gallon of boysenberries should be plenty.
> Subject: Make It Stop!
> From: "Randy Wallis" <vwbettle72@earthlink.net>
> I figured it was time to stop the show on
> the three gallon and bottle, so I added Potassium Sorbate, a week later I
> still had bubbles,
Potassium sorbate is a stabilizer. It prevents fermentation from
restarting. It will *not* stop an active fermentation. (Or so I've
read many times. I've never used the stuff myself.)
- --
The freedoms that we enjoy presently are the most important victories of the
White Hats over the past several millennia, and it is vitally important that
we don't give them up now, only because we are frightened.
- Eolake Stobblehouse (http://stobblehouse.com/text/battle.html)
------------------------------
Subject: re: Plastic Carboys
From: David Collins-Rivera <lostnbronx@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 9 Jul 2005 12:23:31 -0700
I bulk-aged a five gallon batch of strawberry mel in a plastic carboy once,
a carboy from a water delivery service, and it did, indeed, lend a
noticeable (to me) plastic taste to the mead. Friends of mine said they
couldn't taste it at all, but I think they were being kind. I never used
that carboy again, except as temporary storage while I was either cleaning
out my glass carboy, or gathering up equipment in prep to bottling. Short
term exposure like this didn't seem to hurt any of the later meads.
- -David
------------------------------
Subject: Anyone in Portland, OR?
From: "Robert Farrell" <bfarrell100@hotmail.com>
Date: Sat, 09 Jul 2005 13:12:24 -0700
Marc
A couple months?---Looks as though you want to spend one last summer
enjoying high humidity. Trevor Millund, Matt Maples (who owns a "bottle
shop" called Liquid Solutions) and I all subscribe to the digest. We're all
members of the Oregon Brew Crew which has been around since 1980. There are
several mead makers in the club and interest seems to be increasing. We
look forward to you sharing your knowledge and experience!
Feel free to contact me directly by phone or email.
Bob Farrell
Portland, OR
503-888-2270 cell
>
>Subject: Anyone in the Portland, OR area?
>From: Marc Shapiro <mshapiro_42@yahoo.com>
>Date: Wed, 06 Jul 2005 12:54:14 -0400
>
>I am moving from Nowheresville, WV to Portland, OR within the next two
>months and I was wondering if there was anyone out there from this list.
>
>- --
>Marc Shapiro
>mshapiro_42@yahoo.com
>
------------------------------
Subject: Make it stop
From: "David Craft" <Chsyhkr@bellsouth.net>
Date: Sat, 9 Jul 2005 21:50:46 -0400
Randy Wallis wrote,
I have something that keeps fermenting no matter what I do. Couple months
ago I had a 3-gallon batch of muscadine melomel and a 5-gallon batch of
traditional. The 3-gallon was made with 1056 Ale Yeast and the 5-gallon is
Wyeast Sweet Mead Yeast. Anyhow, a few months ago I received a free sample
of a little pack of something called ?Super Enzyme? (ingredients:
Malto-Dextrin, Pectic Enzyme) which said it was a clearing aid.
###########################################################################
I wonder if the product you added to the mead is causing the CO2 to come out
of solution, creating the bubbles. Have you looked at the gravity, have you
sampled it. If the gravity is not dropping and the smell and taste are ok,
then you probably do not have spoilage.
Keep waiting, you have nothing to lose. If it is going bad, there is
nothing you can do about it...
David Craft
Crow Hill Brewery and Meadery
Greensboro, NC
------------------------------
Subject: Subject: Braggot Recipe
From: "eric" <zeee1@nebonet.com>
Date: Sat, 9 Jul 2005 21:23:46 -0600
Subject: Braggot Recipe
Would be
gone if the girlfriend liked my brews. Shes stuck on Bud Light, must come
from growing up in the sticks of Minnesota?
Growing up in the sticks #anywhere# has this effect! Well, maybe not in
the sticks in somewhere like Mongolia, where they drink that milk brew
'airag'.
Take her to a beerfest, so she can expand her taste in beer, and work up to
something with some flavor and body. I use to not tolerate anything other
than American pilsner lager at all, now I stop at microbreweries and sample
the darkest ales they have!
I have 3 carboys, 1 is usually full of a mead, 1 a dark ale, and the other,
and/or the bottling bucket, for transfer.
Got a stout in 1 right now in fact, but gotta finish tiling the kitchen
before I can bottle. Talk about incentive.
Do you usually use about a 2 to 1 ratio of honey to malt? If an ale yeast
is used is a braggot overly sweet, or would it still turn out ok? Is it
suggested to change the ratio of honey to malt depending on the yeast used?
Eric
------------------------------
Subject: Re: moving mead
From: rdadams@smart.net (Dick Adams)
Date: Sun, 10 Jul 2005 13:11:52 -0400 (EDT)
> i have a batch of blueberry melomel that's been in the carboy for
> about 5 months. about a month ago, i racked and added 3 more pounds
> of blueberries, which are still in there. now my dilemma: i will be
> moving from central pennsylvania to missouri in about three weeks.
> i can't see if the mead has cleared because of the dark color the
> blueberry addition has imparted. what should i do with the stuff?
> i am going to rack it again and check it for clarity, then if it's
> okay, bottle it up and take it with me. i'm just wondering if it's
> not clear, i wonder if i could still try bottling it, or if that
> would be unnecessarily dangerous. i can always give the batch away
> to a fellow homebrewer, but of course i'm reluctant to part with it.
> anyone have any suggestions?
You have already gotten some excellent responses. My only additions
are that if you are packing stuff into your back seat, put the carboys
there. Also be prepared to be very polite to any police officer who
stops you as it may be illegal to transport the stuff.
If for any reason you choose not to pack and carry, I am certain
I can arrange for pickup. But if you're at Penn State, I'm equally
certain you'll have no problem finding it a good home. :)
Dick
------------------------------
Subject: Anyone in the Portland, OR area?
From: Jeff Peck <lyulfr@comcast.net>
Date: Sun, 10 Jul 2005 22:14:07 -0700
Hey Marc,
There are a few of us, I'm over in the SW suburbs.
Matt Maples is also in this area (as is his mead and beer store) and I
think that there's one or two others as well.
Jeff Peck
> Subject: Anyone in the Portland, OR area?
> From: Marc Shapiro <mshapiro_42@yahoo.com>
> Date: Wed, 06 Jul 2005 12:54:14 -0400
>
> I am moving from Nowheresville, WV to Portland, OR within the next two
> months and I was wondering if there was anyone out there from this list.
>
> - --
> Marc Shapiro
> mshapiro_42@yahoo.com
- --
lyulfr@comcast.net
We carry in our hearts the true country,
and that cannot be broken.
We travel in the steps of our ancestry,
and that cannot be stolen. < "the Dead Heart" Midnight Oil >
------------------------------
Subject: Mead with Figs?
From: "A.J. Rhoda" <aguidor@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 2005 09:19:06 -0700 (PDT)
I've got a fig tree that just popped up a huge crop.
They're going to be here for about two weeks and there
are always more than I know what to do with. I was
thinking of doing a mead with a couple pounds of figs.
Any Ideas, suggestions, etc on this?
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1198, 9 July 2005
From: jtollefson83@comcast.net
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2005 18:40:35 +0000
It sounds like your mead wasn't done in the first place and was more
like fermenting very very slowly. The reason I say this is because if a
traditional mead ferments well, without being stressed, it will usually
start to clear immediately after it's done. It sounds like your mead was
fermenting slow because it was stressed. This is just a guess here but
do you think you added enough nutrient? What and how much did you add? I
also suspect this because the fermentation started up again once you added
the Super Enzyme. Do you think there are things in this formula that the
yeasts might react to, like a nutrient?
As far as stabilizing, when you chill a fermenting mead, all it does is put
the yeasts to sleep temporarily, making it easier to deal with the yeasts
when stabilizing. Chilling is often only the first step in the stabilizing
process when using chemicals. To stabilize, chill it for a few days in the
fridge if possible, add 1 crushed campden tablet and 1.5 tsp sorbate to an
empty stabilized carboy and rack over it. You have to rack so you have less
yeast to deal with. Then give it a few days for the sorbate and campden to
work it's magic. Don't bottle immediately after because the yeast is going
to be producing a little more CO2 for a day or two. I'm not sure how much of
each you've already added, so just add enough ingredients to compensate. In
my experience, this little process never fails to stabilize a mead.
Good luck!
> ------------------------------
>
> Subject: Make It Stop!
> From: "Randy Wallis"
> Date: Wed, 6 Jul 2005 22:49:52 -0400
>
> I have something that keeps fermenting no matter what I do. Couple months
> ago I had a 3-gallon batch of muscadine melomel and a 5-gallon batch of
> traditional. The 3-gallon was made with 1056 Ale Yeast and the 5-gallon is
> Wyeast Sweet Mead Yeast. Anyhow, a few months ago I received a free sample
> of a little pack of something called ?Super Enzyme? (ingredients:
> Malto-Dextrin, Pectic Enzyme) which said it was a clearing aid. Both of my
> batches had quit fermenting at the time and were bulk aging. Well I had a
> little haze in the muchidine so I figured I would add half of the pack of
> the ?Super Enzyme? to it, well stupidly I added the other half to the
> traditional. Well a couple days later both start bubbling again, very weak
> but definite activity. Since I was about to start a strawberry melomel
> with fresh Plant City strawberries in my primary and knew in about 3-weeks
> I would need the 3-gallon carboy, I figured it was time to stop the show on
> the three gallon and bottle, so I added Potassium Sorbate, a week later I
> still had bubbles, so I figured maybe I had a strange wild yeast activity
> going so I added Campen, week later still going. Well as a last resort I
> froze it the night before bottling then thawed and bottled. Three weeks
> later I found myself standing in my garage looking at the mess mead makes
> when bottles are stored on their side and blow their corks, and I had
> shrink-wrap on them. Anyhow, a month later the traditional is still going,
> I sobated again and it still keeps going. I really want to stop it and
> sweeten it but like I say it just keeps going. The taste is good, but
> since this seems to be bending all the rules I worry if it keeps going it
> is going to turn into vinegar or worst.
>
> Randy Wallis
> vwbettle72@earthlink.net
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #1199
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