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Mead Lovers Digest #1241
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1241, 15 January 2006
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #1241 15 January 2006
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Subject: Re:hydrometer vs refractometer (Robert Keith Moore)
re: add now or later (MICAH MILLSPAW)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1240, 10 January 2006 (lazurus106@aol.com)
Reply to Better or Not & Labels ("Randy Wallis")
How cold can it get? (Robert Keith Moore)
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Subject: Subject: Re:hydrometer vs refractometer
From: Robert Keith Moore <Rob@ineedachef.com>
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2006 23:49:59 -0800
O.K.,
Then lets discuss some of these other tools. Which is the better thing
to use when it comes to PH and acidity? PH meter, litmus or PH paper,
indicator solution? What then is best? At what point does the PH change
that we should be concerned about it?
Thanks
Robert
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Subject: re: add now or later
From: MICAH MILLSPAW <mmillspaw@ameritech.net>
Date: Wed, 11 Jan 2006 05:05:14 -0800 (PST)
>Is it better (or not) to add the ?extras? (like
>spices, fruit etc)during primary or secondary
>fermentation. In my short tenure (4 years) of mead
>making, I?ve always put the fruit and spice in >right
when I started primary fermentation > My home
brew store owner Jon, prefers to add >everything into
secondary.
I have had good results from adding both fruit and
spices to the primary but only after the initial
fermentation subsides. With the addition of fruit,
this will often restart the ferment and brings added
nutrients to the yeast at a time when they have
depleted what was in the original must.
End result, you get both flavour and bouquet in your
mead and a complete fermentation.
Micah Millspaw - brewer at large
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Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1240, 10 January 2006
From: lazurus106@aol.com
Date: Wed, 11 Jan 2006 11:12:49 -0500
Greetings Kinsman,
My thoughts on the labeling dates I sometimes will give more than one date
particularly when it has bulk aged for more than a year I may give a month
year of the start of the mead and a bottle date to help document that that
helps me keep track of the differences in the end product without digging
out my notes.
Do what is useful to you, its nice to have a a beautiful label when you
are gifting it to friends. but don't limit your documentation to what you
see on commercial labels. I know a fellow who prints the federal warning
labels on his wine. It just might be more accurate to just put scarry
stuff on the front ;).
He trys things that make even me shudder. Caterpillar wine !
Just some thoughts,
Dutch
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Subject: Reply to Better or Not & Labels
From: "Randy Wallis" <vwbettle72@earthlink.net>
Date: Wed, 11 Jan 2006 17:04:30 -0500
>Is it better (or not) to add the? Extras? (like spices, fruit etc) during
>your primary or secondary fermentation. In my short tenure (4 years) of
>mead making, I?ve always put the fruit and spice in right when I started
>primary fermentation. My home brew store owner Jon, prefers to add
>everything into secondary.
>His point to me is that you will get a stronger (aka better) aroma by adding
>it later. But he conceded that you probably will get more flavor adding to
>primary.
Michael
I think a lot of it comes down to personal preference. I do my melomels
and pyments about half and half. I think with adding it the secondary you
end up with more true fruit flavor and aroma, but with it added in the
primary I think you end up with a more complex mead with better body and
mouth feel. So, I normally sit down and think about what I want the mead
to come out as, do I what to accent the fruit or honey. I think in the last
couple years the pendulum has swung more to the secondary side. However,
there are still strong feelings and good logic on both sides. The main
reason for adding to the secondary is so you don?t scrub the fruit. I
just racked my plum melomel and muscadine pyment over the Holidays, the
melomel fruit was added to the primary and with the pyment I added the
grapes to the secondary. Both taste pretty good at this point
>I started two meads in August and September of 2005. I will bottle them
>sometime in the spring or summer of 2006. What year will I put on the
>beautiful labels that I am creating for my bottles? Thanks.
Rick
I say be like the wine makers and put the year that the fruit or honey was
harvested in. Even if you start a batch of wine in a different year you
always use the year the grape were picked as your vintage.
Randy Wallis
vwbettle72@earthlink.net
Why Wait? Move to EarthLink.
------------------------------
Subject: How cold can it get?
From: Robert Keith Moore <Rob@ineedachef.com>
Date: Wed, 11 Jan 2006 16:03:57 -0800
Hey,
Here is a good one for you guys..
My friend has all of his meads out in his garage. His unheated garage. I
noticed the other day that the temp was 40 degrees. He has those stick
on thermometers you attach on the outside of the carboys. Some of then
still had little bubbles rising and some were 'still' with the
fermentation locks sitting down instead of looking like they were trying
to push through the top. How cold can the yeast get before it stops
working and will it restart when it gets warm. I must add that they are
all crystal clear, even the reds look great when we shine a light thru
the carboy. Does the cold help the clarification?
You guys are a treasure chest of ideas, thanks,
Robert
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End of Mead Lover's Digest #1241
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