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Mead Lovers Digest #1257
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1257, 5 April 2006
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #1257 5 April 2006
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Re: Mead Legs ("Eric Wescott")
Re: Temp for mead drinking (Dick Adams)
Braggot versus Honey Beer (Dick Adams)
Re: Drinking Mead (Dick Adams)
Shipping mead ("Angie Smith")
re:Temp for mead drinking ("matt_maples")
[article] Food Buying Habits of People Who Buy Beer or Wine ("Dan McFeeley")
("rconlin")
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Send ONLY articles for the digest to mead@talisman.com.
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Subject: Re: Mead Legs
From: "Eric Wescott" <eric.wescott@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 2 Apr 2006 18:40:13 -0400
This legs phenomenon also sounds a bit like low-grade gout. Sugar +
alcohol can aggrivate that. Do a little research, and perhaps consult
a doctor for more advice if the internet signs point that way.
- --EW
Quote:
HI,
When I drink mead it makes my legs feel dead. My legs feel heavy and my
ankles feel like they are throbbin. The next day i'm not really hungover
but it just makes me feel heavy. Is there any brewing approach I can
do to help eliminate this. One of my friends said that the more sugar
present the more likely this will happen. Is this true? Just wondering.
Thanks,
Ed
End Quote
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Subject: Re: Temp for mead drinking
From: rdadams@smart.net (Dick Adams)
Date: Sun, 2 Apr 2006 21:44:04 -0400 (EDT)
"Eric Wescott" <eric.wescott@gmail.com> asked:
> What temp do you like to drink you mead? Fridge cold,
> cellar cool, semi-cool? Does the style of the mead
> influence your decision?
I keep my fermentation fridge at 68F and that's the temperature
I prefer for Traditionals and Metheglins. But my Braggots are
definitely a room temperature Mead. My Maple Mead is great
anywhere from 68F to room temperature.
Dick
------------------------------
Subject: Braggot versus Honey Beer
From: rdadams@smart.net (Dick Adams)
Date: Sun, 2 Apr 2006 22:21:14 -0400 (EDT)
I have always been under the impression that a Braggot was to
have more than half of its fermentables from honey. Then I read
on the IMA website <http://www.meadfest.com>: "Bracket or Braggot
- - Honeywine made with malt, must be at least 20% honey" That's
not much honey percentage wise usless they are referring to the
batch size rather than the fermentables.
Then the National Honey Board at <http://www.honey.com/recipes/beer>
refers to "Specialty Beers (2.5 lbs. Honey for 5 gallons)..." and
later on the same page refer to beers with 3-10% honey and 11-30%
honey. So it's clear we are talking batch size.
If I understand this: a 5 gallon batch Honey Beer would contain
2.5 lbs <= honey < 12 lbs AND at 12 lbs it becomes a Braggot.
Last question: Since I'll need to boil the wort and there is no way
I'm going to boil the honey, at what point do I combine them?
What I have done with the two Braggots I've made is to boil the DME
for 30 minutes, chill the wort to 68F, and then add the wort to honey
water that was heated to 120F and chilled. After that the power drill
stirring rod does the rest.
Dick
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Drinking Mead
From: rdadams@smart.net (Dick Adams)
Date: Sun, 2 Apr 2006 22:58:46 -0400 (EDT)
> When I drink mead it makes my legs feel dead. My legs feel
> heavy and my ankles feel like they are throbbin. The next
> day i'm not really hungover but it just makes me feel heavy.
> Is there any brewing approach I can do to help eliminate
> this. One of my friends said that the more sugar present
> the more likely this will happen. Is this true? Just
> wondering.
You are very fortunate to ne making your own Mead because
you would go broke quickly if you were having to pay retail
for the quantity of Mead it takes to make your legs feel dead.
I presume almost every know what it's like to drink a six pack
of 12 ouncers and of 16 ouncers. And when you brew your own
beer, you have that measurement you had already acquired over
years of drinking commercial beers. But that beer was 4.5% to
6% ABV.
Now you're sitting there drinking the nectar of the Gods. It's
smooth, delicious, and much lighter than beer, but it's also 8%
to 13% ABV. Polishing off a gallon is not difficult and many
of us have done it. Your legs feel dead and the next day you
feel heavy. If you're lucky, you get a Mead hangover which is
as painful as drinking a frozen drink too fast and you know
you've got to slow down and cut back. That really pisses me off :)
Dick
------------------------------
Subject: Shipping mead
From: "Angie Smith" <angie.red@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2006 13:19:34 -0400
I live in one of those backwards states that prohibits shipping wine
(Indiana). I noticed on www.libations.com that they are able to ship to
Indiana. Is it because they are a distributor for Indiana? Any Commercial
Meaderies out there know how they are able to do this? I want to try other
types of commercial mead and unless I make trips to each meadery this is out
of the question for me.
Thanks all!
Angie Smith
------------------------------
Subject: re:Temp for mead drinking
From: "matt_maples" <matt_maples@liquidsolutions.ws>
Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2006 11:42:06 -0700
This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
For me it is a function of total acidity and how dry it is. The higher
the acidity and the drier it is the colder I'll serve it. This tends to
smooth it out and keeps the finish from being harsh. I really do enjoy
a crisp dry mead served cold. The sweeter it is the closer to room temp
I'll serve it. That tends to accentuates the aromas and the mouth feel.
Just my $0.02 I'm sure others do it differently.
Matt Maples
------------------------------
Subject: [article] Food Buying Habits of People Who Buy Beer or Wine
From: "Dan McFeeley" <mcfeeley@keynet.net>
Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2006 13:59:26 -0500
Ran across this article on another forum -- take a look:
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/332/7540/519
According to the article:
Results: Wine buyers bought more olives, fruit and
vegetables, poultry, cooking oil, and low fat cheese,
milk, and meat than beer buyers. Beer buyers
bought more ready cooked dishes, sugar, cold
cuts, chips, pork, butter or margarine, sausages,
lamb, and soft drinks than wine buyers.
Conclusions: Wine buyers made more purchases
of healthy food items than people who buy beer.
It's an interesting article, but I have to question the conclusion.
It's too simplistic -- there's much more involved than looking
at comparison groups and drawing a conclusion based solely
on the comparison.
Consumption of alcoholic beverages isn't something one
does apart from everything else. The beverage tends to
be attached more or less to culture, including cuisine.
Take a look at two research papers at these URL's:
http://www.indiana.edu/~engs/articles/ar1096.htm
http://www.indiana.edu/~engs/articles/cathprot.htm
The author is looking at the idea of drinking patterns,
and the cultures associated with them, going back
to the boundaries of the Roman Empire. Wine
culture is associated with the cuisine of the Mediterranean,
so you would expect to see a higher rate of consumption
of olive oil, fruit, vegetables, etc. Beer cultures are
mostly associated with more northern areas, with
differing cuisines.
There's also the problem of the type of beer that was
consumed in the study. Beer produced on a mass
scale tends to be light in flavor and body, more
suited for snack items, the kind noted by the study.
Keeping all this mead related, I wonder how mead
makers/consumers would fare in this study? In
the USA, one might see a *lot* of diversity. Other
countries with a strong mead culture would show
links with the ethnic cuisine of the area, I would guess.
You would see differing results for Brittany France,
and areas of Africa such as Ethiopia, where mead is
well known.
Any comments or critique?
<><><><><><><><><><>
<><><><><><><><>
Dan McFeeley
"Meon an phobail a thogail trid an chultur"
(The people's spirit is raised through culture)
------------------------------
Subject:
From: "rconlin" <rconlin@cox.net>
Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2006 21:31:39 -0700
I'm about to make a Guava Mead. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to
add the guava? I have a guava tree, and I sanitized the whole fruit as I
harvested it, halved them, and froze them. My plan is to thaw them, blanch
them with boiling water, slightly smash the halfs, and pitch them into the
must about three days into the fermentation in a plastic bucket fermenter.
I'm sure the guava pieces will float, so I can siphon off the mead when
fully fermented. There are tiny seeds in guava, but even if the siphon picks
some of them up, they will be left at the next siphoning. I think I will
get a better exposure by not putting the fruit in a grain bag. I plan on
using White Labs Sweet Mead Yeast. I look for your comments and suggestions.
Col Bob Conlin, (rconlin@cox.net)
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End of Mead Lover's Digest #1257
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