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Mead Lovers Digest #1291
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1291, 5 December 2006
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #1291 5 December 2006
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Re: Boiling Braggots (Mail Box)
Heating Mead to kill the yeast (Dick Adams)
Braggot ("Paul Shouse")
milk, yeast (circle mouse)
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Subject: Re: Boiling Braggots
From: Mail Box <mail-box@adelphia.net>
Date: Sun, 26 Nov 2006 17:01:07 -0500
> From: Arthur Torrey <arthur_torrey@comcast.net>
[snipped]
> I stand mildly corrected... I made my earlier post from memory, but now that
> you mention it, I just checked the instructions for a couple of my kits.
> Both said crush the grains and put them in a brewpot w/ 2 gallons of cold
> water, bring to a boil, then let steep. So the grains only got boiled for a
> minute or two at most, and mostly weren't on the bottom of the pot to get
> burned.
>
> After steeping for the specified time, the grain bag comes out, the malt syrup
> gets added and then the long boil begins...
>
> Whether this is the "right" way to do it or not, it works. Seems to me like
> one of those "religious argument" topics like the use of sulfites and how
> much / if one should heat honey...
>
> ART
ART,
It looks to me more like a beginners kit instruction than a position in
a "religious argument" topic. A lot of beginners kits try to make
things as easy as is possible for the neophyte brewer, to avoid
frustrating him/her and driving off a potential revenue stream.
Steeping instructions that tell the beginner to bring the grains to a
boil avoid that whole fussy "have to have a thermometer, and *gasp* know
how to read one" issue that comes with a more prudent instruction to
bring the water to a certain temperature and hold it there for some
number of minutes. After all, even the most under equipped kitchen has
one tool for determining when water is boiling. ;-P.
Cheers and Happy Holidays,
Ken
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Subject: Heating Mead to kill the yeast
From: rdadams@smart.net (Dick Adams)
Date: Sun, 26 Nov 2006 18:25:24 -0500 (EST)
At rec.crafts.meadmaking, Mike Faul of Rabbit's Foot Meadery
posted an idea running a Mead through two chiller coils. The
first coil sits in boiling water while the second one sits in
an ice batch. Using an inline thermometer and a bypass valve
at the output of the first coil and a flow control valve at
the output of the second coil, the objective is to hold the
temperature of the first output at about 160-180 for 'n'
seconds and have it kill all the yeast. He then estimates
that 170F (76.7C) for 10 secs should be sufficient.
Everything Mike has suggested has improved the quality and
efficiency of my meadmaking.
My only problem with this idea is that I have a electric stove
that takes 34 minutes to bring 3 gallons of water to a boil.
So I'm searching for the low end temperature of the yeast
fatality scale as well as the associated holding time. Does
anyone know where to find it.
http://homedistiller.org/ferment.htm notes:
"Temperature control is very important during fermentation.
Yeast is a living organism, and will die if too stressed.
Both alcohol and temperature stress it. With no alcohol
around, it won't die until about 40 °C. At 14% alcohol,
it will die at 33 °C, and at 25 °C if in 20% alcohol."
40 dC = 104 dF and that seems outrageously low! I may have
been a typo because I recall reading (but don't recall where)
that yeast dies at 140 dF (60 dC). Can anyone verify this?
Dick
------------------------------
Subject: Braggot
From: "Paul Shouse" <paul_shouse@kmug.org>
Date: Wed, 29 Nov 2006 00:40:39 +0900
The question facing the would-be braggot maker is whether or not to crack the
complex sugars in the honey using the diastatic enzymes in the malt. It's a
clear choice to be made, and it's for you to make it as you see fit. As I see
it, there are three paths you can follow. You can add malt flavor to mead by
steeping or mashing (more on that later) malted grain. You can add honey flavor
to beer by just adding honey to the mash or the hopped wort after the boil. The
third way is the more interesting and possibly the more traditional way: Use
the malt in a standard decoction mash is crack an equal weight of honey. Even
better, mash the grain and half the honey, then add the other half to the
cooled must to preserve the honey flavors and aromas we all love so much. Your
only problem then is how to drink more than a glassful without falling over.
I came to mead making through beer brewing. I fell into the habit of brewing
all-grain beer using a triple decoction mash a long time ago. (See 'Brewing
Lager Beer' by Gregory J. Noonan for more information) As a result I can't help
but feel that malt should be mashed to make a diastatic extract in order to
convert all the available starch into sugar. While I agree that boiling grain
is a very bad idea, I have to also say that merely steeping grain is a waste of
potential. The problem with steeping grain is not just the loss of fermentable
sugars but that you're extracting starch which may well cloud your braggot, and
lead to a variety of other problems down the line.
- -Paul
------------------------------
Subject: milk, yeast
From: circle mouse <circlemouse@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 5 Dec 2006 16:08:21 -0800 (PST)
hey gang,
I'm wanting to make a mead with milk (lactomel?) and I remember seeing a
recipe on hear a while back. I don't mind winging it, but I am wondering
about lactase, which I seem to recall was in the recipe. Is it necessary?
splits lactose into galactose and glucose, right? why would one want that?
also, in the last few batches of cider/beer/mead I've made, I've been adding
a lot less yeast than a whole WYeast pack or White Labs vial or package
of dry yeast. this has had the benefit of reducing the initial mess I've
experienced previously as well as a small cost savings. apart from taking
a bit longer to ferment, is there any reason adding a smaller amount of
yeast would be a bad idea? thanks.
tel
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End of Mead Lover's Digest #1291
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