Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Mead Lovers Digest #1311
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1311, 27 March 2007
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #1311 27 March 2007
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
gout ("Doug Honey Love Ranch")
Re: Follow up: yeast recovery (Tim Bray)
Need a sweeter yeast than 71B-2112 (Eric Chumley)
Re: Follow up: yeast recovery (Dick Adams)
Cold Fermentation (Dick Adams)
frisky mead ("P&J")
Thanks, an observation, and a question... (Dana Acker)
NOTE: Digest appears when there is enough material to send one.
Send ONLY articles for the digest to mead@talisman.com.
Use mead-request@talisman.com for [un]subscribe/admin requests.
Digest archives and FAQ are available at www.talisman.com/mead
A searchable archive is at www.gotmead.com/content/category/9/43/69/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: gout
From: "Doug Honey Love Ranch" <HoneyLoveMead@msn.com>
Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2007 12:46:13 -0700
I am wondering if anyone has had any experience with mead causing or
exasperating gout.
I am 60 years old, have been making and drinking my own mead and fruit
wine for many years. Last year, my wife an I opted to finish off a 6
gallon carboy of mead that I could not get unstuck, it still had a heavy
honey and yeast taste that we masked by mixing with very strong
cranberry juice. I developed my first case of gout without knowing it.
When diagnosed, the gout cleared up quickly with medication. But now it
seems to be ready to flare up whenever I drink our mead. The gout does
not seem to be activated by the blackberry or other fruit wines. So
until I figure out what is going on, my wife enjoys the mead and I am
only drinking the fruit wines.
None of the meads we are drinking are aged more than a year and a half.
We simply did not produce enough to keep up with what we use to age any
for the recommended two years.
I also have not used any sorbates to kill the yeast that are lingering
in the last stages of fermentation. We just leave airlocks on the mead
and fruit must carboys until we beginning drinking them. When we finish
one 6 gal carboy, we just start on the next oldest. If one turns out to
be exceptional, we usually save half of it into a 3 gallon carboy for
continued aging.
If anyone has any experience on how to continue enjoying mead when one's
body has a propensity to get gout, I would like to hear about it. I am
thinking that maybe with proper aging or by using sorbates to kill any
residual active yeast and then bottling and aging, I would be able to
again enjoy drinking the nectar of the gods without worrying about the
pain that my feet seem to want to make me endure.
Doug , Bandon, Oregon
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Follow up: yeast recovery
From: Tim Bray <tbray@wildblue.net>
Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2007 10:39:40 -0800
> Dick Adams > Per Lallemand, 71B-1122 has a lower limit of 15C (59F).
> How should I apply these guidelines? My fridge is below 15=B0C, and I
> definitely
> see [slow] fermentation activitiy for my 71B while in the fridge. Does
> this apply to "vigourous winemaking fermentation"? I think that the yeast
> does not fully inactivate, but enters a slow-pace activity.
I think you're correct. That's certainly been my experience using it in
cider. It did a wonderful job of slowly fermenting the juice at cold
temperatures, without driving off the apple aromas. So it depends on
what you want the yeast to do - if you want a vigorous fermentation,
keep it warm; if not, cool it off and give it more time. 71B in the
fridge gave me the best cider I've made yet.
Cheers,
Tim in Albion, CA
------------------------------
Subject: Need a sweeter yeast than 71B-2112
From: Eric Chumley <eric.chumley@wku.edu>
Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2007 12:41:26 -0500
From Ken Schramm?s Mambo in Your Mouth recipe in /The Compleat
Meadmaker (minus blueberries)
/*_June 25, 2006 ? 21:00_*
15 lbs canola honey
4 gallons spring water
Blackberries, Cherries, Raspberries, Blueberries, Strawberries
2 tsp. nutrient
2 tsp. energizer
71B-2112 yeast
O.G. 1.14
F.G. 1.00
This is an awesome drink, yet most of my family would like it sweeter. I
would like to accomodate, but I don't want it alot sweeter.
What would be a reasonable next step up in yeast? Just a little sweeter,
please. Would D47 fit the bill?
Or, is it drier because I used 4 gallons water instead of 3 or 3.5?
Thanks to all,
- --Rick
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Follow up: yeast recovery
From: rdadams@smart.net (Dick Adams)
Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2007 06:26:53 -0500 (EST)
> I want to thank those that responded to my questions, and have
> some comments. By the way, my "beverage" started fermenting
> three days after posting, and it tastes like cheap wine now...
> anyway, it didn't serve its purpose, since I see very little
> difference in the amount of yeast. These are my comments
> and follow-up questions:
> .....
> Dick Adams > Fermenting at 7C (44.6F) is the lower limit for EC-1118.
> Dick Adams > Per Lallemand, 71B-1122 has a lower limit of 15C (59F).
> How should I apply these guidelines? My fridge is below 15°C,
> and I definitely see [slow] fermentation activitiy for my 71B
> while in the fridge. Does this apply to "vigourous winemaking
> fermentation"? I think that the yeast does not fully inactivate,
> but enters a slow-pace activity.
Use EC-1118 instead of 71B-1122. And use one 5g packet for
every 10 liters.
Rehydrate the yeast.
Oxygenate the must before pitching the yeast
Use Yeast Nutrient: 1 US teaspoon per US Gallon or 1.25 metric
teaspoons tsps per 4 litres. Add half after pitching the yeast,
one-fourth three hours later, and the remainder after the O.G.
decrease by about 1/3.
Start primary fermentation at room temperature and put it the
fridge after the second or third day.
Even I, a strong advocate of cold fermentation, would not
deliberately ferment below 10C (50F). My suggestion is to
keep a thermometer in your fridge and adjuct the fridge's
controller to keep it around 12-13C (54-55F).
> Dick Addams > Where are you located geographically?
> In Queretaro, A 3/4 million people city located 200 km
> NW from Mexico City.
What's the expected summer temperature range there?
Dick
------------------------------
Subject: Cold Fermentation
From: rdadams@smart.net (Dick Adams)
Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2007 18:15:59 -0500 (EST)
In my never-ending search for scripture to justify my opinions, I
came across the following from Dr. George Clayon Cone of Lallemand at
http://consumer.lallemand.com/danstar-lalvin/InFerment/Mead_Basics.html
"One to two pounds of a properly rehydrated, selected strain of active
dried wine yeast per 1000 gallons of must should provide the right number
of yeast cells to do a superior job of completely converting all the
sugars to ethanol in addition to producing the essential organic compounds
that are associated with fermentation and good wines. The fermentation
will proceed at a rate that can be controlled by the winemaker with the
judicious use of temperature: 50-55? F for less than 21 days, or 80-85? F
for less than 5 days. The low temperature fermentation will tend to
produce and retain more fruity esters while the higher temperature
fermentation will produce more heady esters."
To my knowledge, the only homebrewer available Lalvin yeasts
recommended for 50-55F are: DV10, EC-1118, and K1V-1116.
Per Jack Keller (winemaking.jackkeller.net/strains.asp),
ICV-D47, ICV-D254, M1, QA23, R1, R-HST, Syrah, W15, W27,
and W46 will also ferment in that range, but I have yet
to see them at a homebrew store website.
Dick
------------------------------
Subject: frisky mead
From: "P&J" <eala@cecomet.net>
Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2007 20:54:06 -0400
Okay?hubby just opened a bottle of mead that?s been sitting approx 1 ½
years. The cork flew out of the bottle, and the foam continued to come out
of the bottle like a dog with rabies was stuck in the green bottle.
It tastes REALLY good, but what on earth did we do wrong?
Just wondering.
~Paula
------------------------------
Subject: Thanks, an observation, and a question...
From: Dana Acker <ackerforge@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2007 05:22:32 -0700 (PDT)
Greetings!
A hearty thanks to all who responded to my Honey-Sweetness--Brix
dilemma, both here on the Digest and by e-mail. Your willingness to help
is greatly appreciated. I think I'm getting the hang of it.
Since last time, I've started several test batches, both higher
gravity musts, done so in hopes of ending with a product having an amount of
residual sweetness. You see, I come from a part of the USA where babies are
given Mt. Dew in their bottles, and "Sweet Tea" is the ubiquitous beverage
of choice. Working in a commercial winery, it is practically obligatory
that one have sweet wines on hand for people to taste. One thing I have
to grit my teeth to do is to make a quite acceptable dry red or white
wine and then throw sugar in it to accomodate someone's sweet tooth.
Hence, my desire to make meads, cysers and pyments, with some residual
honey sweetness left from the fermentation process. It is a noble drink
that can be enhanced by some judicial residual sweetness, and hopefully
it will soon become part of our lineup.
That aside, I found that I had trouble getting a fermentation started
in one of my musts. It's starting gravity was 1.138. Also it was a 5 gal.
batch. I used a Red Star (Lesaffre Group) Co^te Des Blancs yeast--
10 grams--which I figured was plenty, given the batch size. I rehydrated
the yeast with a mix of Lallemand "Go-Ferm" (from Scott Labs) and a little
cane sugar for a kick start. After about 20 minutes there was significant
activity in the container, so I slowly blended in some of the must to
acclimate the yeast to the must temperature. After about 10-15 minutes
there was still activity, so I pitched the yeast--Must was below 80 degrees F.
Three days later there was no fermentation activity. I read that
sometimes high sugar musts can overpower yeasts. A sagely old winemaker
told me to take a cup or so of the must and cut it 50/50 with distilled
water. Then I rehydrated another 10 grams of the same yeast with my
Go-Ferm and sugar. When activity became evident, I pitched the yeast mix
to the 50/50 water-must mix in a 750 mL wine bottle with a stopper and
air lock. Fermentation commenced within an hour, and became vigorous
shortly thereafter. I pitched it to my inactive must 24 hours later
and fermentation activity was quite evident in a short while--same day.
When the gravity had gone down by about a third, I added 11 grams of
Lallemand "Fermaid-K" (from Scott Labs.) It is a good nitrogen source
for the yeast, and the activity took notice immediately. Rehydrate first
or you can get a foamy surprise! My experience made a believer out of
me when it comes to starters. Used the same 50/50 must-H2O-Go-Ferm mix
working in a bottle for a day and procedure for my second batch and again,
fermentation took off like a rocket when added to the yeasted must.
Now my question, what is a good way to stop a fermentation--something
I've never had to do before? Usually a stuck fermentation is something to
be avoided. My gravity/alcohol are nearing their limits. I cannot chill or
heat the must significantly enough to kill the yeast. Filtratrion at some
level can be done but not to sterile--my filtration equipment is designed
for large lots, not 5 gal. I know that Potassium Sorbate can be added to
sweet wines to prevent a spontanious fermentation in bottle--but will it
work on the front end when activity is present, and in what proportion?
High Sulfur Dioxide levels can inhibit a fermentation at times, but again,
will it work on the back end to stop a fermentation, and at what PPM?
Don't want my mead tasting like a burnt match. I'm open to any and all
suggestions.
Thanks,
Dana Acker
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #1311
*******************************
