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Mead Lovers Digest #1304
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1304, 10 February 2007
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #1304 10 February 2007
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
more Mash Out notes (winners) (Dick Dunn)
Re: High alcohol/low temperature fermentation (Dick Adams)
High ABV Meads (Dick Adams)
Honey colors? (Michael Fairbrother)
9th Annual UKG Drunk Monk Challenge (jkleczewski@mindspring.com)
Honey Question... (Dana Acker)
NOTE: Digest appears when there is enough material to send one.
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Subject: more Mash Out notes (winners)
From: Dick Dunn <rcd@talisman.com>
Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2007 14:40:44 -0700
Paul posted info on the results of the 2007 Upper Mississippi Mash Out
on both the Cider and Mead Lover's Digests.
But Paul, you let us down...When the contest was announced, you promised
parity with brewers for mead and cider makers! But the post-show posting
only listed the BoS beer winner
(OK, maybe Paul has a reason, like modesty?:-)
Anyway, note that the three Best of Show were given essentially equal
footing and recognition. The two that Paul didn't mention:
The Best of Show - Mead was "Mesquite Agave Chipotle Mead" by Paul Dienhart.
The Best of Show - Cider was "English Cider" by Gary Awdey.
- --
Dick Dunn rcd@talisman.com Hygiene, Colorado USA
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Subject: Re: High alcohol/low temperature fermentation
From: rdadams@smart.net (Dick Adams)
Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2007 20:32:07 -0500 (EST)
Dick Adams wrote:
>> "Alcohol toxicity is inversely related to heat which means if
>> you want to increase the alcohol toxicity threshold, you should
>> decrease the temperature of the must."
"Bill Pierce" <BillPierce@aol.com> justifiably asked:
> Dick, I certainly don't mean to be a pest, but this is
> something I have not encountered in my readings and study.
> For the sake of science and my ignorance, could you give a
> source for your statement?
You can start with:
http://www.distillery-yeast.com/yeastkillingtemp.htm
There was a thread on killing yeast on rec.crafts.meadmaking
within the last six months.
Dick
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Subject: High ABV Meads
From: rdadams@smart.net (Dick Adams)
Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2007 21:13:25 -0500 (EST)
There is another problem with high ABV Meads. They will have
a strong fusel taste and will need to be aged for an extended
period of time.
My concern with making a high ABV Mead is that it may be two
years before the fusel taste dissipates and you have an idea
of how the Mead tastes and how much of the honey flavor and
bouquet remains.
I would appreciate learning what others have done with high
ABV Meads after the fusel taste has aged out. Given some
Melomels are acidic and need aging, would this be a good time
to blend a Sake Mead with a Melomel or to add herbs/spices to
produce a Metheglin or just add more honey to strenghten the
bouquet?
Dick
------------------------------
Subject: Honey colors?
From: Michael Fairbrother <fairbrother@moonlightmeadery.com>
Date: Mon, 05 Feb 2007 15:05:28 -0500
Greetings!
I am wondering if anyone might have any reference images to the
different color designations of honey (Water White, Extra White, White,
Extra Light Amber, Light Amber, Amber, and Dark)? I am working on an
article on a varietal honey mead experiment that I am conducting.
Didn't think to take photos of the first batches of honey in the
experiment.
Michael
------------------------------
Subject: 9th Annual UKG Drunk Monk Challenge
From: jkleczewski@mindspring.com
Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2007 08:56:57 -0600 (GMT-06:00)
9th Annual UKG Drunk Monk Challenge
The Urban Knaves of Grain announce that the Drunk Monk Challenge 2007
will soon be upon us! The competition is sanctioned by the American
Homebrewers Association, and is a qualifying event for MCAB and the
Midwest Homebrewer of the Year circuit.
The competition is scheduled for March 09 and 10, 2007, to be held at
Walter Payton's Roundhouse in Aurora, IL. As in previous years, the DMC
features the Menace of the Monastery, a special category consisting of
styles which are monastic in origin: Belgian Blonde, Dubbel, Tripel,
Pale, Strong Golden and Strong Dark Ales, as well as German Doppelbock.
Of special note is that the winners of the Beer BOS and MOM will have the
opportunity to assist in the scaling up and brewing of their award-winning
recipe at Walter Payton's Roundhouse, of Aurora, IL, and Govnor's Public
House, of Lake In The Hills, IL. Please see rules for details.
Drunk Monk Challenge online entries are $7 for the first entry, and $5 each
additional entry; paper entries are $7 each. Menace of the Monastery entries
are $5 each, ONLINE ONLY!
Entries will be accepted between February 19 and March 3. There are several
drop off locations in the Chicagoland area.
Full details, rules, entry forms, etc. can be found at the UKG website:
http://www.knaves.org/DMC/index.htm
Good luck and thanks!
Na Zdrowie,
John Kleczewski
2007 DMC organizer
------------------------------
Subject: Honey Question...
From: Dana Acker <ackerforge@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2007 08:09:03 -0800 (PST)
Greetings! If anyone can help me with a problem I seem to be facing,
I'd be in your debt. Please bear with me for a second as I set this up.
My question of the moment is about honey as opposed to mead.
While formulating mead recipies at our winery, I began to experiment
with sweetening one of our dry wines with honey. Normally we sweeten this
wine to about 1% residual sweetness with cane sugar. In my sweetening trials,
if I take one gram of cane sugar and add it to 100 mL of wine, then I've
sweetened the wine to 1% residual sweetness. Also I have formulas for
sugar additions in pounds per thousand gallons to raise the sweetness by
one degree Brix or it's equivalent percentage. Got that down.
Here's the dilemma I presently face, and hence, my question. Does
anyone know of a formula for how much honey to add to a liquid, lets say
wine, to achieve sweetness levels that would equate to both degrees Brix
and also by percent residual sugar? If I want to take a certain volume
of wine to X% residual sweetness how much honey do I need to add without
having to resort to time consuming trial and error tests?
I realize that all honey is different, and not all honeys contain the
same levels of sugar, which certainly adds to the complication factor.
I also understand that sweetness in honey is often measured in moisture
content as opposed to Brix, though I do neither know how to determine
the said moisture content nor what it means if I could. One of my wine
text books said that honey generally came in at an equivalence of 60-70++
degrees Brix. We do not have the lab facilities to do precise or definitive
analytical sugar assessments and do not have a refractometer that will
work for honey--can anyone recommend a good one, or is one necessary?
We can come close by trial and error, but anything more specific and
precise that anyone could offer would be a big help. At this point I'll
be happy with something that would at least get me in the ball park.
Equations, extrapolations or even rules of thumb are welcome.
Thanks a million,
Dana Acker
North Carolina
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End of Mead Lover's Digest #1304
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