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Mead Lovers Digest #1325
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1325, 12 June 2007
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #1325 12 June 2007
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1324, 7 June 2007 (Ben Waggoner)
Re: Sweeting mead with honey? ("Eric Wescott")
Re: Solidified honey (Vuarra)
re: A beer-like mead (Dave Drummer)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1324, 7 June 2007 (docmac9582@aol.com)
solidified honey & chemical additions to mead (Chuck)
Re: Solidified honey (MeadGuild@aol.com)
Re: Sweeting mead with honey? (MeadGuild@aol.com)
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1324, 7 June 2007
From: Ben Waggoner <heathen@cyberback.com>
Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2007 01:24:04 -0500
> I had been thinking of using specialty grains in exactly the same way,
> and in the same concentration, that you would in a beer. I'm hesitant
> to use hops at full strength though. Has anyone used specialty grain
> in their meads? How about hops? How did you use them? How did it turn
> out? What would you do differently?
I once made a batch of mead with spices (nutmeg, mace, and
clove) and crystal malt. The only reason I did this was so
I could call it "Crystal Metheglin" -- yes, I made a whole
five-gallon batch of mead solely for the sake of a pun! --
but it turned out pretty nice. I didn't use hops at all,
but the end result did remind me of a beer, though with very
caramelly overtones. Actually, it's been a long while since I
opened one; I'll refresh my memory of how it turned out and
get back to you. . .
- --
Ben
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Sweeting mead with honey?
From: "Eric Wescott" <eric.wescott@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2007 07:41:07 -0400
Dave Drummer asked about how to back-sweeten his dry mead.
Dave, I just did this for a big batch for a wedding, and it came out
great. I boiled some water, then mixed roughly equal parts water and
room-temp honey. This melted the honey nicely, and created a syrup,
if you will. This then got poured into the rest of the mead a stirred
a bit to ensure even distribution. Went in easy.
I happened to preserve my mead just before doing this, because I was
up against a deadline, and could not risk restarting fermentation.
With a dry-mead, that is a risk, because you cannot be sure that the
yeast is ABV attenuated yet. I used 1tsp sulfites, followed by 1tsp
sorbate for long-term stability.
- --EW
Stratford CT... but soon to be River Vale, NJ
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Solidified honey
From: Vuarra <vuarra@yahoo.ca>
Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2007 04:50:14 -0700 (PDT)
I get my honey in 50# pails, and there are times when it solidifies on
me, too. What I do is place the container in my kitchen sink, and add warm
(about 120* or so). I let this sit for about ½ hour or so, and then let
it remelt on its own. Works for me.
Vuarra
We don't use the word, "insane", we prefer the term "mentally hilarious".
------------------------------
Subject: re: A beer-like mead
From: Dave Drummer <beammeup@fast.net>
Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2007 09:38:59 -0400
Erroll Ozgencil" wrote:
. . .I've decided to make a
beer-like mead. I haven't finalized it yet, but a recipe is taking
shape in my mind: It will be beer-like, but not a braggot. So it will
be 100% honey with an OG of around 1.075. I think I'll use specialty
grains, like crystal malt. I don't think I want a bitter mead, though,
so if I use hops it'll be for flavor and/or aroma. I may boil for 10
minutes, especially if I decide to use hops for flavor. If I do boil,
I'll toss in some irish moss.
I had been thinking of using specialty grains in exactly the same way,
and in the same concentration, that you would in a beer. I'm hesitant
to use hops at full strength though. Has anyone used specialty grain
in their meads? How about hops? How did you use them? How did it turn
out? What would you do differently?
and what the heck does gypsum do?
Hi, Erroll -
Reading your posting jogged my memory - I made a mead with hops back
in 1989. I had been homebrewing for about a year, and had made one
previous mead (blueberry, from a recipe in Charlie Papazian's
homebrewing book). I decided to make a cyser, and for reasons that I
don't recall, it was hopped. This may have been a recipe saw
somewhere, or adaptation of one, but I don't remember. The recipe
for 5 gallons was:
10 lb. honey
2 gallons cider
3 sticks cinnamon
3 tsp acid blend
3 tsp yeast nutrient
hops: 10 g Fuggles + 18 g Cascade
1 tsp irish moss
My notes indicate that I boiled for 1 hour, and fermented with
"champagne yeast".
I remember that this tasted pretty awful when I sampled it, probably
a month or so after visible fermentation had ceased. I remembered
that the blueberry mead improved with age, so I just stuck the cyser
away in the basement and forgot about it (it was really nasty!). But
later, maybe a year or so, I was short on bottles to bottle a batch
of beer, and I remembered the cyser. Fortunately, I tasted the first
bottle I opened before just dumping it, because it was quite good.
And now that your posting has reminded me of this, I think I'll get
some ingredients together and make a batch! Since the hops were
boiled for an hour, they would have had mostly a bittering effect,
contributing little flavor or aroma. So maybe I'll make two batches,
and try some with later hops additions.
Gypsum is calcium sulfate, so it adds Ca and SO4 to the water. I've
read that it can help to produce clearer beer by coagulating unstable
malt protein and facilitating yeast sedimentation. I also saw a
claim that the SO4 improves the bittering effect of the hops. Years
ago, I read an article in a brewing magazine about the effect of
water on beer. I had my well water analyzed, and compared the ionic
content to water used to make some of the beers in the article that I
like.
As a result, I add 15 grams of gypsum to my hoppy beers (9 gallon
batch), which definitely seems to improve them. I also add a little
NaCl (10 g) to most of my beers, which enhances the maltiness
(sweetness) of the beer, which is my preference. I wouldn't add
gypsum to a mead, as I don't see that any of this applies, except
maybe the part about facilitating yeast sedimentation.
Dave Drummer
www.LehighWheelmen.org
beammeup@fast.net
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1324, 7 June 2007
From: docmac9582@aol.com
Date: Fri, 08 Jun 2007 10:31:58 -0400
Re: Solidified Honey
I use solidified honey from the 5 gal buckets all of the time.? I boil the
water using a stainless canning pot with 1/4 to 1/2 of a?metabisulfite
tablet (to boil off chlorine and neutralize any chloramines with the
bisulfite).? I take the pot off the stove and use a strong ice cream scoup
to?attack the solidifed honey - adding the solid honey and some yeast
nutrient into the hot but cooling water.? Experience tells me about how
much honey to add, but I make the solution more concentrated than I want and
dilute it with pre-boiled?water?to the specific gravity I desire ?after it
cools (with the lid on) because?the gravity readings are way off when it is
hot.? This technique is easy to use, should kill most wild yeast/bacteria
based on the time/temperature charts I have seen,?dissolves the honey, and
does not change the nature of the honey such as would happen with boiling.?
Carl McMillin
Brecksville, OH
------------------------------
Subject: solidified honey & chemical additions to mead
From: Chuck <wintermead@sbcglobal.net>
Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2007 08:20:55 -0700 (PDT)
In MLD 1324 Todd Miller
<todd.miller@borderlandnet.net> asked:
<snip> Last time I was there, I picked up a five-gallon bucket of wildflower
> honey. Trouble is, it tends to set up quickly and solidify. I have a
> *horrible* time getting it to liquify so I can use it for meadmaking.
> Can anybody share some helpful hints?
<snip>
Why do you need to liquify your honey to make mead? You should be
developing your recipes based on the weight of honey, not volume, and
solidified honey weighs the same as liquid.
IOW, scoop out your honey, say into one of those 7 gallon poly primary
fermenters, add some water and stir. the honey will dissolve very easily,
even in cold water. Of course warm water will dissolve it a little easier,
but isn't really necessary.
Also in in MLD 1324 Richard D. Adams, CPA (retired) <MeadGuild@aol.com> asked:
> Gypsum will make the water harder. Is there any effect of gypsum on Mead?
> Is there a minimum Ph level for Mead?
> I add nutrient and yeast. Acid blend can wait until fermentation has
> completed. Does anyone add any other chemicals to the fermenter?
Well Dick, I never tried gypsum in mead nor did I mess much with Ph. When
I first started making mead I mistakenly followed recipes that recommended
chemical additions, but later found that none were needed. DAn McFeeley
has done quite a bit of work on Ph levels in mead. Basically the mead will
take care of Ph control on it's own.
Here's what has worked, very well, for me.
Use a blend of honeys, some dark, some light. Personally I always added two
pounds of buckwheat to every batch. Dark honey adds the additional nutrient
needed for fermentation. If you've ever seen the explosive fermentation
of a 100% buckwheat fermentation you'll see what I mean.
Use hard water if available. In my area the service water contains 3-400
ppm carbonates. I'm pretty sure the yeast likes to munch on all those
minerals. Later this year when they remove the (supposed) radon problem
by making all city water R/O, I'll have to visit some of the parks where
they have wells with hand pumps installed.
I don't used any chemicals, with the exception of grape tannin, for clearing,
if required. Generally, if there's fruit or vegetables (like say, jalapeno
peppers or ginger) in the mead, extra tannin isn't needed.
Use two 5 gram packs of yeast per 5-gallon batch, rehydrated exactly
according to package directions.
Using the guidlines above usually results in a (no more than) two week
fermentation and two more weeks to clear.
Oh, and did I mention no heating? :):):)
Cheers,
Chuck Wettergreen CPA (non-practising)(also retired)
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Solidified honey
From: MeadGuild@aol.com
Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2007 14:30:36 EDT
Todd Miller wrote:
I'm hoping somebody can help me out. I have a source of honey at a good
price, but unfortunately it's fairly distant and I'm only in the area from
time to time. Last time I was there, I picked up a five-gallon bucket of
wildflower honey. Trouble is, it tends to set up quickly and solidify. I
have a *horrible* time getting it to liquefy so I can use it for meadmaking.
Can anybody share some helpful hints? For starters, I think I'm going to
start getting it in five one-gallon containers, which (hopefully) will make
it more manageable. Any thoughts would be enormously welcome!
Did you know it was solid when you purchased it or did it solidify
once you had it home. If it was the former, you should have gotten
an excellent price for it.
I had this problem one time. How I get lids with EZ-flow spouts and
keep them closed.
Honey should be 15% water. If you know how much honey is left in
the pail, add volume of boiling water equal to 15% of the remaining
honey and put the pail in an oven set at 120 F. Check it every 15
minutes.
Dick
- --
Richard D. Adams, CPA (retired)
Moderator: misc.taxes.moderated
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Sweeting mead with honey?
From: MeadGuild@aol.com
Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2007 18:00:08 EDT
Dave Drummer asked:
I have some mead that I fermented from 1.087 down to 0.996 using
Lalvin D-47. It has cleared nicely and tastes good, but I want to
try sweetening it slightly with honey. Any suggestions on the best way
to add the honey to insure that it dissolves completely?
Thank you for asking this question because I did know the
answer and I had to think about it.
The SG of honey is about 1.4+. So what we want to know is
how much honey is needed to raise 1 gallon of Mead .01 SG
points given the SG of the gallon of honey.
Final.SG = ((128 oz * 0.996) + (X oz * 1.4)) / (128 oz + X oz)
I wrote a 'quick & dirty' binary search program and got an answer
of 3.2488 oz will raise the SG of a gallon from 0.996 to 1.006.
For 5 gallons, that's 16.25 oz. of honey.
If you can compile DOS Basic, here is the code:
100 ' Mead Sweetening
' ----------------
CLS
WHILE FG = 0
INPUT "Enter FG of Mead"; FG
IF FG < .95 OR FG > 1.03 THEN FG = 0
WEND
WHILE Vm = 0
INPUT "Enter number of Galllons of Mead"; Vm
IF Vm < .5 OR Vm > 10 THEN Vm = 0
WEND
WHILE Target = 0
INPUT "Enter desired target FG"; Target
IF Target <= FG OR Target > 1.03 THEN Target = 0
WEND
Target = 1.006
Vm = Vm * 128
Hi = 3000
Lo = 0
Flag = 0
WHILE Flag = 0
Ave = (Hi + Lo) / 2
SG = ((Vm * FG + Ave * 1.4) / (Vm + Ave))
IF SG < Target THEN
Lo = Ave
ELSE
IF SG > Target THEN Hi = Ave ELSE Flag = 1
END IF
WEND
PRINT "Target FG ";
PRINT USING "#.####"; Target
PRINT "Computed FG ";
PRINT USING "#.####"; SG
PRINT
PRINT "Ounces of Honey ";
PRINT USING "#,###.#### "; Ave
PRINT "Pounds of Honey ";
PRINT USING " ##.#### "; (Ave / 16)
Dick
- --
Richard D. Adams, CPA (retired)
Moderator: misc.taxes.moderated
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #1325
*******************************
