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Mead Lovers Digest #1319
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1319, 5 May 2007
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #1319 5 May 2007
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1318, 28 April 2007 (Diane Dunn)
Re: Yeast selection and re: Maple Mead (Mail Box)
Is not honey supposed to be 15% moisture? (Eric Chumley)
Maple and Vanilla ("Spencer W. Thomas")
Re: Coconut Mead (MeadGuild@aol.com)
Re: A contact at a sugar bush (MeadGuild@aol.com)
Sugar Shock (MeadGuild@aol.com)
Mead Yeast and Esters (MeadGuild@aol.com)
Lalvin 71B-1122 (MeadGuild@aol.com)
Re: Maple Syrup Mead (Dick Dunn)
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Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1318, 28 April 2007
From: Diane Dunn <diane@talisman.com>
Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2007 20:01:36 -0600
On Sat, Apr 28, 2007 at 10:25:04PM -0600, mead-request@talisman.com wrote:
>
> Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest
> From: Alida Dunning <alida@alaska.net>
> Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2007 21:31:44 -0800
>
> Hi There
> Does anyone have any tips/recipes for making mead with mature coconut
> (meaning not green)?
> I've started one batch using mostly only the water with a little shredded
> meat, and some sprout material. I've heard warnings about the oil going
> rancid in recipes for beers and wines. This is why I used mostly the water,
> but I could not resist using some of the delicious fresh meat. I have not
> seen any mead recipes. I'm thinking of adding some grated meat or toasted
> meat soon to produce more of a coconut flavor. Any suggestions are welcome.
> Thanks.
>
You can purchase coconut extract (health food store) Flavorganics Extracts
Newark, NJ They make a variety of extracts. Without the oils.
- --
Diane Dunn, Ailurophile diane@talisman.com Boulder County, Colorado
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Yeast selection and re: Maple Mead
From: Mail Box <mail-box@comcast.net>
Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2007 09:16:36 -0400
Richard D. Adams wrote [snipped]
> BUT WHAT IF my ABV objective is say 10%, what yeast should I be
> using?
That's a tough question, since all wine yeast that I'm aware of can
ferment to a higher ABV than this. I'd suggest setting your OG at a
level which will give you a dry 10% mead (roughly an OG of 1.075), and
on first racking sorbate and sulfite. Age, and then sweeten to taste on
the next racking, sulfiting again.
Michael Zahl wrote [snipped]
> I started a 3 gallon batch with
> just 5 quarts of maple syrup, no honey.
> Anyway, the result was a beverage around 11% ABV and very dry!
> So, after reading a
> few bits here and there on the digest, I decided to add a gallon of
> wildflower honey I had, and made it into a 5 gallon batch
> Not really sure where the true final ABV ended up, because I did get a small
> amount of restarted fermentation. Any techies or fellow math whiz?s out
> there want to explain the calculus on that to me??!!??
I'll take a stab at it. It's algebra, not calculus. :)
11% ABV in 3 gallons is 6.6% ABV in 5 gallons.
12lbs of honey in 5 gallons usually gives me an OG of 1.090, and an ABV
when fermented dry of ~12%.
So, and this is a rough estimate, your mead should be about 18.6% ABV.
That's if fermented dry, but you mentioned:
> The result of that was a very lovely sweet maply wine!
without providing the FG. So you'll have to estimate the final ABV
yourself.
Cheers,
Ken Taborek
------------------------------
Subject: Is not honey supposed to be 15% moisture?
From: Eric Chumley <eric.chumley@wku.edu>
Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2007 08:40:41 -0500
If honey gets much above 18% water, it will ferment. Bees eliminate the
hive of humidity by "fanning" the humidity out of the hive by flapping
toward the entrance. Honey is hygroscopic, which is to say that it
readily absorbs moisture from the open air. This is the reason that
bees produce wax to encase the honey, as the moisture will not permeate
the wax cappings. Also, honey should be sealed in its container, so as
not to absorb humidity and ferment. If one has a 5-gallon bucket of
honey and uses a refractometer to measure the percentage of water in it,
one should be certain to take samples from the bottom of the bucket, as
well as the top, as the honey at the top will absorb moisture first.
The honey at the bottom of the bucket will be considerably "drier". Mix
it first, and then test it.
------------------------------
Subject: Maple and Vanilla
From: "Spencer W. Thomas" <hbd@spencerwthomas.com>
Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2007 10:59:52 -0400
I think that Michael Zahl hit the "problem" with maple mead/wine
squarely on the head with his posting: "... very dry! ... like you
were chewing on maple bark!" and "The result of [adding honey] was a
very lovely sweet maply wine!" That is, that maple syrup without the
sweetness just tastes woody. A maple mead/wine needs some sweetness or
it doesn't taste "right".
However, I can't let this outrageous statement from Trevor James pass
by: "Remember Vanilla is not truly a flavour, but more of a flavour
enhancer." I beg to differ. Vanilla is very much a flavor, when you
use real vanilla in sufficient quantity, at least. Yes, in small
amounts, it acts to enhance other flavors, but it can stand very well on
its own. Get yourself a "fresh" (still pliable) vanilla bean and smell
it. That is the flavor of vanilla. Heat up some milk, add a little
sugar, scrape out the inside of the vanilla bean, chop the remaining
bean into 1" pieces, and steep it for a couple of minutes. Taste it.
That is the flavor of vanilla.
=Spencer in Ann Arbor, MI, USA
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Coconut Mead
From: MeadGuild@aol.com
Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2007 14:35:42 EDT
Alida Dunning _alida@alaska.net_ (mailto:alida@alaska.net) asked:
> Does anyone have any tips/recipes for making mead with mature coconut
> (meaning not green)?
>I
> I've started one batch using mostly only the water with a little shredded
> meat, and some sprout material. I've heard warnings about the oil going
> rancid in recipes for beers and wines. This is why I used mostly the water,
> but I could not resist using some of the delicious fresh meat. I have not
> seen any mead recipes. I'm thinking of adding some grated meat or toasted
> meat soon to produce more of a coconut flavor. Any suggestions are welcome.
Two of the primary causes of rancidity are oxidation and heat. There
is so much going on during primary fermentation, I would suggest NOT
adding the coconut meat until you had 7-10% alcohol to protect the
coconut.
I had a fabulous Coconut Stout. It tasted like a Mounds candy bar,
but not as sweet. So coconut is cool; it's how you brew with it that
causes problems.
Dick
- --
Richard D. Adams, CPA (retired)
Moderator: misc.taxes.moderated
------------------------------
Subject: Re: A contact at a sugar bush
From: MeadGuild@aol.com
Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2007 14:58:56 EDT
"James, Trevor" _james@management.uottawa.ca_
(mailto:james@management.uottawa.ca) asked:
> On a similar note, does anyone have a contact at a sugar bush? I am
> wondering if I were to get the sap before they boil off the water
> (basically at my OSG) if it would have any different flavours. They
> boil off all the water to make it a syrup, and I go and add all my water
> back to it (sorta makes it redundant no?)
I get my syrup from the people listed below. Bernadette runs
the office and her son Danny harvests the crop. Very nice
people.
Northeast Maple Products
608 Elm St., P.O. Box 805
Derby Line, Vermont 05830
802-873-9132 (Office)
802-873-9017 (Fax)
Dick - a North Carolinian marooned in Maryland
- --
Richard D. Adams, CPA (retired)
Moderator: misc.taxes.moderated
------------------------------
Subject: Sugar Shock
From: MeadGuild@aol.com
Date: Tue, 1 May 2007 12:53:14 EDT
In the realm of the Mazer,
* What is sugar shock?
* What are ill effects of sugar shock on Mead?
* Is there anything positive about sugar shock?
Dick
- --
Richard D. Adams, CPA (retired)
Moderator: misc.taxes.moderated
------------------------------
Subject: Mead Yeast and Esters
From: MeadGuild@aol.com
Date: Thu, 3 May 2007 17:13:22 EDT
I recently prepared a beer yeast presentation for a BJCP Exam study group.
Doing so has caused me to start thinking about Mead yeasts in terms of
esters. My yeast selection for Meads has been limited to dry yeasts with
fermentation temperatures rated down to 10° C (50° F). So I'm wondering
what esters I may have been missing and how they enhance Meads.
In particular, I'd like a yeast that brings out the best in Orange Blossom
honey.
Are there detailed manufacturer profiles for Mead/Wine yeasts as there
are for Beer yeasts?
If so, where can I find them?
Dick
- --
Richard D. Adams, CPA (retired)
Moderator: misc.taxes.moderated
------------------------------
Subject: Lalvin 71B-1122
From: MeadGuild@aol.com
Date: Thu, 3 May 2007 17:19:40 EDT
>From Jack Keller at http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/strains.asp
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lalvin 71B-1122 (Narbonne) : This yeast metabolizes more of the malic acid
during fermentation than most other yeasts and should be considered for
wines which are high in malic. It is noted for producing "fruity" reds such
as
vin nouveau and works well with high-acid native North American grapes,
producing rounder, smoother, more aromatic wines that tend to mature
quickly. Because it is also known for making blush, rosé and semi-sweet wines
with a tropical fruit character, it promotes these styles with Cabernet
Franc,
Gewürtztraminer and Riesling. For obvious reasons, is often the yeast of
choice for a great many malic fruit and berries and for vegetable-grape
concentrate blended wines. Alcohol toxicity is predictable at 14% and its
temperature range is 60-85° F.
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Should I presume from the above that 71B-1122 brings out the flavors in both
fruits and honey made from fruit (Orange Blossom, Raspberry, etc.)?
Dick
- --
Richard D. Adams, CPA (retired)
Moderator: misc.taxes.moderated
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Maple Syrup Mead
From: Dick Dunn <rcd@talisman.com>
Date: Sat, 5 May 2007 14:09:27 -0600
I think re Michael Zahl's comments in last MLD, you probably want to take
it easy on the maple syrup. I've used one cup of grade B per gallon of
mead, and that was definitely enough. By comparison, the maple wine that
Michael mentioned was 5 qt for 3 gal or almost 7x what I used. He was
using just maple syrup; I'd say using part honey lets you get fermentable
sugar up without over-the-top character.
Yes, you can sweeten a maple mead...if you don't want to worry about re-
fermentation in bottle, just add a little bit of maple syrup when you
serve it.
However, I don't think even a bone-dry maple mead is a lost cause. Two
things about "presentation" make a lot of difference in a dry maple mead:
* Don't carbonate.
* Don't serve cold, just cool.
As a still mead at "cellar temperature" you get a little more of the
richness from the syrup and not as much of the "edgy" forward tastes.
- --
Dick Dunn rcd@talisman.com Hygiene, Colorado USA
If life hands you lemons, trade them for apples. Then make cider.
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #1319
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