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Mead Lovers Digest #1355
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1355, 9 December 2007
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #1355 9 December 2007
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Gueuze??? (David Houseman)
Re: Cherry Juicy Juice (Mail Box)
Re: Braggot (Mail Box)
Re: Braggot (Mail Box)
Looking for advice. ("Launce Haught")
Re: Braggot (meadguild@aol.com)
2008 Upper Mississippi Mash-Out ("Crist, Jonathan")
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Subject: Gueuze???
From: David Houseman <david.houseman@verizon.net>
Date: Wed, 05 Dec 2007 08:26:41 -0600 (CST)
"A Gueuze is a blend of mead and ale/beer."
Huh? Gueuze is a member of the lambic family, a blend of young and aged
lambics, highly carbonated (as opposed to the nearly flat straight lambic).
Traditional Gueuze doesn't have honey at all And it's a member of a
different forum (beer). Unless of course the term was co-opted for mead
as well?
Dave Houseman
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Cherry Juicy Juice
From: Mail Box <mail-box@comcast.net>
Date: Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:02:43 -0500
> Subject: Re: Cherry Juicy Juice
> From: Dick Dunn <rcd@talisman.com>
> Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2007 19:59:07 -0700
[snipped]
> Ummm...errr...would a mead using "Cherry Juicy Juice" be a cyser then?
Maybe a cyser perry pyment melomel? :-)
> Overall it's not terrible I suppose, but purists might think twice about
> using it. Pure tart cherry juice is available if the target is straight-
> ahead cherry character--without the substantial mess of fruit, and without
> artifice of additives.
It's true that blended juices are poor choices for a <fruit> melomel
style mead, where <fruit> may be replaced by whatever you're trying to
represent. But that doesn't make using blended juices a bad thing.
I've made a few batches using various juice blends, and I find that the
variety of juices creates a complexity which is occasionally lacking
from a strict fruit melomel. One in particular I used when trying to
convince my father-in-law that mead making was an easy hobby. The man
makes about 250 gallons of wine each year with his cronies, but
invariably runs out of his 30+ gallon share before the next season comes
around. So on one of his visits I purchased 3 pineapples and 8 2qt
containers of Santa Cruz Organic Tropical Medley. The medley consisted
of : filtered water ("sufficient to reconstitute"), organic white grape,
apple, orange and pineapple juice concentrates, organic mango puree,
organic orange flavor, and natural flavor. Making this mead was so
easy, all I did was cut up the pineapples which had been ripening in the
kitchen window and smelled wonderful, poured in the juice, took a
gravity reading, and added about 7 lbs of honey to reach my OG target.
Sadly, my f-i-l decided to stick to wine making even after this
demonstration of mead making simplicity (and he makes his wine once per
season from whole grapes). But the mead turned out to be quite
excellent, and that led me to use such fruit blends in later batches.
Even though the juice blend was a milky color, the mead finished a
lovely golden straw, and was quite a hit amongst my friends and even the
spouse (who normally passes on my meads) liked it, saying that it
reminded her of a pineapple chardonnay.
If you're truly looking for a cherry mead, however, I'd second Dick's
suggestion of a tart cherry juice. I've found several different brands
which offer this in concentrate, and it makes for a very easy and tasty
cherry melomel.
Cheers,
Ken
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Braggot
From: Mail Box <mail-box@comcast.net>
Date: Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:04:24 -0500
> Subject: Re: Braggot
> From: Michael Faul <mfaul@rabbitsfootmeadery.com>
> Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2007 07:18:51 -0800
[snipped]
> A Gueuze is a blend of mead and ale/beer.
A gueuze is a blend of old and young lambics. No honey or mead at all.
Cheers,
Ken
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Braggot
From: Mail Box <mail-box@comcast.net>
Date: Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:06:45 -0500
> Subject: Re: Braggot
> From: mellymel_hsv <mellymel_hsv@yahoo.com>
> Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2007 07:14:28 -0800 (PST)
>
[snipped]
> Well, we're brewers that are trying to dabble in meads and of course
> our first attempt was a braggot.
> We had a 5 gallon bucket of orange blossom honey to work with. We chose a
> Belgian trippel and a barleywine as our base ales. We brewed half batches
> of each, then topped up with the honey at flame out, using gravity readings
> and a target OG as a guideline. I want to say something along the lines
> of 15-17 lbs. of honey went into each 5 gallon batch. Much more than we
> were expecting.
Wow, much more than I would expect, also. 15lbs in a total of 5 gallons
gives about 1.100. If 2.5 gallons of that was a 1.080 Trippel, your OG
would be 1.140, and that would be very difficult to ferment. I assume
you took gravity reading since you mention using gravity readings to get
to your target OGs. What were your OG measurements?
> I noticed someone else had a somewhat opposite experience, where the ale
> dominated the flavor. Of the commercial braggots I've had (just two),
> there was one that was distinctly mead-like and one that was a barleywine
> style that was much more ale-like.
One of the best commercial braggots I've had was Brother Adams from
Atlantic Brewing on Bar Harbor isle. Given that I was not around when
braggots were a more mainstream beverage (I missed by a few years ;)),
this is personal opinion only. But it's very nice, being of barley wine
strength while not coming across as insipid, and representing both the
honey and barley well.
Cheers,
Ken
------------------------------
Subject: Looking for advice.
From: "Launce Haught" <launcelot@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2007 11:47:25 -0800
Hey Folks,
I have recently had some fair success with my first batch of mead (call me a
bit eccentric, but I went raw, mixed a must, added yeast, threw in a handful
of raisins, some black tea, and some spices, 30 days primary, 12 months in a
carboy tucked in the back of a closet) It came out rather lovely, but more
sweet than I was expecting.
Round 2 is a batch of coffee mead. I had heard of it from a friend and it
sounded interesting, so mixed up a must of 1.10 SG, which was a heavy
pre-batch of 2parts water, 1 part honey, introduced 3gal of coffee to the
mixture to hit my target SG.
So far so good, it is happily perking away in the primary, getting ready to
go to secondary this weekend.
My ultimate goal is to bottle about have of it straight, and for the other
half to fortify it a bit, and produce a cream blend (think Irish cream,...
or possibly a VERY alcoholic Latt'e)
So far, I have no clue how to add the cream portion, anyone have pointers or
recomendations?
Thanks a bunch.
- --Launce
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Braggot
From: meadguild@aol.com
Date: Thu, 06 Dec 2007 05:47:17 -0500
Michael Faul <mfaul@rabbitsfootmeadery.com> wrote:
?> Steve Jones asked about blending and Mead with an ale to make a Braggot,
>> cited the BJCP guidelines, and surmised that "it is wide open for
>> interpretation."
>>
>> My response is that he is correct. As long as the 50.01% of the
>> fermentables came from honey and a substantial portion came from malt,
>> you have a Braggot.
> I think the BJCP may be wrong. Well IMHO anyway.
? A Braggot is a mead fermented with honey and malt. The international
> mead association says it has to contain at least 20% honey.
>
> A Gueuze is a blend of mead and ale/beer.
This sounds like several organizations recognizing different heavyweight
champions.
Is there a basis for these differences in definitions?
Dick
------------------------------
Subject: 2008 Upper Mississippi Mash-Out
From: "Crist, Jonathan" <Jonathan.Crist@bsci.com>
Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2007 13:18:38 -0600
Mead makers get their own best-of-show wooden chalice at the 2008 Upper
Mississippi Mash-Out, January 25-26 in St Paul, Minnesota. Sponsored by
the St. Paul Homebrewers Club and the Minnesota Home Brewers Assn., this
is one of the largest contests in the country and offers prizes along
with medals for every award. There is also a separate BOS chalice for
cider makers. Check out the infamous "Eis-Anything" category, and NEW
this year there are two categories for first time entrants (1060+ OG and
1060- OG). Entries are accepted January 1-12. All the details can be
found at: http://www.mnbrewers.com/mashout
Jonathan Crist
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #1355
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