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Mead Lovers Digest #1357
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1357, 22 December 2007
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #1357 22 December 2007
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Re: question (Marc Shapiro)
re: Braggot (Mail Box)
gueuze and braggot (Dick Dunn)
Mead Made with Lager Slurry (chris herrington)
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Re: question
From: Marc Shapiro <mshapiro_42@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2007 23:31:18 -0800
"Bob & Kathy" <bobkat@wtechlink.net> wrote:
> I made my first mead a couple weeks ago. For the first week I saw only
> minimal signs of fermentation.
> the room temp. being 68 to 70 degrees so I moved the fermentor to a
> warmer room 72 to 76 degrees and now it has active fermentation of a
> bubble per second or so is this normal for mead as this is now where
> near the activity of beer fermentation ?
>
While mead can certainly ferment faster than that you have to remember
that it is NOT beer. Beer does all of its fermentation in about a
week. Your mead will probably be fermenting for at least a month and
possibly two months. As long as you have steady fermentation, I would
not worry. Unless it stops fermenting complete, or nearly so, and the
SG is still noticeably higher than you want, I would not worry about the
rate of fermentation.
- --
Marc Shapiro
mshapiro_42@yahoo.com
------------------------------
Subject: re: Braggot
From: Mail Box <mail-box@comcast.net>
Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2007 14:21:30 -0500
> Subject: re: Braggot
> From: Michael Faul <mfaul@rabbitsfootmeadery.com>
> Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2007 07:18:39 -0800
>
> Ken
>
> Yes, I agree but... as it relates to mead/braggot, I'd have to say that
> it is better defined as a 'gueuze' than a braggot. Blended mead/ale that is.
>
> As a commercial example you can look at Hannsens as an example.
>
> Just my opinion.
>
> Mike
>
>> 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
Mike,
It's not really a matter of opinion. Commercial concerns may label a
thing as something other than what it is, but that does not change the
facts.
Hannsen's states:
===
Hannsen's Mead the Gueuze
30 % Mead made from fermented honey and 70 % three year old Gueze are
blended, matured in the bottle for about 4 months. Belgium meets the
British in a bottle.
===
This is not a gueuze. Even if Hannsen's claims it is a gueuze, and it
doesn't look that way to me, it is not a gueuze. Opinion has no place
in factual qualifications, and gueuze are defined fairly rigorously on
the BJCP and other style guides. I have never seen a definition of a
gueuze which included honey or mead as a portion of it's makeup.
Cheers,
Ken Taborek
------------------------------
Subject: gueuze and braggot
From: Dick Dunn <rcd@talisman.com>
Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2007 00:49:24 -0700
The Hannsen's is a failed attempt at a pun, using "mead" also to sound like
"meet" as in "their mead meets up with gueuze." (refers to "Belgium meets
the British") Gueuze is, and will remain safely, a blend of lambics . . .
and it is quite curious enough on its own without any honey in the process!
(As to the pun, tell me NObody here ever went to a mead-tasting in the
evening, saying "I've got a meading this evening; I'll be home late" with
making meading sound like meeting?)
_ _ _ _ _
Braggot is quite a different matter, and Dick A's question of differing
definitions is very much to the point. Even the name (which can also
appear as bragget, bragot, bracket, and others I forget) varies.
Is it a honeyed-beer or a malt/honey fermented combination? hopped? The
variations in definition are not so vexing if you consider its origin(s):
When various forces pushed mead out of the way for beer (blame Henry VIII
at the least:), there was a transitional period with various combinations.
Being dogmatic about the definition is as silly as being dogmatic about
the definition of chili (does it have onions? tomatoes? etc), let alone
the spelling. But this does create problems for competitions which like
to have clear boundaries before the judging starts.
- --
Dick Dunn rcd@talisman.com Hygiene, Colorado USA
------------------------------
Subject: Mead Made with Lager Slurry
From: chris herrington <asby0@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2007 12:39:38 -0800 (PST)
This is a first for me but I want to see how a lager yeast will work on
a single floral honey. I have a gallon of orange blossom from florida. I
primarily brew all grain beer and I just finished fermenting a doppelbock
with a lager yeast strain (WLP-833). The bock finished well and in a
reasonable amount of time so the yeast slurry is most likely healthy. Twelve
(12) pounds of honey should give me about 6 gallons in the ball park of
1.060 gravity. I want the gravity 60 to 65. I plan to utilize a portion
of the honey to heat up and steep a specialty grain such as carafoam to
add head forming proteins. I'm trying to decide if I should add a little
bittering hop. I've made lots of strong meads at 16 to 18% and want something
I can really drink with less punishment. I'm hoping the cold ferment with
a lager yeast will give a clean floral flavor ready in a fraction of the
time of a big mead. Has anyone tried this and how did it work out?
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #1357
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