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Mead Lovers Digest #1345
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1345, 6 October 2007
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #1345 6 October 2007
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Re: fermentation will not stop (MeadGuild@aol.com)
Peach and Mango Mead (docmac9582@aol.com)
milkweed honey (Michael Kiley)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1344, 30 September 2007 ("Dennis Key")
New England Regional Competition. (Michael Fairbrother)
Re: fermentation will not stop (Mail Box)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1343, 24 September 2007 ("Dennis Key")
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Subject: Re: fermentation will not stop
From: MeadGuild@aol.com
Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2007 16:17:39 EDT
"robert.white4" _robert.white4@insightbb.com_
(mailto:robert.white4@insightbb.com) wrote:
> Hey Mead Lovers,
> I have a problem with a batch of mead that will not stop fermenting. It
> was a very simple recipe; for 5 gallons I used 15lbs of buckwheat honey,
> water and 2 packets of Lalvin 71b. The OG was right at 1100. I started
> this batch back in January. The fermentation was slow but steady. Now
> the taste is awesome (just the right balance of sweetness) and it has the
> best clarity of any mead that I've made. I decide to stop the
> fermentation so I crushed 5 campden tablets with 2 1/2 teaspoons of
> potassium sorbate. I waited 2 weeks and the fermentation never slowed
> down.Then I racked it from one carboy to another to get it off of the
> remaining sediment and hit again with 5 crushed campden tablets along
> with 2 1/2 teaspoons of potassium sorbate. Now it has been another 2
> weeks and it is still bubbling away albeit a little slower now.
> Should I hit it again with a higher dose or should I try something
> else? I don't have the ability to crash cool it but I might be able to
> heat the entire batch but I'm not all "warm and fuzzy" about that idea.
> Any help would be well received.
71B-1222 has a stated ATL (alcohol toxicity level) of 14% and
a reported ATL of no higher than 14.5%. At what temperature
has this Mead been fermenting?
Since most of my meads cold ferment (59F - 68F; 15C - 20C),
they've been known to ferment for 28 to 35 days in the primary.
When they get racked to the secondary, they sit on wooden
pallets and continue to perk the airlock for a month or two.
The most efficient way to kill yeast is to pasteurize the Mead.
Reports I have read state 140F (60C) for 10 minutes. I have
not tried this but it was suggested to me by a commercial
Meadmaker. If and when I do this, I will heat to 149F (65C)
for 10 minutes.
Dick
- --
Richard D. Adams, CPA (retired)
Moderator: misc.taxes.moderated
------------------------------
Subject: Peach and Mango Mead
From: docmac9582@aol.com
Date: Mon, 01 Oct 2007 12:06:01 -0400
Peach and Mango Mead
I concur that peach is a "delicate" flavor and that perhaps less than one
mango might balance 10 peaches.? However, MUCH depends on the ripeness of
the peaches (and pears) and to some lesser extent other fruits.? I used
pounds and pounds of peaches and could hardly taste them.?The peaches
were firm and just not very flavorful.? I then added just a few more very
ripe and juicy peaches to my 5 gal batch and finally?achieved an excellent
"touch of peach" melomel.? Having just come back from a vacation in Fiji,
I think the peach and mango sounds terrific and might try it myself.
Carl McMillin, PhD
Brecksville, OH
------------------------------
Subject: milkweed honey
From: Michael Kiley <michael@beeherenow.com>
Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2007 12:48:45 -0400
I really like milkweed honey and all the asclepias relatives. In
addition to milkweed we get dogbane, a closely related flower, some
years, in some places in Maine. There are asclepias varieties in
Georgia but not enough where I am to make a surplus. Milkweed honey is
almost water white and has a very delicate flowery flavour. I have
only a couple of yards ( in Maine ) with milkweed resources large
enough to make a distinct varietal and I always blend it with other
wildflowers in the honey house. I have brought individual frames home
for the table, first out of curiosity and then because I liked it.
An odd think about milkweed is the pollen which comes in pairs of tiny
pods with an ephemeral, spider web like thread between them. Bees
working lots of milkweed will have these tangled on their legs like the
bolos gauchos use to hobble cattle on the pampas. There are evidently
native wasps that are specific pollinators and can deal with this.
For mead it might be too delicate but give it a try, I'd be interested
in the results.
Cheers,
Michael Kiley
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1344, 30 September 2007
From: "Dennis Key" <dione13@msn.com>
Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2007 13:27:03 -0600
Subject: fermentation will not stop
From: "robert.white4" =
<robert.white4@insightbb.com<mailto:robert.white4@insightbb.com>>
Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2007 18:58:12 -0500
Hey Mead Lovers,
I have a problem with a batch of mead that will not stop fermenting.
<SNIP>
Put it in a cool, dry, dark place and forget it exists for six months
to a year. When it really stops, add potassium sorbate and taste it for
desired sweetness. Add more honey at this point if it needs to be
sweeter for you. Enough sulfites to stop it probably will leave a
sulfurous flavor. Potassium sorbate will prevent an already-stopped
fermentation from restarting but it won't stop an active one. The only
other solution I can think of is Pasteurization. The logistics of that
for more than a gallon would be rather daunting. Next time, use a bit
less honey then K-sorbate and adjust sweetness as desired.
Wassail!
Dione Greywolfe
------------------------------
Subject: New England Regional Competition.
From: Michael Fairbrother <fairbrother@moonlightmeadery.com>
Date: Tue, 02 Oct 2007 07:55:26 -0400
We have an amazing set of sponsors this year for the second annual New
England Regional competition. With Sky River Mead sponsoring the mead
maker of the year award. The competition is taking place in Manchester
NH, on November 3rd. Please see http://www.bfd.org/NERHBC/ for details,
we need judges and entrants.
------------------------------
Subject: Re: fermentation will not stop
From: Mail Box <mail-box@comcast.net>
Date: Tue, 02 Oct 2007 08:58:29 -0400
> From: "robert.white4" <robert.white4@insightbb.com>
> Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2007 18:58:12 -0500
>
> Hey Mead Lovers,
>
> I have a problem with a batch of mead that will not stop fermenting. It
> was a very simple recipe; for 5 gallons I used 15lbs of buckwheat honey,
> water and 2 packets of Lalvin 71b. The OG was right at 1100. I started
> this batch back in January. The fermentation was slow but steady. Now
> the taste is awsome (just the right balance of sweetness) and it has the
> best clarity of any mead that I've made. I decide to stop the
> fermentation so I crushed 5 campden tablets with 2 1/2 teaspoons of
> potassium sorbate. I waited 2 weeks and the fermentation never slowed
> down.Then I racked it from one carboy to another to get it off of the
> remaining sediment and hit again with 5 crushed campden tablets along
> with 2 1/2 teaspoons of potassium sorbate. Now it has been another 2
> weeks and it is still bubbling away albeit a little slower now.
> Should I hit it again with a higher dose or should I try something
> else? I don't have the abillity to crash cool it but I might be able to
> heat the entire batch but I'm not all "warm and fuzzy" about that idea.
> Any help would be well received.
>
> Thanks,
> Rob W.
Rob,
Sulfite and sorbate are not meant to be used to try to stop a
fermentation. This is why your mead has not stopped fermenting. :)
If you absolutely can not cool the batch (I've got at least three
vendors who sell frozen CO2 pellets within 20 miles of my home) then you
should resign yourself to waiting it out and working with it after it
has finished. And in the future, try to decide what level of alcohol
content you would like the mead to have, then craft a must which will
result in that level and back sweeten after if has fermented dry and you
have racked and added your sulfite/sorbate.
I'm curious as to why your mead fermented so very slowly. To start in
January and still be going in October is remarkably slow and suggests
other issues. An OG of 1.100 (I'll assume that what you mean by "1100")
is not extraordinarily high, and should have fermented either dry or to
the tolerance of the yeast within a month, maybe 6 weeks at the outside.
Do you provide the must with adequate nutrients and oxygen?
Cheers,
Ken Taborek
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1343, 24 September 2007
From: "Dennis Key" <dione13@msn.com>
Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2007 11:30:24 -0600
<SNIP>
From: German Ponce <germanbotha@hotmail.com<mailto:germanbotha@hotmail.com>>
Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2007 07:40:04 -0700
hi;
I?m a chilean student looking for some information I could not find and
probably you can help.
It was impossible for me to now what its the consumer profile of mead
in the US, that its some important information I have to now about for my
final work.
any other information about comercial stuff in the US i?ll be glad if you
let me now.
sincerely thanks
German Ponce P. Santiago, Chile.
Search on http://www.beesbrothers.com/<http://www.beesbrothers.com/>
and http://www.falconmead.com/<http://www.falconmead.com/> to read about
and contact two meaderies in New Mexico. Also
http://www.gotmead.com/<http://www.gotmead.com/> has a lot of
information and links to other sites. Good luck on your research.
Dennis
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #1345
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