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Mead Lovers Digest #1347
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Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1347, 18 October 2007
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #1347 18 October 2007
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Mead-only competitions ("OCurrans")
Re: Pumpkin mead (Rebecca Sobol)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1346, 14 October 2007 ("Sandi Gaertner")
Re:Pumpkin Spice mead (Was: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1345, 6 October (Mail...)
Sweet Meads Clear Slower (Jeff Tollefson)
pumpkins, canne'd or fresh. (Robert Lewis)
Wee Heavy Scotch Ale Braggot (MeadGuild@aol.com)
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Subject: Mead-only competitions
From: "OCurrans" <OCurrans@cfl.rr.com>
Date: Sun, 14 Oct 2007 18:19:55 -0400
Dan Geer asked:
"If someone has in their head the top five or so mead competitions,
and I mean top five in prestige and competitiveness, would you be so kind as
to tell us (me) what they are."
Mead-only competitions are few and far between and all of us should support
them. There are only 6 mead-only competitions in North America. They are:
Meadllennium - This is the longest-running mead-only competition around, and
the second largest. It is held annually near the end of January, in Orlando,
FL. (The next Meadllennium will be 26 January 2008.) They usually award more
medals than any of the other contests. In the last three or four years, they
have not collapsed any categories, and even expanded the "Other Fruit
Melomel" category to award medals for "Dry", "Semi-Sweet" and "Sweet". In
2007 they added a category for "Historical Mead", for the meadmaker that
prefers to use ancient recipes and methods. (It's back for 2008.) They are a
BJCP/AHA sanctioned event. www.cfhb.org/mead
May Mead Madness - Hosted each May by Alcohol Through Fermentation (ATF), in
New Bern, NC. The mead competition and Bar-B-Q have been an annual event
since 2000. They are a BJCP/AHA sanctioned event. The judging was held on
Saturday, May 19th, 2007. Entry requires only two bottles.
http://www.homebrewhaus.biz/html/may_mead_madness.html
Goblets of Gold - This is a new Mead-Only competition. It is in Homer, AK
and is being hosted by the Q & Q Brewers Guild and the Ring of Fire Meadery.
Competition date was 11 May 2007, and it is a BJCP/AHA sanctioned event.
Entries are only $5.00.
Email brewkahuna@hotmail.com or Laurence Livingston at
ringoffiremeadery@alaska.net for more information.
Valhalla, The Meading of Life - Their first competition was in October 2005
and 14 October 2007 will be their third contest. They award prizes as well
as ribbons to the winners. And only one bottle of your precious mead is
needed. They are a BJCP/AHA sanctioned event.
http://www.valhalla-mead.com/index.cfm
AZ Mead Cup - Held annually, since 2003, in Buckeye, AZ. The date for the
2007 Arizona Mead Cup was Saturday, July 28th.
Even though they have not registered this event with the BJCP/AHA, they are
an AHA club. Many BJCP judges help and they strictly follow the BJCP/AHA
Guidelines during the competition. http://www.brewarizona.org/
IMF Home Mead Maker Competition - an event hosted by the International Mead
Association, held in conjunction with The International Mead Festival. 2006
was the first year they had a competition for amateurs, and it was the
largest Mead-Only contest of the year. The 2007 contest was even bigger. I
understand they will have a website just for this competition soon. They are
a BJCP/AHA sanctioned event, held on the week-end closest to Valentine's
Day.
These are the only MEAD-ONLY contests I am aware of.
Howard Curran
May your house always be too small,
To hold all your friends!
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Pumpkin mead
From: Rebecca Sobol <ris@g4coop.com>
Date: Sun, 14 Oct 2007 16:32:30 -0600
Here at Unicorn Unchained we have made two pumpkin meads. The notes
are at http://www.unicornunchained.com/mead/jb.html and
http://www.unicornunchained.com/mead/jol.html
Both used fresh pumpkin. I suspect that canned will not work as well.
- --
Rebecca Sobol Boulder, CO
http://UnicornUnchained.com/mead
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1346, 14 October 2007
From: "Sandi Gaertner" <sbgaertner@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 14 Oct 2007 20:12:26 -0700
I have recently made a batch of pumpkin mead with canned pumpkin....this is
the recipe I used:
5 gal
Wildflower honey to 1 Gallon
10 oz. 100% pure Maple Syrup (B Grade)
6.5 tsp cinnamon
2.5 tsp yeast nutrient
tiny dash ground clove (probably total to 1 clove)
1 tsp DAP
White Labs Sweet Mead Yeast
3 cans organic pumpkin puree (Trader Joe's)
My SG was 1.08 so I added 3 1/2 lbs more honey to bring this up a bit the
next day.
I did not boil my honey.... I added everything to a 5 gal primary bucket and
stirred it like crazy. Fermentation started a few hours later. In hindsight,
I would have added a lot more honey and changed the yeast. The yeast worked
well for me but I have had mixed results with that yeast. I also did not
stir it much after 2 days....I think with the canned pumpkin it needs a lot
more stirring/mixing to get the pumpkin flavor into the mead because the
canned pumpkin sits on the bottom. This fermented like crazy and finished
very, very dry. I am bulk aging it now (started it the end of July). I will
have to backsweeten this mead when I am ready to bottle it. When I racked it
the middle of August, I did not taste much pumpkin....it was a little more
potent and had a strong alcohol taste....aging should mellow this though. I
think if you use real pumpkin, bake it with brown sugar or something and
then put it in a mesh bag you will get more pumpkin flavor (instead of the
pumpkin sludge sitting on the bottom).
Sorry to ramble on. Good luck
Sandi
------------------------------
Subject: Re:Pumpkin Spice mead (Was: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1345, 6 October
From: Mail Box <mail-box@comcast.net>
Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2007 08:32:04 -0400
> Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1345, 6 October 2007
> From: AFDoty@aol.com
> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 18:23:43 EDT
>
> Hello out there,
>
> Being the season, I'm thinking of getting a 6 gal batch of Pumpkin Spice
> mead going for next year. Does anyone have a recipe? I'm debating using
> canned pumpkin vs whole pumpkin. Maybe 24 oz canned
> pumpkin.................Help.
AFDoty,
The pumpkin source is fairly much irrelevant. Some folks use fresh
pumpkin and put it straight into the must, some bake fresh pumpkin and
then add it to the mash, some use canned pumpkin. The flavor profile
comes from the spices you use, not so much from the pumpkin. So, use
whatever pumpkin source which is convenient for you (but remember that
if you use fresh pumpkin you get roasted pumpkin seeds as a bonus!:),
and add spices in accordance to your favorite pumpkin pie recipe. If
you've made methyglyn before, the spice quantities you like may be
familiar to you. If not, I'd recommend that your spice blend (for
example: cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, clove) not exceed 3 tbsp total.
But remember that it's fairly trivial to add more spice, but not so
trivial to try to blend too much spice down to a reasonable level. So
aim low and work up to your preferred spice level. I'd also recommend
that the mead be at least semi-sweet.
Cheers,
Ken Taborek
Protip: When you have a new post to make or a response to a post,
replace the "Re: Mead Lover's Digest #XXXX" with Re: Your subject (for a
new post) or Re: the OPs subject (for a reply). It aids clarity greatly.
------------------------------
Subject: Sweet Meads Clear Slower
From: Jeff Tollefson <jtollefson245@hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2007 11:40:52 -0700
My dry meads clear very quickly, usually crystal clear within a month,
but my sweet meads often take 2-3 months to clear. I suspect it's because
of the difference of why the yeast conk out (lack of sugar vs alcohol
tolerence). Chilling doesn't always work. Maybe the yeast are still working
in some small degree? Hydrometer readings don't change.
Has anyone else noticed this? Why is this? What methods do you guys use?
What are the best clarifiers for this?
------------------------------
Subject: pumpkins, canne'd or fresh.
From: Robert Lewis <mazerrob@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2007 19:52:12 -0700 (PDT)
I did a pumpkin beer once, also a pumpkin bread,
something about the nutmeg, wheat, hops, pumpkin,
just all mixes so well.
in my experiences, and based upon what i have been
told. canned pumpkin is far superior. You might want
to check for added sugar, or preservatives, etc.
99 % of the pumpkins crown are meant for display.
certainly, they are also edible. (nothing quite like
a nice gourde), but they are not grown to target the
epicurial consumer. They are meant to be cosmetic.
i don't know of anyone, (cep't dumb ol me) who ever
attempted a pumpkin soup, pie, bread, or cookie,,
starting with a big old display pumpkin.
but if your dumd like me, you'll try, an then inflict
a taste test on your friends. (just kidding)
Being the season, I'm thinking of getting a 6 gal
batch of Pumpkin
Spice
mead going for next year. Does anyone have a recipe?
I'm debating
using
canned pumpkin vs whole pumpkin. Maybe 24 oz canned
pumpkin.................Help.
------------------------------
Subject: Wee Heavy Scotch Ale Braggot
From: MeadGuild@aol.com
Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2007 18:03:14 EDT
I would like to start a Wee Heavy Scotch Ale Braggot without having to boil.
I have used YC-Tech Bittering Hops Extract successfully on two IPA Braggots
ala Coopers IPA no-boil kits plus 2 lbs of light DME. Since alpha-acids do
not need to be extracted, my preference is not to boil either LME or DME.
Plus
I never boil honey.
My recipe so far is 5 lbs of dark LME and 8 lbs of Clover. Peat-smoked malt,
crystal malt, and chocolate malt will be needed and will obviously need to be
mashed and boiled, but how much of each I have yet to confirm.
Ideas and recipes will be appreciated.
Dick
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #1347
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