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Mead Lovers Digest #1361
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1361, 15 January 2008
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #1361 15 January 2008
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
competition medals (Dick Dunn)
Re: storage (Dick Dunn)
some numbers (dan@geer.org)
RE: MeadFest postponed? ("Vicky Rowe")
Re: MLD#1360, 13/1/08 side storage (Arthur Torrey)
Barrel Meads (nlkanous@netscape.net)
International Mead Festival update (Leonora)
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: competition medals
From: Dick Dunn <rcd@talisman.com>
Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2008 14:31:13 -0700
In the last digest, "OCurrans" wrote about Meadllennium:
> Don't forget - WE AWARD MORE MEAD MEDALS THAN ANYONE!!!
Ummm...'scuse me, but why is this a good thing?
Sure, I suppose it's nice to have a medal to hang on the wall...but really,
isn't the status or prestige of a medal inversely proportional to how many
were awarded?
- --
Dick Dunn rcd@talisman.com Hygiene, Colorado USA
------------------------------
Subject: Re: storage
From: Dick Dunn <rcd@talisman.com>
Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2008 14:53:19 -0700
dan@geer.org wrote:
> Everyone everywhere says to store wine bottles on their side so the corks
> stay wet.
>
> At the same time, in visiting wineries and grocery stores and liquor stores
> and so forth, I have never seen anything stored on its side once it is in
> a cardboard box / case.
"yes, but"...
The intent of the wineries is to get the wines in boxes so the bottles are
standing on their heads. That's the best they can expect with boxes which
have bottles either upright or inverted (unlike, I might add, the older
French wood cases which transport the bottles horizontally).
This led to a comedy over some years...winemakers used to pack bottles into
cases cork-up, with all the side label/logo stuff reading correctly with
the corks up, but with a big note on top, "STORE THIS SIDE DOWN" and
perhaps another on the packing-bottom of the box indicating it should be
up. The back-then-careless workers would usually stack the boxes with the
side labels upright, leaving the corks up, ignoring the warning(s) on top
and bottom of the boxes. Their action wasn't entirely unreasonable; after
all they wanted to be able to read the labels in the warehouse.
Eventually most wineries started caring a lot more and caught on to the
problem. So they continued with the top and bottom messages but inverted
the side labels, so that the side labels read correctly with the box in
the intended corks-down position.
But...you can see it coming, can't you?!?...around the same time, liquor
stores were also starting to care more and so began insisting to the staff
that they store wine boxes with the side labels inverted! To this day I
bet you can walk into a liquor store and find at least some wine boxes
stored with "this side down" on top and with the side labels inverted.
Worst of both worlds--unreadable side labels and corks high-and-dry.
Plus, of course not all wineries made the inverted label change, which
meant a nuisance in warehouse--even if all the cases were oriented as
intended, some of the side labels would be right and others inverted.
Perhaps screw caps will sort this, since you don't especially want a
screw-cap bottle cap-downward. The wineries are going to have to get the
labels in readable position when the box is correctly stored.
Actually it's a good idea to store your corked meads upright for a while,
then go to side or inverted storage: When you insert the cork, you
pressurize the bottle. Let that pressure escape as gas through the cork
else you're likely to get some seepage of liquid--messy and can invite mold.
- --
Dick Dunn rcd@talisman.com Hygiene, Colorado USA
------------------------------
Subject: some numbers
From: dan@geer.org
Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2008 18:34:00 -0500
Some numbers (that require fixed-width font and obediance
to my hard carriage returns to line up). These numbers
are based on 100 gallons made in 5 gallon batches during
calendar 2007.
The first is the decrease in specific gravity seen over
the time interval from pitching to bottling, by yeast.
yeast SG decrease
- -----------------------------
EC-1118 0.102
71B-1122 0.100
K1-V1116 0.095
D47 0.088
WLP720 0.085
Montrachet 0.079
- -----------------------------
average 0.090
The second is the change in percent alcohol by volume
per pound of honey invested, by mead type.
type %ABV / honey #
- ---------------------------
cyser 1.47
pyment 1.22
plain 0.99
metheglin 0.95
melomel 0.89
- ---------------------------
average 1.05
Other mead makers with numbers are hereby requested to
share theirs.
- --dan
------------------------------
Subject: RE: MeadFest postponed?
From: "Vicky Rowe" <gotmead@gotmead.com>
Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2008 19:35:58 -0500
Hi Roberta,
The Meadfest is not happening this year, but we are holding the home and
commercial competitions and they will be judged by a who's who of the mead
world. Ken Schramm is coming, as well as a pretty good sprinkling of other mead
folks from aroun the world (I'm webmaster, and don't organize judging, so don't
know all the names yet). They will be judged February 8-9, and we'll be holding
it at the Outlook Hotel in Boulder. We'll be having a couple of industry
roundtables, and lots of one-on-one conversating over mead, and the awards
ceremony for the competitions will be Saturday evening.
We really wanted to have the festival, but the folks who normally front the
money for it ahead of time couldn't do it this year, and we weren't able to
discover this until too late to raise enough funding to do it independently. We
plan to have a festival in 2009, and are already making plans to be ready for
that.
Wassail!
Vicky Rowe
The Gotmead Webwench
http://www.gotmead.com
gotmead@gotmead.com
>Subject: MeadFest postponed?
>From: RAshley731@aol.com
>Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2008 10:52:55 EST
>
>Thought I'd ask here first:
>
>any word as to whether or not the International Mead Festival
>has found a new site?
>
>(Before I use that time off for a little Maui jaunt)?
>
>In Service,
>
>Roberta
------------------------------
Subject: Re: MLD#1360, 13/1/08 side storage
From: Arthur Torrey <arthur_torrey@comcast.net>
Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2008 21:26:20 -0500
Well I use a rack, but I know of people that store their cases on their
sides... I also tend to keep a few bottles of every batch I make for several
years, and save those for special occasions. (The majority gets consumed at
parties and such before it gets overly aged...)
Many of the liquor stores and such that I've been to do store their better
grades of wine on at least some sort of angle, especially the "gourmet"
shops. On the other hand mostly they have a (hopefully) rapid turnover of
stock that they need to keep in a limited space and accessible to customers
wanting to read the labels.
I think the reasoning is mostly that they sacrifice the long term storage
needs of keeping the corks wet in order to gain the storage efficiency while
hoping that the stock will move quickly enough into the hands of customers
that will either drink it soon or store it properly. I also notice the
cheaper stuff uses plastic corks and wax seals that aren't as storage
sensitive.
I also suspect that the really high grade stuff where storage is critical is
not treated the same as the stuff you see in the average liquor store. Seems
to me like at least some stores I've been in had the volume stuff on the
shelf, but also had a rack (often secured in some way) with bottles of the
high dollar stuff sitting where it was properly stored - the kind of stuff in
the "if you have to ask, you can't afford it" category...
I know that I've seen meads that were award winning turn nasty in a year or so
when Nancy at Beekeepers Warehouse didn't store stuff she was given
properly - the cork was dried out and the mead had oxidised badly enough that
I'm not sure I'd want to cook with it, let alone drink it...
Gooserider
On Sunday 13 January 2008 16:24:25 mead-request@talisman.com wrote:
> Subject: storage
> From: dan@geer.org
> Date: Tue, 08 Jan 2008 09:00:22 -0500
>
> Everyone everywhere says to store wine bottles on their side so the corks
> stay wet.
>
> At the same time, in visiting wineries and grocery stores and liquor stores
> and so forth, I have never seen anything stored on its side once it is in
> a cardboard box / case.
>
> As I soak my corks for a couple of hours before using them (in Idaphor),
> so it isn't like they need to be introduced to "wet."
>
> In other words, who needs racks when boxes -- boxes can be stacked, too
> - -- are what the guys who make their living at this use? Yes, if you are
> storing for 10 years then I get the picture, but not otherwise.
>
> - --dan, fresh from bottling 30 cases
------------------------------
Subject: Barrel Meads
From: nlkanous@netscape.net
Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2008 10:32:46 -0500
Michael FairBrother asks about "barrel mead" or "mead gone wild".? For
those of you that prefer a short answer, yes, I've done this.? Now, for
the long answer.
Several years ago, a member of our homebrewing club started purchasing
bourbon barrels and selling them to breweries for the purposes of aging
large beers.? I told him "we could make a great mead in one of those".? He
insisted that the flavors would be too strong.
A year or so later, I brought a sample of a demi-sec mead that I'd made
to a meeting and again prodded him (I'd been prodding for a while)....for
some reason, the light went on.? He said "I've got an old keg that had
Dan Carey's Cherry Beer that had been aged in bourbon barrels in the keg
and we even added oak to the keg, can we put this mead in there?"? I had
about 3 gallons of said mead.? We put it in the keg with the leftover
oak and voila'.? In about 3 months, we had one of the best meads I'd ever
produced.?? This set the ball rolling.
I continued to pester and try to get he and others to bite on the idea of
making a mead in a bourbon barrel.? He finally bumped into someone who was
getting married that wanted mead at their wedding.? I got in touch with
a few other folks in our beer club and away we went.? I got the fixin's
for 55 gallons of mead (per Roger Morse's recipe) and we put that together
last February.
The couple was getting married in June.? They needed their 10 gallons
of mead.? We siphoned out their 10 gallons and added more back to the
barrel.? We finally pulled the mead from the bourbon barrel after about
9 months.?
The original mead fermented out much drier than I'd expected / intended
for a variety of reasons.? That being said, I've sweetened my 25 gallons
a bit and so far, I'm quite happy with what I've gotten.? I've also added
cherry juice concentrate to 5 gallons and I hope to freeze distill another
5 gallons as the outdoor temps around here drop below zero for a couple
of weeks.? Not sure how successful that will be, buy hey, this is a hobby.
In the interim, just before we managed to put together our 55 gallons,
this other individual had convinced a couple of meaderies to do what we
were going to do.? As I understand it, those that have aged some of their
mead in bourbon barrels have been very successful.? I'm not sure which
meaderies did this, but I understand that this product is a premium in
their line and they've been quite happy with the results.
Yes, you can use barrels for mead (not "wild", in my case)?as I believe you
were originally expecting) and it can be very successful.? I'd also like
to get a wine barrel from a local vintner for the same type of project but
I need more participants....I really don't need 55 gallons of one varietal
of mead.
Anyhow, been there, done that.? Others have as well.? If any of you have
further questions, feel free to contact me privately.
Regards,
nathan in madison, wi
------------------------------
Subject: International Mead Festival update
From: Leonora <foxryde@foxryde.com>
Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2008 13:21:14 -0700
Greetings,
This year's site will be the Boulder Outlook Hotel in Boulder, CO.
http://www.boulderoutlook.com/
from the www.gotmead.com site:
>While the IMF is cancelled for 2008, we are
>still holding the Home Meadmakers Competition
>(HMMC) and the Commercial Competition are still going on!!
>
>We will be having the judging for both
>competitions on the original Festival weekend,
>February 8-9. We have moved to the Boulder
>Outlook Hotel. Those of you who have attended
>earlier competitions will remember the Outlook,
>a funky and fun hotel with great staff, a
>restaurant on site and just a great atmosphere.
>
>Here is the schedule that we plan to have:
>
>February 7, 2008 7:00PM ? 10:00PM ? Industry Gathering
>February 8, 2008 9:00 AM? 5:00 PM- Judging of
>Commercial Mead Competition meads.
>February 8, 2008 7:00PM ? 10:00PM ? Industry Gathering
>February 9, 2008 9:00 AM? 5:00 PM- Judging of Home Mead Competition meads.
>February 9, 2008 7:00PM ? 10:00PM ? Commercial
>and Home Mead Award Ceremony and Limbo
All the best,
Leonora
P.S. If you plan on attending and would like to
help out as judge/steward/volunteer, please
contact me directly at foxryde@foxryde.com and I will attend to it.
At 02:24 PM 1/13/2008, you wrote:
>Subject: MeadFest postponed?
>From: RAshley731@aol.com
>Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2008 10:52:55 EST
>
>Thought I'd ask here first:
>
>any word as to whether or not the International Mead Festival has found a
>new site?
>
>(Before I use that time off for a little Maui jaunt)?
>
>In Service,
>
>Roberta
>"In principio creavit Deus terrum et caelum.
>In principio creavit Deus hominum, in celebratio imago,
>et creavit Deus lupo, in perpetuii cantieri praesus."
>Semidomesticus
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #1361
*******************************
