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Mead Lovers Digest #1375
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1375, 13 May 2008
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #1375 13 May 2008
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Apricots and Pears ("Eric Wescott")
RE: Newbie Melomel ("Vicky Rowe")
Re: MLD#1374- Apricot Mead ("Kevin Morgan")
Flocking? ("clfclem@juno.com")
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1374, 1 May 2008 (Lofty@aol.com)
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Subject: Apricots and Pears
From: "Eric Wescott" <eric.wescott@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 1 May 2008 12:31:17 -0400
A couple questions in the last digest about apricots and pears in mead.
I think you get the best fruit flavor adding the fruit in secondary, after
the yeast has already attenuated due to ABV.
I've had good luck with the fruit-wine bases sold in homebrew stores to make
fruit wine. But, instead of adding to the primary as the can suggests, add
to secondary and let sit for a while to extract the fruit flavor and color.
Good luck!
------------------------------
Subject: RE: Newbie Melomel
From: "Vicky Rowe" <gotmead@gotmead.com>
Date: Thu, 1 May 2008 15:26:24 -0400
>I'm a longtime homebrewer whose wife is interested in having
>some mead made. Specifically, an apricot mead (similar to the
>one made by Redstone in Colorado).
>
>I'm not exactly in an apricot-rich area of the country and was
>looking for advice on getting a rich apricot flavor and scent
>from apricot juice/nectar sold in a health food store.
>Specifically, is it possible? Worth the trouble? If so, how
>much should I use? When should I add it?
>
>While apricots are not readily available, peaches are. I
>would greatly appreciate your recommendations for a good peach mead.
Hi Tom,
I'd consider using dried apricots (if you can find them unsulfited - try
Trader Joes), rehydrated in apricot nectar. That will get you the best of
both worlds. However, if dried apricots aren't readily available, I'd figure
around a gallon of apricot nectar in a 5-gal batch (and the rest water). For
yeast, if you're going for one that tastes like Redstone's, use Red Star
Montrachet yeast, that is what they use....though I would suggest using
Lalvin D-47. Montrachet tends to throw some off flavors that while they age
out, lengthen the amount of time before your mead is drinkable..
Amount-wise depends on the batch size you're making, though. Come visit us
on gotmead.com and ask Oskaar. He's made a lot of mels (his family has been
making wine and meads for generations), and I seem to remember him
mentioning an apricot batch he made. Even if he hasn't, he'll be able to
give you some good info on amounts of juice vs. fruit (or a mixture of both)
Peach mead? Ooh, if you have access to it, try making a peach cyser using
peach juice. I get gallons of peach juice from a place in South Carolina,
and will pitch it like this for my semi-sweet peach mel:
5 gal. peach cider (or, if you use peaches, 25 lbs pitted, skinned and
mashed peaches)
14-15 lbs honey (I used mesquite the last time)
Lalvin D-47 yeast
Fermaid-K and DAP
2-3 cinnamon sticks, crushed and steeped for 15 min in 4 cups boiled water
(optional)
Process:
Put all of the room temperature peach cider into a a stainless steel vessel
or food grade plastic bucket. Add the honey checking your gravity until you
reach between 1.145-1.150.
Use your lees stirrer to mix the crap out of it, until the honey is
completely blended
Aerate well with pure oxygen/oxygenation stone, or by stirring with a lees
stirrer.
Yeast Rehydration:
Prepare a solution of 100 ml water @110 F + 15 g Go-Ferm
Add 10 g of D47 when temperature of water drops to 104 F and let stand 15 -
30 minutes max
Inoculate must with re-hydrated yeast solution, and aerate well
Cover with sanitized cloth and secure
Check brix every 12 hours and watch for foaming which indicates the end of
the lag phase
Batch Management:
At end of lag phase aerate well and add a mixture of 4 grams Fermaid K + 2
grams DAP rehydrated in 50 ml H2O
Aerate twice daily until 1/3 sugar break (***this is really important to
ensure a clean, fast ferment***)
At 1/3 sugar break add 6 grams Fermaid K rehydrated in 50 ml H2O and aerate
well
(What is the sugar break? Note your starting gravity, and break that area
between your starting gravity and a gravity of .999 into thirds. These
thirds are your sugar breakpoints)
At this point you want to stir as opposed to aerating your must, so a lees
stirrer is an essential tool. Keep stirring daily
Airlock and put in racking rotation row continuing to stir daily to keep the
yeast suspended. You may also swirl the carboy if you don't have a lees
stirrer.
Rack when clear, or if you want to expose it to the lees for a while longer
that's fine too.
Oskaars' Stirring Commandment (you'll see him preaching this on my site, and
he's right, it *works*)
Note: If you are not religious about stirring daily then you will not have
optimal results when lees aging. Stirring is a vital process during the
fermentation of this specific mixture because it keeps breaking up any
colonies of spoilage organisms that may exist in the must, and exposes them
to the highly competitive yeast, as well as the rapidly rising alcohol level
which at about 16-17% ABV will be a strong barrier to any infection.
Have fun!!
Wassail!
Vicky Rowe
The Gotmead Webwench
http://www.gotmead.com
gotmead@gotmead.com
------------------------------
Subject: Re: MLD#1374- Apricot Mead
From: "Kevin Morgan" <kmorgan1@localnet.com>
Date: Thu, 1 May 2008 21:39:24 -0400
Tom said
>Snip
>Specifically, an apricot mead (similar to the one made by
>Redstone in Colorado).
>I'm not exactly in an apricot-rich area of the country and was looking
>for advice on getting a rich apricot flavor and scent from apricot
>juice/nectar sold in a health food store. Specifically, is it
>possible? Worth the trouble? If so, how much should I use? When should
>I add it?
>While apricots are not readily available, peaches are. I would greatly
>appreciate your recommendations for a good peach mead.
Snip
Most of my Meads have been Melomels (peach, mango, cherry etc, etc)
My 'normal' procedure is to mix the honey (about 12 lbs) with water to make
5 gal., add nutrient/energizer, pitch the yeast (quite often an ale yeast),
put on the air lock and let it ferment until nearly dry.
THEN I rack the mead onto the fruit of choice,(about 5 lbs, frozen then
thawed) this causes the fermentation to restart with a vengence. Then,
when the fermentation slows down again, I will taste the mead and decide
wheter or not it needs more fruit.
I used this procedure for two different Peach Mels, one with the peach skin
still attached (I wanted to be able to tast the peach fuze), the other I
made with peeled peaches. Both batches came out great, but, the one with
the peel required significantly longer aging.
So, after all that, I have to admit that I have not made any Apricot Mel.
But, I have been told by reliable sources that the best way to get apricot
flavor is to add PEACHES.
I'm thinking that if you added 4 lbs of peaches and 1 lb. of apricots
(or a can of apricot puree) that would be a good starting point.
Kevin..............Meading and Brewing in south Jersey (USA)
------------------------------
Subject: Flocking?
From: "clfclem@juno.com" <clfclem@juno.com>
Date: Fri, 2 May 2008 16:50:22 GMT
I have been having some issues with flocking in my meads. When I do not
use a lot of bentonite to clarify or I do not use the heating method in my
mead preparation, I get flocking in my bottles. My last batch I did not heat
and I used the perscribed amount of bentonite for clarification. I let the
batch sit for about 2 months in my carboy to clear. Once I got it bottled,
it began to flock within the bottle after about 2 weeks. I think that this
may be due to my mead not being heat stabilized. Im trying to keep to as
traditional of a mead as I can. Any suggestions or recommendations on how
to fix my flocking issue?
Corey
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1374, 1 May 2008
From: Lofty@aol.com
Date: Tue, 6 May 2008 19:55:54 EDT
In a message dated 5/1/2008 12:26:04 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
mead-request@talisman.com writes:
I'm considering making a pear mead
I've done it and it works great. There is a clearing issue as it tends
to be cloudy Juice the pears and adjust to the original specific gravity
you want. Pear tastes clear out over time. There is just a clean favor.
Dr. Jim Palmer
Philadelphia, Pa.
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #1375
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