Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Mead Lovers Digest #1411
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1411, 2 March 2009
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #1411 2 March 2009
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Re: unwanted pettilence (Chazzone)
Eismead by freezing (Vuarra)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1410, 26 February 2009 (Matt Falenski)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1410, 26 February 2009 (Chazzone)
Eismead (nlkanous@netscape.net)
re Eismead? (Steve Piatz)
Eismead (Chuck)
Petulance (JOHN GRIMSHAW)
Re: unwanted pettilence (mail-box)
1st Round NHC Judging - NE Region ("David Houseman")
NOTE: Digest appears when there is enough material to send one.
Send ONLY articles for the digest to mead@talisman.com.
Use mead-request@talisman.com for [un]subscribe/admin requests.
Digest archives and FAQ are available at www.talisman.com/mead
A searchable archive is at http://www.gotmead.com/mldarchives.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Re: unwanted pettilence
From: Chazzone <chazzone@sbcglobal.net>
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2009 07:59:25 -0500
> Subject: Re: unwanted pettilence
> From: dan@geer.org
> Date: Mon, 16 Feb 2009 17:54:39 -0500
>
> Thanks to those who offered advice on my issue
> of unwanted petillence.
>
> I admit to being puzzled. If I am to understand
> the general points being made, these would seem
> to be two. First, that under no under amount of
> aging will any yeast raise the alcohol level to
> that yeast's self-destruction point, and, second,
> that without the modern nicety of Campden tablets
> all sweet wines have always been ready to explode,
> which seems contrary to history.
>
> Best,
>
> - --dan
I'm not sure how you're making either of the above assumptions from
the responses posted.
Your first statement is technically correct. No amount of aging will
raise the alcohol level to the point that the yeast is destroyed.
However, if the conditions are correct, then yeast will reach it's
tolerance point and stop fermentation. In a suboptimal environment,
yeast will stop working before all available sugars are used, but
fermentation can certainly restart if parameters change. This is what
you experienced with your mead.
Lalvin D-47 is rated to ferment to 15% alcohol. According to your
posted figures, your mead was a little over 10% alcohol when you
bottled it, so it had a long way to go before it was at it's tolerance.
The responses you received are correct. The simple introduction of O2
and mechanical agitation was clearly enough to restart the
fermentation, since there was plenty of sugar available, and the yeast
was no where near it's alcohol tolerance.
- -zz
------------------------------
Subject: Eismead by freezing
From: Vuarra <vuarra@yahoo.ca>
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2009 05:06:09 -0800 (PST)
All you are doing is making mead brandy. I hope you did not use a traceable
e-mail address, as what you are doing is illegal in most of the western
world except for New Zealand. (I personally think that all of our laws
should go back to pre-Prohibition, but there is just too much money in taxes)
Vuarra
Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur.
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound.)
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1410, 26 February 2009
From: Matt Falenski <mfalenski@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2009 06:05:51 -0800 (PST)
> Subject: Re: Melomel assistance
> From: Kevin Morgan <kmorgan_99@yahoo.com>
> Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2009 20:31:04 -0800 (PST)
>
> Just catching up with some 'very' old digests. In
> MLD #1395 Matt said:
>
> Hi All. I made my first sweet melomel on 08-08-08.
> It was 20# clover honey and 5# blackberries in a 6g batch.
> I added 2.5 tsp energizer, 3 tsp nutrient, and 1.5 tsp acid
> to the must. I used 2 packs of EC-1118 yeast. I also made
> a few nutrient and energizer additions every week or so
> since.
> I believe the OG was 1.104. (Notes are scrawled)
>
> > 20# of honey in 6 Gal. of must should give and OG of about 1.133,
> >and that is without the Berries.
>
> On 08-27, it was at 6.89% alcohol and 1.078 and pH was 3.16.
> On 10-24, it was at 12.54% alcohol and 1.035 and pH was 3.31.
>
> Right now it is way too sweet so I was planning on adding about
> a half gallon of boiled water to thin it out a bit. But I was
> also hoping to get a bit higher alcohol.
>
> Can I just add some more EC-1118? If so, how should I do that?
> Make a starter with some of the mead before I add it to the
> full batch?
> Dump in the pack? Or just let it go on its own?
>
> >I know its a little late, but, I would just let it go for at least another
> >month and see what happens. If its in a cool/cold place you might
> >try moving it some where warmer..............Kevin
I tried a number of things - adding more EC-1118 yeast,
warming it up, nutrients, etc. It helped a bit, but I
finally "gave up" on it and added 2 doses of Bentonite
to clear it out. Turned out really clear, was very
impressed as I've never used it before. I then blended
enough dearerated water to get the gravity to 1.020.
I'm going to let it sit for another month and then bottle.
Thanks for the help everyone
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1410, 26 February 2009
From: Chazzone <chazzone@sbcglobal.net>
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2009 09:31:21 -0500
> Subject:
> From: "Kurt Sonen" <KurtS2@gmail.com>
> Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:04:19 -0500
>
>> From: Chazzone <chazzone@sbcglobal.net>
>> Subject: unwanted pettilence
>>
>> One more thing, with so much sugar left, you might want to
>> find some refrigerator space for the remaining bottles.
>> It'll stop the fermentation and reduce the pressure, otherwise
>> find an explosion proof box and await the carnage.
>
> Assuming these are not corked, just gently crack the cap enough to
> release
> the pressure. The contents will foam - stop, wait for it to calm down,
> repeat. It will take some time and many repetitions, but it will
> save the
> mead and the bottles.
>
> I force carbonated half a batch and left the other half still. All the
> stills took off and I had to do the above method.
> Note that carbonation inhibits yeast growth; I've never had a
> carbonated
> bottle restart fermentation. Thankfully I like sweet and
> carbonation. :)
>
> Yeah, I could sorbate, but why?
>
> Kurt
"Bottle Bombs" are a common result of over carbonization. Cooling the
mead will lower the pressure in the bottles, as well as stop any
further fermentation by the yeast.
I've made a lot of carbonated meads. Some were force carbonated, and
some were fermented in the bottle. It can be a tricky line between
success and a huge mess. I had a strawberry mead that was bottled
with residual sugar to achieve carbonation, but unfortunately my
calculations were off and soon bottles started to blow. We put the
rest of the batch in the fridge, and never lost another.
I've never used screw caps, but your technique would allow one to save
most of the product. I use crown caps, and was able to achieve the
same result by barely cracking the cap and slowly allowing the CO2 to
escape.
- -zz
------------------------------
Subject: Eismead
From: nlkanous@netscape.net
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2009 10:41:43 -0500
Mark Forrester asked:
Please share any knowledge and/or experience you have with regard to
using an ice process to concentrate a mead into an Eismead. Thanks!
Mark,
I have made eismead in the past. I used to live in Wisconsin. One of the
few things I miss after having left Wisconsin is the opportunity to freeze
distill things in February (a week of sub-zero farenheit highs works great).
I started out with 23 gallons of a particular mead I and some others
had made. That seemed like an awful lot of one variety of mead so I took
10 gallons in corny kegs and tossed it out on the back porch in February.
I seeded each keg with just a touch of shaved ice and let it freeze. I did
just as you did, replaced the frozen dip tube with a clean one and forced
the liquid out via CO2. Out of the 10 gallons that I was working with,
I ended up with just under 5 gallons of eismead. You've already got the
process down for Eisbock. The process should be the same for making eismead.
Good luck.
Regards,
nathan in parker, co
------------------------------
Subject: re Eismead?
From: Steve Piatz <sjpiatz@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2009 10:14:38 -0600
> Subject: Eismead?
> From: Mark Forrester <markforrester@comcast.net>
> Date: Sun, 22 Feb 2009 07:39:39 -0600
>
> Please share any knowledge and/or experience you have with regard to
> using an ice process to concentrate a mead into an Eismead. Thanks!
I've made both eis beer and mead for the special Eis anything category
in the Upper Mississippi Mash Out competition every year
(http://mashout.org/).
Over the years I've won medals with both mead and beer.
My experience is that meads are harder to Eis than beers. I suspect the high
alcohol combined with a relatively high residual sugar content makes the meads
harder to freeze. Note, I haven't tried dry meads just medium sweet to sweet
meads. I do my freezing in plastic so it is easier to tell when the
beverage turns
slushy. A 2 liter soda bottle works well and will chill faster than a
whole keg.
Once the beverage turns slushy I use a funnel and a sanitized stainless steel
strainer to separate the ice crystals from the liquid. Surprising perhaps but
some carbonation can carry through to the final beverage.
It can take hours to get a mead to turn slushy and there seems to be a
very fine
line between liquid and solid, if it turns solid you have to thaw it
and try again.
Even on a cold winter night (I live in Minnesota) freezing a big mead can
be a challenge. Rarely does mother nature cooperate and provide cold weather
when you want so I typically have to resort using the freezer. The
freezer section
on my beer fridge doesn't get cold enough for this stuff.
One caveat, I don't do this for beverages that I intend to keep around
for a long
time since the process might induce some oxidation. That said, I haven't
noticed oxidation flaws in the bottles after a few months.
Some people laughed about a technique I used to recarbonate an Eis'ed
lambic but it worked. I put the resulting liquid into uncapped 12 oz bottles
and then stood the bottles up in the bottom of a keg and applied pressure to
the keg to recarbonate the beer. After a few day I opened the keg and quickly
capped the bottles. Some judges still whine about the resultant
Eis'ed lambic :-)
- --
Steve Piatz sjpiatz@gmail.com
------------------------------
Subject: Eismead
From: Chuck <wintermead@sbcglobal.net>
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2009 11:33:49 -0800 (PST)
In MLD #1410, Mark Forrester (markforrester@comcast.net) wrote:
<snip>
> I have brewed, lagered and then processed two batches of Eisbock
> (Ice Bock)and wonder if the same, or similar, process can be used to
> concentrate a still mead into an Eismead. Here is what I
> have done to make an Eisbock.
<details of freezing beer in corney keg and blowing resulting eisbock out,
snipped>
>
> Please share any knowledge and/or experience you have with
> regard to using an ice process to concentrate a mead into an Eismead.
I took a first in the open/mixed category of the 1997/98 Mazer Cup with my
Cherry Jack Melomel. I had made a (sour) pie cherry melomel (which took a
second in the melomel in the same competition), filled a 3 gallon corney keg
which I put in the freezer. Once it froze to a slush, determined by shaking,
I pressurized and forced out the remaining, concentrated, mead. It was like
the mead from which it came, but with a stronger, more pronounced flavor,
aroma, and (ahem) strength.
Cheers,
Chuck Wettergreen
------------------------------
Subject: Petulance
From: JOHN GRIMSHAW <jjackgrimshaw@sbcglobal.net>
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2009 17:50:40 -0800 (PST)
Re: Dan's petulance.
I wonder if part of the problem is trapped CO2 since the mead was bottled
off the lees without racking first. Also,a change in temperature could
restart fermentation.
As long as your finishing G is is real close to your target G,I don't think
you have to worry about bottle bombs.If you have doubts,store bottles uprite
for a while.it makes less of a mess.And use corks instead of caps.Store cool.
I wouldn't depend on the alcohol tolerence of yeasts without using sorbate
or sulfite.Too many variables for a sweet or semi-sweet mead.
And whats wrong with a little petulance? It seems to disappear with aging.
I made a cyser last year and I enjoyed the slight tickle on the tongue.
Jack
------------------------------
Subject: Re: unwanted pettilence
From: mail-box <mail-box@comcast.net>
Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2009 15:59:02 -0500
> Subject: Re: unwanted pettilence
> From: dan@geer.org
> Date: Mon, 16 Feb 2009 17:54:39 -0500
>
> Thanks to those who offered advice on my issue
> of unwanted petillence.
>
> I admit to being puzzled. If I am to understand
> the general points being made, these would seem
> to be two. First, that under no under amount of
> aging will any yeast raise the alcohol level to
> that yeast's self-destruction point, and, second,
> that without the modern nicety of Campden tablets
> all sweet wines have always been ready to explode,
> which seems contrary to history.
>
> Best,
>
> - --dan
Dan,
Aging does not involve raising the alcohol level. Aging is what you do
after fermentation has completed. With still active yeast you can see a
drop in SG (a raising of the alcohol level), but it's typically measured
in hundredths.
Contrary to history, how? Most commercial sweet wines are filtered, and
so there is no yeast left to renew fermentation. Sweet wines are also
not typically aged for great periods of time. Prior to modern times,
yeast strains were not isolated, and they did not have the alcohol
tolerance of the yeasts available commercially today. So "ye olde time"
sweet wines had a lesser opportunity to undergo renewed fermentation.
Prior to campden, tapers of sulfur were burned in wine casks, and this
provided some amount of SO2 which was helpful in preventing the growth
of wild yeast and bacteria in the barrels once they were empty, and may
have also lent some to the wines stored in them. And finally, there is
plenty of history about pettilence in wines.
Cheers,
Ken Taborek
------------------------------
Subject: 1st Round NHC Judging - NE Region
From: "David Houseman" <david.houseman@verizon.net>
Date: Sun, 01 Mar 2009 20:18:47 -0500
The Northeast Regional judging for the 1st Round of the National Homebrew
Competition will be held the weekend of April 17-19 at the Yards Brewery
(www.yardsbrewing.com) in Philadelphia. Yards is located at 901 N.
Delaware Avenue in Philly. Check out MapQuest or Yahoo! Maps for location
and directions.
For those of you have judged this competition before expect this location to
be even better than last year there as Yards is now in production and the
facility is completed and open for business. For those of you who haven't
this is a great opportunity judge in the largest home brew competition in
the world. We expect to be judging on Saturday and Sunday, although the
number of flights and time needed to judge will depend on the number of
entries we receive and the number of judges who commit to judging. We may
do some judging on Friday night if needed depending on the number of entries
and judges who are available on Saturday and Sunday. While the
details haven't been fully worked out expect to start judging on Saturday AM
at 9am, on Sunday at 10:00 and IF we judge on Friday night, it will be about
7:30pm. Friday night might be a great time for pub crawl for those coming
from out of town. Details will be provided closer to the date of the
competition.
Again, we will be judging Cider in addition to the Mead and Beer categories.
This will be a chance to try some of the best ciders made in the US. Those
of you who attended last year's cider training session will want to put
their training to practice.
Just reply to me to be put on the list to judge. Let me know which day(s)
you will be available, what categories you want to judge, do not want to
judge and can't judge because you plan to enter those categories. We will
make an attempt to honor your requests if at all possible but someone has to
judge the least favorable categories and not everyone can judge the most
popular ones.
So reserve the weekend of April 17-19 and plan to judge in Philadelphia.
If you have not done so already, let me know that you can judge. If you
know someone who'd like to steward,
let me know as well; we can use several.
Site Director: Nancy Rigberg
NRigberg@comcast.net
http://www.homesweethomebrew.com/
Judge Coordinator: David Houseman
david.houseman@verizon.net
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #1411
*******************************
