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Mead Lovers Digest #1405
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1405, 21 January 2009
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #1405 21 January 2009
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1404, 15 January 2009 (montveil)
RE: Boiling water for mead ("Bill Pierce")
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1404, 15 January 2009 ("clayton green")
Re: MLD #1404, 15/1/09 - Filtering (Arthur Torrey)
where did the flavor and aroma go? ("Matthew Winne")
raspberry honey ("clayton green")
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Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1404, 15 January 2009
From: montveil <montveil@skybest.com>
Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2009 14:44:30 -0500
mead-request@talisman.com wrote:
{Have any of you made mead without using heat and did it turn out OK?}
You can make mead following the wine method tie:
Use potassium sulfite at 1/4 teaspoon per 5 gallons.
Add all your ingredients, honey to the alcohol level you want, acid blend,
tannins, water etc
Add sulfite. mix let stand 24-36 hours then add your re-hydrated yeast
It will turn out great. As you can see boiling is a no-no while pasteurizing
is
montveil in the NC Mountains
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Subject: RE: Boiling water for mead
From: "Bill Pierce" <BillPierce@aol.com>
Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2009 15:31:44 -0500
In MLD #1404, in responding to Joe Kuhl's question about whether or
not to pasteurize or boil the honey, both Dick Adams and Paul Shouse
recommend adding boiled water to the honey prior to pitching the
yeast. I'm wondering why it is necessary to boil the water.
Assuming that you are using water suitable for drinking, it will
also be suitable for meadmaking. You may choose to use an activated
charcoal filter (or half of a crushed Campden tablet) in order to
remove chlorine or chloramines added by municipal water systems.
But I don't see the benefit of boiling the water. For one thing, it
drives off virtually all of the dissolved oxygen, making
aeration/oxygenation of the must even more important for healthy
yeast reproduction.
I do agree about boiling any water added post-fermentation. In this
case dissolved oxygen is undesirable because it can cause oxidation
and promote staling.
Bill Pierce
Cellar Door Homebrewery/meadery
Burlington, Ontario
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Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1404, 15 January 2009
From: "clayton green" <green.clayton@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2009 15:50:56 -0700
In answer to clearing melomels,
"Now my question: I have a batch of blackberry peach melomel that I think is
just about ready to bottle. The problem is that even after a few rackings I
still have sediment falling out."
My favorite clearing agent for melomels is pectinase, an enzyme that chops
up pectin, a carbohydrate in fruits. If you have an awesome melomel,
repeated rackings will ultimately cost you volume. Time and gravity will
clear melomels after bottling, but I've seen dramatic results with
pectinase. I add whatever it says on the bottle. It's 1/2 teaspoon per
gallon of must, I think.
Clayton
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Subject: Re: MLD #1404, 15/1/09 - Filtering
From: Arthur Torrey <arthur_torrey@comcast.net>
Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2009 20:16:40 -0500
On Thursday 15 January 2009 14:21:30 mead-request@talisman.com wrote:
> Subject: Filtering
> From: "Louis LeBlanc" <brew@fayreforest.net>
> Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2009 11:15:45 -0500 (EST)
>
> Hello everyone!
>
> First off, thank you to everyone who has given information here. I've
> gotten lots of very helpful information already from this list.
>
> Now my question: I have a batch of blackberry peach melomel that I think
> is just about ready to bottle. The problem is that even after a few
> rackings I still have sediment falling out. The fruit was in the form of a
> puree purchased at Beer & Wine Hobby here in Woburn. I did put it into the
> secondary, but pretty early on. It seemed to kick off a little more
> fermentation, but it did calm down after about a week.
>
> I haven't seen any activity in a couple months, but I do still have some
> sediment. So, how best to get as much of the mead without catching any
> more of the sediment than is strictly necessary? The idea of using a
> coffee filter has occurred to me, but I'm not sure if this is either
> effective or wise. Has anyone ever tried to put just a little more
> "cleanup" to a batch like this before bottling it?
>
> Thanks in advance.
> Cheers!
> Lou
I would consider adding a "Kielsol / Chitosan" treatment to precipitate out
the rest of the sediment. This is a two part system that Beer & Wine hobby
sells as "Super-Kleer K.C." over in the fridge where they keep the yeasts.
You get two packets of clear liquid, you add one packet to the carboy and
stir, then mix the other with a bit of warm water and add it, then let the
carboy sit until everything falls clear, typically 12 - 48 hours. Ideally
you want to move the carboy as little as possible to avoid stirring the crud
back into the mead. I try to do the treatment with the carboy sitting where
I'll be bottling from.
Then rack gently into your bottles - I try to keep the racking cane tip fairly
high in the carboy, moving it down as needed to keep it just below the liquid
level, and above the sediment.
This works really well at getting batches with minimal haze.
The other possibility is that you may be suffering from a "Pectin Haze" -
which the above treatment doesn't do as much with. Try adding some extra
pectic enzyme to clear that up.
I also don't worry overmuch about trying to get all I can - but I don't waste
anything either! Any time I rack, I have a carboy or two where I collect all
the leftovers, (except for my capsicumels and highly herbed methyglins) and
and bottle them as "Mixed Blend" any time I get an adequate amount - it fits
my cheap tendencies, and amusingly enough I get as many compliments on
the "Mixed Blend" as I do the regular batches
ART
- --
Arthur Torrey
LPMA Operations Facilitator
Town Meeting Representative
Speaking only as myself unless otherwise indicated!
GPG key: C02F53C5
Fingerprint: 7D31 C4B5 7DEE 22FD 8C07 D76F A832 933F C02F 53C5
------------------------------
Subject: where did the flavor and aroma go?
From: "Matthew Winne" <matthew.winne@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2009 10:45:37 -0500
I'm a homebrewer who's ventured into the realm of meadmaking a few times.
Every mead I've made using a strain of brewers yeast turned out fine. Sure
the alcohol content wasn't that high, but it was ready to drink in a few
weeks. My problem is making mead using wine and champagne yeast strains.
I've tried a few recipes and in this example, the Peach Mead from The
Complete Meadmaker. I let the mead rest in the carboy for months like the
recipe said, hoping the alcohol flavor would calm down. Well, the mead
cleared beautifully and it has a great color, however the peach aroma and
flavor is completely gone. The alcohol flavor has lessed a bit, but the
overall flavor is stale and bland. Is it oxidizing somewhere in the
process? Is it sitting in the secondary too long? My air lock was on tight
and filled with vodka, so I'm pretty sure I had it protected pretty
well. This batch is drinkable, but a little disappointing. I was hoping
for fresh peach flavor and aroma. I think I may try to salvage it by adding
more peaches or peach juice. Any advice on what I'm doing wrong?
------------------------------
Subject: raspberry honey
From: "clayton green" <green.clayton@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2009 12:08:41 -0700
My personal bias with expensive varietals is the just make a simple honey
mead, even though you aren't going to hurt your final product by adding
fruit. Costco or Sam's honey (mostly clover) makes a drinkable mead.
However, its taste doesn't approach the quality of many of the varietals
I've tasted. I've had great results with sweet, intensely fruity melomels
using the commonly available clover honeys at bulk stores.
clayton
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End of Mead Lover's Digest #1405
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