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Mead Lovers Digest #1425
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1425, 30 May 2009
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #1425 30 May 2009
Mead Discussion Forum
Contents:
Re: Pyment? (mail-box)
My First Batch (Joe Kuhl)
Questions on Starters and Fizz ("Randy Wallis")
Ready to try my 2nd batch a Raspberry Melomel (Joe Kuhl)
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Digest Janitor: Dick Dunn
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Subject: Re: Pyment?
From: mail-box <mail-box@comcast.net>
Date: Sat, 23 May 2009 14:00:01 -0400
> Subject: Pyment?
> From: MeadGuild@aol.com
> Date: Tue, 12 May 2009 12:45:54 EDT
>
> Is a Pyment a Wine made with honey or a Mead
> made with grapes?
>
> Which is a Pyment?
> 1. A five gal Pinot Gris kit and 3 lbs of honey, or
> 2. 2.5 gals from the kit, 8 lbs of honey, and water, or
> 3. Both?
>
> Dick
> - --
> Richard D. Adams, CPA (Retired)
Dick,
It depends on who you give the authority to make the definition. The
BJCP guidelines for pyment mead
may be found here:
http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style25.php
They describe pyment as "A Pyment is a melomel made with grapes
(generally from juice)" and "A pyment is a standard mead made with the
addition of grapes or grape juices. Alternatively, the pyment may be a
homemade grape-based wine sweetened with honey, or a mead mixed with
homemade grape-based wine after fermentation."
This is a very broad definition, and all of your points above would seem
to fall within it. I personally would not qualify a wine kit
chaptalized with a small amount of honey (your point 1) as a mead, but
then the natural question is where do you draw the line. And this can
be a difficult thing for a beverage with such a varied and long
history. This may be why the BJCP definition is so broad.
Cheers,
Ken Taborek
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Subject: My First Batch
From: Joe Kuhl <joe.kuhl@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 26 May 2009 12:48:01 -0600
Well today is a good day. I just finished bottling my first batch of
raspberry Honey Mead. I did 22 bottles still and then 22 bottles sparkling.
As you can see I waisted a lot, between the spilling at the first racking
and not putting the racking cane down as far as I should have. But I
didn't want to move any of the sediment from one container to the next.
I tasted a bottle of the still mead and it was ok. It had a little bite
at the start but the after taste was good. I also tasted the sparkling
mead and I liked it better than the still. I mixed 1/2 cup of raspberry
honey with 2 cups boiling water then let it cool to about 100 degrees and
mixed it into the remaining mead to be bottled. Now in 3 or 4 weeks I
should be able to taste a bottle of the sparkling mead.
Thanks evryone who has given me information along the way both when I asked
and from reading your comments in the Digest.
Joe
------------------------------
Subject: Questions on Starters and Fizz
From: "Randy Wallis" <vwbettle72@earthlink.net>
Date: Tue, 26 May 2009 20:11:44 -0400
Two questions. My daughter is delivering our first granddaughter soon (due
date is 6-15-09). I want to start a mead on her birth date and give her the
bottles when she turns 21. I did the same thing on the day my daughter was
married and now give them a bottle yearly on their anniversary. Problem is
we will be up in North Carolina and we live in Florida. I told my wife
that I planned to take everything up there to start it and transport it
back. She really did not warm too much to that plan, so I am thinking is
it possible to keep to the spirit of the idea, start the yeast in a
starter, feed it, and keep it going for about a week before putting it in
must? I have been making mead for about 8-years but have either used Wyeast
smack packs or Lalvin dry yeast and rehydrated. For this one I was
planning Lalvin D-47. Second, last night I tasted both my Blackberry
started last Thanksgiving and my Muscadine started in January. The
Muscadine was still very young and I added I cup of honey and more
Muscadine juice and will check it again in a couple months. However, the
Blackberry is ready to bottle, but it is slightly fizzy. Last time I
racked I did use my whip on a drill to release the co-2 but either I did
not do it enough or more appeared. Well my wife really liked the slight
fizz and when I said I would use the whip one more time to degas it before
bottling she said why I like the fizz. So, the question in can I / should
I bottle with trapped co-2. If I do, will that stay in the bottle or
slowly dissipate or worst pop out the corks. Thanks.
Randy Wallis
vwbettle72@earthlink.ne
------------------------------
Subject: Ready to try my 2nd batch a Raspberry Melomel
From: Joe Kuhl <joe.kuhl@hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, 29 May 2009 21:54:43 -0600
For 5 Gallon Batch For 2.5 Gallon Batch
15# Raspberry Honey 7.5# Raspberry Honey
4 gal water 2 gal water
2 tsp Yeast Nutrient 1 tsp yeast Nutrient
1 tsp Yeast Energizer ½ tsp yeast Energizer
2 Packets Lalvin 71b-1122 Yeast 1 Packet Lalvin 71b-1122 Yeast
5# Frozen Raspberries 2.5 # Frozen Raspberries
I figured I would do the primary fermentation in a 5 gallon bucket. Then
rack the 2.5 gallon batch into a 3 gallon carboy that I will have already
added 2.5 pounds of pureed frozen Raspberries to. Does this sound feasible?
Or is there something else I should do? This will be my first melomel.
And I will be using up the last of my Raspberry Honey. Do I need to do
anything to the raspberries either before I puree them or after?
Thank You
Joe
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End of Mead Lover's Digest #1425
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