Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Mead Lovers Digest #1476
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1476, 17 June 2010
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #1476 17 June 2010
Mead Discussion Forum
Contents:
RE: Kris England Presentation ("Vicky Rowe")
RE: Peter Bennell article ("Vicky Rowe")
sweetening up the tart cyser (Eileen Uchima)
Reducing the Acidity of Cyser (docmac9582@aol.com)
Peter Bennell's presentation and Golden Rod Honey (docmac9582@aol.com)
RE: mellow out a Cyser (Craig Bryant)
RE: need a quick to drink mead (Craig Bryant)
mellow out a Cyser ("Dr. Curt) ("Kurt Sonen")
NOTE: Digest appears whenever 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 and admin requests.
Digest archives and FAQ are available at www.talisman.com/mead#Archives
A searchable archive is at http://www.gotmead.com/mldarchives.html
Digest Janitor: Dick Dunn
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: RE: Kris England Presentation
From: "Vicky Rowe" <gotmead@gotmead.com>
Date: Mon, 14 Jun 2010 11:43:00 -0400
Hey Dick,
Here you go:
http://www.ahaconference.org/presentations/2008/KrisEngland_NHC.pdf
Wassail!
Vicky Rowe
Owner, Gotmead.com
http://www.gotmead.com
I am not familiar with Petter Bennell's presentation.
Where can I find it?
Also I would sincerely appreciate it if someone would e-mail me
Kris England's 2009 AHA Mead Presentation as it is either no longer
on the AHA web site or I just can't locate it.
Dick - "Mead is no more a honey wine than beer is a malt wine."
------------------------------
Subject: RE: Peter Bennell article
From: "Vicky Rowe" <gotmead@gotmead.com>
Date: Mon, 14 Jun 2010 11:44:50 -0400
Hey Dick,
And here is the Peter Bennell article:
http://www.littlefatwino.com/bennellmead.html
Wassail!
Vicky Rowe
Owner, Gotmead.com
http://www.gotmead.com
I am not familiar with Petter Bennell's presentation.
Where can I find it?
Also I would sincerely appreciate it if someone would e-mail me
Kris England's 2009 AHA Mead Presentation as it is either no longer
on the AHA web site or I just can't locate it.
Dick - "Mead is no more a honey wine than beer is a malt wine."
------------------------------
Subject: sweetening up the tart cyser
From: Eileen Uchima <dragonlady@speakeasy.net>
Date: Mon, 14 Jun 2010 11:21:50 -0500
Mex,
If your cyser is unbalanced toward the tart side, but everything else
about it seems fine, you need to add some sweetness. First, you need to
make sure that the remaining yeast won't start up fermentation again. I
hear that the best way to do that is by dosing it with 1/2 tsp. of
potassium sorbate per gallon. Stir it in and allow it to sit for at
least a day. After that, you can add additional honey without waking the
yeasty beasties. Try adding about a cup at a time, tasting after each
addition until you are happy with the balance.
Mind you, I haven't had to do this yet, but I hear it works.
------------------------------
Subject: Reducing the Acidity of Cyser
From: docmac9582@aol.com
Date: Mon, 14 Jun 2010 14:49:33 -0400
Max Nicol asked about reducing the acidity of his fermented cyser. Note that
you probably want to have some residual acid tang to balance residual sugar
in the cyser. If you have fermented to a very dry cyser, you might want to
try adding a bit more honey instead of (or before) reducing the acidity.
My suggestion is a sequence of goblets with different amounts of added
honey and conduct a group taste test. {My preference is from 3 to 4.5%
residual sugar as measured by the Potential Alcohol scale on your hydrometer
- but others like it drier or sweeter.}
If the cyser has the appropriate amount of residual sugar, I was then
going to suggest that you add a bit of chalk or potassium bicarbonate,
but a quick check of a wine supply store descriptions suggested that for
some reason potassium bicarbonate was better pre-fermentation and potassium
bicarbonate was better for final acidity adjustments. I am sure sodium
bicarbonate would also work (baking soda), and leave the sodium salt instead
of the potassium salt. Even better might be a mixture of the two or three,
so no one compound would leave any recognizable taste. The supply shops
suggest using an acid testing kit, but my suggestion would be incremental
additions in a series of goblets and determine the desired level by taste
(along with your spouse and friends). I don't know the kinetics of the
reactions and some of the acids are bound and in equilibrium. So before
adjusting the whole batch, I would allow an adjusted sample to sit overnight
and taste it again the next day to assure that you have what you want.
Carl McMillin, PhD
Brecksville, OH
------------------------------
Subject: Peter Bennell's presentation and Golden Rod Honey
From: docmac9582@aol.com
Date: Mon, 14 Jun 2010 15:08:09 -0400
Dick Adams asked for Peter Bennell's presentation. A quick Google found it at:
http://www.littlefatwino.com/bennellmead.html
In his presentation, he suggested golden rod as one of his favorite honeys.
Of the 15 or so different types of honey I have fermented, golden rod (a
bucket from Dutch Gold) has been my least favorite. I used the 20 gallons
I made (WL720 sweet mead yeast) in a strawberry cinnamon mead that I gifted
for a wedding and it was fine as the base mead. Any comments from other
mead makers on mead from golden rod honey?
Carl McMillin
Brecksville, OH
------------------------------
Subject: RE: mellow out a Cyser
From: Craig Bryant <craigkbryant@hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, 14 Jun 2010 23:55:16 -0400
Beyond time, which will tend to mellow overly acidic wines, your best
options are blending and sweetening. Blending is only an option if you
have another mead lying around that lacks tartness, but sweetening deserves
consideration. A sweeter wine can support more acid than a dryer one.
You might add brown sugar in increments, tasting as you go, or you might
go for fresh apple juice.
By the way, did you add acid to your cyser when you made it? I've just
about gone off acid additions altogether.
Craig
------------------------------
Subject: RE: need a quick to drink mead
From: Craig Bryant <craigkbryant@hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, 14 Jun 2010 23:59:41 -0400
Joe Mattioli's Ancient Orange Mead, waiting for you in many locations on
the other side of a Google search, can indeed be drinkable within three
months, although God knows it's something of a crap shoot. The absolutely
vital thing is that you make it exactly as specified--do not try to
"fix" the recipe by using wine yeast or zesting the oranges or something.
The bread yeast leaves lots of residual sugar, which covers flaws in the
fermentation, and the bitterness from the orange pith balances what would
otherwise be excessive sweetness. For such a crazy-looking beast, it's
actually carefully balanced.
Craig
------------------------------
Subject: mellow out a Cyser ("Dr. Curt)
From: "Kurt Sonen" <KurtS2@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 2010 00:15:32 -0400
> -----Original Message-----
> I've got a cyser that is about 14-16 months old (I do know
> exactly, but that info is on a different computer), that I've
> just racked. as part quality assurance, I tried some, and it
> is *VERY* tart. I know you are all going to say let it age,
> but this being my first ever Mead type drink (I've been
> brewing beer for ages and always wanted to get into mead, but
> this is my first venture), and I'm so eager to get into it.
>
> What can I do to mellow it out a bit? I'm in the UK so will
> probably not have access to a lot of stuff you Americans can get.
Honey. Try backsweetening it. That should do it....
Kurt
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #1476
*******************************
