Mead Lovers Digest #1522

Published in

· 6 months ago

Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1522, 1 May 2011 
From: mead-request@talisman.com 

Mead Lover's Digest #1522                                  1 May 2011 

                      Mead Discussion Forum 

Contents: 
  Heart of Darkness FG (Michael Winnie) 
  Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1521, 20 April 2011 (Tim Leber) 

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Subject: Heart of Darkness FG 
From: Michael Winnie <mwinnie@att.net> 
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2011 09:38:43 -0700 (PDT) 

I made a clone of Ken Schramm's Heart of Darkness melomel recently and was 
wondering what others target for a FG. Mine's finished at 1.005 and needs some 
sweetening. If you have made this before and liked the results, what gravity 
did you end up bottling? 
 Best regards, 
Mike Winnie 

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Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1521, 20 April 2011 
From: Tim Leber <brewer@leberhall.com> 
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2011 16:31:47 -0700 

 RE: Unwanted Effervescence 

Dan 

Yeast are tough little organisms and just because the solution looks clear, 
there can be several hundred per mL floating around.  When you racked the 
mead, it picked up some oxygen and that gave the yeast enough of a boost to 
get them to ferment that last little bit of sugar.  Now to start an 
argument...The only way to be sure that your mead will not continue to 
ferment in the bottle is to use some form of sorbate and campden tablets. 
This is a double shot that will keep things nice and still.  My process for 
sweet meads is to add campden tablets, 24 hour later I sorbate, 24-48 hours 
after that I cold crash to 35 C, 5-7 days after that I rack and bottle. 
Since I started that I have never had a sparkler. 

RE: Oxygenation 
Oxygen is a limiting factor to yeast grown and adding it to the must is 
allow the yeast to use it for sterol synthesis.  Sterols are required to 
keep the yeast cell walls pliant and the yeast healthy.  Pure oxygen is an 
easy way to go, but the old carboy shake dance works well too. 

Tim Leber 

- --  
Illic est haud solvo prandium 

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End of Mead Lover's Digest #1522 
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