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Mead Lovers Digest #1567
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1567, 23 January 2012
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #1567 23 January 2012
Mead Discussion Forum
Contents:
Re: Apricot Mead: First Impressions at Bottling (Help Requested!) (Chazzone)
Re: Maple Mead (MeadGuild@aol.com)
Adding fresh Rosemary or Sage directly to a bottle a mead (Henry Murray)
Re: Apricot Mead (kmorgan1@localnet.com)
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Subject: Re: Apricot Mead: First Impressions at Bottling (Help Requested!)
From: Chazzone <chazzone@sbcglobal.net>
Date: Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:43:09 -0500
Tom. Did you taste the must before pitching? I'd expect that the
apricot flavor intensity was about the same, except that the
additional sugars made it seem that the flavor was more full.
Take a quarter cup of the same apricot nectar that you used for this
mead, and add a cup of water. This is close to the dilution that you
have in your mead. This will give you a base from which to determine
the flavor of your mead. Keep in mind though, that some of the flavor
ingredients are going to be lost, and you'll want to add additional
flavor to account for that. This is a good technique for formulating
recipes.
I'd also point out that the "apricot nectar" that was used was also
very high in water, as well as sugar (sucrose?), which does nothing
good for the flavor of fermented beverages.
I seriously recommend working with a much higher percentage of pure
juice.
- -zz
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Subject: Re: Maple Mead
From: MeadGuild@aol.com
Date: Fri, 20 Jan 2012 20:34:43 -0500 (EST)
Tim Gouge wrote:
> ... Meanwhile, I brewed two batches that day, a small strawberry
> batch, and a maple batch. ...
>
> My maple mead is REALLY sweet. I used 5 quarts of Orange Blossom
> Honey and nearly three quarts of Vermont Grade B maple syrup. I
> racked it three times, but I made the mistake of bottling it too
> soon. It is not clear unless chilled. But the flavor is rich and
> maple-y without the woody/barky taste that seems to accompany maple
> mead. I think I will try this one again but age it longer.
You didn't mention your batch size. But that's a lot of sugar.
Wyeast's Sweet Mead Yeast has a stated Alcohol Tolerance of 11%.
In a 5 gallon batch, your expected max ABV is 22+% and in a 6.5
gallon batch, your expected max ABV is 16%. So more than it needs
aging, it needs a yeast with a higher Alcohol Tolerance. Lalvin
71B-1122 will ferment to between 14% and 15.5%. Even with Lalvin
EC-1118 you can always stop fermentation.
Also consider fining or filtering for clarity.
It doesn't get any better than Vermont Maple Syrup. I've only
experienced that woody/barky taste in a straight Maple Syrup
ferment. I now add Maple Syrup at the 1/3 sugar breakpoint.
I took a gallon to Australia in '07. They never tasted anything
like it before!
Dick
- ---
Richard D. Adams
Ellicott City, MD
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Subject: Adding fresh Rosemary or Sage directly to a bottle a mead
From: Henry Murray <henry.h.murray@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 20 Jan 2012 20:44:44 -0500
To those of more experience than me in such matters:
I am going to add fresh rosemary or sage to a bottle of mead [~14 ABV] and
see/hope that the essence of the rosemary or sage can be extracted into the
mead. The whole thing might make a nice presentation? Any thoughts or
comments. How long should something like this set if it will actually
work? I am also hoping that the 14 ABV will keep bacteria at bay.
Hal Murray
The Meadery along the Musconetcong River
Bloomsbury, NJ
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Subject: Re: Apricot Mead
From: kmorgan1@localnet.com
Date: Fri, 20 Jan 2012 21:37:08 -0500
In digest 1566, Tom talked about his first mead.
Apricot Mead
9 lbs. Desert Mesquite Honey (3 @ 3lb cans from Trader Joes)
1 gallon Apricot Nectar (4 @ 1qt bottles of Looza Apricot Nectar --
Ingredients: Water, 40% juice, sugar)
Lavin 71B-1122 Yeast
5 tsp Yeast Nutrient
> Sounds like a lot of 'nutrient'. What kind of 'nutrient'?
Water to 5 gallons (largely from rinsing out honey containers and nectar
jars)
Placed in fermenter: 07/08/11
> What was the O.G.?
Fermentation lasted for about a week.
Racked to glass carboy: 07/26/11
Bottled: 01/15/12
> What was the F.G.?
Early on this mead developed a yellow-ish ring around the top surface of
the liquid.
> Particles of Apricot perhaps?
I've been a homebrewer for 20+ years and have seen nasty molds
grow on my precious wort due to improper sanitation and this did not look
like that. It more closely resembled the wash of pollen we get here in the
South in the springtime.
I took a quick sniff immediately after removing the airlock. Instead of a
nasty mold smell I was surprised by a very yeasty scent.
Although the mead appeared to be quite orang-ish in color in the carboy,
the mead coming through the clear plastic bottling hose was almost watery
in appearance. When I put some in a glass the color improved, but not
nearly as much as I had hoped for.
Most importantly, there was very little apricot taste, if any. There was
an odd "sparkly" taste, however.
> Apricot flavor is hard to get in a dry mead. As an experiment, I
> would try pouring a glass and adding a little sugar and/or honey to
> it, see if that improves the apricot flavor.
I've bottled this and shelved it until the summer for re-tasting. At this
point I'm thinking that it might well need a good shot of apricot brandy
poured into each bottle before I serve it to improve the taste.
As this is my first mead, I would greatly appreciate any
comments/suggestions/Monday Morning Quarterbacking from anyone here.
Many thanks!
Tom
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End of Mead Lover's Digest #1567
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