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Mead Lovers Digest #1531
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1531, 9 July 2011
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #1531 9 July 2011
Mead Discussion Forum
Contents:
Time in Primary, cyrstalized honey (Spam-a-holic)
pear mead (Micah Millspaw)
The Mead finish ? ("Mark Banschbach, SFO")
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1530, 6 July 2011 (David Vachon)
Re: Crystallized Honey (bill keiser)
Re: Saving the MLD ("Dan McFeeley")
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Subject: Time in Primary, cyrstalized honey
From: Spam-a-holic <spamalot@catscoffeechocolate.com>
Date: Wed, 6 Jul 2011 15:36:41 -0400
> I have a 3 gallon batch that's been in Primary fermentation since Sept 2010.
> It completed fermentation I just forgot all about it and now wonder if I can
> bottle it and am ok or have I ruined the batch by being on the dead yeast
> for so long? It's a still mead, slightly spiced. Thanks Keith
Far too much fuss is made about leaving mead on the lees, IMHO.
You've got less than a year on the stuff. Barring some sort of
filtering most of us don't do, there's always some yeast in the
bottle, and it's fine there for decades. In point of fact there may
well be (per some discussions in beer fora) significant benefit in
aging to a long primary, as the mass of yeast do more than just turn
sugar into alcohol, given the chance. Rushing to get off the yeast
cake may actually slow down the transition to (pleasurable)
drinkability. Either bottle it and ignore for a few years or move it
to secondary, ignore for a few years, and then bottle and ignore for
a few more years.
> and has had a bumper heist of honey. As she uses organic practice and
> raw extraction, a lot of it has crystalised. This makes it harder to
> sell but I believe if the crystals are small it is still good for
> mead?
Use some organic (perhaps solar would suit?) heat, and the crystals
will go away, making it easier to sell again. Don't overdo the
temperature for best flavor retention. Or make it into mead, which
it's perfectly good for. Or whip it in a sturdy mixer/food processor
and sell it as honey jam for an extra cost premium!
There is nothing "wrong" with crystallized honey (though many an
ignorant person has "thrown it away because it was ruined!")
Lawrence H. Smith, Buxton School Librarian and Computarian
Lawrence@BuxtonSchool.org http://
www.BuxtonSchool.org
Cats, Coffee, Chocolate...Vices to live by.
------------------------------
Subject: pear mead
From: Micah Millspaw <MMillspaw@Silgancontainers.com>
Date: Wed, 6 Jul 2011 20:00:24 +0000
>Subject: Saving the MLD
>From: <wout@nivo-media.nl>
>Date: Tue, 5 Jul 2011 18:47:18 +0200
>So let's start with a question: in the front of my garden there is a huge
>pear tree. More than 100 years old. >Variety: Noord-Hollandse Suikerpeer.
>I love the flavor of this pear though the texture is bad. It's best just
>before yellow/ripe.
>I am planning to try a 10 liter (2,5 gallon) batch of mel. I think I'll
>make it dry at 12% because of poor >acidity of this pear, but I'll titrate
>the acid when I have the juice.
>The problem with this variety is, that "just before ripe" never happens
>for the necessary 20 kilos or so all >on the same day. Also it ripens
>very quickly.
>Any ideas? Freeze? Pulp ferment and add fruit every day?
I have had very good success with freezing fruit (all kinds) prior to
adding it to the ferment. The freezing seems to break down/ burst cell
walls in the fruit which later makes it more accessible to the hungry yeast.
I grow a variety of different grapes (another hobby) that never seem to
mature at the same time and so have to use the freeze method so as to only
do one crush.
micah
------------------------------
Subject: The Mead finish ?
From: "Mark Banschbach, SFO" <mrbear37@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 6 Jul 2011 18:02:23 -0700 (PDT)
OK Folks.. I have a question.
I have made a couple of batches (4 or 5) But I have made wines for about
20 years.. Here is the question.. The Mead finish... that thick kind
of cough syrup-y thick finish that Meads seem to have..... at least mine LOL.
Do all meads have that finish or is this common to all the meads ?
THanks in advance..
Mark
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1530, 6 July 2011
From: David Vachon <vachon.david@comcast.net>
Date: Wed, 6 Jul 2011 22:09:26 -0400
> I have a 3 gallon batch that's been in Primary fermentation since Sept 2010.
> It completed fermentation I just forgot all about it and now wonder if I can
> bottle it and am ok or have I ruined the batch by being on the dead yeast
> for so long? It's a still mead, slightly spiced. Thanks Keith
Keith,
I have left Meads on the yeast for about a year or so with no or very
little ill effect. My suggestion, add a bit of ginger to cut any
yeasty aromas/flavors that may be present. Grate the ginger, add it
when racking and then filter it out next time you rack. I would give
it a couple of months with the ginger and add a piece about the size
of you thumb. I've made a few ginger meads now and if you like
ginger, you will love it in your mead.
David
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Crystallized Honey
From: bill keiser <sharpstik@verizon.net>
Date: Thu, 07 Jul 2011 07:16:31 -0400
i had a 5 gallon bucket of honey arrive completely crystallized. the
seller apologized, but i didn't mind.
i put it up on a milk crate with a small light bulb in it, propped up
so it didn't contact anything and allowed circulation, covered it with
a tent of blankets. after a week or so, it was completely liquified.
putting the bulb to one side will help by itself, but a tiny fan might
help to maintain even temp and circulation.
i remember when my grandmother's honey bowl had crystals in it. i
don't know if the flavor was really any better, but i considered it as
good as candy and was frequently caught eating it from the bowl!
modern commercial honey is pasteurized, presumably to sterilize it,
but it also prevents crystallization if i recall. maybe that is enough
to change the flavor.
personally, i've never heated my honey or mead any more than to loosen
up the honey and help it dissolve.
bill keiser
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Saving the MLD
From: "Dan McFeeley" <mcfeeley@keynet.net>
Date: Thu, 7 Jul 2011 09:46:31 -0500
On Tue, 5 Jul 2011 in MLD 1530, Wout Klingens wrote:
>In my active meadmaking days we had fierce
>interesting discussions between my meadmaking
>friends Dan MacFeeley (Dan, still there?), Chuck
>Wettergreen and me. And a lot of others obviously.
Hello Wout! Good to hear from you. I?m still here,
mostly lurk these days.
I don?t do much with fruit, but I?d guess that
it would be best to harvest the pears as they
ripen, cut and chunk to the right size and then
freeze them. Once you?ve got enough, you
can start the process. As I?m sure you already
know, freezing helps the juicing process, helps
break down cell walls to release more juice.
<><><><><><><><>
<><><><><><>
Dan McFeeley
------------------------------
From: wilf how <wilf1979@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 7 Jul 2011 17:11:43 +0100 (BST)
From: "keith and chris gill" <k.gill@comcast.net>
Date: Sat, 2 Jul 2011 18:52:25 -0500
I have a 3 gallon batch that's been in Primary fermentation since Sept 2010.
It completed fermentation I just forgot all about it and now wonder if I can
bottle it and am ok or have I ruined the batch by being on the dead yeast
for so long? It's a still mead, slightly spiced. Thanks Keith
Keith,
Taste the mead and if its ok then bottle. It really depends on how much
yeast was there and whether it broke down into something that gave an
unpleasant flavour. After all champangne is deliberatly aged on the yeast
so it can be good under the right conditions.
A bigger problem might be oxidisation if the airlock dried up but again tas
te to see whether you like it.
It won't do you any harm,
Subject: Re: crystalized honey versus non
From: John McCue <john_mccue@verizon.net>
Someone in the list that is a scientist might dispute me, but I have
found it to be the case. When I buy honey that is "fresh" I will often
set it aside for a few months to crystalize and to develop it's flavor
more before making a mead with it.
John,
I am very curious about this comment and would like to explore it
further. Being rather newer to mead than many here and not used to dealing
with large quantities of honey I am speculating that the honey is oxidising
giving you the flavours that you prefer?
Does anyone else have any suggestions as to what could be going on. It
was my understanding that honey was pretty much stable once in an airtight
container with very little change in flavour but I?ve never had enough
to experiment. John, how do you store your honey?
If you have a tough time getting the fermentation started with the
crystalized honey try getting some distillers yeast and mixing a starter
with a small amount of the distillers yeast and honey or honey dust and
water and then add that to your regular yeast strain of choice and you
should get a very active fermentation.
No doubt you would get a very active fermentation but what merit is there
in adding your chosen yeast strain after the distillers yeast is up and
running. The regular yeast would surely be outcompeted by the distillers
yeast because of the much larger population and you wouldn?t get a
succession of yeasts because the distillers yeast would have a much higher
alcohol tolerance than the regular strain. Do you get a different flavour
profile to when just using distillers yeast?
Subject: Saving the MLD
From: <wout@nivo-media.nl>
The problem with this variety is, that "just before ripe" never happens for
the necessary 20 kilos or so all on the same day. Also it ripens very
quickly.
Any ideas? Freeze? Pulp ferment and add fruit every day?
Wout- I would freeze if you have the space in the freezer. If you are
adding fruit every day then I find it pretty hard to regulate your volume.
Others may have a different view, I suppose either method will work.
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End of Mead Lover's Digest #1531
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