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Mead Lovers Digest #1631
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1631, 26 April 2013
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #1631 26 April 2013
Mead Discussion Forum
Contents:
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1630, 23 April 2013 ("Shaggyman")
Re: Filtering/Fining a melomel (Phil)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1630, 23 April 2013 ()
RE: Filtering/Fining a melomel? ("Dempsey, Steve AZ")
Re: Lalvin D-47 wine yeast: (Richard Koppinger)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1630, 23 April 2013 (Tim Leber)
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Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1630, 23 April 2013
From: "Shaggyman" <shaggyman@fairpoint.net>
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2013 10:03:01 -0500
> Filtering/Fining a melomel? (Caroline Taymor)
> Do you have any experience dealing with a melomel with lots of bits of
> fruit in it? Any suggestions?
Use a package of Super Kleer K.C.- Follow the instructions and it should
settle out all the gunk overnight.
Lane O AKA: The Great And Powerful Shaggyman
Never pick a fight with an old man.
If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.
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Subject: Re: Filtering/Fining a melomel
From: Phil <dogglebe@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2013 07:57:31 -0700 (PDT)
Caroline,
>From what you've written, it sounds like you oxidized the living hell out
of your mead. That, unfortunately, is not a good thing.
There is a little gadget called an Auto-Syphon. It's a racking cane/hand
pump combination. It allows you to restart a syphon even there's only a
little liquid left to move. I recommend that you get one for future racking.
The next time you rack (whether through a racking cane or auto-syphon)
wrap the bottom of the cane with a copper scrubbing pad. Just secure it
with a rubber band. The scrubbie catches the solids on a wider surface
than a hop bag, reducing the chance of clogging. When it happens, you
can just give the scrubbie and cane a quick rinse and start the syphon again.
In regards to the fining agent, you'll need to use pectic enzyme to get
rid of the pectic haze created by the fruit. In addition to this, you
will need to use another fining agent on the batch. I recommend Super-Kleer.
Hope this helps.
Phil
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1630, 23 April 2013
From: <dgr4@cox.net>
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2013 11:09:22 -0400
> Subject: Filtering/Fining a melomel?
> From: Caroline Taymor <ctaymor@gmail.com>
> Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:21:29 -0700
I have been making fruit meads for a number of years with fairly good racking
results (pomegranites excepted(; ), I like to slice the fruit and put it in
a bag with a little pectin enzyme over night in the fridge, then process
it in a blender until mostly liquid. I add this to a 3 day fermenting
mead in the primary. after 4 or so weeks, you'll get a nice separation
in the middle of the carboy, spent yeast and most of the fruit matter on
the bottom and often a thin layer of fruit matter on top that refuses to
sink, I put the racking cane in with the sediment cap on the bottom just
above the the sediment layer, being careful not to disturb the yeast bed,
I stuff a clean paper towel in the neck of the carboy to hold the racking
cane in place then start the siphon. as the siphon progresses you can slowly
slide the bottom of the cane into the sediment bed against the side of the
carboy and even slowly tilt the carboy back to minimize any wasted liquid,
this technique has worked pretty well for me with most fruits, and after
a 2nd or 3rd racking over the course of fermentation and aging, results in
a nice and clear mead at the end with no additional fining products required.
Davis R
------------------------------
Subject: RE: Filtering/Fining a melomel?
From: "Dempsey, Steve AZ" <steve.az.dempsey@intel.com>
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2013 16:50:50 +0000
>From: Caroline Taymor <ctaymor@gmail.com>
>
>...Do you have any experience dealing with a melomel with lots of bits of
>fruit in it? Any suggestions?
I have had numerous successes with melomels including peach
that have a deep fluffy sediment, as well as bits that seem
to have neutral buoyancy and never drop, by using bentonite.
Its advantage is just being heavy, pushing big bits to the
bottom. The lees also can become more compact than with
other finings that may leave a very clear top product
layer but deeper sediment layer.
- -Steve
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Lalvin D-47 wine yeast:
From: Richard Koppinger <shieldmaidenmead@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2013 09:52:09 -0700 (PDT)
Henry,
I've just started a cyser that seems to be going well with Lalvin D-47.
I'll let you know as things progress.
This is the first time I've used Lalvin D-47 since I made my first batch of
mead about four years ago. I wound up dumping it down the sink thanks to
fusels that formed because it fermented at too high of a temperature. I was
told that D-47 was very susceptible to fusels under these circumstances,
but I can't speak with any authority on that subject.
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1630, 23 April 2013
From: Tim Leber <brewer@leberhall.com>
Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2013 17:44:34 -0700
Filtering/Fining a melomel?
I make a lot of melomels and I do two things to keep the pulp from clogging
up the racking canes.
First I bought a couple of brew-in-a-bag bags from the homebrew shop and
put all the fruit in one of them. This means you end up in a bucket, but I
shoot carbon dioxide from my kegging rig over the top and seal them up for
secondary. Then when the time comes I can lift out the bag of fruit mush
and let the mead sit for a few days and rack off of whatever little bits
are left.
Second, and this was hard for me, I learned not to be greedy. I rack off
the clear mead and stop when it gets into the pulp in the bottom.
I have also had good luck with using bentonite up front to help the extra
floaties flocculate out with the yeast, but found I don't need to since I
now bag the fruit as above.
Tim Leber
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End of Mead Lover's Digest #1631
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