Thanks for entering, everyone.

Ken Schramm
Mazer Cup Mead Competition
Troy, MI

Curt

Curt Speaker
Biosafety Officer
Penn State University
Environmental Health and Safety
speaker@ehs.psu.edu
http://www.ehs.psu.edu
^…^
(O_O)
=(Y)=
"""

> Currently, I have almost 5 gallons of cyser/metheglyn that has lost
> all taste EXCEPT the alcohol (16.5% from montrachet). Tastes like
> either dimatap or listerine. I've been thinking about using some
> jams/jellies to flavor and sweeten back smaller batches of this. That
> would dilute the alcohol content, sweeten, and flavor at the same time.
> I've got strawberry, peach, apricot, and damson plum jellies. Would also
> innoculate with pectic enzyme and K-sorbate.
>
> Any suggestions? Thanks.

Try calling up Hoptech, or look them up on the web. They sell very high
quality fruit essences for a reasonable price. I have used them a number of
times, and had good results. Just follow the instructions, the flavors are
easily added at bottling time. One bottle will do 5 gallons.

(Not an employee of Hoptech, just a satisified customer)

Mike Kidulich, President Emeritus/BJCP Coordinator
Upstate New York Homebrewers Association
mjkid@rochester.rr.com http://www.ggw.org/unyha/

<< How do you guys deal with replacing volume lost during racking, or do
you? Should I just allow the volume to decrease each time I rack, or
add some water, or add some water and honey, or none of the above?
Would it make sense to replace the volume with a water/honey mixture in
the same porportions as the original must for the first rack or two? >>

This is one of those innocuous sounding questions that will generate a war.
But I'll bite: First, headspace isn't a problem during active fermentation. So
you could start with a little more mead than you need in a large fermenting
vessel to start, then rack to a smaller one having planned ahead your batch
size. If you rack further and are facing a lot of headspace for a prolonged
aging period, you could either top it off (preferably with finished mead or
water, so as not to restart fermentation) or — this is kind of cool — add
sanitized glass marbles from an aquarium shop or winemaking shop to take up
space in the carboy.
But do start with bigger batches! You can buy carboys in 6.5 gallon, 5 gallon
& 2.8 gallon sizes, for example, and can use 1 gallon apple juice glass jugs
as well. So you can meet a lot of meadmaking needs by mixing & matching these
containers.
Steve

• –> From: Matt Birchfield <peridot@usit.net>

• –>

• –> I have a quick question about what I hope is a normal occurrence, but

• –> may be a contamination problem:

Normal.

Well here is the one I have 2 batches of running right now. and it is a
very nice one.

4 Pds Clover/wildflower mix Honey (from north texas region)
2 pds Buckweat Honey
4 Gallons of Organic Cider (NO PRESERVATIVES!!!!!)
1 cup of light brown sugar
1 whole nutmeg
3 teaspoons of nutrients (1/2 tsp per gallon)
1 Pkg Liquid Sweet Mead Yeast (this is the good stuff worth the price!)

a) Mix 1.5 gallons of water (bring to heat until WARM) then drop

all honeys, brown sugar,whole nutmeg, bring to a boil,
then Boil for 10 mins,skimming the top

b) Let cool
c) Pour 3 cider gallons into your 5 Gallons Carboy
d) Prepare your must from the Liquid Sweat yeast (read instructions on that
one, before you even start boiling your water!!! and 1/2 cup of mixed
ingredients
e) pour the cooled ingredients into the 3 gallons of cider
f) pour in your must
g) top off (leaving space at top) with the remaining cider in bottle.
h) I like to mix it one last time before I put it away…

(word of advise…)

Make sure you put your carboy in a bathtub for the first 3 nights.
Mine fermentation was atomic (I mean atomic!!)
but only lasted 1 night…

I rake every month for the past 4 months, the smell was wonderous in the house
and it has reached 8% alcool right now.. enjoy

enjoy
Patrick Bureau
aka Patric De Long-coeur (steppes)

Patrick Bureau
SCA Name: Patric de Long-Coeur
Kingdom of Ansteorra,
Barony of the Steppes,
Burning Thunder,
Dallas, Tx
Mead Maker and Archer.

I haven't written in in while (or sampled my ever aging stock of the

magical substance). I am presently sipping a 3 year old dandelion sweet mead
and I am reminded of the reasons that I started making mead. Good, good
stuff…..
Happy Brewing,
Dave Fougeron

Dear Bryant,

There are a couple of suggestions that I can make, that may help out
your cyser.

First, I just recently learned that cysers, unlike other mead types,
need to be left on the lees (dead yeast sediment) for an extra month or
two to encourage a malo-lactic fermentation. Since you have already
racked your mead, you can do as I have done with a recent cyser, and
purchase a package of malo-lactic yeast. I got 2 grams (enough for 100
gal) for around $7. Just add a very small amount (1/8 tsp) to your
carboy and re-attach the lock. Wait about a week, and, if all goes well,
the cyser should be much smoother. What the malo-lactic yeast does is
break down the malic acid present in apple cider into a much milder
lactic compound, taking away the "rocket fuel" taste, and replacing it
with a much smoother, caramel flavor.

Since you used Monterachet Yeast, you may need to age your cyser for 1-2
years before the medicine flavor disappears. From what I have read,
Monterachet Yeast creates phenols that give the mead this flavor. They
will age out, this I know from experience. It just takes forever.

I would reccommend against adding jams or jellies to your mead, as the
pectin present in them will keep your mead from clearing well. In fact,
and addition of pectic enzyme may help to remove any cloudiness that
hasn't fallen out of the must.

MerryMead,
Brian

<< Can someone send me, or post to the digest, a good cyser recipe?>>
(snip) (-then noted that his first attempt produced…..)
<<1st cyser…very dull flavor, mostly too dry. >>

Gregg, I can't help with the recipe end, but would like to note that there

are ciders and there are ciders. One kind of cider maker uses whatever happens
to be available (most supermarket cider), and that tends to be the eating
apples, such as red delicious (not very delicious in my estimation), that
didn't make the grade as fresh fruit.

The classical, greatest cider apple is the northern spy, and you just

can't beat that, if you can find cider made from it. Check local orchards and
see if they press any spys. Unfortunately they are no longer common, as they
show bruises so easily that they just don't go well in the modern distribution
chain.

If not, and you have to live with cider that is predominately from bland

apples, try to add some apples with more zing, such as granny smith, idared,
or even some crab apples. Some of the old, wild hedgrow apples (that I grew up
with), you'd never want to eat, but they made great cider. The favored
varieties may be different in your region, but you ought to be able to find
someone knowledgeable about what makes a really good cider. Cider making is an
art, and there are some great artists in the cider making business. It would
be worth it to find one, for a great cyser, just as it's worth it to find a
beekeeper who fusses with the honey to get the very best……

Or you might find it worthwhile to press your own.

Dave Green SC USA
The Pollination Home Page http://www.pollinator.com
Jan's Sweetness and Light Shop on the Internet (honey & beeswax candles)
http://members.aol.com/SweetnessL/sweetlit.htm

Date: March 5, 1999
Subject: Braggots

Hello fellow meadmakers!
I have been a lurker for sometime and love the digest! But I
have a question. I am going to attempt to make a braggot.
The problem is that I have never seen a recipe for one,
or tasted one. I have formulated a recipe using lots of carmel
malt and belgium Special B with mesquite honey. I am shooting
for a O.G. of 1.150. I want to use the Abbey ale yeast to add some
complexity. If anyone has suggestions or sample recipes, PLEASE
email me or reply to the Digest. Thanks everyone in advance.

Jennifer Fimbres
Tucson, AZ

>I have some commentary to share, and at the end, some questions. A couple of
>months ago someone on this list mentioned that the ancient Irish brewed a
>mead and used hazelnuts to flavor it.
>
>As a mead-maker, and a vehemently Irish SCAdian, I was intrigued, and couldn't
>get the idea out of my mind. I knew my next mead project would be a big batch
>of piment (Elizabethan mead) and a smaller batch of the experimental hazel-
>mead. Here is the recipe I concocted tonight:

[….]

>Here, then, are my questions.
>
>- -I know other people read the original post about this recipe. Has anyone
>besides me tried to duplicate it since then? What are your results?
>
>- -Does this hazel-mead have an Irish name? (Like "Mil agus Cno Coll" or
>something? I speak OK Gaelic, but I'm kinda reaching here! 😛 )
>
>- -Is the resulting brew considered a mead, melomel, metheglin or what?
>
>- -What other flavorings could we throw in?
>
>- -What specific passages in Irish literature can be cited to document that
>this recipe is period? (This is in case I want to enter it in an A&S
>competition.)
>
>- -Aside from it being the "drink of heroes", what other significance did
>hazel-mead have to the Irish? Did they drink it more than, say, uisce
>beatha or beer?

Below is a repost of some stuff I put out on MLD and the historical
brewing list during the discussion Scott Murman initiated on Irish
meads. I'll try and post some more background info at a later
date.

From: Dan McFeeley <mcfeeley@keynet.net>
Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1998 09:50:24 -0600
Subject: hist-brewing: More on Irish Meads

I thought list members might be interested in a sampling from Robert Gayre's
_Brewing Mead_ and Amy Ransome's _The Sacred Bee_ on Irish mead. As I'm
sure readers are aware, both of these books are quite old. Gayre was
originally published in 1948 and Ransome in 1937. Although widely
recommended, some of the material is historically and anthropologically
dated and therefore questionable.

Any comments or critiques of the material below would be very welcome.

>From Gayre, pp. 54, 59-60:

>From the widespread distribution of the word mead in all its variants
throughout the Ayran world, it is clear that we ought not to limit our
study of its use to our Anglo-Saxon and Norse ancestors in these islands.
Their enemies, the British Celts in the West and the Slavs in the East, were
not unacquainted with its use, and so far as the Britons were concerned, they
held it in no less high esteem than did the court of King Alfred the Great or
the earlier and ruder Harolds, Olafs and Beowulfs. Pliny, speaking of the
British Celts, tells us that "these islanders consume great quantities of
honey-brew" (mead). We also learn that it was drunk by the Gauls, in nearby
France, where we learn they had a rich mead called 'zythus' and a less
generous one known as 'corma'.<

>Britain was, of course, called, among the Celts, by the bardic name of the
"Honey Isle of Beli" which, no doubt not only referred to the quality of its
honey, but had an oblique reference to the mead wine held in high esteem by
the Celtic nations.<

>One of our principle sources of information on Celtic mead lies in the
'Mabinogion' and related documents. Since these were written down in the
Middle Ages, after they had often been handed down for generations by oral
tradition, they obviously relate to much earlier times.<

[….]

>Among the Irish (as may be gathered from the Ultonian reference to the
satisfying qualities of old mead) the culture of the bee was as important
as among the Welsh, and a large part of the native Celtic (Brehon) laws is
devoted to it. Besides its use as a sweet and for cooking, its principle
use was, as elsewhere, for making mead, and, perhaps, at an earlier cycle,
ale too before the malting of barley had been discovered. At any rate up to
the Middle Ages mead and ale were the two chief drinks of the Irish. In
Gaelic poetry we read of the golden-haired Niamh describing paradise to
Ossian, and saying — "Abundant there are honey and wine." While a
princess handed to the great Irish hero, Finn Mac Cumall, a silver cup
filled with mead, with the words — "Mead, delectable and intoxicate."
Indeed, mead was in great request among them, and it was known as the
dainty drink of the nobles, and the great royal hall of Tara, where the
High-King of all Ireland ruled, was called the House of the Mead Circle.<

>Even (Irish) saints partook of mead. We find that St. Findian lived for
six days a week on bread and water, but, on Sundays, he feed upon salmon
and a "full of a cup of clear mead." There are also connections between
mead and the famous and popular St. Brigit, who, as Our Lord changed water
into wine, changed vats of water into mead. When the King of Leinster came
to drink the mead prepared for him it could not be found. Whereupon St.
Brigit, equal to the occasion, blessed the empty vessels which immediately
filled with mead.<

>A variant of mead was also drunk by the Gaels, and this was hazel mead. We
read, in the seventh-century poem, 'King and Hermit,' of Marvan drinking
this liquor, and Joyce tells us of hazel mead drunk from cups of gold.<

>From Ransome, pp. 189-190:

>As among the Germanic peoples, mead was the drink of the gods. When the
gods and heros sat down to meat, they devoured whole oxen and drank their
mead from vats. In the Celtic Paradise there are rivers of mead. The Irish
gods when they were sent to exile sought a paradise, situate in some unknown
isle of the west; the chief of the gods who went there was Manannon, son of
Le'r,(1) and he sang a song extolling this land of the gods:<

Rivers pour forth a stream of honey
In the land of Manannan, son of Le'r

>(1) He gave his name to the Isle of Man. Note that the fairies came from the
west; Fairlyland, the underground paradise, is in the west.<

>In some of these songs there is mention of a hazel-mead. A poem of the
seventh century, "King and Hermit," tells of Marvan, the king's brother,
who became a hermit and who rejoiced in the honey, the cup of "mead of the
hazel-nut," and the swarms of bees, the "little musicians of the world,"
which God had given him; and in the story of the four children of Le'r who
had been changed into swans, but retained their human mind, the daughter,
Finola, remembering their former happy life, sang:<

Yet oft have we feasted in days of old,
and Hazel-mead drank from cups of gold.

>Dr. Joyce, in his _Social History of Ancient Ireland_ infers from these
poems that "hazel nuts were sometimes used as an ingredient in making mead,
probably to give it a flavour." In the Highlands of Scotland, however, an
elixir is still remembered by the people made of "Comb of the honey and
milk of the nut." The Highlanders regard the hazel as a "milk" tree, the
"milk" being the white juice of the green nut. In many countries
the Mother-Goddess" is connected with trees whose fruit produces "milk"; it
was, as we have seen, an ancient custom to feed newborn infants on milk and
honey (*do not* feed honey to infants — because their immune system is not
fully developed, they are vulnerable to the spores of micro-organisms
contained in honey), and this hazel-mead may be a remembrance of this
custom.<

<><><><><><><><><>
<><><><><><><>
Dan McFeeley
mcfeeley@keynet.net

This talk of jamaica and tamarindo (which I love to get as drinks at my
local tacqueria) has me wondering about the idea of trying tamarind
mead. Extract or pulp, I wonder?

Jane (or Jilara, depending…)