Mead Lover's Digest #1370 Tue 18 March 2008

 

Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor

 

Contents:

Re: Aceromel? ("Erroll Ozgencil")
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1369, 9 March 2008 ("Dennis Key")
RE: Weight of apple juice ("Bill Pierce")
Re: Cider recipe (Dick Dunn)
Some questions about sugar (ashford@whisperpc.com)

 

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Subject: Re: Aceromel?
 From: "Erroll Ozgencil" <errollo@gmail.com>
 Date: Sun, 9 Mar 2008 13:56:10 -0800
 

> is there anything in the heating process that is necessary
> to bring out the full flavor of the maple?
> … it seems dippy to burn a lot of pricey fuel in the boil and
> then turn around and thin it out.

I've wondered about that myself, but don't have access to maple sap.
I've read that honey and maple syrup are similar in that they're both
sugar syrups with different sets of "impurities," but different in
that maple syrup gets its characteristic flavor from boiling while
honey's distinct flavor and aroma are already in the nectar. So there
may be some method in boiling down the sap, then cutting it with
water. If I had access to enough maple sap, I might try it several
different ways:

sap, brought up to SG 1.090 with sugar, then fermented
sap, brought up to SG 1.090 with maple syrup, then fermented
sap, brought up to SG 1.090 with honey, then fermented
sap, boiled down to SG 1.090, then fermented
maple syrup and water to SG 1.090, then fermented
honey and water to SG 1.090, then fermented

You might not like all of these, and you might not want (or be able)
to do all of these, but they would give you a lot of information about
how maple syrup and sap are affected by fermentation. So would
blending these with each other, after the fact. With that information,
you could concoct a blend of sap or syrup with just the right amount
of honey. Get that right, and worry about the name later.

Erroll
http://www.washingtonwinemaker.com/blog/

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Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1369, 9 March 2008
 From: "Dennis Key" <dione13@msn.com>
 Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2008 09:13:43 -0600
 

  Subject: Cider recipe
   From: MeadGuild@aol.com<mailto:MeadGuild@aol.com>
   Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2008 05:47:24 EST
 

I would like to make a 3 or 5 batch of cider for my light lager drinking
friends using pasteurized apple juice. The target is 8 to 12% ABV
with an FG between 1.025 and 1.050. The apple juice will be either
Juicy Juice or Motts. Does anyone have a recipe they have used?

 

What is the expected weight of a gallon of apple juice?
Which herbs and spices will enhance its flavor?
How long should it age?

 

Best regards,

 

Dick

• —

Richard D. Adams, CPA (retired)
Moderator: misc.taxes.moderated

 

I'd use an ale yeast or any other with an alcohol tolerance of 8-12%.

Discuss this with your supplier. Just pitch the started yeast into the
three or five gallon primary filled with cider. When it ferments to dryness
(SG 1.00 or less) add about 1/4 cup honey per gallon and let it ferment
until it stops again. Keep this up until there is no more fermentation.
Check the FG and adjust with more honey if it is too low. This will
technically be a cyser. I use the same spices one uses in an apple
pie–cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and add a small amount of them around
the third racking. You can adjust for taste at subsequent rackings.
Be careful because too much spice doesn't taste good. On the other hand,
besides having five fingers, you could add increments of cider instead
of honey to get the same result and keep it a pure cider. This "pushing"
the brew is a technique I learned from Duncan and Acton's Making Mead.

 

If you are anywhere near apple orchards or farmers/growers markets, I

suggest buying your cider in bulk from one of them. I have three orchards
near me in New Mexico and get really good flash-pasteurized organic cider
for $6.00 a gallon. The last batch I got from the Manzano Mountain
Retreat orchard is so sweet, I can ferment it to a Champaign or Cuvee
yeast's tolerance (around 18-20%) without adding honey and it still has
a good residual sweetness and FG around 1.01-1.02.

 

Wassail! Dione Greywolfe

 

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Subject: RE: Weight of apple juice
 From: "Bill Pierce" <BillPierce@aol.com>
 Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:12:41 -0400
 

Dick Adams asks about the weight of a gallon of apple juice.
Because specific gravity (density) is defined as weight per unit
volume relative to water, this is easy to calculate. Merely
multiply the weight of 1 gallon of water (8.345 lbs. at standard
temperature/pressure) by the specific gravity of the juice. For
example, if the S.G. is 1.050, the weight of 1 gallon is 8.76 lbs.
(8.345 * 1.050).

Bill Pierce
Cellar Door Homebrewery
Burlington, Ontario

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Subject: Re: Cider recipe
 From: Dick Dunn <rcd@talisman.com>
 Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2008 23:37:52 -0600
 

Dick Adams wrote:
> I would like to make a 3 or 5 batch of cider for my light lager drinking
> friends using pasteurized apple juice. The target is 8 to 12% ABV
> with an FG between 1.025 and 1.050. The apple juice will be either
> Juicy Juice or Motts. Does anyone have a recipe they have used?

(I'm responding semi-straight-faced, hoping this isn't a troll.)
Juicy-Juice apple – Chinese apple concentrate, shipped to the US and
reconstituted. Wonderful stuff (not).
Mott's is also from concentrate; not sure from what country.

Both are too overprocessed to make a good cider–the result will have a
"cooked" taste (applesauce overtone) from the concentrating and pasteurizing
steps, plus "thin" (watery) from the wrong type of apples and filtering.
About like trying to make a wine from Juicy Juice Grape.

Commercial juice like that will only get you to 5% abv if fermented out
completely. So 8% would take a lot of added sugar and of course 12% a
huge amount; the result will be "hot". But think: do your lager-lad friends
drink 12% beer??

Are you actually thinking about a cyser? Seems you might as well, if you
need to boost the strength that much. Honey would add some character to
offset the raw alcohol.

FG of 1025-1050: Are you kidding or did you drop a 0? 1050 is sweeter
than UNfermented apple juice or soft drinks. Come on now.
(Diane [my wife] suggested just adding vodka to apple juice–why bother to
ferment, then re-sweeten so much?)

> What is the expected weight of a gallon of apple juice?

We're meadmakers; let's talk SG instead.
Table fruit would normally give juice at 1.040-50 fresh-pressed. Grocery
store juice is standardized (since it's almost all from concentrate anyway)
to 1.040. This is 28 g sugar in 8 US fl oz.

> Which herbs and spices will enhance its flavor?

Generally, none wanted for a good cider. A poor or thin cider can be
offset by "apple pie spices": cinnamon, nutmeg (very cautiously), and
perhaps ginger (gingerly).

• —

Dick Dunn rcd@talisman.com Hygiene, Colorado USA

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Subject: Some questions about sugar
 From: ashford@whisperpc.com
 Date: Sat, 15 Mar 2008 11:24:08 -0800 (PST)
 

I'm looking into getting a refractometer, and was wondering what the effect of
the alcohol would be on the measurement. To clafiry, I want to be able to
accurately track the sugar content of the mead as it ferments, without the
results being effected by the level of alcohol. If there's an easy way to
ignore disolved solids (other than sugar), that would also be useful.

I'm considering something like these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=220210769299
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=380005255442

The second question has to do with sugar extraction from fruits, combined with
the sugar released by the use of enzymes (amylase, etc.). The sugar comes out
of the fruit slowly. Also, the Amylase and other enzymes slowly liberate
sugar. These two processes mean that the initial SG reading will probably not
include the sugar from these sources. How do you compute this?

Finally, what sugar content number should be used for fruits? As an example
of the issue, I recently used some dried dates and raisins in a mead. The
calculator at GotMead shows a sugar content of 10.28% and 19.0% respectively
for these fruits, but the labels on both show 29g sugar per 40g serving
(72.5%). What is the correct value, and why?

Thanks for your input.

Peter Ashford

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End of Mead Lover's Digest #1370

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