Mead Lover's Digest #1376 Tue 27 May 2008

 

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

 

Contents:

digest email changes soon (Mead Lovers Digest Admin)
Re: Newbie Melomel (MeadGuild@aol.com)
residual carbonation (dan@geer.org)

 

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Subject: digest email changes soon
 From: mead-request@talisman.com (Mead Lovers Digest Admin)
 Date: Tue, 27 May 2008 12:42:16 -0600 (MDT)

I'll be making some changes to email handling for the digest very
soon–between this digest and the next one. The intent is that there
be no visible difference, just sort of rearranging the electronic
furniture within talisman.com. However, if you do see a problem, please
let me know at
mead-request@talisman.com

tnx

Subject: Re: Newbie Melomel
 From: MeadGuild@aol.com
 Date: Wed, 14 May 2008 00:05:59 EDT

"Vicky Rowe" _gotmead@gotmead.com_ (mailto:gotmead@gotmead.com) wrote:

> Check brix every 12 hours and watch for foaming which indicates the end of
> the lag phase

I just watch for foaming which is akin to watching for bubbling in the
airlock. 😉 Checking brix is well-taken advice.

> Batch Management:
> At end of lag phase aerate well and add a mixture of 4 grams Fermaid K + 2
> grams DAP rehydrated in 50 ml H2O
At www.lalvinyeast.com/nutrients.asp, the Fermaid K fact sheet, Lallemand
suggests adding half of the Fermaid K after pitching the yeast, i.e.,
at the beginning of the lag phase and does not suggesting rehydration.
While I have no problem with rehydrating nutrients, what is the advantage
of waiting for the end of the lag phase before pitching the nutrients?
I have not added DAP with either Fermaid K or Fermax. What is the advantage
of the extra DAP?

> Aerate twice daily until 1/3 sugar break (***this is really important to
> ensure a clean, fast ferment***)

>

> At 1/3 sugar break add 6 grams Fermaid K rehydrated in 50 ml H2O and aerate
> well

I induce 90 seconds oxygen after pitching the yeast, again after 12 hours,
and adding Fermaid K at the 1/3 sugar break. However, I am experiencing
???mental disharmony??? about adding oxygen once the stationary phase has
begun (which I presume is well before the 1/3 sugar break). Unfortunately,
I have not been able to find a cite in support of my concern about the
risk of causing oxidation. Please enlighten me.

> (What is the sugar break? Note your starting gravity, and break that area
> between your starting gravity and a gravity of .999 into thirds. These
> thirds are your sugar breakpoints)

Is there any significance to the 2/3 sugar break point?

> At this point you want to stir as opposed to aerating your must, so a lees
> stirrer is an essential tool. Keep stirring daily

> Oskaars' Stirring Commandment (you'll see him preaching this on my site, and
> he's right, it *works*)

>

> Note: If you are not religious about stirring daily then you will not have
> optimal results when lees aging. Stirring is a vital process during the
> fermentation of this specific mixture because it keeps breaking up any
> colonies of spoilage organisms that may exist in the must, and exposes them
> to the highly competitive yeast, as well as the rapidly rising alcohol level
> which at about 16-17% ABV will be a strong barrier to any infection.

Oskaar is a sage and I am becoming more religious with each batch. But at
what point should stirring stop?
Dick

  • —

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

Subject: residual carbonation
 From: dan@geer.org
 Date: Thu, 15 May 2008 07:37:34 -0400


I am finding petillence that I do not want. I am asking here as I've now
had several batches show the presence of unwanted carbonation, and have
only one theory on where it might be coming from.

The unwanted carbonation is in bottles that are six or more months in the
bottle, and which were 10-12 months in the carboy before being bottled.
"In the carboy" means a primary fermentation, a movement to a secondary
after 30-60 days depending on fermentation activity, retention in the
secondary for 8-9 months, and then bottling. This note is prompted by
a bottle that blew its cork out this morning (bottle was head down, so
"bottle rocket" takes on its other meaning). It was bottled at 1.026 on
December 20th last, having been in the secondary for ten months at that time.
Ignoring that example, I have found unwanted carbonation even in bottles
that were corked at 0.998 after eleven months in the secondary.

My theory is autolysis based on having bottled from the secondary. In the
general spirit of purity as found on this list, I heat nothing, I filter
nothing, and I sulfite nothing. I can go to another round of decanting,
i.e., moving from the secondary to a carboy whose only purpose is to be
used in bottling, per se, but lengthening the time in the secondary is,
I suppose, also an option though at the capital cost of more glassware.

  • –dan

End of Mead Lover's Digest #1376

J
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