>From MLD #581
Peter Miller wrote:

Rod McDonald <Rod.McDonald@dist.gov.au> and I made a mead ale from
Duncan & Acton many years ago. I have to say that from memory it was
rather insipid and uninspiring… (and bore _no_ resemblance to a
sparkling mead)

Care to comment Rod?

We made it when we were still rather novice brewers and I seem to recall (I
don't have the records with me) a comment about a scent reminiscent of viking
farts. We may have tried mulling it before composting it! My guess is that there
was an opportune infection from something undesirable. Haven't tried it since.

Rod

The spices you mention are exactly what I normally use when making
metheglin. I use 1 or 2 sticks of cinnamon, 5 to 7 cloves and 2 or 3
thin slices of fresh ginger root per gallon of metheglin. I put the
spices in a muslin, or cheesecloth bag and add them just after taking
the pot off the heat. I cover the pot and allow it to sit overnight.
By morning, the kitchen smells wonderful. I then reheat to about 160F.
When the must has cooled to proper temperatures, I remove the spice bag
and pitch the yeast.

• —

Marc Shapiro mn.shapiro1@mindspring.com

Visit 'The Meadery' at:
http://www.mindspring.com/~mn.shapiro1/index.html
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/1265/index.html

"If you drink melomel every day, you will live to be 150 years old,
unless your wife shoots you."

• –Dr. Ferenc Androczi, Winemaker of the Little Hungary Winery

Without looking back through previous issues of MLD, I am assuming that
the book in question is _Making Mead_ by Bryan Acton and Peter Duncan.
If so, the Ale Mead recipe in there contains no grain at all. It is
simply honey, water, hops and citric acid. The braggot recipe properly
contains malt. I have always made my braggot from grain (about 1 lb
pale ale and 4 to 8 oz crystal malt) and about 1 lb of honey per
gallon. I do use hops in mine, but only finishing hops, not during the
boil. I've never had any problems with tart tasts and I use whatever
honey I have available at the time. Just lucky, I guess.

HTH

Wassail!

• —

Marc Shapiro mn.shapiro1@mindspring.com

Visit 'The Meadery' at:
http://www.mindspring.com/~mn.shapiro1/index.html
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/1265/index.html

"If you drink melomel every day, you will live to be 150 years old,
unless your wife shoots you."

• –Dr. Ferenc Androczi, Winemaker of the Little Hungary Winery

Alexander, here. To answer your several questions:

1) A yeast starter is always a good idea. It helps insure that your
fermentation gets off to a fast, healthy start. After you have
rehydrated your yeast add an equal amount of your must and allow it to
sit until fermenting well (overnight is good). Then double the volume
again by adding must. Once this is rapidly fermenting you can add it to
the bulk of your must and know that you have viable, active yeast in
sufficient quantities to make your mead happy. It takes a little extra
time, but it's worth it.

2) Cool temperatures are always nice for fermentation, but, quite
frankly, I never worried about it when I was down there. I kept the
carboy out of the sun and let the yeasties do their thing.

3) The numbers are refering to starting and ending specific gravity
(usually abbreviated 'SG'). Yes, it does refer to the sugar content, as
sugar is the main item in the must which affect the SG other than
water. Do you NEED to worry about it? No. Is having a hydrometer and
checking these items a good idea? Yes! Knowing your starting and
ending SG will allow you to determine fairly accurately what your
alcohol content is. Otherwise, the only ways to determine the alcohol
content after the fact are either expensive, or not very accurate.
Knowing what your SG is also will help you reproduce your mead if you
make one that you like, or avoid duplicating your errors if you make one
that no one likes. These figures will also help us on the digest to
answer any questions which you might have about a specific batch. They
act as guideposts to let us know more about the must that you started
with and the mead that you end up with.

Say "Hi!" to Farflung for me.

HTH

Wassail!

• —

Marc Shapiro mn.shapiro1@mindspring.com

THL Alexander Mareschal Canton of Kappellenberg

Barony of Windmasters' Hill
Kingdom of Atlantia

Visit 'The Meadery' at:
http://www.mindspring.com/~mn.shapiro1/index.html
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/1265/index.html

"If you drink melomel every day, you will live to be 150 years old,
unless your wife shoots you."

• –Dr. Ferenc Androczi, Winemaker of the Little Hungary Winery

Thanks for any info,
Brett Beitzel
bbeitzel@biomail.ucsd.edu

>Sage Honey is very, very delicate. It can be used to make very light meads.
>Fermented out it can be almost as light as water in colour. It does not taste
>like the spice sage.
>
>micah millspaw – brewer at large

Rosemary honey is also very delicate, making a light almost ethereal
beverage. Similarly, the color is between very pale straw and water and the
typical rosemary spice flavor is totally absent from the honey. The
resulting mead has an unusual fruitiness in the flavor that throws most
people off. I have entered it in a couple of competitions with very
competent mead judges (either people whose skills I trust or commercial mead
makers) and the comments were peculiar: "Very pronounced grape aroma";
"very sweet and grape like", others alluded to a grapefruit note; few judges
made the connection between the fruity flavor and the honey, some going as
far as stating that the mead lacked honey flavor while questioning the
fruitiness. Being that the fruitiness was the main component of the flavor
profile, I was a bit surprised. But again, that honey is virtually unkown
in the US, which probably explains the comments. If you enter your sage mead
in competition, let me know what the results are. I would be very curious.

Cheers,

Francois.