Mead Lover’s Digest #177 Wed 21 July 1993

Forum for Discussion of Mead Brewing and Consuming
John Dilley, Digest Coordinator

Contents:

Re: Lavender mead (Leigh Ann Hussey)
Bergamot (Jane Beckman)
Cooling ("Larry Lynch-Freshner")
Bergamot (wild) (THOMAS VODACEK)

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Date: Tue, 20 Jul 93 9:07:30 PDT
From: leighann@sybase.com (Leigh Ann Hussey)
Subject: Re: Lavender mead

Dan McConnell writes:
> While I’m at it…. I recently came across a LARGE quantity of lavender (in
> bloom), lemon balm, sevaral mint varieties as well as many other aromatic herb
s
> and plan to do some mead experiments.
>
> Fresh or dried? How much lavender? How much lemon balm? I may make an
> infusion of each and add it to a finished mead to get a rough idea, but I woul
d
> prefer to ferment ON the lavender blossoms. Any help would be appreciated.

Well, as it happens, I have a prize-winning lavender mead, and the recipe
is even online here, so I don’t have to type it in… I have a new batch
fermenting on my hearth even as we speak. My buddy & I used the same basic
recipe for a mint mead, substituting fresh mint (an experiment; we’ll let
ya know). I’ve swapped in 2 pints of packed rose petals and decided that
next time I need to use more rose petals, or maybe a different variety
that’s more fragrant…


Article 649 of rec.crafts.brewing:

Path: sybase!leighann From: leighann@sybase.com (Leigh Ann Hussey) Newsgroups: rec.crafts.brewing Subject: Lavender Mead Message-ID: <22581@sybase.sybase.com> Date: 19 Aug 92 23:07:26 GMT Sender: news@Sybase.COM  Organization: Banshee Brewing Lines: 28 

I’ve had a few requests to post this recipe, so here it is, based on
H.E. Bravery’s Rose Mead, from HOME BREWING WITHOUT FAILURES.

Lavender Mead, January 1992

4lb honey 1/4t citric acid
1 pint lavender flowers 1/2t tannin powder
1/2t champagne yeast 1t yeast nutrient

Boil together honey and 1/2gal water for 5 min. Put flowers with citric
acid and tannin in a gallon jug and pour the hot liquid over. Let cool
in a sink of cold water to room temperature, then add yeast and
nutrient and further water to make a gallon plus a pint. Add the
airlock. Let ferment 1 week, then strain out flowers. Set the lock on
again and ferment until all quiet. Bottle and age.

Second Ferment: 112 days

Aging (so far): 109 days and already great.

Slainte!

  • Leigh Ann

Leigh Ann Hussey leighann@sybase.com
"Turkeys, heresy, hops and beer / All came to England in the one year."
What year was it?
Answer: 1520


Date: Tue, 20 Jul 93 09:34:42 PDT
From: jane@stratus.swdc.stratus.com (Jane Beckman)
Subject: Bergamot

>> Bergamont (sp???) is the herb that
>> is present in the tea. I have not seen it either growing or for sale.


> You can find bergamot at herb growers. You have to look real
hard, though, and check both the small and large garden stores. Like
the way I found "feverfew" last year…

Please do not confuse bergamot with bergamot mint, sometimes known as
"orange mint." The bergamot in the tea is bergamot orange, which is a
flavoring/perfumery agent, and a citrus tree. Bergamot mint is (as you
probably figured out) a member of the mint family with a fancied resemblence
to bergamot orange. They are not interchangable! I’m not saying that
you won’t get an interesting finish with bergamot mint, I’m just saying it
might not be the one you expected.

Jilara [jane@swdc.stratus.com]


Date: 20 Jul 1993 10:06:41 -0800
From: "Larry Lynch-Freshner" <Larry_Lynch-Freshner@taligent.com>
Subject: Cooling

                       Subject:                               Time:10:01 AM 

OFFICE MEMO Cooling Date:7/20/93

Dennis Lewis asked a question on cooling.

The main reason brewers chill their wort as quickly as possible has less to do
with DMS and more to do with infection. Wort that is cooling at a ‘normal
pace’ spends several hours at a temperature that is to warm to pitch yeast,
but to cool to maintain sterility. There are many, many bugs out there that
love warm, sweet stuff with no or little competition in it. I would say this
still holds for mead must, especially if no acid is added. Even if you added
some acid to it, why take chances?

Larry L-F


Date: Tue, 20 Jul 93 13:41 CST
From: THOMAS VODACEK <87749194@ucs.uwplatt.edu>
Subject: Bergamot (wild)

Well, I used to have many hobbies before settling on
brewing, and I remember that here in Wisconsin, especially
Northern Wisconsin, that there is a lot of Wild Bergamot
growing all over. It is very closely related to the domesticated
flower. I’m not sure what part to use, except the flowers. The dry
flower remnants last all winter and into the next summer. When fresh
picked they have no odor at all, but crush the dried remnants, which
are a mass of tubes in a fat umbrel shape, and a very strong (very)
smell is released. I am unsure if I would like this smell in my
mead, it smells sort of like a bar of deodorant soap. Perhaps
this only gets this way after drying, either that or the smell of
the flowers has changed drastically in domistication. Not a bad
smell for a room freshener when put in water on the woodstove on a
clear winter’s day though.

Zone 87749194@uwplatt.edu



End of Mead Lover’s Digest