A sulphite question. It seems that whenever I add sulphites,

no matter if it is in the must or the finnished mead, they seem to never
go away. The usual dosage I use is one camden tablet per gallon (is this too
much?) and even after many months the mead still smells and tastes as if the
dosage was just added.

My most recent batch was made with no sulphites or acid and appears to be

devoid of this problem, so I would tend to think the sulphery aroma/flavor is
not due to my process. Am I in error here?

If this is, in fact, the problem, how long should I expect to wait for the

sulphites to disappear from the flavor profile? "Rotten Egg Show Mead" really
doesn't sound too appealing…

Thanks,

Ed_I

Also, thanks to all that responded to my bentonite questions.

iaciofano@milkwy.enet.dec.com

Hi and Thanks to everyone for their insights
in to mead making.Hopefully my 1st batch
will come out great because of everyones help.
Something I haven't seen discussed was how
high does one fill the bottles.In brewing
beer one should leave a small space at the
top for proper carbonation.Is it the same
for mead.

Thanks and keep up the good work

DaveP@eworld.com writes:
>Edme Ale yeast has been one of my
>standbys, and I'm actually moving more toward using lager
>yeasts for many of my meads. Again, honey is the point of

Interesting about lager yeasts… I too use Edme almost
exclusively (tried Munton and Fison recently but too
alcoholic for me), and have received tongue lashings from a
local "expert" for doing so. Hmph. And in regards to your
comments about using interesting honeys — definitely. I
love scouting for the weirdest honey I can find. The folks
I'm getting it from around here give it to me utterly raw,
no filtering, watering, nothing. It's very "spicy" honey,
never tasted anything like it. Some of that gets lost to
the fermenting, but a bit comes through. Mmmmm 🙂

I have made mead for the past 2 years. Recently a brewing friend of mine
was telling me that vinegar drinks brewed from honey and herbs or
vegetables, were made and drunk during roman times and during the middle
ages. He said that these drinks were the soda pop of the time, kind of
sweet-sour. Does anyone have any recipes &/or knowledge of these drinks?
Janelle Embree
(janelle@qnet.com)

Hi All:

Here are the winners in the 1995 Mazer Cup Mead Competition.
We had 111 entries in the eight categories and not a bad one in
the bunch (except for the Pale Ale that somehow got entered as a
Traditional, which means that somewhere, someone is going to be
REALLY surprised when they pour out what they think is beer!).
Congratulations to ALL of those that entered, the level of quality
has continued to improve year to year. I hope this is due to
experience and education, but I may be wrong, especially when one
considers this years BoS. Watch this space for recipes

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

place/meadmaker/mead name/special ingredients

Melomel 40 entries
1… Robert Pollard Cherry Delight Dark sweet cherry
2 Franz and Leslie Broz Pan-Cito Lyon Loins mead Ollalieberry
3 Wayne Sutherland MarionBerry Marion berry

Pyment 10 entries
1 Michael Wiley Dr Pymento, Jr. Muscat
2 Michael Wiley Beau Knows Mead Gamay
3 Robert Joseph Sparkling Mountain Nectar Grenache

Show 23 entries
1 Brian Ehlert #4 Buckwheat honey
2 Steve Dempsey Thanksgiving Mead Part 1 Clover/wildflower
3 Goeff Revees Grendel's Cup Blue/Mojave desert

Metheglyn 11 entries
1 Brian Ehlert #3 Serrano
2 Ronald Raike RO Mead #1 Maple, orange etc
3 Mike and Jan Sternick Filmore walnut leaf Black walnut leaf

Traditional 10 entries
1 Dave West Wildflower honey
2 John Carlson Sweet Surprize Ambrosia honey
3 Marie Verheyen Citric Mead Clover honey

Cyser 11 entries
1 Steve Dempsey Cyser? I Hardly Know Her!
2 Marie Verheyen Cyser
3 Franz and Leslie Broz Apple Cyser

Braggot 5 entries
1 Dave West Sour Cherry
2 Micah Millspaw Manannan Mackie Peated Malt
3 Larry Thiel Braggot

Hippocras 1 entry
1 Christine Taber Christmas with Friends Orange, spices

And last but certainly NOT least…..
Best of Show went to Brian Ehlert for his stunning Buckwheat Honey
Show Mead which he has succinctly named #4. Please tell me it wasn't
your 4th batch! The recipes will be posted for the first place
winners in each category as soon as I get the time. Until then……

Dan

Since I just began receiving the MLD, and I've seen several references to
bottle problems I thought that I'd throw in my @ cents.
Most inportant there has been a tend in the glass manufacturing industry to
make lighter beer bottles, many have burst ratings as low as 3 bar ( 45psi) I
would tend to be vary cautious of newer beer bottles. I stay with old
returnable types and good quality champagne bottles ( no andres ). Most of
the older bottle will take 250 psi.

micah millspaw