Mead Lover's Digest #0653 Wed 4 March 1998

 

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

 

Contents:

Racking tubes & small batches ("James Hodge")
Beeswax in mead (Randy Ricchi)
beer yeast for mead (Randy Paul)
Added flavorings (Jeffrey Rose)
mead digest (Matt Maples)
Corney storage (haafbrau1@juno.com)

 

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Subject: Racking tubes & small batches
 From: "James Hodge" <jdhodge@worldnet.att.net>
 Date: Sun, 1 Mar 1998 10:11:00 -0600
 

I am also a devotee of filling my racking tube with water to start
siphoning. The tube clamps that come with the racking cane and are
available at homebrew shops are ideal for doing this. Indeed, the dilution
this causes in a 5 gallon batch is not worth worrying about. I also use it
for small batches. To avoid dilution, I fill the tube with water, as
usual, place it into the mead or beer I want to siphon, and start the
siphon by opening the tube clamp. However, I siphon the water in the tube
into a glass until I see that the beer or mead has started to draw into the
siphon. At that point, I close the clamp again and transfer the end of the
siphon into the container I want to transfer my mead into.

Jim Hodge

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Subject: Beeswax in mead
 From: Randy Ricchi <rricchi@ccisd.k12.mi.us>
 Date: Sun, 01 Mar 1998 21:21:48 -0500
 

I made a batch of mead yesterday using bakers grade honey. After pouring
the honey out of it's bucket into water that was brought to a boil, I used
a pyrex measuring cup to gather some of the hot water/must to rinse the
remaining honey from it's bucket. When I was through, you could see a wax
film on the measuring cup. This film was very hard to wash off, even with
hot soapy (liquid dishwashing detergent) water and a lot of elbow grease.

I then noticed there was a waxy film on the surface of the must.
At that point, I decided I was not going to use my immersion chiller to
cool the must, because I figured it might be a nightmare to clean
afterward. I also decided I didn't want to rack this must into a carboy,
because then I would have a waxy film in my carboy.

I put the lid on the stainless kettle that the must was in and decided to
let it cool overnight. I would then try to skim the wax off in the morning
and pitch my yeast.

This morning, I found that there wasn't an unbroken skin of wax to be
easily skimmed off. It appeared that the wax was in many small particles
and permeated the must. I rehydrated and pitched my yeast (one packet each
of Coopers ale yeast and Whitbread ale yeast), and am now fermenting the
mead in the stainless kettle, with a towel draped over the top, and then
the lid on top of the towel (my usual open fermenting arrangement for some
of the ales I brew).

I have two questions:

1) Will the wax in the must fall out with the yeast after primary, so I can
rack to a carboy and not worry about wax carryover?

2) If I do get some wax carryover into the carboy, what can be used to
dissolve it and clean the carboy?

Any comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

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Subject: beer yeast for mead
 From: Randy Paul <randy@computer.org>
 Date: Sun, 1 Mar 1998 23:48:34 -0500
 

I've been searching the web for experiences using ale yeast in making sweet
mead. I found a few references, but they were somewhat conflicting and
minimally informative. I gather that a lot of cells need to be pitched,
that fermentation starts much quicker than mead yeasts, that I don't need
to adjust yeast nutrient quantity, and that I should anticipate
"off-flavors" that fortunately will dissipate over time. Can anyone offer
more advice and comment on what the "off-flavors" are, how long they take
to go away, and how long fermentation will continue? Will re-pitching
after activity quells help? How about yeast strains; I have a big amount
of healthy basic american ale yeast right now that I'd like to use before I
switch my beer brewing to something more exotic. I know that Dominion and
Victory Brewing both use this strain successfully with their superb
barleywines so it should be able to handle the alcohol. I could work up a
Belgian strain that is more easily alcohol tolerant but I'd prefer
something that ferments with clean flavors so I know what to expect before
experimenting with funky Belgian flavors. Finally, I'd like to see a few
comments on how good the final meads brewed with beer yeasts have been
(good and bad).

Thanks — Randy

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Subject: Added flavorings
 From: Jeffrey Rose <jeffrey_rose@eri.eisai.com>
 Date: 02 Mar 98 09:42:11 -0500
 

I made a vanilla/cinnamon metheglin with fresh vanilla beans and crushed
cinnamon twigs but, when I tasted it, there was virtually no flavor from
these additives. I decided to add some bottled flavor extracts (orange,
cinnamon, and vanilla) to empart the desired flavors. I've used flavor
extracts before with no problem but this time, a cloudy precipitate formed
when I added the orange and cinnamon flavorings. I thought the extracts
just contained oils in ethanol but I think they also contained glycerol. My
crystal clear mead is now hazy and the flavorings are too intense (I tried
to add incrementally by taste but the flavors became stronger over time).
Is this batch drain-worthy or is there a good chance that time will
correct my mistakes?

Jeff

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Subject: mead digest
 From: Matt Maples <mattm@ipacrx.com>
 Date: Tue, 3 Mar 1998 09:39:21 -0800
 

Every once in a while I take all of the individual digest entries in the
archives and append them into one big MLD text file. I find it useful now
and again when I want to branch out and do a batch I don't normally do. For
example last time I wanted some info on lavender mead. I just opened the
file did a quick search and got some great info for my next batch. I just
updated the file for the last 7 months. The file now contains MLD #10
through #651. It is a 2 meg zip file and if anyone wants it is at
www.pacifier.com/~cfl. I'm now sure how long I will be able to leave it
there but I hope it will be there until the end of the month. If you find
this useful please drop me a note so I can tell if it is worth uploading to
the net or not.

Matt Maples
mattm@ipacrx.com

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Subject: Corney storage
 From: haafbrau1@juno.com
 Date: Wed, 4 Mar 1998 08:47:12 -0500
 

Here's an idea I had about corney keg storage of mead. If anybody knows
why this is a bad idea, please post your explaination. Since storing
mead in corneys would be much like storing in crown capped bottles, i.e.
airtight and non breathing, why not periodically purge the blanket CO2
and repressurize the keg? Wouldn't this also purge any phenols and
what-not, allowing better maturation? Just a thought.
Paul Haaf
haafbrau1@juno.com

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End of Mead Lover's Digest #653

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