Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1246, 4 February 2006
From: mead-request@talisman.com


Mead Lover's Digest #1246 Sat 4 February 2006

 

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

 

Contents:

RE: International Mead Festival attendees? (Leo Vitt)
Re: International Mead Festival attendees? ("Brian McGovney") ("Oskaar L….)
Re: Tannin in mead ("Dan McFeeley")
re: Chlorine usage (Robert Keith Moore)
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1245, 31 January 2006 (Jeannette)
When is it safe to bottle sparkling?, At what s.g. is it safe to bottle (D…)
bad choice of yeast at start – 2nd pitch ? ("John P. Looney")
meaders at the Mead Fest (MLCrary@aol.com)

 

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Subject: RE: International Mead Festival attendees?
 From: Leo Vitt <leo_vitt@yahoo.com>
 Date: Tue, 31 Jan 2006 11:34:53 -0800 (PST)

Brian asked:

>Who's going to the International Mead
>Festival next month? I'm all set to go, and was wondering if any
>MLD members would want to meet up for an MLD breakfast at the
>hotel one morning.

I plan to attend. I might be serving as a volunteer. How about
Saturday for the breakfast? Not too early.

Leo Vitt
Sidney, NE 

Subject: Re:  International Mead Festival attendees? ("Brian McGovney")
 From: "Oskaar L. Mildieu" <oskaar@dslextreme.com>
 Date: Tue, 31 Jan 2006 11:52:52 -0800

RE: International Mead Festival attendees? ("Brian McGovney")

Hi there Brian,

This is in answer to your quesiton regarding attendees of the 2006 Meadfest
in Boulder, Co.

There will be several people from gotmead.com com (see link below)

http://www.gotmead.com/smf/index.php?topic=3104.0

As well as people from many other forums and brew clubs. Take a look and
post an inquiry if you like.

Re: Meeting of Meaders (MLCrary@aol.com)

Hi Marcia and Rebecca!

There are 212 entries for the FIRST Home Mead Makers Competition at
the Festival this year! We're really happy about the number of entries.
It would be great to meet you folks, I'll be getting in Thursday in the
afternoon. Feel free to email me if you would like to get together with us.

Cheers,

Oskaar 

Subject: Re: Tannin in mead
 From: "Dan McFeeley" <mcfeeley@keynet.net>
 Date: Tue, 31 Jan 2006 14:05:51 -0600

On Mon, 30 Jan 2006, in MLD 1245, Rob Moore asked:

>Hey, do any of you guys add grape tannin to your meads?
>Does it make much difference? What is the recommended
>dosage?

There's a discussion on this subject currently in progress on
the GotMead forums. Look for Oskaar's responses and
you'll see some good information that will give some
excellent pointers. Title of the thread is "Opinions on
this recipe and procedure" in the Mead NewBees forum.
This URL will take you right there.

http://www.gotmead.com/smf/index.php?topic=3252.0

<><><><><><><><><><>
<><><><><><><><>

Dan McFeeley

"Meon an phobail a thogail trid an chultur"
(The people's spirit is raised through culture) 

Subject: re: Chlorine usage
 From: Robert Keith Moore <Rob@ineedachef.com>
 Date: Tue, 31 Jan 2006 16:56:55 -0800

Whoa!

A "cup" of bleach? That is OVERKILL to the extreme.

1 tablespoon per gallon is a lot.

I am a chef and have two restaurants. The recommended bleach usage for
sanitizing is 1 teaspoon per gallon of tepid water. What you are
sanitizing should be clean already. If you use too much bleach it will
leave a residue in the bottle that will kill the yeast. I might not know
much about mead making but I do Know my business. The over use of bleach
is a common mistake. Also, you might want to wear gloves, bleach will
dry your hand. They will look awful about an hour after you are done.

Robert 

Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1245, 31 January 2006
 From: Jeannette <JeanneNoSpam@comcast.net>
 Date: Tue, 31 Jan 2006 17:14:19 -0800

Hi Ken, thanks for writing. You said:

> I would be cautious about boiling all of these ingredients. Boiling
> will extract bitter elements which you may not want in your mead.
> Instead, I would either steep for 5 minutes or so in hot water, then
> strain and add the water, or add the spices to the primary and rack off
> of them immediately after the primary has completed (which should be in
> about 3-7 days).

In India, where masala chai originated, chai is made by combining milk, water,
sweetener, tea and spices, boiling then straining before drinking. My chai,
boiled strained then mixed with milk, is fine. That's the basis for this
recipe.

> > Pour over 12 lbs heated honey into
> > primary and stir to dissolve honey. Add cold water to 5 gallon level,
> > and 2 tbls vanilla extract. Pitch sweet mead yeast when wort cools to
> > below 90 degrees F.

> >

> > Ferment until dry. Rack into 4 pounds honey and more yeast nutrient.
> > Repeat ad nauseum 🙂 Eventually, add sorbate then rack onto honey for
> > sweetness, and mix with heavy cream to bottle.

>

> Bottling with cream is not a technique I am familiar with. Can you
> share your source for this method? Have you done this previously, and
> how did the mead turn out?
> If you haven't done this before and aren't aware of how it will turn
> out, you might want to try this with only a portion of your mead, and
> simply add the cream at the time of serving with the rest.

Try the recipes here: http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/cat/210/0.shtml

Thanks,
Jeannette 

Subject: When is it safe to bottle sparkling?, At what s.g. is it safe to bottle
 From: Damon Nelson <damonwolfnelson@yahoo.com>
 Date: Tue, 31 Jan 2006 23:38:01 -0800 (PST)

I was wondering at what specific gravity would it be
safe to bottle a sparking wine/mead in flip top style
beer bottles? Failing that, how much sugar would you
add per gallon to make it sparkling? I can figure it
out from there ;-). Normally I would let it ferment
all the way out, clear it, then sugar and bottle, but
I have a lot up in the air right now, and I might have
to bottle soon as I can and leave it in a friends
closet until things settle (like a couple years). I
would use champagne bottles and cages, but I'm also
poor and gotta use whats on hand.
Thank you,

Damon

 

Subject: bad choice of yeast at start - 2nd pitch ?
 From: "John P. Looney" <valen@tuatha.org>
 Date: Thu, 2 Feb 2006 19:31:30 +0000

I'm not sure what happened, but I have a sinking feeling I used strong ale
yeast, rather than a wine yeast in my initial fermentation. Compound this
with my hygrometer getting stuck under the lip of the vessel as I was adding
the honey/warm water mix (I usually top it off with some cold water
afterwards, to make sure my temprature & density is about right), and I've
got a mix that had an OG of 1100(!) or so, and now is 1073. I think that
works out about 4% alcohol and 20% sugar (by weight).

It was stowed for about six weeks, and the fermentation has ceased about
three weeks back. Can I pitch again, with a strong yeast, and get it to kick
off ? Is there anything special about hydrating yeast to prepare it for the
shock of its life ?

John 

Subject: meaders at the Mead Fest
 From: MLCrary@aol.com
 Date: Sat, 4 Feb 2006 21:56:35 EST


Greetings to all meaders,

Rebecca and I received a few replies to our suggestion of a get

together before the Meadfest, so here are the tentative plans

 

Meet at Marcia's anytime after 1:00 p.m. and plan to head over to the

meadfest around 3:30 (it begins at 4). We are looking at snacks, rather than a
real meal. Bring your notes on meadmaking and tales of meads made and tasted.
The address is 3600 Berkley Avenue, in Boulder. It is off of Moorhead Avenue.
From the Outlook, go west on Baseline (toward the mountains) just under the
viaduct, get in the left turn lane, turn left on 27th way, then immediately
left on Moorhead. All the streets will be on your right. Berkley Ave is about
1/2 mile. turn right on Berkley, go around the curve, the house is on the left.
Large blue spruce in the yard, big tarp covered mulch pile in the driveway. If
you want directions for the bike/walking path, call or email.

Some of you have offered to bring mead to go with the snacks. My

question is, have you been to one of these meadfests before? Do you have any
idea how much mead there will be when we get there? It is wonderful, amazing,
and more than I can manage to taste in the time we have. I love to share
home-brewed, but I strongly suggest that the tasting of home-brewed mead be
saved for either later Saturday evening, after the commercial mead is no longer
available, or maybe early Sunday afternoon – or even both, if you are able.
(anyone want to volunteer their hotel room?) I recognize that many of you
have more capacity than I have, but I think even Sir John Falstaff might find
the Meadfest a challenge.

Incidentally, a note on drinking alcohol at altitude. It does hit you

harder here where the air is thinner. Be sure to keep well hydrated during
your entire stay here, not just while you are drinking.

If we have lots of people coming to my house, and most of you have brought

mead instead of food, we could all be incapacitated before we even get to
the meadfest. So please, do try to bring a little bit of something edible to
share.I know that those from out of town can't just pop into the kitchen and
whip up a snack, but there is a grocery store (Wild Oats) across Baseline and
slightly west of the Outlook Hotel. I'd be glad to feed all of you if had the
budget, but unless tonight's lottery ticket is good, that is not very likely;
hence the potluck nature of the gathering. My experience here has been that
those who make and enjoy good mead also make and enjoy good food, so let's
do it!
Email me if you have questions, or call if you want to. My phone is
303-499-6575 at home-evenings are usually good. If you need to reach me
during the day, work is 303-262-3341. I look forward to meeting, and meading
all of you.

 

Marcia

 

End of Mead Lover's Digest #1246

J
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