Mead Lover's Digest #1344 Sun 30 September 2007
Mead Lover's Digest #1344 Sun 30 September 2007
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1343, 24 September 2007 Watering it down (Al ("c…)
Re: Watering it down (Mail Box)
Re: Peach Mango Mead Rcp. (Mail Box)
Fruit juices with honey added (MeadGuild@aol.com)
fermentation will not stop ("robert.white4")
milkweed honey (dan@geer.org)
10th Annual Hoppy Halloween Challenge ("Susan Ruud")
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Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1343, 24 September 2007 Watering it down (Al
From: "clfclem@juno.com" <clfclem@juno.com>
Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2007 16:31:14 GMT
My experience with watering it down has been successful. However, only be
cautioned that the flavor of your mead will be less rich and the alcohol
flavor will be more prevalent. Of couse that all depends on how much
water you add. That has been my experience. As for a question on my end,
I am curious how little water can be gotten away with when fermenting 12
lbs of honey. I typically hear that 12 lbs honey goes with 5 gal. of water.
Subject: Re: Watering it down
From: Mail Box <mail-box@comcast.net>
Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2007 18:13:21 -0400
> From: Alida Dunning <alida@alaska.net>
> Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2007 21:45:21 -0800
>
> Hey there
> I've had a great season for making mead: coconut, pineapple, dandelion,
> mango, and rose petal.
> My question: The rhodomel seems pretty syrupy. I'll let it go a lot longer
> before it is done, but it got me wondering if it is Ok to add water after
> the secondary fermentation to make it less syrupy. I'm not into sweet meads.
> I used lalvin D-47. I try to go for dry meads. I made a batch a few years
> ago with my neighbor who likes a high alcohol content. We made a "punch"
> flavor using cherry, strawberry, raspberry and fireweed blossom. I liked to
> add up to 50% water when serving. It really made it more drinkable and
> brought out the fruit flavors.
> So I'm curious about what would happen if I added say another gallon of
> water to the five gallon batch, abut a month old now, and then let it sit to
> complete any additional fermentation before bottling.
> Any thoughts?
> Thanks
Alida,
What is the FG of your rhodomel? It may appear syrupy for other reasons
than residual sugar, and other solutions such as balancing for acid or
Ph may be more appropriate than tippling.
To get a good idea of how your plan to add a gallon of water to the
batch would turn out, you can bench test it with 20oz of your rhodomel
and 4oz of water. But in any event, the context seems to suggest that
the fermentation is not yet complete. Making any changes after it has
completed, and be sure to account for any volume changes in your
Sulfite/Sorbate levels (if any).
Cheers,
Ken Taborek
Subject: Re: Peach Mango Mead Rcp.
From: Mail Box <mail-box@comcast.net>
Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2007 18:17:24 -0400
> From: "James, Trevor" <james@telfer.uottawa.ca>
> Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2007 11:23:14 -0400
>
> My daughter is looking for me to do up a Peach/Mango Melomel.
>
> I am looking at doing aobut 1 Gal batch (never do more than a gallon
> until you have something you like is my rule)
>
> so probabably 1 gal of water 2lbs (1kg) of clover honey, but how much
> peach/manog would the experts recommend.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> T. James
Trevor,
Peach is a very delicate flavor in a mead, while mango is fairly strong.
I'd suggest using a single mango in your gallon batch, or even less.
Peach will have a hard time competing, so I'd simply exclude it. Or
perhaps make a second gallon of peach melomel and blend to your taste.
10+ peaches should give you a detectable peach flavor.
Cheers,
Ken Taborek
Subject: Fruit juices with honey added
From: MeadGuild@aol.com
Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2007 01:12:06 EDT
Jack Keller posted a recipe for Welch's White Grape Raspberry wine.
_http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/request181.asp_
(http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/request181.asp)
Two lbs of Orange Blossom honey were substituted for 1-1/4 lbs of sugar.
The acid blend was omitted. A tsp of pectic enzyme was added to a
mixture of two cans of concentrate and two cans of water which was let
sit loosely covered for two days at 72F. EC-1118 was used because I did
not have a Sauterne yeast. OG: 1.079; SG at racking: 1.015; FG after 30
days in carboy:1.010. It was good, but very thick
I did the very same thing with Welch's Passion Fruit and got the pretty
much the same result. However, the passion fruit Mead was too acidic.
The thickness is easy is solve: use less concentrate.
Other than aging what will reduce the acidity?
Dick
- —
Richard D. Adams, CPA (retired)
Moderator: misc.taxes.moderated
Subject: fermentation will not stop
From: "robert.white4" <robert.white4@insightbb.com>
Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2007 18:58:12 -0500
Hey Mead Lovers,
I have a problem with a batch of mead that will not stop fermenting. It
was a very simple recipe; for 5 gallons I used 15lbs of buckwheat honey,
water and 2 packets of Lalvin 71b. The OG was right at 1100. I started
this batch back in January. The fermentation was slow but steady. Now
the taste is awsome (just the right balance of sweetness) and it has the
best clarity of any mead that I've made. I decide to stop the
fermentation so I crushed 5 campden tablets with 2 1/2 teaspoons of
potassium sorbate. I waited 2 weeks and the fermentation never slowed
down.Then I racked it from one carboy to another to get it off of the
remaining sediment and hit again with 5 crushed campden tablets along
with 2 1/2 teaspoons of potassium sorbate. Now it has been another 2
weeks and it is still bubbling away albeit a little slower now.
Should I hit it again with a higher dose or should I try something
else? I don't have the abillity to crash cool it but I might be able to
heat the entire batch but I'm not all "warm and fuzzy" about that idea.
Any help would be well received.
Thanks,
Rob W.
Subject: milkweed honey
From: dan@geer.org
Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2007 12:57:31 -0400
Has anyone experimented with milkweed honey?
- –dan
[ I never got an answer on "which contests are highest
in prestige" so if that answer is available, I'd still
appreciate it ]
Subject: 10th Annual Hoppy Halloween Challenge
From: "Susan Ruud" <susan.ruud@ndsu.edu>
Date: Fri, 28 Sep 2007 15:41:16 -0500
We would like to invite you to enter and judge at the 10th annual Hoppy
Halloween Challenge.
In keeping with the seasonal theme of Halloween, entries will be accepted
from October 1st to October 13th (Scary! Are you scared yet?). To make
entering the Hoppy Halloween Challenge as easy as possible, we have on-line
registration this year.
For the Mead categories we are accepting more than one entry in the
subcategories as long as it is obviously a different Mead. Ie: You can
enter both a Blueberry Melomel and a Peach Melomel rather than just one
entry/subcategory – the same goes for any fruit/herb/spice category of Beer
or Mead.
There is also a separate BOS Mead and Beer with very nice plaques in both
categories.
Complete details can be found at:
http://www.prairiehomebrewers.org/hoppyhalloween.htm
Cheers,
Susan Ruud
End of Mead Lover's Digest #1344
- Mead Lover’s Digest #1653 Sat 4 January 2014 - January 8, 2014
- Mead Lover’s Digest #1652 Sun 29 December 2013 - January 8, 2014
- Mead Lover’s Digest #1651 Sun 3 November 2013 - November 9, 2013