Mead Lover's Digest #1395 Sat 25 October 2008

 

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

 

Contents:

Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1394, 15 October 2008 (DaveL256@aol.com)
Melomel assistance (Matt Falenski)

 

NOTE: Digest appears when there is enough material to send one.
Send ONLY articles for the digest to mead@talisman.com.
Use mead-request@talisman.com for [un]subscribe/admin requests.
Digest archives and FAQ are available at www.talisman.com/mead
A searchable archive is at http://www.gotmead.com/mldarchives.html


Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1394, 15 October 2008
From: DaveL256@aol.com
Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2008 15:51:40 EDT


Subject: interesting mead yeast choices

i have been playing with multiple small batches of grapes this year, each
with a different yeast (3-5 depending on amount of grapes). i've been
comparing and ranking them just before i combine them at the press (10-25
days after inoculation). Some tentative notes:
QA 23 really brings out the florals (it was "designed" for Muscat type grapes)
D254 was at the bottom of my lists in 3 different runs (1 white, 2 red)
W15 gives nice esters, but twice gave me some H2S that additional nutrient fixed
i've used GRE in the past, but stopped using it as it is a "bayanus" strain
and i don't like those flavors
Rhone 4600 was at the top of the list for a rosé batch, tied with "Opale"
(which seems to enhance citrus notes).
>From the wine world….dave lustig

In a message dated 10/15/2008 12:06:21 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
mead-request@talisman.com writes:

I can read the lalvin website descriptions as well as anyone, so no need to
post those
descriptions for me, unless they are dead-on accurate for mead.

DV10
58W3
Rhone 4600
CY3079
D254
D47
GRE
1116
1118
QA23
RHST
W15


Subject: Melomel assistance
From: Matt Falenski <mfalenski@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2008 07:37:28 -0700 (PDT)


Hi All. I made my first sweet melomel on 08-08-08.
It was 20# clover honey and 5# blackberries in a 6g batch.
I added 2.5 tsp energizer, 3 tsp nutrient, and 1.5 tsp acid
to the must. I used 2 packs of EC-1118 yeast. I also made
a few nutrient and energizer additions every week or so since.
I believe the OG was 1.104. (Notes are scrawled)
On 08-27, it was at 6.89% alcohol and 1.078 and pH was 3.16.
On 10-24, it was at 12.54% alcohol and 1.035 and pH was 3.31.

Right now it is way too sweet so I was planning on adding about
a half gallon of boiled water to thin it out a bit. But I was
also hoping to get a bit higher alcohol.

Can I just add some more EC-1118? If so, how should I do that?
Make a starter with some of the mead before I add it to the full batch?
Dump in the pack? Or just let it go on its own?

I appreciate your input!

Matt
Greensburg, PA



End of Mead Lover's Digest #1395