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The Netherlands/Dutch Connection

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Sorry, I bought this at a marketstall in Leiden.

For great sausages try http://www.brandtenlevie.nl. I haven't touched other dried sausages since, and their fresh sausages aren't half bad either. Their site has a map showing nearby shops and restaurants.

I am still finding my way in meadmaking. I have done a BOMM, cyser BOMM and a herbal BOMM and am working on a JAOM and a JAO with raspberries. I am thinking of backsweetening a couple of BOMM bottles for SWMBO while waiting for the JAOM.
 
I must say that meadmaking is addictive. Whenever I get stressed I put together a new one or order new ingredients. It is like a slow version of high school science class, with less explosions.
My brother in law recently brought me a bottle of Fleischmann's after a business trip. And I ordered 71b, 1118 and Red Star Cote des Blancs together with cubes of Hungarian Oak to try recipes from Schramm's and Piatz's books.
 
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1388 it was, it went straight to 1,01. Unless I really screwed up the conversion I did everything by the book. I must say it is quite a chore to do the conversion, Loveofrose uses several types of measuring units in different recipes.

I noticed two recipes that got published after the Gotmead radio broadcasts. The BOMM and the JAOM got a makeover via a WordPress tool. You can switch between US and "the rest of the world" units and also scale it up and down. I wish Loveofrose would do the same for all of his recipes.

The backsweetening is for SWMBO who likes it a bit sweeter. I will drink everything but things like Radler and Mort Subite. Too sweet for me.
 
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Does bottle shape (bottom) matter?

Maybe some of you native Dutch folks can explain this. I've encountered a perception here that folks think that wine in bottles that have an indentation in the base is better than bottles that have a flat base. Any ideas on where this perception/myth came from ?
 
The indentation in the bottom is to collect lees still dropping from the wine as it matures. This helps it collect there and stay there and not mix while pouring wine from the bottle. Especially with sparkling wine and champagne which (in the old days) were made with a bottle re-fermentation this was important since the second fermentation would cause additional lees to build up. This is why champagne bottles nowadays still have a deeper indentation than for example red wine bottles.

The indentation is called a 'soul' by the way. The soul is often also dotted so its surface area is increased and the lees has more surface to attach too.
 
Interesting.. and makes sense. Not sure it is the indication of quality that some think it to be, but certainly is a practical application. I think Fatbloke uses cut soda bottles for the same reason to get the lees out of the last dribbles of his batches.
 
GntlKnigt1 said:
Interesting.. and makes sense. Not sure it is the indication of quality that some think it to be, but certainly is a practical application. I think Fatbloke uses cut soda bottles for the same reason to get the lees out of the last dribbles of his batches.
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Traditionally it would have been an indicator (one of) since glass was quite expensive back in the day. Blown glass with an indentation against the standard flow pattern was very expensive. I'm sure some con-men tried to get a reasonably expensive bottle and fill it with cheap wine to sell but as a rule people wouldn't waste a lot of money buying expensive bottles if their cheap wine was sold for a cheap price anyway.
 
In winemaking it's called a "punt." From "The Wine Bible, 2nd ed" by Karen MacNeil:

"The punt was a way of preventing the jagged pontil mark--the point left over after a glass bottle was blown and shaped--from scratching the surface of a table. By pushing the pontil up into the interior of the bottle, a punt wa formed and the table was saved... With Champagne bottles, however, the punt has an even greater purpose. During secondary fermentation, which ultimately gives Champagne its bubbles, six atmospheres of pressure are built up inside the glass wall of the bottle. The Champagne bottle's prominent punt allows for a more even distribution of pressure inside a bottle, preventing the disastrous explosions that were a common and serious problem for early Champagne makers."
 
I have just sent a letter to European manager of Lallemand inquiring about availability of Fermaid nutrients and yeast, and also asking about the difference between Fermaid E and Fermaid K. Will post his reply here if/when I get one.
 
GntlKnigt1 said:
I have just sent a letter to European manager of Lallemand inquiring about availability of Fermaid nutrients and yeast, and also asking about the difference between Fermaid E and Fermaid K. Will post his reply here if/when I get one.
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I went that route before I settled with baldinger. They connected me with a bulk supplier and when I shot that supplier an email about 1kg or 2.5kg packs the guy told me they're 2.5kgs and asked how many boxes (which contain several packs) I will need. I was ashamed to tell him I only really wanted a single 1kg pack and never replied. Hope you have better results Gntlknigt1
 
Am not familiar with Baldinger. I usually look to shops in Almere, one in Brussels and Amazon Germany and sometimes Amazon UK. One shop in Portugal has some of It in 2.5 kg packages. Perhaps if enough people ask, someone will make it more widely available in smaller quantities. Certainly doesn't hurt to ask again, and again, and again

Sent from my D2403 using Tapatalk
 
Except it costs almost double to buy 750g (~Eur80) rather than 1kg (~Eur41.35) from Baldinger. It's still worth paying the taxes for buying from a non Eu country. And I only pay the taxes if I buy something very heavy, not by just buying 1kg of Fermaid O. Plus the Fermaid from the Swedish site is a repack. I'd rather buy a factory sealed pack if possible
https://www.baldinger.biz/shop/fermaid-o-hefenaehrstoff-1-kg/
 
You're right !!!!(I think). The confusion is that the bag says 2.5 kg, but the tag in the window says CHF 47.90 pro kg, which would be much cheaper. You have purchased 1 kg from them? How much was it? Are you saying there were additional taxes on it ?
 
GntlKnigt1 said:
You're right !!!!(I think). The confusion is that the bag says 2.5 kg, but the tag in the window says CHF 47.90 pro kg, which would be much cheaper. You have purchased 1 kg from them? How much was it? Are you saying there were additional taxes on it ?
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They use the same image for 1kg, 2.5kg and their 10kg boxes. But if you go into the 1kg item and choose just 1kg you should be shipped a bag of just 1kg. I actually bought 2.5kgs a while back but I had asked about the 1kg pack. Buying 2.5kgs makes it cheaper per kg. You might be taxed additionally for buying something within the EU from a non-EU country. In my case I would have to pay 18% VAT but if I were to pay the tax I would still not go above the price from the Swedish shop. I might also not get charged any taxes if I keep the weight and size of the package low. I was not taxed anything at all when I bought 2.5kgs Fermaid O and 1kg of GoFerm Protect. Check with your country's customs and regulations before buying so you know how best to go about buying from there ;)
 
VAT here is 21% (would be about 10 euros), plus I once got hit with a 13 euro fee for them intercepting a commercial shipment, so that adds 23 euros, plus whatever it costs to actually ship it. If all that happens, costs could be close to the same... I've also had at least one or two personal shipments from family with VAT charged on the estimated value of the contents. In short, they watch things pretty closely here.
 
Don't understand the commercial shipment part. Basically if you're shipped something from a shop you get a 13 euro fee? 21% should be just less than Eur9 but I'm not sure if they count shipping with that either. If shipping is also taxed it would probably be more than Eur10... Btw wouldn't you have to pay for shipping from Sweden too? Granted, it should be cheaper from Sweden (you never know though).
Something else to remember is that from Sweden you're getting 750g rather than 1kg. If you were to calculate the cost of getting the stuff from Sweden it would be closer to 1053SEK (~Eur106 according to google) per kg and it's still a repack. Are there ways to keep your customs low by keeping size and weight low like I can do here in Malta? Ideally we could find a "wholesaler" (not sure exactly what Baldinger is) like Baldinger but within the EU.
P.s I edited this post 4 times and keep remembering stuff. This thread is heading towards the nutrients and europe thread http://www.gotmead.com/forum/showthread.php/7838-Of-nutrients-and-Europe
 
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