This file received at Sierra.Stanford.EDU  93/12/28 04:56:43


Mead Lover's Digest #252                                  27 December 1993

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

Contents:
  An Experiment... (Jon Luckey)
  Mead recipe book title (Forrest Cook)

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Subject: An Experiment...
From: luckey`at`rtfm.mlb.fl.us (Jon Luckey)
Date: Sun, 26 Dec 1993 12:35:30 -0500 (EST)

After reading about tropical  (well, peach/mango) meads, I got to
thinking.  I really like the taste of Guava.  Now there is a commercial
Guava juice on the market, but its not cheap.  I'd like to make a
mead with that as flavor.  But then I recalled in the ethnic food
section that they sell tins of guava paste, more like guava jam that
is solifified.  Could this be used to flavor a mead.

Well the ingredients listed were, Guavas, refined sugar, citric
acid and pectin.  Good, no preservatives.  And may not need to add
any acid.  Not wanting to waste alot of honey if for some reason
there was something in the fruit or the level of acid to keep it
from fermenting, I decided to try a test run, to at least see if
feremtnation would kick in.

So I made a test feremtnor from a 2 liter soda bottle.  Melted a hole
in the lid with a soldering iron, and hot melt glued a fermentation
lock in it.  Sterilized the whole mess in bleach, rinsed it off and
put my must in it.

For 2 liters of must, I used 1/2 can of paste (about .75 lbs), 1 cup
of honey, and a little under one teaspoon of yeast nurient.

Well, its definitly fermenting.  But I am wondering about some other
things: 
  1) Will the refined sugar in the paste affect adversely the mead's
     flavor.  Or is it just more fermentable sugar.
  2) Do 2 liter soda bottles make good fermentors?  (since I was just
     testing to see if it'd go, I can live with it as a throwaway.  But
     should I let it finish?)
  3) since I had no campden, I tried to use just under boiling temps
     to sterilize the must.  Again, since this may be a throw away
     I wasn't concerned, because I can obtain campden for the main
     run.  But again wondering about salvaging the test, What are the
     odds of a non-pasturized must going 'bad'?
  4) What is the realtionship of the taste of a mead underway to its
     final aged flavor.  Can I taste the test batch an decide whether
     its good, or crap?

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Subject: Mead recipe book title
From: Forrest Cook <cook`at`stout.atd.ucar.EDU>
Date: Sun, 26 Dec 1993 23:15:00 -0700


Has anybody suggested "A Happy Meadium" yet?

Forrest Cook
email:cook`at`stout.atd.ucar.edu
ham:WB0RIO

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End of Mead Lover's Digest #252