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From: mead-request`at`talisman.com
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Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #520, 25 December 1996
Message-Id: <9612250006.AA00845`at`raven.talisman.com>
Date: 25 Dec 96 00:06:41 MST (Wed)


Mead Lover's Digest #520                                  25 December 1996

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

Contents:
  ale yeast / melomel (MicahM1269`at`aol.com)
  re: Burping the Mead & label stick-er (Dick Dunn)
  Re: & grape juice v. commercial wine conc. (Peter Miller)
  Re: bottling (Peter Miller)
  Re: Mead Lover's Digest #519, 21 December 1996 (William Chellis)

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Subject: ale yeast / melomel
From: MicahM1269`at`aol.com
Date: Sat, 21 Dec 1996 20:33:25 -0500

 A while back I asked about the use of ale yeasts with melomels. I would like
to report back my results. 
I started with a orange blossom must of 29 P ( 10 gallons ) and added 10
pounds of fresh frozen organic blueberries, crushed. I pitched 2 litres of
 MCBC yeast slurry. It took about three weeks at 65-70 F to ferment down to 6
P. This seems like a good place to stop for a demi - sec melomel. I racked to
soda kegs and an plannig to filter and carbonate. BTW it tastes great, very
blue berry. Previous blue berry melomels had been made with prise de mouse
and dried out to far.

micah - brewer at large

------------------------------

Subject: re: Burping the Mead & label stick-er
From: rcd`at`raven.talisman.com (Dick Dunn)
Date: 22 Dec 96 01:13:52 MST (Sun)

Murray Pinchuk <Murray`at`ottawa.iti.ca> writes:
> ...One question from my 
> research so far is: In still mead making don't you have to 
> de-gass/burp the finished mead before bottling in order to 
> de-carbonate?
...
> ...Doesn't all 
> fermented product have some post-fermentation carbonation?

Yes, it has a little bit.  It dissipates slowly over time, so if you've got
a mead sitting in a carboy for a month or two, most of the carbonation will
be gone by the time you get around to bottling.  What's left usually won't
be enough to worry about even if you are trying to be pretty strict about
the mead being still.

It's likely that you'll rack the mead at least once after the fermentation
is almost entirely done, and maybe once just before bottling.  Those, plus
the bottling itself, will knock loose the excess carbonation, for a couple
of reasons.  First, the racking process itself is moving the mead through
small-diameter tubing with opportunities for turbulence.  Second, the
siphon has a lowered-pressure zone at the top, which encourages some CO2 to
come out.  If you look carefully at the liquid flowing through the racking
tube, you'll often be able to see a lot of very fine bubbles.
- ---
Dick Dunn         rcd`at`talisman.com         Boulder County, Colorado  USA
   ...Simpler is better.

------------------------------

Subject: Re: & grape juice v. commercial wine conc.
From: Peter Miller <ocean`at`mpx.com.au>
Date: Mon, 23 Dec 96 09:36:28 -0000


>From: MKoop1`at`aol.com
>Date: Sat, 21 Dec 1996 11:20:56 -0500
>

>     Also, how about some discussion or suggestions concerning the advantages
>and disadvantages of using an organic grape juice with no chemical additions
>as opposed to using a commercial wine concentrate. 

I have a pyment with Lloyds organic shiraz grape juice running at the 
moment - it has behaved very well (vigourous short fermentation and 
clearing quite fast). Tastes very promising at this early stage. I don't 
think there's anything wrong with the concept except if you want to get 
the high tannin content of the grape skins (and good deep colour for 
reds). I'm of the opinion in any case that too much tannin in mead makes 
it a little too astringent, but I know there are some who like it (closer 
to a conventional wine IMO)

>I have my hopes up for the muscadines, since
>the woods in Alabama are lousy with them. 

.. and they're free...

>I also suspect that a combination
>of the two methods may have potential.  What do y'all think?

Hey, no rules! I say go for it. (Do you have any trouble with infection 
from the wild grapes? I tried some once (not exactly wild mind you - they 
came from a friend's backyard vine, but certainly not "cultivated" in any 
valuable sense of the word!) and they turned vinegar almost overnight....)

Peter.

                 ------ < ocean`at`mpx.com.au > -----
                 Perpetual Ocean  Music & Sound Design
                      http://www.mpx.com.au/~ocean/

------------------------------

Subject: Re: bottling
From: Peter Miller <ocean`at`mpx.com.au>
Date: Mon, 23 Dec 96 09:36:34 -0000

>Subject: Fwd: 
>From: bobbylew`at`ix.netcom.com (Robert L Lewis)
>Date: Wed, 18 Dec 1996 09:34:59 -0800
>
>Subject: bottling
>From: George Smith <smithg`at`panama.phoenix.net>
>Date: Sat, 07 Dec 1996 06:22:40 -0800
>
>It appears that the melomel mead  I was brewing has cleared. Do I 
>bottle
>it or do I wait for the S.G. to reach as certain point.
>
>- ------------------------------
>My 2 scents
>
>  Any Mead making book will tell you Clarity does not guarantee 
>donness.  (Donnage?)

Absolutely right - I have a crystal clear mead made on Patterson's Curse 
honey that is still visibly fermenting (and still a long way from 
finishing by my calculation). The only thing that will absolutely 
_guarantee_ no further fermenting is a complete absence of sugar in 
solution. 

>If they do 
>start up again, better in the carboy that in the bottle. (I don't know 
>whats worse, cork rockets, or those lovely gysers)

I vote for the geysers, especially when it's a mel made with blackberries 
- - lovely permanent record of the event...


Peter 


                 ------ < ocean`at`mpx.com.au > -----
                 Perpetual Ocean  Music & Sound Design
                      http://www.mpx.com.au/~ocean/

------------------------------

Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #519, 21 December 1996
From: William Chellis <wchellis`at`gwi.net>
Date: Sun, 22 Dec 1996 20:13:16 -0500

> My last  batch cleared quite nice except for when I move the bottles quite a
> cloud on the bottom, I would like to avoid that again, 

The way to avoid this is to rack off into new jug or carboy and allow to 
settle for another month.  Repeat if needed, then bottle. Bottling right 
fron the original brewing vessel, results in clouds no matter what is 
brewed.

bill

------------------------------

From: Friedman Abe <Friedman_Abe`at`ems.prc.com>
Date: Mon, 23 Dec 1996 10:20:58 -0500

  In response to Tom Lentz who wrote:

>   The labels come off easily enough for me.  I soak the bottles for an 
>    hour or two in a TSP solution and then scrape the labels off with my 
>    car windshield ice-scraper.  Sounds like work, but really it only 
>    takes maybe 5 seconds per bottle.

I've been using the Avery lables for years now for both Beer and Mead.
I print them using an ink jet printer so that may have some effect on
the labels but when I want to remove the labels, I just run the bottle
under HOT water for a second or two and the label slips right off
without any scraping.  Hope this helps


Abraham Friedman

------------------------------

End of Mead Lover's Digest #520
*******************************