Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1468, 29 April 2010 Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2010 09:20:09 -0600 (MDT) From: mead-request@talisman.com Mead Lover's Digest #1468 29 April 2010 Mead Discussion Forum Contents: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1467 ("Charles Scheffler") Re: cyser ingredients ("Patrick St. Jean") Reverse Osmosis? (Nathan Boettcher) NOTE: Digest appears whenever 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 and admin requests. Digest archives and FAQ are available at www.talisman.com/mead#Archives A searchable archive is at http://www.gotmead.com/mldarchives.html Digest Janitor: Dick Dunn ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1467 From: "Charles Scheffler" Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2010 20:51:19 -0400 In MLD #1467 Captain Chuck asked>> "I've made several batches now and even though I started to rack two or three times, my mead still seems to be cloudy. Should I be filtering it somehow?" C2C - I've steered away from filtering for mead and beers I've brewed, primarily out of a general desire to avoid the extra work, something else to clean, potential contamination, etc. generally, any excuse that works. But, as an alternative would suggest a period of cold storage, post fermentation, but before racking, as a means of promoting coagulation and settling. Haven't devoted to much thought to the physics behind it, but I believe the same mechanism responsible for formation of a "chill haze" in beer that makes cold filtering more effective works in your favor even if simply racking from one carboy to another. I have no experience with using finings, irish moss, or other agents to promote settling like is commonly done with beers. Maybe others could comment on this and the practice of chilling before racking. Regards, Chuck Scheffler ------------------------------ Subject: Re: cyser ingredients From: "Patrick St. Jean" Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2010 21:31:13 -0500 > Subject: Re: mead complexity > From: mail-box > Date: Tue, 06 Apr 2010 22:51:38 -0400 > > If the competition uses BJCP standards, a Cyser > in most categories can only be apple juice and sugar (and not even > honey!). Ken, I checked the BJCP standards for a Cyser (category 25A) and it does not say anything about that. Here's what they say on page 55: Ingredients: Standard description applies. Cyser is a standard mead made with the addition of apples or apple juice. Tradi- tionally, cysers are made by the addition of honey to apple juice without additional water. A spiced cyser, or a cyser with other ingredients, should be entered as an Open Category Mead. Also, up above in the general guidelines (page 53) they say this: Ingredients: Mead is made primarily from honey, water and yeast. Some minor adjustments in acidity and tannin can be made with citrus fruits, tea, chemi- cals, or the use of oak aging; however, these additives should not be readily discernable in flavor or aroma. Yeast nutrients may be used but should not be de- tected. If citrus, tea, or oak additives result in flavor components above a low, background, balance- adjusting level, the resulting mead should be entered appropriately (e.g., as a metheglin or open category mead, not a traditional). The preceding quotes were taken from http://www.bjcp.org/docs/2008_stylebook.pdf Pat ------------------------------ Subject: Reverse Osmosis? From: Nathan Boettcher Date: Thu, 22 Apr 2010 08:58:43 -0700 Hey all, I finally found an answer to a question I posted a while back about getting a (slight) vinegar taste in my first batch of mead. I can't remember the exact term at the moment but it's basically due to normal bacteria that's on everything around us. I am guessing I probably didn't clean the carboy well enough and got too much fresh air in the carboy to start with. Thankfully it's not too bad and the vinegar taste hasn't gotten worse at all. I did read that it can be taken care of by either using diluted honey to mix and wash out the vinegar taste, or by reverse osmosis. The book said that reverse osmosis is usually a very expensive option. My questions are these, does anyone know if there's a special filter that needs to be used for reverse osmosis of mead or can a regular filter (like for water) be used? Will the mead lose any of it's body/flavor/etc in the process as honey will probably be filtered during the process? Has anyone tried reverse osmosis on their mead before, commercially or privately with your own equipment? Anyone know of someone that has? On another note, I started a methelgin a week ago. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will turn out well. I'm taking extra care to clean my equipment like the dickens before I use it. :) - -Nathan - -- Nathan Boettcher kalendrinn@gmail.com ------------------------------ End of Mead Lover's Digest #1468 *******************************