Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1382, 2 August 2008 Date: Sat, 2 Aug 2008 00:19:26 -0600 (MDT) From: mead-request@talisman.com Mead Lover's Digest #1382 2 August 2008 Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor Contents: Mead Day Recipe & Registration ("Janis Gross") RE: Newbie Melomel (ashford@whisperpc.com) 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: Mead Day Recipe & Registration From: "Janis Gross" Date: Wed, 30 Jul 2008 10:28:43 -0600 Hello mead lovers, The 7th annual Mead Day is this Saturday, August 2nd. This year we are making the Bill Pfeiffer Commemorative Mead; a recipe Bill created for the American Homebrewers Association's National Homebrewers Conference in 2000 (a.k.a. the AHA Y2K Commemorative Mead). The recipe is found here: http://www.beertown.org/events/meadday/recipe.html Of course that is the official recipe, but any recipe can be made on Mead Day. This year we also have a registration form for Mead Day sites. I hope to get some baseline numbers for participation and gallons of mead made this year so we can see the growth in future years. If you are planning to make mead this Saturday, please register your site (http://www.beertown.org/apps/mead/mead_reg.aspx) to be part of the baseline. Happy mead making! Cheers, Janis Gross AHA Project Coordinator Janis@brewersassociation.org ------------------------------ Subject: RE: Newbie Melomel From: ashford@whisperpc.com Date: Fri, 1 Aug 2008 22:41:15 -0700 (PDT) Vicky, > Aerate well with pure oxygen/oxygenation stone, or by stirring with a lees > stirrer. > > Aerate twice daily until 1/3 sugar break (***this is really important to > ensure a clean, fast ferment***) > > At this point you want to stir as opposed to aerating your must, so a lees > stirrer is an essential tool. Keep stirring daily Sorry for the late reply. I had some questions about this. I'm notoriously bad about doing ANYTHING on a schedule, and have thought about doing the aeration and stirring with a timer. The stirring is easy. I have a Thermolyne Maxi-Stirrer and a 4.5" x 11/16" stir bar. This stirrer can get a whole carboy involved, and should be adequate to break up any mass at either the top or the bottom. The only problem I've encountered so far is that most carboys have a concave bottom, but the stirrer works better with a flat bottom. They're available, but take some searching. http://www.barnsteadthermolyne.com/productline4.cfm?defProdType=0&ProdLine=Therm olyne&sub_product_group_id=241&model=S25535&headerlist=[ACCESSORY]&tabname=tblSt irrers&product_id=24 http://www.belart.com/cat/stirring/en/371180004.asp For me, the hard part is the aeration. You specify pure oxygen. Will air work (I expect it will, just checking)? I can get an aquarium pump that is specified at 7PSI (actual delivered pressure more like 3-4PSI - don't you love honest marketing people). Can I use this? Would I have to put a 0.45um filter in the line? I assume that the air should be dispersed while the stirring is occurring, and that it should be delivered through a stainless steel airstone. http://www.oceanicsystems.com/products/luft-pump.php http://yhst-38846410885480.stores.yahoo.net/3876627.html I expect that I'd need to set the air pump to start a few minutes after the stirrer starts (I'd probably use a "delay on make relay"), but I expect I can have them both cut off at the same time. Does anyone have an idea as to how long should I run the air pump? Thank you. Peter Ashford ------------------------------ End of Mead Lover's Digest #1382 *******************************