Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1622, 8 February 2013 Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2013 15:50:29 -0700 (MST) From: mead-request@talisman.com Mead Lover's Digest #1622 8 February 2013 Mead Discussion Forum Contents: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1620, 31 January 2013 (lostnbronx) Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1620, 31 January 2013 (Anthony Noble) Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1620, 31 January 2013 (Adam Strom) mojito mead (casey jones) Where'd the honey go? (erbkon@yahoo.com) Adding pollen to the pot (Henry Murray) 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 #1620, 31 January 2013 From: lostnbronx Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2013 22:55:24 -0700 re: Mojito mead recipe Zest in Primary, juice in Secondary. Watch the mint during aging: it can add more of an herbaceous quality than a classic mint flavor. Set yourself a given period with it, then pull it out on time. Sounds like a nice recipe. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1620, 31 January 2013 From: Anthony Noble Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2013 23:34:59 -0800 If I were to do this, I'd add juice and mint tea to the secondary. However, I'm not a fan of any preserved lime juice. I wonder how kefir lime leaves would do? Anthony D. Noble www.NobleUrbanDesign.com ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Mead Lover's Digest #1620, 31 January 2013 From: Adam Strom Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2013 10:52:21 -0500 First I would think you would want to use a rum barrel for a mojito mead, a tequila mojito sounds weird. But if you must proceed, I would recommend adding lime and mint to secondary, after vigorous fermentation subsides, otherwise you'll loose all the aroma. Adding lime to the primary won't hurt pH, actually might help it a bit with nutrients. There are a lot of good mead recipes that call for citrus juice in the primary. - -- Adam Strom Metals and Additives Corporation 630-335-4070 astrom@omnioxide.com ------------------------------ Subject: mojito mead From: casey jones Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2013 14:02:06 -0800 heres what i would do in your situation mojito mead guy: use 15#s honey (3 #s per gal. is about as much as you want) champagne yeast (not sure what you were gonna use, but champagne gets a high alc. without messin up your flavor.) nutrients, or not either way.... mint and zest buckle up! boil your water with the mint in it for like 5 minutes. after the water is minty, let it cool. dump it into your primary fermentor (not the barrel). add the honey and nutrients, and stir for like 15 minutes. add yeast. almost seal it and wait a month. then put it in your barrel. add the zest, but in something you can remove, like a (sterilized sock) or giant teabag, or grain bag, if you wanna get fancy. after about a day, remove the zest. then just remember that the longer you let it sit in the barrel, the better its gonna be. but drink it whenever you want. final thoughts: mint and lemon are both pretty strong flavors so remember to use moderation. people will like a not minty/lemony enough batch, way more than a too minty/lemony batch. by not using the barrel as your primary it will be easier to clean afterwards. i hope that is helpfull. -casey ------------------------------ Subject: Where'd the honey go? From: erbkon@yahoo.com Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2013 16:27:54 -0800 (PST) Hello all, I've been brewing occasional batches for 5 years but have never run into this one. I'm brewing a variation of a recipe I've done before, a light mead flavored with juniper and blueberries during the initial fermentation. It has 12 pounds of honey in a 5 gallon carboy with a packet of Red Star Montrachet for the cycle. The juniper berries (1/2 cup) and blueberries (1 pint) are just for a hint of flavor. Initial SG was 1.073 and potential alcohol calc'd at 9.9% The first fermentation cycle has just about petered out after 37 days, so today I decided to rack to a cleansed 2nd carboy and take some basic measurements. The mystery is that my SG reads at exactly 1.000 (at 56 degrees). I've sampled it and it has no joy; it's simply as though the honey vanished and left behind some pleasantly flavored water. For now I have it stoppered and have added some nutrient to give this cycle some more life, and it's fermenting lightly. Where'd the honey go? Do I add more? Advice is appreciated. Thanks, J-Ko ------------------------------ Subject: Adding pollen to the pot From: Henry Murray Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2013 17:16:40 -0500 Dear Mead Makers: Does anyone have experience in adding dry pollen to the honey/water mixture before and/or during the fermentation process to enhance the flavor of the mead? I read a bit about using 1 tbs. of pollen per gallon as a yeast nutrient. Others suggest that adding pollen to a mead recipe enhances the flavors. Others caution that you need to know where the pollen comes from or it is a bit of a crap-shoot. Bottom line: any actual experience out there to share? Thank you. Hal Murray Bloomsbury, NJ ------------------------------ End of Mead Lover's Digest #1622 *******************************