From: welch@sacral.cis.ohio-state.edu (Arun Welch)
Subject: Re: Mead recipes?
Originator: welch@sacral.cis.ohio-state.edu
Organization: OSU-LAIR
	<WELCH.92Aug27162009@sacral.cis.ohio-state.edu>
	<1992Aug27.205123.13526@mahendo.jpl.nasa.gov>
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 22:51:50 GMT

In article <1992Aug27.205123.13526@mahendo.jpl.nasa.gov> julie@eddie.jpl.nasa.gov (Julie Kangas) writes:

   (1) I guess I shouldn't use a glass carboy for the active
   fermentation.  But do I let the plastic bucket sit open
   to the air and risk contamination or do I close it off
   and risk mead everywhere (would I use a fermentation lock)?

There's two methods for this. One method is to use a glass carboy as a
primary, with a hose running from it into a bucket. Papazian uses this
method in his book, The Complete Joy of Homebrewing, with arguments as
to why it's better. Method 2 is to use a bucket with a lid on it (and
some even come with an fermentation lock in the lid). I've had better
luck with this method, mostly because cyser produces so much blowoff.
I moved it to secondary too soon one time and made a really huge mess.
Now my secondaries sit in a plastic tub just in case.

   (2) When you rack it every 3 months, do you alternate between the
   glass and plastic or do you have two glass carboys?  

It depends on how many free carboy's I've got. I generally try to rack
from one carboy to another, but sometimes I end up racking to bucket,
cleaning the trub out of the carboy, and back into the carboy (I guess
this is double-racking, but it's so stirred up that nothing settles
down between the first and second).

   How long
   can the mead stay in the plastic without developing an off taste?

I try to minimize the time that an alcoholic mead is in contact with
plastic. In the primary stages it's not much of a concern, but after
that I like to keep it in glass as much as possible.

   (3) Before bottling the mead, do you prime it?  (I guess it
   does depend on whether you want it bubbly or not)

Exactly. I've done both, it depends on what I feel like at the time.

   (4) Is there a problem with contamination from the air when
   you let the honey/cider/spice mixture sit overnight?

I put a lid on it, and don't really worry too much about it. I guess I
could sterilize the must after boiling, but there's generally enough
sterilizer in solution that I've never had a problem. I am not one a
sanitation fanatic, but I do the stuff that's reasonable. The one
batch I've had go bad was because I forgot about a carboy and the
fermentation lock dried out, and I decided that I was probably better
off dumping it. Nothing growing in it [Note1], but I didn't want to
take a chance.

   (5) Why do you let the mead age in the carboy?  Does the fermentation
   really take that long?  Could it age in the bottle instead?

It depends. I've had cases of it still fermenting (but not a whole
lot) after a year. It's also more consistent, as if I let it age in
the bottle then each bottle would have a slightly different flavor.
It's the same thought as aging wine in casks as opposed to bottles.

   (6) Once bottled, do you store the mead in the 'fridge or in a
   cool dark place?

Cool dark place until I wanna drink it, at which time I put it in the
fridge. If it's a sparkling mead, then it needs time after bottling to
develop carbonation.

   (7) If you want to brew other stuff you need a lot of carboys
   right?

Yeah. I generally have 2-3 active carboys, some with mead and some
with beer, depending on where in their cycles they are. Right now I've
only got empties, as I'm waiting for this fall's apple harvest. I was
gonna do a blueberry, but was too busy during harvest time :-(. 

   (8) Where do you find room to put all the equipment?

Ah, there's the rub. I used to have a big basement, which was ideal.
Now I'm in a basementless house, and I've got bottles and carboys in
boxes next to my computers (a computer has similar temperature
requirements as an aging mead :-). It's getting pretty tight in there,
I'm either gonna have to start drinking raw brew or getting rid of some
computers (anyone wanna buy a Lisp machine? :-). The rest of the
equipment (bottle capper, empty bottles, inactive carboys and
primaries, etc) is in the garage, where it doesn't matter. Some day
I'll have a basement again where I can spread out.

Oh yeah, I dug up the authors names of the BMA booklet, they're Acton and
Duncan. 

[Note1] That much fermentable sugar yields a fairly high alcohol content.
I decided that anything that could live in it I didn't want in my
body...:-).



...arun
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arun Welch
Lisp Hacker, Anzus Consulting
welch@anzus.com
Newsgroups: rec.food.historic