Mead making

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Mead making; historic reference
Tweet Topic Started: Jan 30 2011, 06:03 PM (927 Views)
yass	Jan 30 2011, 06:03 PM Post #1
Administrator Posts: 3,640 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: April 8, 2009	“Labour the honey with the Liquor,” “Lade it... to dissolve the honey in the water” = In mead making, these and similar phrases mean to mix and stir together the honey and water using your clean hands and arms, or a wooden paddle, until the honey is completely dissolved in the water. It is a time-consuming step since cold water is usually called for, meaning that the honey dissolves very slowly. It is possible that this was done in the belief that more scum would rise to the surface, thereby rendering the final product less bitter. Some of the recipes containing these phrases also include the instructions to “now and then pour to it a ladle full of cold water, which will make the scum rise more.” (Sip) http://www.thousandeggs.com/glossary.html
	-Love will lead


yass	Mar 3 2011, 10:55 PM Post #2
Administrator Posts: 3,640 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: April 8, 2009	The Spanish-Roman naturalist Columella gave a recipe for mead in De re rustica, about AD 60. Take rainwater kept for several years, and mix a sextarius of this water with a pound of honey. For a weaker mead, mix a sextarius of water with nine ounces of honey. The whole is exposed to the sun for 40 days, and then left on a shelf near the fire. If you have no rain water, then boil spring water.[13] In Finland a sweet mead called Sima (cognate with zymurgy) is still an essential seasonal brew connected with the Finnish Vappu (May Day) festival. It is usually spiced by adding both the pulp and rind of a lemon. During secondary fermentation, raisins are added to control the amount of sugars and to act as an indicator of readiness for consumption; they will rise to the top of the bottle when the drink is ready. Historically, meads were fermented by wild yeasts and bacteria (as noted in the below quoted recipe) residing on the skins of the fruit or within the honey itself. Wild yeasts generally provide inconsistent results, and in modern times various brewing interests have isolated the strains now in use. Mead can be distilled to a brandy or liqueur strength. A version of this called "honey jack" can be made by partly freezing a quantity of mead and pouring off the liquid without the ice crystals (a process known as freeze distillation), in the same way that applejack is made from cider. Metheglin — Metheglin starts with traditional mead but has herbs and/or spices added. Some of the most common metheglins are ginger, tea, orange peel, nutmeg, coriander, cinnamon, cloves or vanilla. Its name indicates that many metheglins were originally employed as folk medicines. The Welsh word for mead is medd, and the word "metheglin" derives from meddyglyn, a compound of meddyg, "healing" + llyn, "liquor." # Sack mead — This refers to mead that is made with more honey than is typically used. The finished product retains an extremely high specific gravity and elevated levels of sweetness. It derives its name, according to one theory, from the fortified dessert wine Sherry (which is sometimes sweetened after fermentation and in England once bore the nickname of "sack");[20] another theory is that the term derived from the Japanese drink sake, being introduced by Spanish and Portuguese traders.[21] # Show mead — A term which has come to mean "plain" mead: that which has honey and water as a base, with no fruits, spices or extra flavorings. Since honey alone often does not provide enough nourishment for the yeast to carry on its lifecycle, a mead that is devoid of fruit, etc. will sometimes require a special yeast nutrient and other enzymes to produce an acceptable finished product. In most competitions including all those using the BJCP style guidelines as well as the International Mead Fest, the term "traditional mead" is used for this variety. It should be considered, however, that since mead is historically a very variable product, such recent (and artificial) guidelines apply mainly to competition judging as a means of providing a common language; style guidelines, per se, do not really apply to commercial and historical examples of this or any type of mead. # Sima - a quickly fermented low-alcoholic Finnish variety, seasoned with lemon and associated with the festival of vappu. # Trójniak(TSG) — A Polish mead, made using two units of water for each unit of honey. See also: Mead of poetry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mead ...Woden, or Odin, hmmm
	-Love will lead


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