Mead using winemaking techniques?

[fatbloke]

Below is a terrific link on acids and their use in wine making. Like a small reference manual for me and my wine and mead making process. Hope it is of some help to anyone interested. Tartaric to adjust the acidity in all. In country wines and Mead's also tartaric for adjustment and use citric to adjust to taste after the fermentation process although malic could also be used sparingly (see reasons why in the link). This process works very well for me. Cheers Daw

http://www.bcawa.ca/winemaking/AcidC...cidControl.htm

Cheers DAW,

"bookmarked" accordingly.

regards

JtFB

[compleat meadmaker]

There certainly are some interesting articles written about mead

http://www.solorb.com/mead/danspaper.html

Interesting to see folks still finding that piece. We wrote that a long time ago, back when I was (we were) still heating our musts. That was a fun, if exhausting afternoon of meadmaking.

I'll be going fly fishing with Dr. Dan the first weekend in June. He is building split cane fly rods now, in addition to roasting his own coffee. He's a man of many talents.

Ken

[compleat meadmaker]

Let me see if I can try to make the TA issue understandable. To be meaningful, folks need a TA number that is standardized and can be used as a reasonable reference point. The TA number is expressed in terms of g/l tartaric based on how the number of ions present would be reflected if all of them were tartaric acid. The actual acidity can come from a number of different acids. As such, it should give a decent idea of perceived acidity.

Ken

[lockwood1956]

But the problem Ken, is that UK test kits express it as g/l (PPT) as sulphuric acid, which doesn't really help much


on a different note I ordered the compleat meadmaker today, and I await its arrival eagerly


The must seemed a little sluggish today when I checked it, so I gave it a gentle stir......oops!........ it EXPLODED into life, and my initial thoughts on the bucket not being big enough, were proved to be correct

cheers
Bob

[fatbloke]

I wonder why it is, that US acid test kits express acid as tartaric, whereas the UK ones as sulphuric ?

It does seem strange!

regards

JtFB

[lockwood1956]

Not only strange, but confusing, and a "little" irksome!


however .................(drum roll!)

here is a sheet to convert from one to another (look on page 2)

http://www.winesathome.co.uk/downloads/TAtestsheet.pdf

[lockwood1956]

OBSERVATION

Each time I aerate this must (I am currently stirring it 2 times a day) it releases an incredible amount of CO2, probably 4 or 5 times what I would expect from a wine must......interesting

[lockwood1956]

By way of comparison (and because I don't have a life!!) I set off a batch with no acid additions (everything else the same) TA was less than 1g/l measured as tartaric




cheers
Bob

[compleat meadmaker]

I wonder why it is, that US acid test kits express acid as tartaric, whereas the UK ones as sulphuric ?

It does seem strange!

regards

JtFB

It's arbitrary, I agree. The acid test kits for fruit are also not given in one single measure; in the US some measure TA as malic and some citric, and not always in the direction one would suspect. The key is to get a feel for your personal perception of TA in the given range to understand and guide recipe formulation.

Lockwood, that TA for a must appears about right, and reflects well the potential hair trigger nature of pH in honey (mead) musts. Compared to grape wine musts, the relative amounts of alkaline and acidic ions can be extremely low. If there is that little TA, and the pH is below 4 or 5, even 7, imagine how little alkaline buffer there must be in solution. Thus the initial absorption of the alkaline compounds as growth and metabolic nutrients by the yeast can cause what seems to be disproportionately big swings in pH.

Ken

[lockwood1956]

Yes, for a wine must it is simply a matter of acid additions by taste, (or test) and if they are close, then we are good to go.......


this adds a different dimension to things....interesting though

[lockwood1956]

Read the first 6 chapters of compleat meadmaker today............

a very interesting read........very nice writing style, I'm enjoying it a lot.........would be a good read for newbies

good job Ken

but I have some questions........can I pm you with them? (I have learned not to discuss contentious meadmaking issues in open forum....lest I be burnt at the stake as a heretic)

[lockwood1956]

An update:

The mead with the acid added is at 1.036

The one without acid additions (started later) is at 1.004


hmmmmmm

[Mamgiowl]

Have you tasted them and does the one without acid taste bland?

[NorthernWiner]

An update:

The mead with the acid added is at 1.036

The one without acid additions (started later) is at 1.004


hmmmmmm

I don't really find those results too surprising Bob. Yeast, like most spoilage organisms (and yes, fermentation is essentially controlled spoilage), thrives and reproduces more readily at a higher pH.

An interesting experiment, Dude.

[lockwood1956]

But yeast (so I understood) like an acid environ

now I'm confused




It's an enigma