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  • MORAT (how to make)

    Making Mead---- Mulberry (Morat)

    Photo 1 - degassing Mulberry after alcohol fermentation, Photo 2 Morat after fining and degassing, Photo 3 Morat clearing then racked for bulk ageing.



    How to Make Morat (Mulberry Mead)

    The mulberry bush that I have is an everbearing one. It starts to produce fruit around the second week in July and does not stop to approximately the second or third week in September. There are various methods to harvest the fruit (old white sheet or plastic under the bush and shaking the branches but I enjoy the early morning harvest. Each morning (I do miss quite often) I can pick on some occasions a 2 pound zip lock bag full. After picking remove all the long stems right to the berry tip (stems can impart a bitter flavor), wash them all clean tap dry and into the freezer until the fall fermentation season. The bush gives me more than 20 pounds over the entire growing season enough for 5 gallons of Morat.

    Start the Morat batch by removing all the frozen berries from the zip lock bags and putting them into three nylon straining bags that can be purchased at the local hardware store (they are used for paint straining bags but also work well as straining bags). Once all the berries and any other fruit that I use are in the straining bags, crush a Campden tablet and mix it in some warm water then sprinkle it over the berries. This is left to thaw overnight for approximately 12 hours.

    The honey has been previously purchased and you will use 3.5 pounds of honey for each gallon of mead that is made. You will need approximately 4 pounds of mulberries per gallon of Morat. This will give us very fruity Mead, well bodied with wonderful fruit aromas and honey flavor. You should also have some citric fruit mixed in with this malic berry and I use 3 Lemons along with the zest of two of the Lemons. Remember you must peel the lemons; remove all the pith and all the pips. Use also ginger and vanilla according to the table of spices to use. In the morning after the berries have thawed use a stainless steel potato masher to crush the berries to release the juices and pulp inside the berries. Use just enough crushing to break the skin and allow the juices to flow.

    It is time now to prepare the honey. Use ten liters of good water in a stainless steel pot and heat the water to 155 degrees F. Then slowly stir in all 17 – 18 pounds of the honey making sure that it does not stick to the bottom of the pot. Gradually let the temperature increase to 175 degrees and try to keep it in that range for approximately 30 minutes. Do not boil and at the same time skim the foam that develops on top of the heated honey and water. This foam will decrease by the time 30 minutes is over and it will be time to turn off the heat. Be very careful with this hot liquid if it is spilled onto skin it burns quickly – hard to wash the sticky stuff off. Ladle the honey water mixture from the stainless steel pot into the primary fermenter pouring the hot liquid over the berries and stirring to mix the juices and color from the berries through the honey water mixture. After mixing around half the mixture from the stainless pot you will now be able to carry the primary fermenter and remaining mixture to the fermentation room area. Mix in the remainder of the honey water then let rest in the hot liquid until the temperature gets below 100 degrees F. It is now time to pour in and stir the remainder of the water (15 liters – couple of liters extra for top ups) into the primary fermenter. Now the additives are stirred in: bentonite slurry, Pectic enzyme, 2 campden tablets crushed and the tartaric acid. Stir all this in well and allow to rest overnight (12 hours). In the morning the mixture is stirred and the yeast nutrient and yeast energizer are added and stirred in and allowed to rest for another 12 hours.
    The mixture should now be at room temperature – 65-70 degrees F. This is the time in the process to test the pH. The pH should be between 3.0 and 3.55. If the must is below 3.0 it will be tart; musts above 3.55 will be readily infected by bacteria, easily oxidized and hard to maintain sulphite protection. If we start the pH below 3.55 the pH is likely to decrease during fermentation and it the pH and that is great, if however we start the pH above 3.55 the pH is likely to increase and that is not what we want. In both cases the titratable acid will likely decrease during fermentation. So here’s the word start the red meads at approximately 3.2-3.4 pH and the light colored meads at 3.1-3.3 ideal or for sure within the 3.0- 3.55 – do not go below or above these pH numbers. In my opinion if the fermentation is started at too high or too low a pH the must will be headed for problems – stuck fermentation or bacterial attack. Others however use higher pH numbers and different process to start with. The above works for me each to their own. If you have to lower the pH add more tartaric acid, if you have to increase pH add potassium carbonate solution (see table guidelines for amounts of these to add).
    When we have reached the correct pH level we can rehydrate the two 5 gram packages of yeast and pitch it into the mixture. We can also make a starter solution with orange juice if that is a preference. There it is the fermentation should be noticeable within 24 hours. As mentioned a room temperature of 65-7o degrees F does very well. If the fermentation temperature goes above 75 degrees then we must try and find a cooler location or cool the must to the 70 degree F area; ice bath, cold towels cooler room. Fermentation will be very strong for the first 4 days. After the 4 days and when the fermentation starts to slow slightly it is time to introduce the booster nutrients and energizer at one half or less of the original addition. The mead is also stirred 2 twice daily and the straining bags with the fruit squished against the side of the primary fermenter with a long handle spoon.
    Depending on the oak that we use: the sawdust kind can be put in the primary in a nylon bag or paper coffee filters during the first 4 days of fermentation and then removed squeezed and discarded. The medium toasted oak chips can be used in the secondary part of the alcohol fermentation procedure; the medium toasted oak cubes can be used after the clearing/fining process for two or three months during the bulk ageing stage. Your taste rules here. Also there is always the oak barrel.

    The primary fermentation process will take (if all goes well) from 7 to 10 days the Specific gravity (SG) should now be at 1.020-1.030 and it is time to rack the must into a glass carboy and attach an air lock. This secondary part of the alcohol fermentation should take from 14 to 21 days. The SG at this point will be 1.000 or less and there will be some clearing noticeable and a great reduction in the fermentation process. It is now time to rack the young Mead to the cleaned and sterilized primary fermenter. When the young mead has been racked add 2 crushed campden tablets and stir gently. Degassing time now and since I have the young mead back in the primary fermenter I use my high speed electric drill and mixer attachment it will only take approximately to give it a good mix to get rid of the excess C02. Be careful not to long, we do not want any oxidation to take place. After the degas stage the fining agent will be introduced and mixed in gently. See the degas description in another section of this tutorial. It is indicated there a couple of different fining agents, one for the red colored meads and another for the clear colored meads. When this has been mixed in well (red colored mead) the young mead can be racked back into a clean sterilized glass carboy and an air lock attached. If it is a clear mead that you are doing use the bentonite and Sparkeloid method; the bentonite will have to be mixed in a slurry and poured and mixed in the carboy and the Sparkeloid heated on the stove according to instructions on the package and poured through a funnel while still hot into the glass carboy and young mead and stirred in gently. If you have a vacuum pump and system the degas process will be done in the glass carboy secondary fermenter. The carboy can now be put into the cool ageing room (area) and allowed to clear for approximately 3 weeks to one month. When it is all cleared the young clear mead is racked to another clean and sterilized carboy an air lock attached and back into the cool storage area for 2 months to 6 months. If the mead is not completely clear you may have to rack one or two more times. You want the mead to be completely clear before bottling. When it is clear bottle and age for another 6 months. I have a few bottles during this bottle ageing period and it is darn good but it gets better the longer you can wait.

    This is the basic procedure that can be used to make all meads. See the tables section for the amounts of fruits and spices in other meads. CHEERS - Morat is delicious. The berries out of hand are outstanding by themselves.
    Attached Files
    Last edited by StockeyDAW; 18-02-2008, 10:16 PM.
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