Mead

Mead Day 2022 … August 6th!

NO AUGUST MEETING on the first Tuesday of the month! Instead, we are meeting up for Mead Day on Saturday, August 6th.

Guillermo and Amanda have volunteered to host Mead Day on August 6th. Given feedback from the group, we will cancel the standing August 2nd club meeting and have the August meeting during mead day. This begins around 1 p.m. at their place in Minneapolis.

Club members, check your email for the address from the club listserv (you are subscribed to the club listserv, right?).

Not a member but want to see how mead is made? Click on the comment link below to send us your email address (we won’t publish the comment here – but will use it to get your email address) and will send the address to you.

We will make a batch of club mead and split it among the members who participate in mead day.

Bring something to grill and something to share. Any extra chairs would be appreciated. And mead. Bring mead.

Another benefit of attending Mead Day 2022: pick up bags of malt donated by Northern Brewer to use for the October club Brew the Style Challenge. We have multiple free bags to distribute to club members.

The October club Brew the Style Challenge will be to brew a beer using this malt bill and then any yeast/hops/other flavors you want:

– Rahr 2-row 11 lbs
– Vienna 1.5 lbs
– Briess Caramel 40L 0.5 lbs
– Briess Caramel 80L 0.5 lbs

The information here will grow, for now the very excellent ‘Making mead the easy way’ from the AHA Mead panel, authored by Steve Piatz.

Back sweetening Mead / Cider / Perry

Questions:
Back Sweetening a Cider
You don’t want to add the sorbate until the fermentation is very complete, i.e., clear and stable. Typically added AFTER the beverage has been sulfited. If there is any renewed fermentation with the sorbate present in the beverage you typically get an aroma and flavor of fresh cut geranium flowers (really the character of the broken stem) — very unpleasant.
So make sure your cider is clear, rack off any sediment, and then treat it with sulfites. Once it is obvious that fermentation is not restarting you can sweeten and add the sorbate at the same time.