On Presidents Day, Here's to a Founding Father Who Never Became President

Portrait of Benjamin Franklin, circa 1785, by
Joseph-Siffrein Duplessis, courtesy of
the National Portrait Gallery, Washinton

Deemed "The First American" by H.W. Brands in a biography, Benjamin Franklin is one of the most pivotal figures in early American history; although he never became president, he nonetheless deserves mention with those who did.

Franklin was born January 17, 1706 to Josiah Franklin and his second wife Abiah Folger, Puritans living in Boston, Massachusetts.  Franklin ran away to Philadelphia, PA at the ripe young age of 17, working in various printing shops.  By 1727 at the age of 21, Franklin had formed the Junto as a place to discuss morals, policics, and natural philosophy.  In 1736, he created the Union Fire Company as Philadelphia's first volunteer firefighting company.

Fast forwarding many years and many accomplishments (The Pennsylvania Gazette, Library Company of Philadelphia, American Philosophical Society, Justice of the Peace for Philadelphia, etc.), Ben Franklin found himself in London in 1765 arguing on behalf of the Colonies against the Stamp Act.  His testimony eventually led to the repeal of the Act, and resulted in Franklin becoming a leading spokesman for the Colonies.

On May 5, 1775, Franklin returned after his second mission to England, with the fighting between the Colonies and the British already begun (the Battles of Lexington and Concord began on April 19, 1775).  The Pennsylvania Assembly unanimously nominated Franklin to the Second Continental Congress, and in June 1776 he was appointed to the Committee of Five to draft the Declaration of Independence.

Franklin served as the first United States Postmaster General, was ambassador to France from 1776-1785, served as the sixth president of the Supreme Executive Council of Philadelphia (fancy speak for governor), and late in life was a leading figure for the abolition of slavery in America.

Benjamin Franklin died at his home on April 17, 1790, age 84, after leading an eventful and important life for early America.  Today, he is still remembered on the $100 bill, as the name of numerous warships, and towns throughout America.  Another interesting fact was that he bequeathed 1,000 pounds ($4,400, or approximately $112,000 in 2011) to the cities of Boston and Philadelphia to appreciate for 200 years before being spent.  Through that miracle called compounding interest, more than $2,000,000 had accumulated in the Philadelphia Trust and $5,000,000 in the Boston Trust by 1990.  Philadelphia ultimately spent its money on scholarships for local high school students, and Boston used it to establish the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology.

Benjamin Franklin and Mead
For those readers left wondering why on a blog dedicated to mead and its production I would devote this time to Benjamin Franklin (other than the semi-obvious, it's Presidents Day and we need make mention), here is some more wonderful trivia for you.  On 19 December, 1789, Benjamin Franklin wrote:

Dear Friend: -- I have received your kind Letter on the 5th Inst., together with your present of Metheglin, of which I have already drank almost a Bottle.  I find it excellent; please to accept my thankful Acknowledgements.

'Tis a shame little is known of who this letter was addressed to, or the underlying recipe in reference.  But here's to an influential man in early America, a Founding Father, and for those in the know, a lover of mead!

Want to make mead? Check out these great resources.

So, you are interested in mead.  But not just in mead, but in making mead.  And somehow you got here.  Really, I don't know how... I don't advertise, I don't post to twitter or facebook.  Maybe I'm just lucky.  Or you are just my friends!  Anyway, I'm happy to have you, and hope you come back.

But back on topic, where is the best place to learn about mead?  Although mead has been around for many millenia, it doesn't have the same background of knowledge available to it that beer and wine do.  Having gone out of favor sometime between the Middle Ages and end of the Renaissance, mead hasn't seen the same interest throughout the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries as other fermented and distilled beverages.  In this post, I will highlight some good to great resources for the beginner, and hopefully steer you in the right direction.

Gotmead.com
Considered by many to be the premier resource for beginning meadmakers, this website has most everything you need answered either in their NewBee Guide or buried in their forum.  I can't stress enough that if you are interested in making mead, the patron membership is well worth the $25 expense.  The members are friendly, and possess vast amounts of knowledge that hasn't made it to the written press.  Even in just the last 10 years, mead has seen many changes in its production processes, and this location is your best bet to uncover the latest methods.  They even have a thread going on how to create drinkable mead in a month.  Now that's impressive!  (See Bray's One Month Mead, or BOMM).

The Compleat Meadmaker, by Ken Shramm
The Compeat Meadmaker is far and away the best published resource for meadmaking.  Targeted to the beginning homebrewer, this book explains many of meadmaking concepts and takes you through your first mead batch (if you don't follow the JAO path outlined through Gotmead and many other homebrew sites).  It includes chapters on yeast and fermentation, honey varietals, and the various ingredients available to the meadmaker.  The book also provides a good beginning resource for mead recipes to try.

BJCP Mead Study Guide
I recently stumbled upon this, and was amazed at the amount of information contained within, all for free.  The Beer Judge Certification Program has added a mead judge certification to their offerings, and contained within the study guide are copious amounts of information honey varietals, mead types, and the various flavors associated with these.  Much of the guide references the certification program itself, so if you aren't into that, feel free to ignore those parts.  The rest has very valuable information to those looking to better understand the comments on a judge's scoring card, or the terms used in the wine-tasting world.

Scott Laboratories 2013 Fermentation Handbook
Focused on the yeast and fermentation offerings from Scott Labs, this Handbook nonetheless provides valuable information to both the home meadmaker and professional alike.  Topics include the different yeast strains available through Scott Labs, the best nutrient combinations for these, additional flavor components (specifically tannins), and a host of other fermentation topics.  Those only interested in making something family and friends can drink without getting into the nitty gritty details can likely avoid this reference, but valuable information awaits those wanting to step up their game.

The American Mead Makers Association (AMMA)
Started in 2011, the AMMA has four overarching objectives: to improve regulation that promotes the mead industry, to educate consumers about mead, to conduct research to improve the craft, and to promote mead in general.  Now that may seem overly focused on the professional aspects of meadmaking, and admittedly it is, but the AMMA also provides information of interest in their quarterly newsletter.  And if you want to see more mead on the shelves at your local liquor store, maybe consider becoming a member.

So, that's five great places to start learning about mead.  More and more are popping up, with rumors of new meadmaking books in the works.  The UC Davis Mead Short Course will also have a recording of its first ever mead class from this past weekend available soon.  And I'll continue to post here with cool things going on with Terrapin Bluffs, and the industry in general.

Got any references you hold dear?  Post them in the comments section for all of us to learn too!

So, What is Mead?

Looking back over the last year, I never properly explained what mead is (aside from a poor description in The Beginning).  From a very simple perspective, mead is the result of honey, water, and yeast left to ferment until alcohol has been created.  On a more technical note, I like to think mead is any alcohol beverage where more than 50% of the fermented sugars originate from the honey.  Beer, likewise would be a beverage fermented from greater than 50% cereal grains (typically malted barley or wheat), wine is from greater than 50% grape juice, and cider is from greater than 50% apple juice.  Well what happens if we decide to mix them up, and we want to make a mead + beer combination, or a mead + cider combination.

In the mead world this is simple.  Many variants of mead exist, just as many beer types exist.  Here is a short example of that list.  Note, for the purposes of my definition, at least half of the fermented sugar for all of these types should come from honey.

Meads are generally categorized as having three different alcohol strengths as follows.  Note, these distinctions can be combined with all of the later definitions, e.g. cyser of hydromel strength, or metheglin of standard strength.

• Hydromel (or session): This is a low alcohol mead, often served carbonated similar to beer.  It will have a final alcohol by volume (ABV) level of 3.5 - 7.5%.  
• Standard Mead: This is a mead of table wine strength, that is, 7.5 - 14% ABV.
• Sack Mead: This is a mead of high alcohol content, greater than 14% ABV.

There are two categories of mead where honey is the only fermentable.

• Traditional Mead: These are meads fermented with honey, water, yeast, and yeast nutrients.
• Show Mead: This category defines those meads fermented only from honey, water, and yeast.  These meads do NOT have additional nutrients added to the must to improve fermentation.  They often will take a long time to completely ferment as nothing is there to help the yeast, and may take even longer aging to smooth out the flavors produced during a relatively stressful ferment.

The following are the types of fruit meads available.  A general mead from fruit and honey is classified as a melomel, but specific names have been given to many of these combinations.

• Melomel: This is a mead fermented with fruit.
• Pyment: This mead is fermented from honey and grape juice.
• Cyser: Pronounced sizer, this is produced from honey and apple juice.
• Morat: Mead from honey and mulberries.
• Capsicumel: Mead fermented from honey and chili peppers.

Then there are the metheglins, grouped as such for convenience, even though some are stretching it.

• Metheglin: Mead made from honey and a combination of spices, added either during or post fermentation.
• Rhodomel: Mead fermented from honey and rose petals.
• Braggot, bracket, or brackett: Originally, this was a mead fermented from honey with hops added, but this category has evolved to include meads fermented with malted grains in addition to the honey.

The following two meads really do not seem to fit any of the above categories as I have outlined them, but are worth mentioning as mead types.

• Bochet: This is a mead fermented from caramelized honey.  
• Acerglyn: This mead is from a combination of honey and maple syrup.

I also want to mention three traditional Polish meads you may find perusing the shelves of a liquor store.  Poland is one of the few remaining locations where mead has maintained its popularity since the Middle Ages, and three distinct polish styles are provided here. 

• Dwojniak: A Polish mead made using equal parts honey and water.  This will typically result in a high ABV, sweet mead.
• Poltorak: A Polish mead made with two parts water to one part honey.
• Czworniak: A Polish mead made with three parts water and one part honey.

Lastly, I don't want to leave off Tej, an Ethiopian variety of mead fermented with honey and gesho.

If I left off any meads, and I most certainly have, let me know in the comments section.  Considering the number of fruits and spices available, the mead combinations are truly endless.  

Meadery Expansion!

The last few weeks I have been working on upgrading my "Meadery," that is, the closet where I ferment and age all of my meads.  After buying our house, I quickly claimed a closet in an extra bedroom for fermenting before we ever moved anything in.  This small, 36"x31" space is where all of my equipment should reside, but just having the floor and single top shelf was proving to be a problem.  I don't trust the top shelf to hold any weight, and my carboys, buckets and bottles were overflowing into all rooms of the house.  Add in the additional brewing equipment I received for the Holidays, and an upgrade was in order.

    

A full brewing closet, with carboys, bottles, and odds and ends all over the place.

Design

Given the constraints on space, I wanted to add a single mid-level shelf that could support the weight of six 5-gallon carboys.  The shelf also needed enough space both above and below such that you could fit a carboy with an S-type airlock attached, and still have a few inches to add water to the airlock as necessary. I wanted the shelf to span the full 31" width of the closet.  This meant it had to be built into the closet, as the doorway was only 23" wide.

Taking the inspiration from Ted's Fishroom, I decided to use a modified dado joint to create the shelf.  (Note: I also have a freshwater fish tank, that before I started brewing was fully stocked with white cloud mountain minnows and cherry shrimp, and aquascaped with assorted crypts, anubias, rotala and java fern.)  I added two interior 2"x4" spacers so that my plywood shelf would not bow under the additional weight.  While fish tanks can be fully supported on their two long sides, my carboys carry the same weights, but the round bottom needs to be supported on all sides.  I also drilled two outside spacers into the studs as additional support.  This mitigates any issues from knocking the legs on accident and causing the shelf to topple.  

A 5-gallon Better Bottle plastic carboy is roughly 26" in height when the airlock is attached, so I planned for a minimum of 30" space on the middle and bottom shelves.  Measuring floor to the bottom of the hanger bar already installed in the closet, I had 68" of space.  This was just enough to fit in my design as I needed to take into account the additional height of the 2"x4" cross members with the 3/4" plywood shelf.

Left: The empty closet. Center: The initial frame with the back legs and two interior spacers drilled to the back cross member.

Right: The finished shelf. 

Over the course of 3 days, and what felt like way too long considering the simplicity of the design (but at least it is level!), I finally put the last screw into the shelf.  Of course, after building it, I still have leftover equipment in the house.  But a haphazard carboy or two is far better than where I began!

The completed closet, missing two 5-gallon carboys, a 1 gallon carboy, and a 1/2 gallon carboy, all currently in the center of our living room floor under MEA-watch.  Looking closely, you can see the blackberry stain created by the first mead made on the new shelf.

Do MEAs a Mazer Make?

It took me four and a half years, but I have officially created my first mead eruption accident (MEA).  A MEA happens when a batch overflows from its carboy or fermenting vessel, often resulting in the unintentional remodeling of the kitchen, basement, or closet you conduct your fermenting in.  I missed the chance to take photos this morning as the accident was found minutes before leaving for work and resulted in a half hour delay of my arrival, but if the batch blows again I will be sure to update!  Luckily, this was on top of my newly constructed shelf (next blog post, hint hint), keeping the mess contained.  Only about a cup of mead was lost to the eruption, and it now sits bubbling along, ever threatening a repeat disaster.

So what happened?

Last night, I started a Blackberry Bliss batch, this time increasing the blackberry from 60 ounces to 84 ounces (seven large grocery store containers).  The batch also has a pint of blueberries, approximately 17 pounds of orange blossom honey, 5 "mushy" raspberries, with water to 5 gallons.  This was all mixed together in a 5 gallon carboy and Fleishman's Active Dry Yeast was added (admittedly, most of the honey is still not dissolved, but the yeast will eventually make its way through the sugars).  I thought I left enough headspace to avoid the dreaded MEA, but fate would have it other ways.

Can you avoid it?

MEAs are easily avoided if you have the right fermentation equipment.  Your best bet is to always ferment in buckets, leaving the carboys for aging.  Also, you should ferment in containers significantly larger than your must, think at least 1 gallon more space than you have in the batch.  Unfortunately, I do not have a 5 gallon brewing bucket or anything larger (yet! My honey pail will become one as soon as I have used the remaining gallon of honey in another batch).  During fermentation, be sure to stir the batch regularly early in fermentation to degas the mead (this releases the CO2 in solution so you don't have it release unbeknownst to you in your fermenting closet).  In heavy fruit batches, it is also a good idea to add anti-foam drops, but alas, I was unprepared.

If it does happen, you should split the batch into multiple fermenters.  This will allow you to increase the headspace per fermenter, making it less likely to erupt again.  Next, ensure to manage the cap (the layer of foam and must ingredients that forms at the top of the carboy/bucket during fermentation) by punching it down frequently into the must.  This requires stirring the mead such that the cap is completely submerged, and the bubbles are minimal on the surface.  This may be every hour, or just twice a day; it will depend on your individual ferment.  In this batch, if I leave it more than 15 minutes it is likely to erupt again, even after extracting 1/2 gallon from the carboy.

Do you have a MEA to confess to, or any additional ideas on how to manage it?  Let me know in the comments below.  The Mead Eruption Accident Decrement Society (M.E.A.D.S.) is excited to hear about your experiences!

Christmas Gifts

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who added to my mead supply collection!  This year, I received four new 1 gallon carboys (edit: and one bottle capper!) courtesy of my sister, brother-in-law, and nieces.  My parents got me new carboy bungs (stoppers) and airlocks, as I realized I did not have enough to brew with my complete collection of equipment.  I also received two fun books, Making Wild Wines and Meads and The Drunken Botanist from my mom.  Looking through the first, I have some fun ideas for the fruits we have growing in our backyard, especially the mulberry tree.  Hopefully the crows don't eat all the fruit this year!

I also purchased some chemistry equipment for myself to improve my yeast capture experiments. (I swear at some point I will post about the process and what results I am getting!) The cache includes test tubes for storing yeast, plastic pipettes to extract the yeast cakes from completed fermentations, 60x15mm petri dishes for isolating yeast, and the requisite agar-agar powder to use the dishes.  Lastly, I bought Wild Brews: Culture and Craftsmanship in the Belgian Tradition to learn about the procedures the professionals use for yeast capture.  I haven't made it through the book yet, but at first glance it is a good reference for my experiments. 

Again, thank you everyone for the new equipment!  It will come in great use for making this next year's batches.

Holiday Special, Part II

When I wrote the Part I of the Holiday Special series, I fully expected I would have good news to report for part two.  I had made a 2 gallon batch of Spiced Cherry Cyser 2 years ago, and remembered it being rather tasty the last time I tried it (over a year ago now).  It was left aging in a 1 gallon and a 1/2 gallon carboy.  Unfortunately, only a single bottle was opened for our Winter Solstice gathering, despite having 16 available.  Nevertheless, I provide this to you as background so that you can avoid the same mistake.

The recipe was as follows:
2 gallon batch

• 1 gallon Trader Joe's Spiced Apple Cider
• 1/2 gallon Trader Joe's Cherry Cider
• 3 lbs Mesquite Honey (also Trader Joe's... anyone sensing a pattern here?)
• Water to 1.092 SG (12% potential ABV)
• 1 packet D47 yeast (would take the batch dry, which is likely the problem I encountered)

I followed a semi-staggered nutrient addition, adding half the nutrients at pitching and the other half 15 hours later.  I also aerated regularly during the first half of fermentation.  I left the mead on the yeast for a little sur lees aging, and after 5 months racked it from the bucket fermenter.  At the time, it had nice notes of spiced apple cider minimal cherry flavor.  There was no off flavoring from the yeast, just wasn't my favorite since the batch went dry.  I added a little bit of honey to a glass to test backsweetening, and my wife (who prefers sweeter drinks) absolutely loved it.  With that said, I hoped this would be a great option to serve for our Winter Solstice Gathering

This batch was finally bottled 5 days before they gathering, and that was when I noticed something tasted off.  I worry the main issue with the batch was that I let the airlocks dry out and oxidized the mead.  I do not have experience with oxidation, so I don't know what to taste for other than wet cardboard, and that isn't exactly the problem.  The mead tastes very tart from the cherries, with a kick of cinnamon, nutmeg and clove from the spices.  The apple is also present, although the tartness dominates.  The tartness and spices do not go well together, especially without any sweetness to balance it.

Determined to get tasting notes, I served small samples to a handful of guests to gauge their reactions.  Noting that many do not like mead as they've only ever tasted it sweet, I was wondering if someone who liked dry wines could comment and provide any additional feedback.  Alas, none of my family fits in that dry wine category, and only one guest had anything positive to say.  A few were nice enough to finish the bottle, although they grimaced through those last few sips.  For now, it is back to the drawing board with this batch.  I will likely age for another year and open at Christmas just to see the difference.  If the perceived sweetness comes back over time, it might just turn into something drinkable, if never special.

I still believe a cherry and apple combination should go well together (see Zombie Killer), it just can't finish dry or with spices.