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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator

Contents:
  Re: Mead and pH (dw)
  First batch woes...  (Michael L. Farkas)
  Yeast Engergizers and Nutrients (Michael Bergman)

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Date: 2 Mar 89 09:20:11 EST (Thursday)
From: dw <Wegeng.Henr at Xerox.COM>
Subject: Re: Mead and pH

As with wine, the starting pH of the mead is important. Assuming that
you're using wine or champaign yeast, you want the starting pH to be close
to that of grape juice (because that's the pH that the yeast expects). This
is true for all types of mead, fruit or otherwise. I don't have any
references handy, but I'm sure that any good book on making wine or mead
will quote the suggested starting pH.

This is not to say that you can't make good mead without adjusting the
acidity (or for that matter adding yeast nutrients), for I'm sure that you
can. However, you're more likely to get good, healthy fermentation if you
pay attention to such details.

/Don

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Date: Thu, 2 Mar 89 08:54 PST
From: Michael L. Farkas <Farkas at GODZILLA.SCH.Symbolics.COM>
Subject: First batch woes... 

I brewed my first batch of home brew a week ago 
saturday!  :)
All looked like it was going well.  I used liquid yeast
and got nice fermentation in about 15 hours after pitching.
I decided to do a two stage fermentation.  This is where
my possible problem begins.
A week later later, when the violent fermentation was appearently
done, I racked into a second carboy and attached an "S" shapped 
fermentation lock like I used to use when I made wine.  The reason
for using this lock was because i find it easier to detect small
abounts of escaping CO2.  A day had passed and no indication of
escaping gas was present.  I even gave the carboy a little shake, 
and nothing!  I then checked the SG and found that it was approaching 
1.0.  Realizing the importance of the protective CO2 layer, I panicked
and bottled!  8-O
Throughout the process, the temperature has been right around 60 to
65 degrees F.
It's been about 5 days now and the beer (Irish Ale) seems to have cleared
real well.  From what I have read and been told this should have taken 
between two and three weeks before bottling.
Did I rush?  Am I going to have sick beer?

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Date: Thu, 2 Mar 89 11:10:21 est
From: Michael Bergman <bergman%odin.m2c.org at RELAY.CS.NET>
Subject: Yeast Engergizers and Nutrients

In case it wasn't made clear:  Beer yeast and Mead/wine yeast ARE NOT
THE SAME.  They have different nutrient requirements, p[roduce
different effects, like different sugars.  At least, this is what the
literature leads one to believe.  Acton and Duncan contains a clear
warning not to use Brewers (beer) yeast for making Mead, as it will
produce the "wrong" flavor.  Similarly, I expect it would be a *bad*
idea to use yeast nutrient intended for mead or fruit wine with
brewers yeast, or vice versa.

--mike bergman

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Date: Thu, 2 Mar 89 19:22:29 EST
From: gcs07928 at zach.fit.edu ( MENDEZ)

 
       Hi there,
        As a fellow wine lover, I am interested in any information concerning
       any books sold (or recipies) about the home-brewing of wine.  I am also
       interested about any books or recipies about home-brewing vodka.

            
                          I would greatly appreciate any information about
                       these topics.
                   
                                     Thank You!!!!!

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