Grab a drink, this might take a minute.
I've designed a battery of tests to try and remove some of the cloudiness surrounding mead.
1: Brew a five-gallon batch then rack it to five one-gallon jugs. One jug will be empty, the other four will contain chunks of various woods. This will determine what, if any, effect different woods have on the taste of the mead.
2: Brew five gallons, rack to five jugs. One jug is the empty control jug, the other four contain a layer of various substances such as activated charcoal to see if there is any effect on the clearing or aging.
3: Five identical one-gallon batches. Maintain the pH of each fermentation at a different level to determine the effect of pH on fermentation and aging.
4: Same as #3 except the pH is controlled only after fermentation is completed to see if it has any efect on the aging.
5: Five identical batches stopped at different SG to quantify the effects of alcohol content on aging.
6: Five batches, identical except for yeast choice. Stop all batches at the same SG to see the differences produced by the yeast. This test can be run multiple times with different goups of yeast.
7: Five one-gallon batches. One control, one with yeast nutrient per label directions, one with half the recommended nutrient, one with bee pollen of equal amount as recommended yeast nutrient, one with several times as much pollen. There is speculation that the nutrients in pollen could provide all the yeast need. This test will determine how effective pollen is relative to commercial yeast nutrient.
8: Two identical batches. One control, one slowly and continuously stirred during fermentation. Basically, a barbecue rotisserie turned on end slowly rotates a stainless steel screen submerged in the must. This is to see if creating motion helps to speed up the fermentation process by allowing the yeast to contact more sugar.
9: Five one-gallon batches, identical except for amount of honey. To determine the effects of the initial SG on fermentation and aging. All batches would be stopped at the same % ABV.
10: Multiple batches, identical except for type of honey. This is a tricky one. I'm looking for honeys with an obvious spike in the amount of one type of sugar as compared to the other sugars. This way we can see if a higher level of dextrose has a different effect than a higher level of fructose, for example. The trick is to try and keep other variables, such as mineral content, to a minimum.
11: Two identical batches, one with yeast hulls, one without. Simply to determine if yeast hulls produce any differences.
12: Three identical batches, one unmolested, one boiled honey, one pasteurized honey. To determine whether excess heat has any effect on the properties of honey.
Why all this hassle? First of all, it's fun. I love using my brain to solve puzzles. Second of all, we need to eliminate all of the contradictory information out there by examining cold, hard facts. It's very aggravating when you find contradictions even within a single page by a single author. For example, I've read one account of how to make mead where the author recommends avoiding store-bought honey because the processing leaves it bland, then he proceeds to tell you to boil the honey to sterilize it. I guess there's a difference between heating honey at home and heating it in a factory. There's also a lot of anecdotal information without any control to compare it to. Unless you run batches side-by-side to eliminate environmental causes and control the other variables, you can't say for certain what the problem is. And just because so-and-so says you don't need to add nutrients doesn't make it so. Maybe he is using well-water with so many minerals in it you could sell it as a vitamin supplement. These tests are far from exhaustive, but I think they're a good start. Reality is that every honey/yeast combination will produce different results. It may at least be possible to narrow down the other variables so we can all focus on finding the honey/yeast combination we prefer.
I've designed a battery of tests to try and remove some of the cloudiness surrounding mead.
1: Brew a five-gallon batch then rack it to five one-gallon jugs. One jug will be empty, the other four will contain chunks of various woods. This will determine what, if any, effect different woods have on the taste of the mead.
2: Brew five gallons, rack to five jugs. One jug is the empty control jug, the other four contain a layer of various substances such as activated charcoal to see if there is any effect on the clearing or aging.
3: Five identical one-gallon batches. Maintain the pH of each fermentation at a different level to determine the effect of pH on fermentation and aging.
4: Same as #3 except the pH is controlled only after fermentation is completed to see if it has any efect on the aging.
5: Five identical batches stopped at different SG to quantify the effects of alcohol content on aging.
6: Five batches, identical except for yeast choice. Stop all batches at the same SG to see the differences produced by the yeast. This test can be run multiple times with different goups of yeast.
7: Five one-gallon batches. One control, one with yeast nutrient per label directions, one with half the recommended nutrient, one with bee pollen of equal amount as recommended yeast nutrient, one with several times as much pollen. There is speculation that the nutrients in pollen could provide all the yeast need. This test will determine how effective pollen is relative to commercial yeast nutrient.
8: Two identical batches. One control, one slowly and continuously stirred during fermentation. Basically, a barbecue rotisserie turned on end slowly rotates a stainless steel screen submerged in the must. This is to see if creating motion helps to speed up the fermentation process by allowing the yeast to contact more sugar.
9: Five one-gallon batches, identical except for amount of honey. To determine the effects of the initial SG on fermentation and aging. All batches would be stopped at the same % ABV.
10: Multiple batches, identical except for type of honey. This is a tricky one. I'm looking for honeys with an obvious spike in the amount of one type of sugar as compared to the other sugars. This way we can see if a higher level of dextrose has a different effect than a higher level of fructose, for example. The trick is to try and keep other variables, such as mineral content, to a minimum.
11: Two identical batches, one with yeast hulls, one without. Simply to determine if yeast hulls produce any differences.
12: Three identical batches, one unmolested, one boiled honey, one pasteurized honey. To determine whether excess heat has any effect on the properties of honey.
Why all this hassle? First of all, it's fun. I love using my brain to solve puzzles. Second of all, we need to eliminate all of the contradictory information out there by examining cold, hard facts. It's very aggravating when you find contradictions even within a single page by a single author. For example, I've read one account of how to make mead where the author recommends avoiding store-bought honey because the processing leaves it bland, then he proceeds to tell you to boil the honey to sterilize it. I guess there's a difference between heating honey at home and heating it in a factory. There's also a lot of anecdotal information without any control to compare it to. Unless you run batches side-by-side to eliminate environmental causes and control the other variables, you can't say for certain what the problem is. And just because so-and-so says you don't need to add nutrients doesn't make it so. Maybe he is using well-water with so many minerals in it you could sell it as a vitamin supplement. These tests are far from exhaustive, but I think they're a good start. Reality is that every honey/yeast combination will produce different results. It may at least be possible to narrow down the other variables so we can all focus on finding the honey/yeast combination we prefer.
You are going to hit 200 in no time! ;D
