Honey Show Talk - Mead Making - David Lishman David Lishman came from Warwickshire loaded down with his boxes of equipment and several excellent samples of the finished product. Mr Lishman explained that his wine and mead making goes back many years and he has been very successful insofar as he has been awarded many prizes at prestigious shows over the years. The main reason that he started to give talks on mead making resulted from him becoming a judge and having to taste some poor examples of mead at shows which I suspect could be better described as being “specimens” of a liquid! From these variable experiences came the instructive and explanatory talks an example of which we heard at the Honey Show. I suppose he is akin to an evangelist who wants to let people experience and taste very palatable mead as opposed to some liquids which purport to be home made wines for drinking but could be better used for cleaning paint work or removing rust from cars. His objective was not to demonstrate making mead; it was to provide us with sufficient meaningful information to allow us all to produce mead for ourselves to a very high standard, which was very palatable and enjoyable to drink. Mr Lishman was very clear in that he was not trying to be dogmatic or prescriptive about mead making, he was simply passing on his knowledge, which he had developed over many years of mead making. He does not discourage experimentation but freely admitted that he does follow the printed instructions provided with products which he uses in the process and he was very definite that the most important aspect of good mead making was tasting and monitoring the product during the process. Mr Lishman’s method of mead making could be described as being very simple with the emphasis being placed upon: • Cleanliness of equipment and products i.e. total & constant sterilisation • Using good products i.e. good quality honey • A precise starting gravity according to the desired sweetness of the finished product • Monitoring the process • Tasting and checking the product during the process of fermentation • Not rushing the process He stated that in his view the best book to read for good wine making was “First Steps in Winemaking” by C.J. Berry and he recommended it to all as a good source of information. The “Lishman” process for producing good mead: • Basic Chart for success: This chart is fundamental to his method and is referred to at the start and throughout the process Mead Type Initial Specific Gravity Expected Final Specific Gravity Alcohol Content Dry 1.100 0.999 9-12% Medium 1.118 1.010 12-15% Sweet 1.127 1.025 12-15% • He ensures that all of equipment used in his mead making is always clean and sterilised for every part of the process, as a good product can be ruined by in introduction of bacteria, “bugs” or wild yeasts which exist in the atmosphere, in honey and on all utensils used in the process. TIP - If your Demi Johns are dirty/stained, they can be difficult to clean even with the best type of bottle cleaning brush so he uses pre-sterilised gravel plus a small amount of sterilising solution. He then shakes the mixture in the Demi-John until it is clean. Always be sure to wash away sterilising solution with clean water. • Prepare a starter bottle of brewing yeast the day before starting the mead. Using a sterilised bottle. Mix an amount of your yeast (he uses a proprietary compound brewing yeast – “Formula 67” or in some cases a specific yeast designed for white wine, e.g. Sauterne Yeast), together with an amount of yeast nutrient and water. Shake it up and then leave it to start working. He uses standard yeast nutrients as opposed to other items because he believes that some alternative products can leave distaste in the final product. • Basic Mixture of ingredients for all types of mead (about 1 gallon). He always uses four pounds (4lbs.) of honey which is mixed with up to five pints of near-boiling water and bring the mixture to the boil and stirring all the time to avoid burning. • The heating kills the wild yeasts in the honey, which if allowed to self-ferment could produce bad flavours. • The heating does not need to be too strong or aggressive. Then allow the mixture to cool but during the cooling process, keep it covered up to keep the “bugs” off. • When the mixture has cooled, put it in a wide-open necked pre-sterilised container such as a brewing bucket. • As this method of mead making always uses four pounds of honey, the solution produced in the initial mixture needs to be diluted to the required initial specific gravity. >From David Lishman’s experience, the majority of mead making methods stipulate using specific amounts of honey for the different types of mead i.e. dry, medium and sweet but he stated that because the sugar contents of honeys can vary, using fixed amounts can produce variable results. To reduce this element of chance, he ensures that his mead’s have measured specific gravity’s for the initial specific gravity As the initial mixture will be a high specific gravity, the mixture will need to be adjusted/diluted accordingly. To achieve the required (desired type) initial specific gravity (I.S.G.) as per the chart: (i) Ensure that the mixture is well mixed using a sterilised spoon. (ii) To determine how much water to add to the initial mixture. Do it in miniature, as it is easier to work with the volumes in the hydrometer tube rather than a bucket. Equally, if minimises the chance for mistakes. (iii) Put a measure of the mixture in the in the hydrometer tube (don’t fill it too much – just enough to enable the hydrometer to float). (iv) Make a note of the hydrometer reading and measure the level of the mixture in the hydrometer tube. (v) Add water gradually to the tube until the required I.S.G. is achieved. (vi) Measure and make a note of the new height in the hydrometer tube. (vii) The difference between the two heights will provide the ratio for the amount of water, which needs to be added to the main volume to bring it to the correct I. S.G. • Add the required amount of water as per the ratio. • Add an amount of citric, malic or tartaric acid powder and wine tannin powder as per the instructions but ensure the mixture is completely mixed. • Taste the mixture to ensure it meets with your approval and only add a small amount at a time. • Remember that it is easy to add more if required where as it is difficult to take away if too much has been used. • Mix in the contents of the starter bottle, which should now be working vigorously. • Cover the vessel with a cloth or loose lid and leave the vessel in a warm place (65-70 F or 16-20 C) to enable the initial fermentation to start. • The initial fermentation will be very vigorous, hence the reason for a wide necked vessel and a loose cover over the vessel. For the same reason, don’t over-fill the vessel when starting. • The initial fermentation will take a week or more. During this period, stir the mixture vigorously each morning and night so as to introduce air. That will produce lots of froth. • When that initial aggressive fermentation has slowed-down no further stirring is required. Siphon or decant the mixture into a demi-john and place a stopper and air lock in the neck. TIP – rather than using water in the air lock, use a mixture of half water and half-liquid glycerine, as that will prevent the air lock from drying up. • Leave the demi-john to work (ferment) at its own pace. The factors that will control the rate of fermentation are variable but the temperature of the environment is a major factor in the process. Try to maintain about 65 F (16 C) and don’t go above 70 F (20 C) or the yeast may be killed. • Keep notes with each mixture to record what actions have been taken and when plus what products have been used. If you get a good result, you may want to repeat it. • Just leave the mixture to ferment and monitor the process – time is the great brewer. • When the process has slowed down dramatically, take a S.G. reading, have a taste to check and then siphon or decant the mixture less the “sludge” at the bottom of the demi-john into a sterilised and clean demi-john then replace the stopper and air lock leaving the process to continue. • When all sign of fermentation has ceased, siphon or decant the product into a clean demi-john. It should be palatable to drink at this stage but D.L. does maintain that the mead will improve over time i.e. the longer it is left, the better it will be. Samples tasted during the talk ranged from 2 to 9 years old. • D.L. never “stops” the fermentation with Camden tablets; he always leaves it to run its course. D.L. maintains that mead made this way is always capable of starting to ferment again, even though the rate of fermentation might be one bubble a week therefore he always stores the mead in a demi-john with an air lock. • The essential words of warning are keep things clean, sterilise all equipment before it is used and ensure that your Mead is not spoilt by allowing bacteria to enter your product. Mr Lishman has had great success when he has shown his mead at a number of major honey and wine shows and after tasting his finished product, I know why he has won the prizes. Over the years, I have had many mixed results when trying to brew wine and I am certain that every one must have had experiences of tasting wine made by an amateur wine maker which caused you teeth to grind together and make you think that the liquid (purportedly wine), is one step removed from products found in the gutter. Incidentally, I have also had that experience from some professionally produced wines. Having said that, I have been fortunately over the years to taste some home made wines which were excellent and David Lishman’s mead can be placed high in the quality list Mr Lishman not only brought samples of his mead to be tasted during the talk but also provided two very large bottles of mead to be consumed with the buffet which were well received by those members present at the meeting and the subsequent buffet, they were equally impressed. Even though Mr Lishman classed his sample meads as dry and sweet, I have tasted dry mead in the past which tasted like French Chablis and were not to my taste but I found both types of his mead very palatable and neither of them too dry for my palate. It is said that a good speaker can get the listeners fired up with enthusiasm and ready to go, David Lishman did achieve that with the author and certainly with several others in his audience. His depth of knowledge and enthusiasm for his subject shone through and was very well received by his audience. As a retrospective and thoughtful post-script. I enjoy red wine but having said that am not partial to very dry wines i.e. the ones that cause one to grind ones teeth and therefore I did not enjoy dry meads. Recently, I had an opportunity to taste what was described as “a very fine dry mead”, and again, I found it “unpalatable” to my taste. I then had what can only be described as a eureka moment when my better half suggested that as some foods are more suitable to eat with certain types of drinks. I tried the dry mead with cheese and my eyes were opened to the marvels of dry mead as the combination was excellent which shows me that nothing should ever be discounted! Enjoy your mead and try mead making yourself – it tastes good and is not complicated or difficult to make but follow David Lishman’s process but don’t rush or take short cuts with cleanliness and hygiene – ENJOY David Teasdale North Staffordshire Beekeepers Association