In which Ricky the Meadmaker answers questions about coffee mead, his Moscow Mule mugs, why fermenting at different temperatures results in different flavors, his opinion on the “versus” issue, and announces Groennfell’s newest year-round mead!
Secondary Metabolites of Yeast
Why We Don’t Compete
Names for Meads
Mead Varieties Poster
A lot of people want to know if we record Ask the Meadmaker on some sort of elaborate soundstage or behind the actual bar at our actual meadery. The answer is, why would we have a functional tap system in a soundstage? The answer is, I'm Ricky the Meadmaker.
Welcome to Ask the Meadmaker, where I, Ricky the Meadmaker, answer your questions about mead making, mead drinking, mead brewing, and really any question you're willing to send to me.
The first question this week I guess I have never answered, though I have gotten the question an awful lot. It is why do we have Moscow Mule mugs even though we don't serve Moscow Mules here? Now, Moscow Mule is a specific type of mixed drink that is served in that type of copper mug and it has vodka in it. Since we only serve mead, why are they there? The answer is, we serve Rookie's root beer and ginger beer here at our facility. They are nonalcoholic. And one, it's cool to drink soda out of a copper mug because it changes the flavor. Two, it guarantees that I know if I haven't seen someone's ID yet.
Gina wants to know if I've ever heard of a coffee mead. She saw a meme going around the internet that referred to it as a coffeemel. She wanted to know my thoughts on it. The answer is the meme that you saw may have in fact been made by Groennfell Meadery. So yes, I do know about coffeemel. "Coffee," coffee. "Mel," made from honey. Not only have I heard of them, I've actually brewed one and I loved it.
Speaking of meads that I have brewed and loved, I bet you're all wondering what this fluorescent pink drink on my bar top is. The answer is, it's Nordic Farmhouse, our newest year-round release coming out in cans next week. It is a saison-style mead made with a combination of Danish saison yeast and the wild yeast from the honey. It is wild stuff. You're going to love it. Why is it pink? Cranberries.
Our next question comes from Chris H, who wants to know why fermenting at different temperatures changes the flavors produced by the yeast? The answer is unfortunately it is extremely complicated. Primarily, yeast produces ethanol (alcohol) and CO2 bubbles. But there are also these other things it makes known as secondary metabolites. Now, changes in temperature may prejudice certain secondary metabolites during the fermentation. In addition to that, CO2 dissolves into solution, known as CO2 dissolution, and when alcohol is in solution with CO2 with yeast present, it can force it to bond and create other alcohols, fusels, esters. It's very complex, it changes a lot of the flavors, and unfortunately, you may need to take Orgo camp to figure it all out.
Our last question this week comes from Ezekiel, who has apparently been cheating on me with another mead broadcast called, Got Mead Live. And he wanted to know my thoughts on Ask Oscar's thoughts on versus, as in what I brew for my friends versus what I brew for competitions. Now you all know that I don't like to compete. I spoke about this recently. But the idea of brewing things for oneself versus brewing for others is an ongoing question in the professional brewing world. And one of the things that we have found here at Groennfell Meadery is our most popular meads are the ones that I brewed and thought, no one else is going to like this except for me. And boy, have I been wrong. So, I guess that's not really a great answer to the question, other than brew for you and the rest might follow.
That's our last question this week. I just have to send it to Ricky with our word of the week. Ricky? Right. Ricky is in Florida this weekend doing his cousin's wedding. Did you know he's an ordained minister? Weird, right? Anyway, I guess I will do it. This week's word is esters. Esters are compounds that are made during fermentation. They are sort of secondary metabolites. They also form in solution, but they give beers and meads, especially beers but sometimes meads, their very distinctive flavors. Sort of banana things can come from them, some other complex alcohol tastes, not to be confused with Esthers, who tend to be about 88 years old and still send me $5 for my birthday every year. Ester.
It's our Word of the Week and the end of our show. Keep sending your questions and I'll get to them as soon as possible. Cheers.
