These are the people who will be organising events for you. If you have any suggestions, please contact any of the committee members.

Welcome to the new millennium. Prost, Chin chin, Was seil.

This issue is a little thin. Life appears a little more hectic than usual, which has resulted in this letter not being posted. There has also been a lack of submissions.

I had an a scary experience just before Christmas. I was bottling beers with a counter pressure bottle filler and one of the bottles exploded. Fortunately one of the engineers that I worked for as an appy. was a little nuts about safety and insisted that any thing that could cause injury must be guarded. I had fitted a guard over my counter pressure bottle filler, and was spared injury but lost about 500 ml of beer. On this note I have included some work that I have done on counter pressure bottle filling as well as a design for which all the components are locally available. The cost to build it is about 200 bucks. I’ll also describe how to make an effective inexpensive guard.

I have also included a list of items that may improve you brewing although some of the items are essential to a brewer of any level i.e. a fermenter.

If you have any suggestions for the news letter a supplier of brewing equipment or ingredients etc let me know and I can make other brewers lives a little easier.

We all know how spoilt the American home brewers are with their vast supplier net work, I was quite unaware of the degree of the supply chain. I asked my cousin, who visited a few days back, to bring some lager yeast with him, and said "If you cant find any, no problem." He arrived with 2 vials of yeast slurry with an apology, that he only went to the shop down the road, but he was going to go to the big one in town, but ran out of time.

That’s all my ramblings for now.

Enjoy your brewing.

Donald

Early last year Morits afforded me the opportunity to buy a draught system. This made brewing a whole lot easier. However, I had one problem, come mid week if I wanted a beer it was quite a schlep to set up the system, draw off the perfect pint, clean and sanitise the system, and then pack it all away. I had leanings towards buying commercial beers again to quench my thirst come mid week, but is seemed awful to have good beer in a big can and not to drink it. The solution was to bottle it, How? with a counter pressure bottle filler of course. From? The states? At over R600.00 you must be joking. Alternative – build it your self.

See the attached drawing which lists all the components that you will need. I haven’t listed thread tape which you will need to seal the threads when you join the components.

The stoppers for tot dispensers work well to seal the necks of the beer bottles.

The guard it made by cutting the thread off the top of a P.E.T. bottle above the carrying lip and the bottom where the parallel sides start curving. Put the tube of the counter pressure bottle filler through the top of the guard and push the stopper home on the 3/8" copper tube the stopper will hold the guard in place.

*****

There is an article with a little info on the Birkenhead brewery in the February issue of Style Magazine.

*****

The last page of this news letter is a list of items that are needed for various stages of beer production it is by no means comprehensive, nor are all possible suppliers listed. What the list does give you is a starting point to work from when looking for components for your brewery. The list is of sources that I have discovered and in most cases have bought items from. They are generally located in or around Germiston which is convenient for me. I have been searching for sources of equipment for about 3 years, but questions to fellow brewers usually draws a blank. Lets take this opportunity and grow the list and make life easier for new brewers.

*****

Eddy Lear

Mead Master & Chairman of the South African Mead Masters’ Association

In this issue we continue with Eddy Lear outstanding paper

prepared for Apimondia in Vancouver.

(If you would like to know more about the congress, visit their site on www.apimondia99.)

I have heard many claims from mead makers, who claim that mead does not give a hangover. This is one area on which I have no authority. I have never drunk so much mead to find out if it gives a hangover. During the latter years as a teenager was the last time I ever suffered from a hangover and so I lack experience. I never enjoyed losing control of my senses, nor do I enjoy headaches—having suffered for most of my life with migraines—so I made a commitment to myself not to over indulge if I could help it. So far so good. I have enough power to say stop. Though I will add that I do allow myself—on occasions where I feel safe—to go to the extent where I have loosened my tongue and there is a relaxation of inhibition of character. I also know that the consuming of alcohol gives the desire to drink more and therefore counting is a prerequisite. Investigating whether mead can be classed as a tolerable beverage against hangovers.

It is quite possible that the lighter young mead certainly provide a commendable degree of tolerance in punishing the indulged. In all alcoholic beverages reside impurities known as congeners. It is these same impurities which give the drink its character, and finally the interest to the drinker. Hence there is a need to arrive at a delicate balance to include as many of the aromatic congeners as possible, while excluding the noxious ones. The Mead Master’s task is further complicated because these congeners vary widely, and include aldehydes, phenolics, and more or less aromatic esters. Up to 200 congeners maybe in a mead that has been aged in wood. However they are still not fully understood and we are still learning how it affects the final product.

Evidence suggests that the richer, darker mead contain a lot more congeners than the paler varieties. There is the belief that the congeners, or should I say the multitude in numbers of these congeners are responsible to some degree for the hangover. True it may be but, conversely, there is no guarantee that drinking only light mead will avoid a hangover.

Undoubtedly there are also factors which contribute to the discomfort of a hangover. Alcohol stimulates the manufacture of insulin in the body, which in turn reduces the levels of blood sugar. A consequence of this is a feeling of drowsiness and hunger (to the gratitude of the restaurateur). Alcohol also upsets the body’s metabolism and this causes a rise in acidity. Because all the cells in the body are dehydrated, the acid-base metabolism is altered and the result is the sensation of sickness and depression.

While our bodies are hard at work breaking down the alcohol slurped into it, some toxic chemicals are being produced. In large amounts, of course, they could be poisonous, though in the average night of drinking the amount is likely to be unpleasant rather than serious. Particularly significant among these toxins is methanol, a type of alcohol found as a congener in most spirits. It is metabolised in exactly the same way as ethanol, but along the way produces some distasteful chemicals.

The fact is, that our bodies won’t get to work on the methanol until most of the ethanol has been broken down and the chances are, that the toxins produced by the methanol won’t begin to form until hours after you have stopped drinking, probably not until you wake up the next morning. That is what contributes the upset stomach to the hangover. Interestingly, not everyone metabolises the methanol in their system at the same rate, which is why some doctors believe that certain people suffer less than others on the morning after.

Many people find that sooner or later the eyelids become heavy and the instinctive feeling of rest is upon them. This is as a result of the sedative effects of alcohol, the body compensates by making the nervous system more sensitive than normal. And when the high spirits—both literally and figuratively—have subsided, the nervous system is left in overdrive, generating a feeling of restlessness. This is also the reason why noises can seem louder and lights much brighter during a hangover.

Strangely enough, research into one of the world’s most known malady has not been undertaken by science in the same manner as other oddities. In fact the medical profession mostly see it as something for which the victim has only himself to blame. Yet the hangover remains a universal problem that has to be faced by most people at one time or other in their lives.

I would like to align myself to those mead makers who preach in their marketing, that mead can be drunk to ones hearts content without the inevitable morning after, but this I think is asking too much. On the other hand maybe there are ways of avoidance. The only certain way is not to drink at all. This has been the message of the temperance societies over the past couple of centuries. Some of these groups have been responsible for inducing people to abstain from alcoholic beverages of every kind. Even the Federal Prohibition - in the USA- between 1920 and 1933 was as a result to the dedication of the sobersides.

Even under the toughest restrictions, however, keen drinkers found a way to break through and during that time some drinking dens actually doubled. It was mainly during this period that the art Mead making was nearly lost, Monasteries have generally had immunity from outside interference and therefore were a safe haven for the monks to keep up secret and the tradition was maintained.

Just about every one who has ever drunk any type of wine, beer or spirits, has experienced that to booze on an empty stomach is a recipe for disaster. It is absolutely essential to line the stomach, because food prevents the alcohol from being immediately absorbed into the bloodstream, with all that ensues. I have often felt the effects of a closed pyloric valve due to having a hiatus hernia. The pyloric valve on the stomach reduces the passage way to the intestines. I can drink before a meal without any heart burn, but when I start mixing "quantious" amounts of liquid with or after the intake of food, I could spend most of the night sitting up in bed wishing the pain would go. So the thing which prevents the release of too much content from the stomach can give problems if there are other problems existing.

What this constriction does is it protects the drinker from the onslaught of those dreaded congeners. We are told that protein aids the process of absorption, so a good protein diet during the intake of alcohol can be beneficial. Alcohol is a mixture of carbohydrates and water. What the yeast does to sugar during fermentation, our stomach acids reverse back to calories of energy. So, when the Vikings took their mead just before a fight, they were taking a useful boost of energy. However, these calories can’t be stored in the body; they can’t repair body tissue (only protein does that) and they can’t add to our fuel reserves by producing fats. The energy produced is very much a short term occupation. None the less, alcohol energy can be useful, and the trick is for you to use the energy and not let the energy use you.

Our stomachs are well aware of the difference between low alcohol and high alcohol levels. There is no pulling the wool over a tummy. A stronger mead will take longer to be absorbed because the greater percentage of alcohol activates the stomach lining into producing a mucus to protect itself, at the same time as closing off the pyloric valve. Always beware of the low alcohol mead, honey beers & ales as they give a false sense of security—the effect is only being delayed!

The incorrigible Romans were known to consume cabbage before their libatious parties. Whether they knew it or not cabbage as a chelator is a help. Chelator is a substance which amalgamates with other elements and carries them out of the body.

The Welsh tradition of mead consumption is well known, and they had a stomach-turning preventative against getting drunk. The main ingredient was the roasted lungs of a pig. If eaten for breakfast, the ‘recipe’ promised, with nothing else passing the lips all day, it would be impossible to become drunk, no matter how much mead was consumed that night.

Olive oil is said to protect the stomach lining and to slow down the absorption of alcohol. If one visits the chemist there are rows of tablets proclaiming to be the preventative. One such tablet is purely gritty charcoal, and the instructions add that a tablespoon of olive oil should be taken simultaneously instead of a glass of water.

One thing to avoid in the battle against hangovers is heavy smoking. Smoking increases your appetite for more alcohol. Alcohol makes the veins and arteries of the body expand (vasodilator)—while the nicotine from a cigarette is a vasoconstrictor and constricts them. The effect of these two working against each other can be another factor in condemning you to a morning of retribution.

What it ultimately boils down to, is, experience. Experience plays an important part in avoiding a hangover. Even an occasional drinker soon learns which drinks he or she is more suited to.

The 17th-century English statesman, Sir William Temple, used to say about drinking: ‘the first glass for myself, the second for my friends, the third for good humour, and the fourth for mine enemies,’ the implication being that it should not be drunk. It is likely to convert a feeling of well-being and conviviality into irritation and pugnaciousness. It can change free-flowing wit and intellectual excitement into mental confusion.

Those who drink the fourth glass, and usually many more besides, are a different kind of person. There are drinkers who, enjoying the effects of what they have drunk so far, hardly notice that they have reached a rather critical point. They continue drinking in a rather innocent way, distracted, perhaps, by the conversation and laughter around them. They slip into tipsiness, and may even realise that they have done so. Some will stop drinking at that point; others are relieved to abandon logical reasoning. They are drifting along in a pleasant stream and see little reason to scramble out of the water.

One should be aware that mead is not a cheap drink. We can easily realise this when comparing the cost of honey and grape juice. It naturally goes without saying therefore that the base product already places mead at a higher price than wine. As mead producers we need to take even more care in producing a better product than wine, since it is naturally more expensive for the consumer. Another factor we should consider is that we should aim to market the product at the more affluent society or ‘up market’ members of the community, and this itself can create a tradition.

In trying to establish an etiquette for mead drinkers, we want to steer away from the traditional drinking styles and present something different. This will then create a need for mead and the marketing of mead will be easier. Traditions can be written as though they are an age old way, but they can be brand new, people are inquisitive of tradition.

One thing that we can create is a ‘meading’. We could choose a day in the year, which could become a traditional day for holding a meading festival.

So what is a ‘meading’? Well its a time to get together to drink, taste and enjoy mead.

The rules of the meading could be:

• that the participants remain intelligent during and after meading around mead.
• the participant is healthy and able to continue his normal duties the morning after.
• food should always be available—the type to keep the equilibrium intact.
• traditional dress to be worn.
• coarse behaviour should not be tolerated
• an established protocol used for opening a meading-maybe a libation.
• a meading should always be around a fire, and during winter, mead should be drunk hot.
• mead should be classified as to which ones are drunk chilled, ambient or hot.
• the presentation of mead on a tray when being served by the waiter to be distinguished.
• guests of a meading should always bring a bottle of mead per family which is pooled together. The invitation to a meading should give a list of mead outlets.
• the master of ceremonies should be given an evaluation of the mead from which he can summarise and introduce the mead which are to be made available for the meading.
• mead should be drunk from a mazer.

The primary aim of a meading is to educate the public on apiculture. To make it known that there are ways to add value to bee products. We need to get away from drinking out of horns and such like as this brings an air of barbarity. Mead should be drunk from specially designed glasses, which capture the senses and make the drinking of mead a pleasurable experience.

Meadings could be; club activities, family get-togethers, special occasions etc.. Whoever hosts a meading should be fully aware of the ostentation.

Meading Festival. A meading festival should start mid morning with a mead display. Judges of mead should then be given the opportunity to blind judge the mead on display. Any interested person visiting the meading festival can also buy a score sheet where they can judge the mead to become more acquainted with the variety and styles on show, but their score will not be included in the competition. After the tasting competition, games can be played, where the energy gained during the tasting session is worked off. This can be followed by music and dancing. Participants should try to establish a ‘family name’ costume and these should be worn to the festival. The paramount aim of the occasion should be for everyone to enjoy themselves and the mead provided.

And so I wish to close my narrative by wishing you all a pleasant symposium, and hope you have been stimulated into thinking how we can market mead in interesting and novel ways. I trust that today’s proceedings will be as pleasant as the beverage we represent.

Thank you.