Monthly Archives: February 2021

Yeast – The Importance of Floculation

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Recently I took a break from updating my Field to Flask book. I used this brief break to make a batch of raspberry mead. I used 1/3 tap water from Mossbank, SK where I reside and 2/3 RO water. I added some additional CaCl2 as well. By my calculations I had close to 100 ppm Calcium in my process water. I decided to use a yeast I had never heard of before called Mangrove Jack’s Mead Yeast. It is made in new Zealand from what the package says. The best before date on the packet is Dec 2021, the attenuation is listed as high and the floculation as high. My OG was 1.080 which according to the yeast packet is suitable for the yeast which is alcohol tolerant to 18%. The ferment was slow, taking 15 days to ferment. I have since moved the mead into a keg and it is carbonating now. I am disappointed with the floculation of the yeast. For sure, it does not rate as high my by observations. According to the yeast book of knowledge by Boulton & Quain, yeast will floculate and drop to the bottom of the fermenter because surface proteins on the yeast cell will bind to carbohydrate receptors on neighboring cells. There are a series of genes that have been identified ( the FLO genes) that also play a role in floculation characteristics. To date, I have brewed many batches of beer with combinations of tap water and RO water. No problems with floculation on the beers, so I know it is not the water chemistry at fault. I am sorry to say that I think Mangrove Jack’s mead yeast is at fault. I have several more batches of mead to make in the coming months. I will NOT be using Mangrove Jack yeast for any more batches. If you are reading this post and have used Mangrove Jack’s yeast, I would like to hear from you about your experiences (good or bad). Meantime, I will have to navigate my way through one batch of hazy mead. Won’t kill me, but it is not something I want to serve up to a guest.

The Gin Act of 1736

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Hey Gin drinkers! Was doing a bit of late night history reading over a few drams last night.

Did you know….. on Feb 20, 1736 a petition was presented to the British House of Commons asking for regulation on Gin. The petition alleged “that the drinking of Gin had excessively increased amongst people of inferior rank”. This excessive consumption had “destroyed thousands and rendered great numbers of others unfit for labour, had debauched their morals and had driven them into every vice”.

What came of all this was the Gin Act of 1736 which passed on Sept 29, 1736. The Act imposed a tax of 20 shillings per gallon on Gin plus a 50 Pound annual license fee on retail sellers of Gin.

BUT, the Act was evaded. People pretending to the “chemists” set up shop selling Gin as baby’s colick water. Gin also started to be sold under disguised names such as Tom Row, Make Shift and Ladies Delight.

By 1743, Gin intake had actually increased. To counter this, Gov’t encouraged the drinking of Rum from the Colonies, provided that it was sold to the retail consumer at 1 part Rum and 2 parts water. This came to be known as “2-water grog”. But that’s a story for another time…


source: The Historians History of the Word, vol 20, published 1904.