Maine Mead Works continuous fermentation is unique, 85%
complete in 24 hours. Co-founders, Ben Alexander (right) and
Eli Cayer(also Production Manage, left). Photos by Charlie
Papazian
In Portland, Maine at the Maine Mead Works the bees are buzzing and mead is fermenting. For Maine entrepreneurs, Ben Alexander, Eli Cayer embarked on a path few have pursued. Making mead in an unusual way is what their life is all about these days.
Mead has a history older than wine or beer. Mead is essentially honey wine. Beer is made from grains. Wine is made from fruit. Mead is made by fermenting honey. Its strength varies from mild to strong wine strength. Traditional mead is made from honey, water and fermented with yeast. Types of mead can vary with the addition of fruit, herbs and fermentable carbohydrates.
Few know the legacy of mead. Making and selling it is a challenge. Making great mead isn’t enough. You’re just as likely to run into Ben or Eli in the streets of Portland, Maine selling their story as you will see them at the meadery. Educating the public, selling it and offering a unique and delicious experience is a huge uphill battle for today’s mead entrepreneurs.
When Ben and Eli founded WASSAIL d.b.a. Maine Mead Works in Portland, Maine they turned to Dr. Garth Cambray of South Africa for assistance in developing a fermentation system that would be commercially viable for their business. Dr. Cambray’s success with the Makana Meadery based out of South Africa is well documented among mead makers.
First developed in Dr. Cambray, the mead fermentation system at The Maine Mead Works can best be described as a continuous fermentation process. Tall glass columns (produced in Maine by a glass works) are busy, slowly being drip fed a honey and water mixture. The result is 85% complete fermentation in 24 hours. Anyone who has made mead is astounded, “How can this possibly be?”
Essentially substrates of expired bits of ginger are suspended in the filled columns of honey/water and evolved fermented mead. The substrate serves to keep the yeast down at the bottom of the glass column. The yeast is perpetually in a state of fermentation, not needing to expend respiration phase energy to reproduce itself. As the honey and water mixture is converted to the fermented mead has a lower specific gravity (it’s lighter) and migrates to the top of the column.
As the honey and water mixture is fed at the bottom, the fermented mead is drip tapped off from the top and passes through hoses to a container where it is eventually put into stainless steel secondary fermentation tanks for maturing for 6 to 8 weeks.
Maine Mead Works offers three types of mead, Traditional dry and semi dry meads along with Maine Blueberry Mead. All of their meads tasted at the meadery were clean, smooth, with no nutrient nor yeast flavors commonly associated with “quick meads.” The light honey aroma and flavor is tremendously enjoyable. The blueberry style mead has the complex and flavorful qualities that manifest themselves from real blueberries (no extract, juice or essence) grown in the state of Maine.
Meads can be spectacular complements with dinner and other special occasions. Maine Mead Works meads are no exception.
Comments
Wow, that is a really interesting approach. I wonder how the flavor differs from a mead made the traditional way?
Intriguing! I'm not sure if I've ever even had mead before. I suppose the traditional method was performed in big brewing vessels? This continuous fermentation process could be used on beer too, and wine.
Continuous fermentation has been tried with beer, but it doesn't work too well because high production of diacetyl in beer making. More precursors of undesirable flavors in beer process that need aging with yeast. Mead not as sensitive to yeast digressions. Generally speaking.
The traditional way to make mead is to ferment just like wine. A must is created, fermented, bulk aged, bottled, aged some more, and consumed. The major distinction is that its not continuously fermented.
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