Sweeten Dry Mead

Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum

Help Support Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Bert

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2004
Messages
1,143
Reaction score
0
I have a Mead that fermented out to dry...would like to sweeten it back a bit....anyone have some ideas or experience with sweetening Meads..
 
You can follow the same procedure as with sweetening wines by stabilizing with sulfite and sorbate and add honey to the desired sweetness level.
 
I thought of that , buta honey and water syurp still has that raw honey flavor and fermented honey is quite different [at least I think so]....and Mead really seems to pick up flavors easily...Hopeing to stay with the flavor I have now...
 
Bert,


All the info I've read on sweetening mead has been with honey added back. Given some time in the bottle for the flavors to blend, I don't believe you would be disappointed. I have two gallons of basic mead (my first try) that I've racked once and is very clear right now. I plan on using honey to sweeten it back a bit. Let us know what you decide to use and how it turns out.
 
Bert,


Most mead recipes that I have read that want a sweet finish use a staggered honey addition method to acheive. They start with a basic recipe and after the mead SG drops to a designated level they add additional honey and continue this process until the yeast is exhausted. You end up with a very high alcohol/sweet mead. Personally, I would prefer knowing the initial SG and let it ferment to dry andaddhoney back to desired sweetness.
 
I have read that back sweetening mead with honey will cloud it some so it would be best to stabilize and sweeten before allowing it to settle and clear.
 
I have had my mead in a 3 gallon carboy since February 13, 2006 with an
airlock, stuck in a corner..basically trying to forget about it.
It is still very cloudy and tastes terrible. It does however
still bubble when I shake the carboy. It's a very basic sack mead
that was fermented directly in the carboy (D-47 one package with
12 pounds of clover honey, 3 lemons and 1 cup of green tea). Do I
just continue to ignore it and let it do it's thing? Thank you
for the advice Sally :)
 
Yes just let it sit and it will slowly clear and taste much better over time.
 
Has anyone ever used fining agents on mead? Masta mentioned that honey could cloud mead when added back to sweeten. I've got a couple of gallons of basic mead I started on Mar 14 that is very clear now after 1 racking and I'm curious what to use if cloudiness happens.


PC
 
"...Fining agents are not typically used with mead but you could use one if
you have a batch of mead that doesn’t appear to be clearing".



The above is taken from an article on mead making that Masta wrote in
the newsletter that goes out once a month. Sorry I can't help
more but it looks like you can. :) Sally
 
One thing needed with Meads is patience...most of my recipes call for a year in the carboy and a year in the bottle before tasting....really thats a long time to wait, but the Mead is really gets awesome....
 
I did a little more research and found a few notes about using Sparkalloid as a great fining agent with meads. The other option is to sweeten and just allow the mead to settle on it's own. A 3rd option is to sweeten with sugar instead of honey and eliminate the risk of clouding a nice clear mead.


Your mead is very young and certainly could use plenty of aging before it is ready to drink so allowing time to clear after sweeting with honey wouldn't hurt the time-line of when it is ready to hit a glass!
smiley2.gif
 
Masta


The Mead I am thinking about sweetening is still clearing...do you suggest I sweeten with honey now??? Adding K-meta and sorbate first and sweetening??
 
Thanks Masta,


I'll follow your advice and sweeten with honey and let it go for a few months. I took a taste when I racked from primary to carboy and I was not impressed
smiley11.gif
! I'm hoping this is typical with mead in general. I've racked again, but didn't taste. So once I've got it sweet enough, it shouldn't be hard to leave for a long while
smiley36.gif
. Time is a wine/mead maker's best friend!
 
From my experience with the meads I have made is that they don't even start to taste good until after 9 months of aging and are ok after 1 year. I am hoping for a real good after 2 years!
smiley36.gif
 
This sounds like something to try....maybe mixing the honey with water and boiling it would help too....I think I'll try it that way....thanks for the help
smiley1.gif
 

Latest posts

Back
Top