Low Gravity Meads

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

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

jfkriege

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2009
Messages
418
Reaction score
7
Location
Bloomington, IN
I was wondering if people have had any luck with lower gravity meads and mead variants. Any recipes or thoughts would be welcomed.

I was thinking about a cyser that started about 1.050 in order to get something going and let SWMBO try it out before I invest in a large batch of honey. I was thinking about taking that and stabilizing and lightly back-sweetening and carbonating. Sound alright?
 
While I've never done what you're proposing, the process sounds like it should work fine and quite a few people have experimented with hydromels (low grav meads). Good luck!
 
My next cider will be made with 1lb of OB honey per gallon of cider. Perdicted OG will be around 1.076. I plan on using US-05. This is going in the bucket within the next week as my current cider is almost finished. I will keep you updated.
 
I've actually got a batch of cider clearing now that I'm going to prime and carbonate with honey. I wanted to keep the ABV low enough to be able to enjoy a glass full without getting walloped. If I use a honey with strong character it should come through in the aroma/flavor.
 
Check out Homebrewer_99's "Lemonade Mead" in the Recipe Database. It's a very light and refreshing mead that I've sampled from HB99's private collection, and made one of my own.
 
Another option is a 1 gallon batch. Still only an investment of 3lbs of honey ($10 or so), and it would give you a more accurate representation of the 'usual' meads you'll encounter in the hobby.
 
I appreciate all of the feedback, and will have to try out the lemonade mead some time later this year. It sounds like a really great summer mead.

I ended up going with 1.6kg honey into 1 gallon of apple juice and enough water to make up 3 gallons. It wound up being a 1.060 OG and tastes quite nice. I pitched the D-47 as the yeast, and gave it a nice blast of O2 and some nutrients. It is in a corny with a bent dip tube and an airlock sitting at 60F right now and will hopefully be bubbling by morning.

Joshua
 
I'm making a hopped, smaller sort of mead (1.055 or something) fermented with ale yeast and using a bit of caramelized honey. I'll have to post how it turns out. I also made one with a similar gravity using ginger and wine yeast, made to be sort of like an alcoholic ginger beer, but I'm waiting for it to clear.
 
I said I would report back.

I took a gravity reading on the cyser/hydromel that i put together and it is now at 0.996, down from 1.060 OG. It is clean, with no sulphur (I usually get a bit of sulphur when I have apples in there), and was really tasty. I also tried it after it was back sweetened with a little honey and it was even better. I think I will leave it for another few weeks, and then stabilize, back sweeten slightly and carbonate. I am really excited to see how this one turns out.
 
Just wanted to mention something quick. I assume you know this, but if you stabilize then sweeten you will have to force carb with a keg. Again I assume you know this as you have more posts than I do, but just wanted to throw it out there.

I personally plan on making a Raspberry Hydromel myself soon.
 
I have made the switch to force carbing everything, so not a problem.

I really like the hydromel thing. I feel like it allows me to learn meads and how honey reacts on a much shorter time scale. This was put in two weeks ago, and I could probably chill it down for a few days to clarify, rack, and drink right now if I wanted. Not bad at all.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top