Stove top pasteurizing

Hey guys. I'm looking at a way to carbonate a semi sweet cyser. I was thinking to ferment like normal, bottle for 5 days to carbonate, then stove top pasteurize. Ive only seen this done with ciders. I was hoping someone on the mead forum has had experience doing it with mead.

Isn't the principle is the same, no matter what you're pasteurizing?

i wasn't sure how it effected the honey since a lot of people on here swear against heat sanitation. Also, wasn't sure just how much sediment would settle out if i stove stop pasteurized.

Redstone pasteurized their meads. Sparkling and still. They taste fine to me.

braidenlowe15 said:

i wasn't sure how it effected the honey since a lot of people on here swear against heat sanitation.

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As far as I know, people swear against the heat sanitation of the must/honey prior to pitching the yeast. I've never heard of anyone heating the finished mead to kill the remaining yeast. I'm still pretty new at this, though, so I could be wrong.

Also, remember, heating a sealed container of pressurized liquid is going to increase the pressure within that container, which could very well cause the bottle bombs you are hoping to avoid. Check out this cautionary post from MedsenFey for more:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?p=2458897#post2458897

skadalajara said:

Redstone pasteurized their meads. Sparkling and still. They taste fine to me.

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Wait, do they pasteurize the must, or are you saying they actually pasteurize the meads, post-fermentation? If the latter, is it heat-pasteurized or UV-pasteurized?

EDIT: I checked the "About Redstone" section on their site, and found that they only pasteurize the must:

Redstone only pasteurizes the must (unfermented mead) and never boils. The company strives to feature the flavors of the fermentable as much as possible.

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im refering to heat pasteurizing post-fermentation. Finish secondary, bottle with priming sugar, wait ~5 days for carbonation, then stove top pasteurize.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=193295

Read the above thread found in the cider forum to get an idea.

Interesting. The bottles I have don't specify pre- or post-fermentation pasteurization.

I mean theoretically the heat should kill the yeast but nobody has seemed to do it in practice with mead

braidenlowe15 said:

I mean theoretically the heat should kill the yeast but nobody has seemed to do it in practice with mead

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Maybe because meads aren't carbonated as often as ciders are. But yes, the principle would still apply.

Some cider makers balk at heat pasteurizing because there's a chance that it will change the flavor. Others say it doesn't, and they do it all the time. I dunno how heat would affect honey.

I would be more concerned about missing the timing on the carbonation and having a bottle explode on the stovetop (or dishwasher? really?) than I would be about the flavor changing. The safest ways to get something sweet carbonated is to either 1) use an unfermentable sweetener or 2) stabilize and force carbonate.

I guess there's the third option of taking a yeast almost to its tolerance and adding just enough sugar to both sweeten and carbonate, but it would be pretty difficult to pull off, and even harder to consistently replicate.

I looked through that cider topic, and while it will probably work and many people have had success, that is certainly not something I can safely recommend doing.

valverij said:

I would be more concerned about missing the timing on the carbonation and having a bottle explode on the stovetop (or dishwasher? really?) than I would be about the flavor changing. The safest ways to get something sweet carbonated is to either 1) use an unfermentable sweetener or 2) stabilize and force carbonate.

I guess there's the third option of taking a yeast almost to its tolerance and adding just enough sugar to both sweeten and carbonate, but it would be pretty difficult to pull off, and even harder to consistently replicate.

I looked through that cider topic, and while it will probably work and many people have had success, that is certainly not something I can safely recommend doing.

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Yup. Depends on the bottles and how high you want to carbonate. I like my ciders at 2.5+ volumes and you can't get that and pasteurize beer bottles at 170F without bombs.

Champagne bottles can take more pressure but would be hard to heat evenly in a pot of water. Dishwashers supposedly run 150-170 degrees water which will do the job if the bottles hold up.

I've looked further into it and it's definitely raising major red flags on safety. Going in and purchasing a keg system is worth the cost because it offers a much safer approach. Not to mention kegging allows you to stabilize the mead

skadalajara said:

Interesting. The bottles I have don't specify pre- or post-fermentation pasteurization.

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Been there. Took the tour. It's pre - sitting in just warm enough water just long enough but never boiled then cooled in a gnarly big plate chiller and fermented. It all ends up yum.