How to sweeten a mead after fermentation?

A friend of mine and I put together a pomegranate mead about a month and a half ago and it is currently sitting in a large plastic bucket after being racked twice.

I taste tested a little during the last racking and while it is good, it's rather dry. He wants his part that way, but I was hoping for it to be sweeter.

Is it possible to pasteurize a pound of honey and maybe another liter of juice (to up the pomegranate flavor which is lacking even with 3 liters already in there) and toss it in my half of the batch (~3.5 gallons each) along with some potassium sorbate and fining agents?

the problem with using more honey to sweeten is, if your yeast hasn't hit attenuation, you'll start fermentation back up as it eats the new sugar.

I would lean towards using lactose. its sweet, adn non-fermentable by yeast.

sweeten to taste, just don't aerate while mixing it in.
It shouldn't take a ton...so I'd only buy a 1lb bag and don't plan on using it all. I've never back sweetened so I can't even guess how much you'll actually use.

If you don't plan on carbonating it you can add some potassium sorbate for a day or two to retard the yeast and backsweeten it with a couple cups of honey.

bah I always forget about using that to kill the yeast. I was always afraid it'd add some weird off flavor.
i've never had any mead except my own, which is 'au naturale'. If I could taste someone's 'halted' mead with the above method it'd set my mind at ease

Cool. I was hoping I would be able to do this. I'm guessing the usual 1/4 tsp will be enough. Should I even bother with fining agents?

Malkore: How do you stop your fermentation early without sorbate?

I never stopped fermentation, I let it stop naturally.

Its the way I make my mead style...a specific honey quantity and safale S-33. pretty much ensures a sweet mead.

max4677 said:

Cool. I was hoping I would be able to do this. I'm guessing the usual 1/4 tsp will be enough. Should I even bother with fining agents?

Malkore: How do you stop your fermentation early without sorbate?

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You don't even with sorbate! Many have tried and it is a toss up. Usually when the temp changes or it gets to a certain age it just restarts and you get super carbed mead or bottle bombs. The trick most comerical meaderies and wineries use is they add the sorbate and in a few days they run it through a filter that is small enough to remove any remaining yeast cells. It polishes the must and they can then sweeten without worry.

For homebrewers just let it finish, sorbate and campden and in a few days after add what ever you want to backsweeten. I add the honey on the 3rd day after. I also would not use anything but honey to sweeten mead. It will bring out the flavor and aroma of the honey. Be careful how much you add as the Pom juice is usually very sweet also. A tip is to let it age a bit after the sweetening before bottling.

Don't using the finings unless absolutly necessary.

I'm in a very similar boat with a pair of cysers...One is Pomegranate ( @ 1/3 of total volume) and one is very dark, cider/honey/molasses. Today was second rack, and both are much drier than last rack, but the pomegranate version is nearly champagne dry.

So, first I'm wondering if a short freeze will kill the yeast so I can sweeten, and it seems perfectly reasonable. But, my wife, for whom all things cider are prepared (Ok, that molasses thing aint' gonna go over, but you get the idea) prefers her ciders/cysers/meads sparkling, and if I kill the yeast, that's not gonna happen naturally. Should I just add honey and re-rack monthly until it stops fermenting?

Fun stuff, innit?

Freezing will not kill the yeast. It will make it go into a dormant state until the temp goes up enough to kick it back into gear again.

I just let it ferment until it is almost as sweet as needed and keep racking. When It is at that point then add the carbing sugar and bottle.

mgayer said:

Freezing will not kill the yeast. It will make it go into a dormant state until the temp goes up enough to kick it back into gear again.

I just let it ferment until it is almost as sweet as needed and keep racking. When It is at that point then add the carbing sugar and bottle.

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Cold crashing does stop the yeast... it also clears your mead

Cold crashing is only a temp stop gap. They go dormant due to temp but once the temp comes back into the sweet zone and there is more sugars to be had.....

Use your cems as needed, when needed. There is no gold star for being stubborn and surviving bottle bombs.

From what I’ve been told and read, to stop a fermentation and leave sugars, you would need to Cold crash (at near freezing temps), rack only clear liquid, add sorbate and sulfite while it’s still cold, then warm it back up after a day or two.

Forgot to mention:

I would shy away from Lactose for sweetening. It has near no sugar content. I read somewhere that each gallon of milk has around 3lbs of lactose suspended within. So it would take a lot of it to really impart a sense of sweetness, plus it's a different kind of sweet. Your honey flavors won't shine as well.

Secondly, I think it will cloud your mead, which is not a problem, just be aware it will happen. Also it will impart a "creamy" mouth feel. Again, not a problem, in fact desired effect in some cases, (i'm gonna try and recreate an Orangesicle(sp?!) flavor and will be experimenting with lactose to give that creaminess)but often that is an unintended side effect.

I backsweeten ciders using cold crash, campden, and sorbate, but even all that together with a long settling rest, eventually a few yeast cells will begin to propagate and it will still ferment the added sugar over time. The only real way is to pasteurize and/or filter.

Cavpilot2000 said:

I backsweeten ciders using cold crash, campden, and sorbate, but even all that together with a long settling rest, eventually a few yeast cells will begin to propagate and it will still ferment the added sugar over time. The only real way is to pasteurize and/or filter.

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How long is eventually?

Sorbate should not be added to cold wine because it's not very soluble when it's cold. That may be part of your problem.
It could also be that you just haven't removed enough of the yeast. Fining agents, time, and good racking technique are all helpful. Filtering or pasteurization shouldn't be required.

RPh_Guy said:

How long is eventually?

Sorbate should not be added to cold wine because it's not very soluble when it's cold. That may be part of your problem.
It could also be that you just haven't removed enough of the yeast. Fining agents, time, and good racking technique are all helpful. Filtering or pasteurization shouldn't be required.

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6 months or sometimes more.
And that's with adding sorbate and campden on multiple occasions prior to multiple rackings. I generally take 6-9 months to make a cider, and whenever I backsweeten, it will inevitably, eventually eat the added sugar. Sometimes it takes months, but it happens every time.

Hmm interesting.

very....interesting.

I mean, I may be doing something wrong, but I can't seem to kill my yeast no matter how much settling/sorbat/sulfite i use.

I think the only way to back sweeten and bottle condition for carbonation is to sweeten at serving time.

Just add a bit of honey and pom juice in a glass and pour the finished mead over that.

There are three ways to do it without too much worry.

1. Pasteurize
I. Fillter to 0.45 microns or less

In both cases then add the appropriate amount of sugar and yeast.

3. Add a non-fermrntable sweetener like xylitol or lactose

As far as i know nothing else will work other than adding sweetener to taste before drinking.

Cavpilot2000 said:

I mean, I may be doing something wrong, but I can't seem to kill my yeast no matter how much settling/sorbat/sulfite i use.

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What yeast are you using? have you tried different batch of stabilizers? Maybe you had a bad/old batch. Or Checked the ph and adjust how much you need to use. Otherwise after the first racking, degas it then cold crash to clear out even more yeast that was suspended.