Sparkling Melomel...

I just started a 1 gal. batch 2 days ago (and is fermenting very nicely). I used 2 lbs 8 oz of honey, and a Lalvin champagne yeast. I plan on adding fruit when fermentation is complete. How can I go about making this a sparkling Melomel? My OG was 1.08 ( a little lower than expected but thats cool with me). Any ideas whether this will be a dry or sweet mead? I used almost the entire package of yeast...(I saved 1/5th for an experiment).

It will be dry for sure, unless you stop fermentation early at desired sweetness level by cold crashing around freezing temperature for couple days and then stabilizing. Be aware though that it is almost impossible or really hard to make sweet or semi-sweet sparkling melomel if you plan to bottle. If you keg that's no problem.

Do you think that after fermentation & racking a few times (in lets say 3 months) that there will be enough yeast to carbonate if I prime?

i am still fairly new to this, so i can't give you the correct answer. i will, however, tell you what i did. i racked a few times and there was little to no airlock activity, even after backsweetening, so i took about 1/8 packet of lalvin ec-1118, rehydrated and mixed with the mead about a day before bottling it. its only been bottled a few days, so i guess i'll find out if there will be bombs in the months to come.

Please let me know how this turns out!

Dunno if this will help anybody but I've been toying with the idea of using lactose to backsweeten as has been discussed in other threads, using a melomel that completely finishes in the 12-14% abv and 1.01 range (so there is something for new yeast to ferment out and not above the abv tolerance), I mean completely done, like multiple rackings, cleared, aged and ready to bottle then slowly adding lactose which is unfermentable to taste, slightly sweeter than what I hope the final product to be, rehydrating 1/10 (0.5g) of a pack of yeast, probably 1118, pitching it then bottling. Will use 1 gallon batches to experiment with until the numbers can all get balanced out or I find it doesn't work as I hope and try something else. Hiding the bottles in a box in a safe place incase I screw up and they decide to explode.

MasterJeem said:

i am still fairly new to this, so i can't give you the correct answer. i will, however, tell you what i did. i racked a few times and there was little to no airlock activity, even after backsweetening, so i took about 1/8 packet of lalvin ec-1118, rehydrated and mixed with the mead about a day before bottling it. its only been bottled a few days, so i guess i'll find out if there will be bombs in the months to come.

Click to expand...

Ok, it's been roughly eight months. Are your friends now calling you "Scarface" or did the batch turn out nice and sparkly?