First Mead - Honey raspberry

Ok i kinda did this on the fly. The recipe was as follows:

3lbs - honey
8oz maybe - Frozen Raspberry
Muntons yeast i think

My reasoning for using muntons was i didnt want to get something that was high in alcohol. I just tried it and it is VERY hot and dry. I know it needs to age for a long while but was wondering about back sweetening. How much should i add? Also how long should it age?

What kind of yeast is Muntons yeast?

Its an ale yeast but my final gravity is at 1.000 so all the sugar is gone.

Okay, just wondering. Anyways, as for back sweetening, it's recommended to use the same honey you made your mead with. I'm not sure if there's an actual technique, but I just add honey little by little, shake the honey in, and back sweeten by taste. It's recommended that mead is aged at least six months, preferably a year. (and even longer is better)

Last night i racked the mead literally onto honey but forgot to stir it to mix it all together. Should i be worried about it?

zmad2000 said:

Last night i racked the mead literally onto honey but forgot to stir it to mix it all together. Should i be worried about it?

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Only if you didn't stabilise with sorbate/sulphite first.

The main reason for using a yeast with good available data, is fermentation management. If you want a mead with a certain strength/%ABV, you tailor the fermentable sugar accordingly.

If you're unsure of the yeast tolerance, then aiming for something like 12% is a good guide as most yeast should manage that (wine yeast that is, a beer yeast might need a bit more research to confirm its tolerance).

Alcohol hot taste isn't a fault per se, as it ages out, but to back sweeten, I understand that making a syrup of 2:1 or 1:1 honey and water is best as its more easily mixed in, without having to stir the hell out of the batch and possibly introduce air/O2.