Turbo Mead

Just thought I would post a simple mead I'm doing that is going gangbusters!

I did 19 pounds of wildflower mead in 6 gallons of water. I did not heat the must.

I added yeast nutrient (1 tsp) and DAP (6 tsp).

I did a starter on Red Star Champagne Yeast and just pitched it into the must. I'm fermenting at ~70 degrees.

OG was 1.116 (two weeks + two days ago)
Gravity out of primary was 1.002 (two days ago), the taste was super sharp and still quite sweet.
I put 1 oz of dry sweet orange peel in secondary.

I plan on stabilizing and back sweetening to taste in late June, then forced carbonating and serving chilled. I know this is a pretty short time cycle for a 15% ABV mead, but I think it will work out well. I'm hoping the orange, sweetness, carbonation, and chilling will help hide the sharpness of the young mead.

I know this is also my first post but I have been lurking for a little while.

My previous brews include:
1) Dunkelweizen
2) Chocolate Porter
3) Berry Wheat Beer
4) Cascadian Dark Ale
5) White House Honey Porter

Previous Mead:
1) Raspberry Honey Show Mead ~11% ABV. This was also using champagne yeast. I was given this advice by word of mouth. Basically, the theory is (and I know it is debated by many people) that it's easier to just dry out the mead, stabilize (kill) the yeast, and sweeten then to try to control sweetness via yeast selection and honey addition. It turned out particularly good.

Sounds good. Welcome to the ranks of non lurkers/contributors. For traditional meads it is hard to hide that young mead bite but best of luck to you.

So the plan is to move to temporary storage/"tertiary" this weekend. The move is to get the mead off the trub (or whatever it is called in mead making land, lees?) and add the stabilizer. I'm also considering adding something like Super Kleer to make it look more clear. For those that have used this product, when is the best time to add it in terms of the timeline:

1) Move to clean container and add stabilizer wait 24 hours
2) Add back sweetening wait X amount of time (praying for no bubbles), I'm afraid if I add before I back sweeten that the new honey will cloud up my newly clear mead
3) Move to keg and add CO2

Also let me know if you are of the opinion that something like Super Kleer shouldn't be used and is just introducing a new possible channel for oxidation and contamination.

I'm also considering just throwing the stabilizer in the secondary and back sweetening in the keg, removing one transfer step. Any thoughts?

Wow, that was a pretty fast ferment!

If you use Super Kleer, use it after backsweetening, because sometimes that can cause some haze, which you don't want in your brand new sparking clear mead. Then rack off the Super Kleer crud that will settle out, and carb it up.

The mead came out of secondary today. FG=0.999, just short of what I wanted, but that's ok, I'll just back sweeten it a little less. I gave it a taste, and found it surprisingly drinkable, just a bit sweet, and strong (but not as hot/sharp as it was out of primary). The sweet orange peel definitely did what I wanted it to. I'm letting it sit and stabilize for 24 hours before I back sweeten. Stabilized with 1/2 tsp of Patassium Metabisulfite and 4 tsp of Potassium Sorbate. A bit of overflow from primary that I had in flip tops had carbonated a bit (I left the top loosely covering for the first little bit out of primary then popped it once a week). It didn't have the sweet orange peel and was less pleasant than the stuff from the carboy. However, I do think the force carbonating is going to make this mead have a lighter mouth feel than it would without it. I'll let you all know about how the final product turns out.

The final result was much better than expected. It was a total hit at the party it was meant for!

For back sweetening I just used 1/2 cup of wild flower honey.

The mead wasn't completely clarified, but was pretty dang clear thanks to the super kleer. I suspect that may have something to do with the dried sweet orange peel that had quite a bit of powder in it.

The color is golden, and it has just the right amount of sweetness (about like a table white wine). The mead tastes strong (because it is strong) but especially with the carbonation and chilling, isn't too sharp. It doesn't have too much body to it though, and goes down relatively easily. I do have some left over on tap at home, and it is pretty popular with guests. That is, they ask for a second glass rather than switching to something else after the first glass. Overall, I think it works best as an digestif.