Help! Making a 13% ABV with a Final Gravity @ 1.100

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gunit00

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Hi Folks,

I recently bought a delicious mead, Ken Schramms Nutmeg, and I want to clone it. I measured its specific gravity, a whopping 1.10 ! @ 13% ABV, it's surprisingly quite drinkable. I have noticed a lot of meads out there are super high in final gravity. I know this is way above standard sweet meads, so where should I start with this clone? :confused:

Thanks!:tank:
 
Starting out with waaay to high OG (above 1.150-ish) will either kill off or seriously stress the yeast. The meads you see with very high ABV and FG are typically stabilized and backsweetened.
 
Starting out with waaay to high OG (above 1.150-ish) will either kill off or seriously stress the yeast. The meads you see with very high ABV and FG are typically stabilized and backsweetened.

I thought commercial meaderies tended to shy away from backsweetening meads.

Hmmmm. Are you sure you are reading that right?

That was my initial sentiment. I triple checked it.
 
Last post in that thread, from the OP:
"Ok I have to admit I MIGHT be wrong. Opened two recently that I had backsweetened. Strawberry I wish I had actually sweetened more than I had and a Tupelo that was just a hint sweeter than I normally like but the oaking balances it well. I can still tell its raw honey but they both have blended well with time. Again guess I'm just too impatient."

Either way, I think backsweetening would be the most reliable way to mimic that mead.

Maybe they shy away from backsweetening for most meads, but not all.
 
Last post in that thread, from the OP:
"Ok I have to admit I MIGHT be wrong. Opened two recently that I had backsweetened. Strawberry I wish I had actually sweetened more than I had and a Tupelo that was just a hint sweeter than I normally like but the oaking balances it well. I can still tell its raw honey but they both have blended well with time. Again guess I'm just too impatient."

Either way, I think backsweetening would be the most reliable way to mimic that mead.

Maybe they shy away from backsweetening for most meads, but not all.

I am all ears. I just want to know how the commercial meaderies pull this off.
 
Hi Folks,

I had bought a delicious mead, Ken Schramms Nutmeg, and I want to clone it. I measured it's specific gravity, a whopping 1.10 ! @ 13% ABV, it's surprisingly quite drinkable. I have noticed a lot of meads out there are super high in final gravity. I know this is way above standard sweet meads, so where should I start with this clone? :confused:

Thanks!:tank:

There's no way it's that high unless it's back sweetened... Even then, that seems WAY too high. Is it carbonated? I wonder if the CO2 bubbles are sticking to the hydrometer, and falsely raising it out of the liquid?
 
I knew the final gravity would have folks in disbelief. It is a still mead, so, no CO2 bubbles.
 
As far as Gravity, that's easy. Start at 1.100 and let it go dry. After it goes dry, add honey back to 1.100, mix, and watch it stall out. It will need some age to come together. It will also need something to balance the sweetness. There is a lot of hate on backsweetening, but proper aging or active yeast eliminates the raw taste. I do it all the time.

If it is indeed 1.100 and drinkable, then what balances it? Is it tart? Heavy spiced? Oaked? Can you measure the pH? Some details of what is in it can go a long way towards cloning it. What kind of honey? Any fruit?

Ken Schramm is a master mazer, so I have no doubt he could figure out how to balance the sweetness. It may take many tries to get it right for you though!
 
As far as Gravity, that's easy. Start at 1.100 and let it go dry. After it goes dry, add honey back to 1.100, mix, and watch it stall out. It will need some age to come together. It will also need something to balance the sweetness. There is a lot of hate on backsweetening, but proper aging or active yeast eliminates the raw taste. I do it all the time.

If it is indeed 1.100 and drinkable, then what balances it? Is it tart? Heavy spiced? Oaked? Can you measure the pH? Some details of what is in it can go a long way towards cloning it. What kind of honey? Any fruit?

Ken Schramm is a master mazer, so I have no doubt he could figure out how to balance the sweetness. It may take many tries to get it right for you though!

Please elucidate on the techniques of proper back sweetening. How much age is needed for the honey to merge smoothly?

Master mazer indeed. His Nutmeg mead is balanced by the dominant and interesting nutmeg flavor. Honey is a background player that carries the nutmeg. I have no idea about what kind of honey he used. There is a thick mouth feel due to the high final gravity. The acidity is subtle. I can not detect any tartness. Just smooth voluptous goodness. My pH strip tells me it is somewhere between 4.0 - 4.4. For more tasting notes, http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/schramms-nutmeg/279607/ .
 
You can be certain that Ken Schramm uses only the very best ingredients - that would apply to his source of honey, the quality of the nutmeg. Ad I believe that Schramm tends not to backsweeten but to allow the yeast to die from sugar poisoning (too high a sugar concentration ) or alcohol poisoning (too high an ABV for the yeast) and you can kill the yeast by step feeding and in this case unless he was using a very low alcohol tolerant yeast the step feeding, I think, would cause the yeast to die because of the problems caused by too high a dense liquid for the yeast to transport sugars and nutrients through their cell walls
 
FWIW just tested my last bottle at 1.088 in my 63F basement. But that was the first batch; the more recent one could be higher. Personally I wouldn't want it sweeter at this temp, but I suppose it could likely support extra sugar if chilled.

Good luck; it is special stuff

Cheers--
--Michael
 
Thanks Michael, I took a temp reading when I measured the nutmeg mead, it registered 1.100 @ 62F
 
I'll have to go digging to see if I have a bottle of the nutmeg left.

If it is indeed 1.100 my suspicion is that it was step fed. 13% ABV and 1.100 is about 83 Delle units (4.5xAlc + RS). With enough happy yeast and warm ferment temps you can reach that point by starting at the desired FG and adding honey repeatedly until it stops fermenting. Meads produced in this way will not have the raw honey flavor. You have to watch it like a hawk if you try this method, if the temps get too low, yeast get grumpy about nutrients, pH gets too low, etc. you'll never get fermentation restarted above about 65 DU.
 
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