pdhirsch
Well-Known Member
I'm brewing a batch of traditional mead, nothing fancy... 1.5 gallons of water, 4.25 pounds of honey, and one packet of K1V. I started in an open fermenter (a stainless steel pot with lid); added nutrients a few times during the first week (not TOSNA but the same basic idea) and de-gassed a few times every day. Ambient temperature was about 65 degrees.
After 8 days the SG was down to 1.034 (OG was 1.099, so about 8.7% ABV) and I decided it was time to rack to carboys with fermentation traps. I used a 1-gallon glass jug and a 1/2 gallon growler. Both are now happily bubbling away, and as a bonus I ended up with about a cup and a half of leftover must, enough to fill a coffee cup.
I like dry mead so I intend to ferment this batch as far down as the K1V will take it. But what the heck, I have a cup of sweetish mead with nowhere to put it... and I hate to waste things, so I drank it.
And it was good -- really good. As I said I prefer dry mead, but even so, I thought this tasted great. I've had sweet mead from a local commercial meadery, and this leftover cup tasted better than the commercial stuff to me.
So my question: does anyone do this on purpose? I mean, stop fermentation after just a week or so via sorbate or sulfites or something, and bottle it with FG in the 1.03's? Or maybe it's impossible to stop the fermentation without messing up the flavor? If there's a good way to do it, then next time maybe I'll bottle the 1/2 gallon when it's still sweet, for friends who prefer that.
After 8 days the SG was down to 1.034 (OG was 1.099, so about 8.7% ABV) and I decided it was time to rack to carboys with fermentation traps. I used a 1-gallon glass jug and a 1/2 gallon growler. Both are now happily bubbling away, and as a bonus I ended up with about a cup and a half of leftover must, enough to fill a coffee cup.
I like dry mead so I intend to ferment this batch as far down as the K1V will take it. But what the heck, I have a cup of sweetish mead with nowhere to put it... and I hate to waste things, so I drank it.
And it was good -- really good. As I said I prefer dry mead, but even so, I thought this tasted great. I've had sweet mead from a local commercial meadery, and this leftover cup tasted better than the commercial stuff to me.
So my question: does anyone do this on purpose? I mean, stop fermentation after just a week or so via sorbate or sulfites or something, and bottle it with FG in the 1.03's? Or maybe it's impossible to stop the fermentation without messing up the flavor? If there's a good way to do it, then next time maybe I'll bottle the 1/2 gallon when it's still sweet, for friends who prefer that.