Carbonating a few bottles of mead?

After about 6 months in the carboy, I have 3 gallons of dry mead that should be ready to bottle (pending confirmation from the hydrometer). I want to do 50/50 still/sparkling. I am trying to figure out the best way to do this. I was thinking that I could put an empty 12 oz bottle on my digital scale, zero it out, then add a couple of drops of honey (via the little bear with the spout on his head) until i reach about 1.5 grams in each bottle.

Am I just over thinking this and should just stick to priming tabs? or should I rack it into a bottling bucket and stir in my measured amount of honey? I figured I would just bottle straight out of the carboy as the trub has seemed to floccuate nicely and isnt easily disturbed.

 

If your mead finished dry, as you indicated, there won't be any yeast left to carbonate your honey addition. You'll simply end up with sweeter mead.

 

I'm confused solstice, why do you assume the yeasts are dead?

 

OK - maybe I misspoke. There may be residual yeast left in a dry wine or mead but, in my experience, a dry wine or mead at about .996 or lower has gone about as far as it's going to go and there's so little healthy yeast remaining that it's not practical to expect to be able to carbonate with what remains. Again, in my experience, what results is a slightly sweet and slightly fizzy product, and certainly not fizzy enough to be considered "sparkling" or "carbonated".

I've had good success bottling in beer or sparkling wine bottles when the wine or mead just drops clear, and just before it ferments to dryness (about 1.000). It's a fine line between bottle bombs and flat (or slightly fizzy) wine/mead but I've done it successfully many times without so much as a popped cap.

 

if theres no more viable yeast left, couldn't i just repitch with fresh yeast?

 

First you'd need an alcohol tolerant yeast, some sugars for it to eat, and then you'd have a new fermentation and cloudy mead - basically starting all over again.

 

Ahhh makes sense to me, was just wondering what you meant there.