How do I sweeten my Mead after fermintation.

[cmkoontz1]

It's been 6 weeks since I racked my Mead. I taste tested it and I can smell the fruitiness of the fruit I used but I can not taste them. It's a little drier then I wanted. How do I sweeten it up?

 

[ponderosa_pints]

In my experience, if you back-sweeten, and the mead hasn't been chilled to remove the majority of the active yeast, fermentation will continue. I have faced this issue in the past, and each time I chill my fermentation vessel for a day or two before I bottle. This way the addition of some sugars will sweeten the mead rather than ferment away.

 

[Yooper]

It's pretty standard to allow it to ferment out and clear, then rack onto a solution of sorbate and sulfite (one crushed campden tablet per gallon and 1/2 teaspoon of potassium sorbate per gallon), and allow to sit for a few days. Then sweeten to taste with your choice of sweetener (honey, simple syrup, more fruit juice, etc). Let that sit a few days to ensure no further fermentation, and then bottle if it remains clear.

 

[bernardsmith]

In my experience, if you back-sweeten, and the mead hasn't been chilled to remove the majority of the active yeast, fermentation will continue. I have faced this issue in the past, and each time I chill my fermentation vessel for a day or two before I bottle. This way the addition of some sugars will sweeten the mead rather than ferment away.

Hi ponderosa_pints, and welcome. Simply chilling your mead does not kill or eliminate the yeast. All that does is puts the yeast into suspended animation and when you remove the mead from the fridge and the temperature rises the yeast will rise from their torpor and chow down on any sugar you may have added to sweeten the mead. Yooper's approach - to add K-meta with K-sorbate will prevent any remaining yeast from treating the sugar you add as suitable game for them.
If you have not experienced any bottle bombs using your technique or wondered where the sweetness disappeared ended up.. all I can say is that you have been incredibly lucky or else you don't allow your mead to age for any measurable length of time..

 

[Baabaadoo]

What happened to my comment? As I attempted to mentioned earlier, LMGTFY Top result says how to properly backsweeten mead.

 

[Maylar]

What happened to my comment? As I attempted to mentioned earlier, LMGTFY Top result says how to properly backsweeten mead.

I dunno where your comment went, I saw it this morning.

 

[Drewed]

I'm not a huge fan of the sorbates and sulfates. There are claims of sensitivity in the family. Rather than having to explain every time about how they work, I just avoid them all together. I sweeten and bottle. Then I pasteurize the bottles.

 

[cmkoontz1]

So more info. When I racked it out of my Carboy I put it into 3 one quart jars and it's been sitting for about 5 days. I noticed there is more sediment forming on the bottom. I'm guessing that is yeast and left over fruit still. I'm thinking let it sit for a couple of weeks then rack it into a carboy and sweet to taste then bottle. sound about right?

I want to try this again except no fruit this time. How much honey do I need for one gallon of water? What should I use for nutrients? I used raisins last time.

 

[Yooper]

What happened to my comment? As I attempted to mentioned earlier, LMGTFY Top result says how to properly backsweeten mead.

It was deleted. LMGTFY is not an appropriate reply or helpful. If you want to provide a link, fine, but an explanation of what you are linking to, and helpful advice, is what is expected.

Any moron can google. We are not about that. Our forum is not lmgtfy.com.

We are HomebrewTALK.com, where we talk to each other. Members are expected to follow the golden rule, and also if they don't have something nice to say then to say nothing at all.

I posted a reply, and it probably took just as long as LMGTFY.