How do y'all make low(er) alcohol mead?

[Rik van den berg]

I've made a few 5 gallon batches of mead and let those dry out completely to around 14% ABV before bottling. These meads are are just sitting in my wine cabinet, aging and I open a bottle occasionally.

I just bought a 3 gallon fermenter and carboy and I want to get more serious in trying to make (really) good mead in smaller batches. The first type I want to try to perfect is a lower alcohol, carbonated mead base that will be kegged . I am thinking 6 to 8% ABV. The way I see it, this can be achieved by:

1. using less honey and creating a must with an OG of 1.050 - 1.060.
2. Fermenting a batch half the size of what I want to end up with and then add distilled water to the batch post fermentation
3. monitoring the fermentation and killing the yeast at the desired ABV
4. ??

Thank you in advance for any input/thoughts/insights!

 

[Steveruch]

Use half the honey.

 

[Rik van den berg]

Use half the honey.

Does that still give you a good honey aroma?

 

[Steveruch]

Does that still give you a good honey aroma?

That will depend on the variety of honey and the yeast.

 

[videojunkie1208]

Go to Groenfells website and read their recipes. They make session meads which are exactly what you are describing.

https://www.groennfell.com/recipes

 

[Toxxyc]

Use half the honey, stabilize, and backsweeten slightly. It'll help reduce the "watery" taste. I've made good meads around 6% ABV that way. These days lowest I go is 10% though, I find the flavour nicer.

 

[RolandD]

Go to Groenfells website and read their recipes. They make session meads which are exactly what you are describing.

https://www.groennfell.com/recipes

Why do they pitch so much D-47 Yeast?

 

[Brewbuzzard]

Does that still give you a good honey aroma?

Use Heather Honey if you can find it. Heather honey has the most pungent flavor.

 

[bernardsmith]

Why do they pitch so much D-47 Yeast?

You can easily underpitch but for a home wine maker it is almost impossible to overpitch. Undepitching can create off flavors because of stresses to the yeast and can in the early stages allow unfavorable microbes to gain a foothold. Underpitching, they argue also creates yeasty smells and flavors in the mead. For the price of yeast and the price of honey, the benefit of using as little yeast as possible is by far outweighed by the cost of spoiling the mead. Penny wise, pound foolish, I believe the saying goes.

 

[RolandD]

You can easily underpitch but for a home wine maker it is almost impossible to overpitch. Undepitching can create off flavors because of stresses to the yeast and can in the early stages allow unfavorable microbes to gain a foothold. Underpitching, they argue also creates yeasty smells and flavors in the mead. For the price of yeast and the price of honey, the benefit of using as little yeast as possible is by far outweighed by the cost of spoiling the mead. Penny wise, pound foolish, I believe the saying goes.

Yeah, but 5 packets for a 5 gallon batch? That just seems like overkill.

 

[videojunkie1208]

Yeast is cheap? but I do agree with you.

 

[Brewbuzzard]

I use large starters especially when I brew higher gravity beers. The meads in the link were smaller than some of my beers. I do feel that 5 packets is over kill but it is also very hard to over pitch and dry yeast is cheap.

 

[TheBluePhantom]

Yeast is cheap? but I do agree with you.

Wine yeast. I pay $0.99 a packet. so that is 4.95. what did you pay for your last beer yeast and starter material? wine yeast is cheap, at least comparted to beer yeast. definitely cheaper than honey. now mead yeast, I use Wyeast mead yeast, $7.99 and I still need a starter.

you could do a starter on apple juice and nutrient if you prefer... Be about $2....

 

[CoolYon]

Go to Groenfells website and read their recipes. They make session meads which are exactly what you are describing.

https://www.groennfell.com/recipes

I'll second this. Their meads aren't my favorite, but they are some of the best commerciallly available session mead, in my opinion. The fact that they share their recipes is really commendable.

 

[SteveO820]

All I typically make are session meads. I use half the honey, ferment fully, stabilize, and back sweeten.
Another commercial favorite of mine for session meads is Meridian Hive. They can ship some delicious 4 packs for $10 plus shipping. Superstition also does a few but I prefer their full meads over their sessions, (the few sessions I have had are were too sweet for my taste).

 

[CKuhns]

Groenfells as well. (Modified) I use Omega Hot Head liquid yeast instead of D47 and The 3.0 TOSNA calc for nutrients instead of wine nutrients and add them all up front. Heat blanket at 88 deg F and wrap the whole thing in a couple beach towels. Clean no H2S primary ferment in 6 -10 days and to the keg or bottle in 20 -30. Good almost immediately and very good in 4 to 6 weeks.

Edited with a couple links to very similar recipes from @bernardsmith and I. (In the recipe thread)

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/thread...ce-groennfell-recipe-tart-cherry-mead.657493/https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/quick-mead-open-source-groennfell-mead-modification.673041/