Hydromel recipe question

[rmr9]

Hey all I’m an experienced brewer but very new to mead. I made 5 gallons of mead using 3lbs per gallon of delicious local honey years ago. Was super cavalier about it didn’t do a good nutrient schedule etc...basically made jet fuel with the honey doing it’s best to show up, and it wasn’t even half palatable until maybe 3-4 years later.

I want to get back to the mead game with something a little faster to glass hence hydromel. My plan is to make a 3 gallon batch with around 1lb of honey per gallon (with tannin and acids added to balance). I’d like to stabilize and back-sweeten then force carb in the keg.

Here’s my question: if I use a cheap clover honey for say 3lbs could I use say half pound acacia honey in the ferment and back-sweeten with a half pound acacia? Is that a waste of the acacia honey or will it add some nuance and flavor to it above just the cheap clover?

 

[BrewChatter]

If you backsweeten with the acacia honey, you'll definitely get some more character from it. Consider doing all clover in the ferment since much of that flavor will be eaten with the sugar. When the honey does come back through from fermentation, it will mostly just push the acacia honey character forward.

 

[rmr9]

I wasn’t sure how much character would be lost during the ferment, but I can see how a delicate honey at a small percentage could quickly get lost. Maybe I’ll save it for the back-sweeten then.

 

[bernardsmith]

Don't forget that all the flavor is from the honey and so the less honey you use the less flavor is in the mead. One pound is about 1.035 and that is what? an ABV of about 4.5%...