sweet mead ended up dry, what funky thing can I do to it

[leoglenwood]

in the secondary...
or at bottling

to make it more interesting. It seems like a strange white wine at this point.

For a little background: it was a Northern Brewer Sweet Mead kit - 15 lbs of basswood, dry yeast and yeast nutrient... for some reason it fermented all the way down to basically zero

any cool ideas or should I bottle it still and drink it cold?

thanks!

 

[Tusch]

You could do almost anything you want. Add fruit, add juice, add herbs, add spices, leave it as it is, bottle carbonate, backsweeten to get that sweetness you wanted back, etc.

 

[homebrewer_99]

As mentioned above, plus...

If you want it uncarbed and sweet you can add some potassium sorbate to it which will stop any further fermentation should you add more fermentable sugar. Unfortunately, you cannot naturally carbonate (in a bottle) once you add PS. You can if you kegged though.

If you want it sweet and carbed you can add some Splenda, which is non-fermentable, and prime as you would a beer. Be careful though, it is easy to over-sweeten with Splenda.

On top of that, if it is tasting too watery you can add some malto dextrine to add body.

You need to remove some of your mead and heat it up before you add any sugar, PS and/or Splenda. If you add these to water you will be watering down your mead...some.

In the future be sure to match up the attenuation of the yeast to your desired end result. Champagne yeast try to eat all the sugars while beer yeasts are more like 75%.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Maybe split it into two 3 gallon carbouys, leave one as is & do something with the other, maybe add fruit, or cold crash & rack onto more honey, or maybe just stabilize & backsweeten. There are so many things you can do with it, I'm sure you find a couple of things that sound good to you. Regards, GF.

 

[TipsyDragon]

personal i would say bottle and drink it cold. just because the hydrometer says its around 1.00 or lower doesn't necessarily mean its a dry unsweetened mead. if you are worried just add some non fermentable sugar like lactose ... unless your lactose intolerant then never mind.

 

[merddyn2002]

I've taken to sweetening batches like this with Stevia. It's non-fermentable and very potent. Be careful not to over-sweeten.

 

[leoglenwood]

thanks guys, very nice of you to advise!
I am going to order some stuff on Northern Brewer and then split into two batches to see what happens...
it was my first mead... and it was an interestingly different process than all-grain or extract brewing... I would like to hear or be directed to a thread about what kinds of honey people in the know prefer

 

[gratus fermentatio]

thanks guys, very nice of you to advise!
I am going to order some stuff on Northern Brewer and then split into two batches to see what happens...
it was my first mead... and it was an interestingly different process than all-grain or extract brewing... I would like to hear or be directed to a thread about what kinds of honey people in the know prefer

Orange blossom honey makes a fine mead, it actually has the taste of both honey & orange blossoms. My personal favourite is acacia honey, it's even more floral & aromatic than orange blossom, but the flavour is also far more delicate. Tupelo honey is a bold flavour, sort of sharp & could be considered to taste a little "smoky." Mesquite is another of my favs, it's very distinctive & could be thought of as a sort of "woodsy" flavour. Buckwheat honey is IMHO, one of the darkest, boldest & most strongly flavoured honeys in North America, it has a flavour sort of like molasses. I wouldn't use it exclusively for a mead.

There are many, many varietals out there to choose from; everything from berry blossom honey to almond honey to meadowfoam honey. You can also get Manuka honey from New Zealand, or even Killer bee honey from Brazil. You might want to start with a less exotic & less expensive honey like clover or alfalfa. They make good mead too & are commonly found at almost any grocery store in the USA. If the honey container doesn't list the source/variety, it's likely "wildflower honey" it sort of hit & miss with wildflower or "mystery honey." It might make a fine mead, it might not. And you should be careful with Chinese honey; there have been many cases of the producer/packer/seller cutting the honey with sugar syrup, or worse. When dealing with Chinese suppliers, it's a "buyer beware" situation.

Here are a couple of sites you may find useful: Honey Locator - The National Honey Board

Honey - The Bee Folks

Regards, GF.

 

[claphamsa]

it seems that all mine end up dry! I just back sweeten!

 

[ftlstrings]

I've taken to sweetening batches like this with Stevia. It's non-fermentable and very potent. Be careful not to over-sweeten.

I was curious about this! How much do you use in a 5 gallon batch? Also, How sweet do you like 'stuff'? I thought about doing this, but was worried about over sweetening or some foul taste coming out with Stevia...


~M~

 

[claphamsa]

test it out... take a 20 oz coke bottle, then fill in small doeses until its good.