8.5% Mead, but how?

[DaMonkey]

I want to make an 8.5-10% Sweet Mead. What are my options? Best I can think these are them; But whats the best? And what did I not think of?

1. Get a yeast that dies at 8.5-10%. I am not sure of any that die at that level, maybe bread yeast does. For example the bread yeast that's called for in JOAM.

2. Crash the yeast at 8.5-10% and Sorbate. Do I need to crash cool or can I just Sorbate?

3. Water my 14% mead to 8.5-10% per volume, Sorbate and then back sweeten with honey to taste.

 

[BrotherBock]

I'd say #2 sounds easiest. Assuming you plan on a still mead.

 

[ColeVet67]

I want to make an 8.5-10% Sweet Mead. What are my options? Best I can think these are them; But whats the best? And what did I not think of?

1. Get a yeast that dies at 8.5-10%. I am not sure of any that die at that level, maybe bread yeast does. For example the bread yeast that's called for in JOAM.

2. Crash the yeast at 8.5-10% and Sorbate. Do I need to crash cool or can I just Sorbate?

3. Water my 14% mead to 8.5-10% per volume, Sorbate and then back sweeten with honey to taste.

your best bet here would be only use a small amount of honey for inital fermentation. go with something like 4lbs in a 5 gal batch. Most if not all wine yeasts will plow through any fermentables easily. slowly add 1/2 lb increments til your ABV is where you want it. example: with every racking add an additional 1/2 lb of honey (heated slightly). Then sorbate/sulfite... clear.. back sweeten to taste. watering your mead down would only dilute your ABV to what you want plus side is youll also double your batch size. Not something i would do.

I would not suggest (although im sure its been done) using an beer yeast.

so a wine yeast at 10% wont work. bread yeasts will give you a sweet mead, but may not be to your taste.

 

[bernardsmith]

The problem with aiming for a low ABV mead is that since all the flavor is in the honey and all the fermentables are in that same honey the lower the ABV the thinner the flavor. If , on the other hand you start with a more highly concentrated mead ,say 3 lbs or more per gallon of must, to ensure flavor, then if you stop the fermentation at say, 10 % ABV you will have about 1 lb or more of residual sugar per gallon. You might find that cloyingly sweet.. If a sweet mead is what you are after then use 2 lbs of honey per gallon, allow the yeast to finish their job, stabilize and backsweeten with more honey. I tend to think that mead needs a minimum of about 2.5 lbs of honey per gallon to produce enough of the flavor and aromatics I want...

 

[Beernik]

I did one on accident with a saison yeast. I put in enough honey for it to reach 15% but the yeast crapped out at 11.9%.

I have a small 7.5% mead that I'm planning to bottle tomorrow. But I'm leaving it dry. I'm hoping that by carbing it, it cuts down on the perceved thinness.

 

[Yooper]

Start with an OG of 1.055 and allow it to ferment out. Once it is completely clear, and no longer dropping any lees at all, rack onto some sorbate and campden, and wait a few more days to ensure that no new lees forum. Then, sweeten to taste with honey.

That will give you an 8.5% sweet mead.

 

[Complete_Amateur]

I would steer clear of watering anything down after running through a fermentation. It will very clearly taste watered-down, and not just the alcohol.

My first choice, if I were set on hitting a certain ABV, would be to set my OG to a level just above my minimum desired ABV, ferment dry, crash, and back-sweeten to taste (with the same honey if you really want to emphasize its flavor.

I don't know about all beer yeasts, but you can get some great results with Ale yeasts, particularly at lower temps. WL Irish Ale yeast, and Nottingham are two that come to mind.

 

[WVMJ]

Beer yeasts have been used for thousands of years (ok maybe just a few hundred) for meads so if you have a favorite beer yeast you like use it and follow your normal course of fermentation, cold crash, sorbate, backsweeten and even add a little KM to protect against oxidation. You can even bottle it in beer bottles! The book listed below is a meadmaking book written by a beer brewer, a good book to have for the brewing folks on this site. WVMJ

The Complete Guide to Making Mead: The Ingredients, Equipment, Processes, and Recipes for Crafting Honey Wine

Jul 30, 2014by Steve Piatz