Backsweetening

[Rish]

I have never back sweetened mead and would like to do so without causing oxygenation or other negative effects. After stabilizing, how is the best way to add honey to sweeten. Stir, shake, swirl. They all seem to add O2. Not an issue? I can't seem to find the answer on the method, just "add sweetener".

 

[bernardsmith]

With mead I would not be overly concerned about adding a little oxygen. What I might do is remove a cup or so of the mead (This will depend on the amount of honey you are adding) and use that to dissolve the honey so that the honey is not being poured as a mass. I would then add the honey "syrup" to the mead and either use a drill with a stirrer attached to GENTLY stir the mead or a use a spoon and stir as if you were making cheese (in both an up and down motion as well as a figure of eight. You want the honey to be equally distributed vertically as you do horizontally.

 

[Rish]

Thanks for the advice, bernardsmith! I'll give it go.
Cheers

 

[Ty520]

also, another option that expands on bernard's answer is (assuming you're using a smaller vessel: 1-5 gal carboy) once the backsweetening syrup has been added, you can reseal, and can gently mix swirl it up without fear of adding any more oxygen than what was introduced when you opened it up to add the syrup, whereas stirring an open vessel will pull in more oxygen.