Mead Making

[beer1965]

So my traditional mead OG was 1.1 a month ago. Tonight it's 1.019. So I'm at 10.6% alcohol. It tastes good right now. I'm thinking of bottling it. But I'm worried about bottle bombs. I'm reading that people add potassium sorbate and sodium metabisulfite to stop the yeast. I'm thinking I'd rather not.

So I should maybe wait this out until it goes even lower and then bottle for a still mead. But I'm thinking bottling beer at this level - 1.019 - is fine even with adding some dextrose for carbination. So is bottle bombs at this point of gravity really a concern?

And what about making a sparkling mead? Part of me thinks adding the same amount of dextose as I would for a beer with today's 1.019 would be fine.

The yeast I'm using is champagne yeast so it's good for up to 18% alcohol.

Thoughts? I really don't want to add chemicals to the mead.

 

[GFHomebrew]

If you bottle now without stopping fermentation you have some bottle bombs for sure. I remember when my mead was at 1.030 down it tasted way different to the .996 version. Only other way I.can think other than chemicals is to raise the temp of the mead to like 80c pasturise the whole lot or better yet bottle then pasturise the bottles cross fingers store in sealed compartment.

Remember I've got all but one half completed mead brew under my belt.

 

[HighVoltageMan!]

So my traditional mead OG was 1.1 a month ago. Tonight it's 1.019. So I'm at 10.6% alcohol. It tastes good right now. I'm thinking of bottling it. But I'm worried about bottle bombs. I'm reading that people add potassium sorbate and sodium metabisulfite to stop the yeast. I'm thinking I'd rather not.

So I should maybe wait this out until it goes even lower and then bottle for a still mead. But I'm thinking bottling beer at this level - 1.019 - is fine even with adding some dextrose for carbination. So is bottle bombs at this point of gravity really a concern?

And what about making a sparkling mead? Part of me thinks adding the same amount of dextose as I would for a beer with today's 1.019 would be fine.

The yeast I'm using is champagne yeast so it's good for up to 18% alcohol.

Thoughts? I really don't want to add chemicals to the mead.

Without using something to stop the fermentation, you really can't make a sparkling mead by bottle conditioning. It needs to be treated with sorbate and metabisulfite, then you can force carbonate in a keg. Sparkling mead is highly carbonated, 3.5-4 volumes, a lot like champagne. If you can pull it off, it is delicious.

Your gravity is still pretty high and your alcohol is still low, or at least not as high as it could be. The meads I have made were all around 16-18%, I then added fruit to make a berry melomel and to bring down the alcohol. They will start fermenting again after the fruit is added because the alcohol level has dropped. I made one mead that hit 18% and it actually killed the yeast, after I added the fruit it didn't start fermenting again, but that's not normal.

 

[beer1965]

Without using something to stop the fermentation, you really can't make a sparkling mead by bottle conditioning. It needs to be treated with sorbate and metabisulfite, then you can force carbonate in a keg. Sparkling mead is highly carbonated, 3.5-4 volumes, a lot like champagne. If you can pull it off, it is delicious.

Your gravity is still pretty high and your alcohol is still low, or at least not as high as it could be. The meads I have made were all around 16-18%, I then added fruit to make a berry melomel and to bring down the alcohol. They will start fermenting again after the fruit is added because the alcohol level has dropped. I made one mead that hit 18% and it actually killed the yeast, after I added the fruit it didn't start fermenting again, but that's not normal.

You're going to think I'm nuts but I had a thought today about making sparkling mead. Simply to make the mead to as low a FG as I can get, bottle it, and then when I want some sparkling mead to fill up a sodastream bottle with mead, carbonate the mead in that soda stream plastic bottle and then put it in the fridge to get cold. Wait a day and serve. Viola - carbonated mead without the bottle bomb! Might be worth trying!

 

[GFHomebrew]

You're going to think I'm nuts but I had a thought today about making sparkling mead. Simply to make the mead to as low a FG as I can get, bottle it, and then when I want some sparkling mead to fill up a sodastream bottle with mead, carbonate the mead in that soda stream plastic bottle and then put it in the fridge to get cold. Wait a day and serve. Viola - carbonated mead without the bottle bomb! Might be worth trying!

Sounds like it'd work same as kegging the mead as long as it's kept nice and cold to prevent refermentation yep why not?