My mead is too strong!

slam

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OK. I know its a mead question but this could just as easily refer to a beer as well. I have 5 gallons of mead going and it started with an og of 1.85. That means it could get up to about 11 or 12 abv. That's fine as half of this I plan on bottling strait up in 750 ml bottles. But .. The other half I would like to prime with a bit more honey and bottle on large beer bottles so it has some effervescent. The only problem is that's way to strong to be drank like a beer. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to cut the other 2.5 gallons abv to 6? (can I just add water before bottling?) Thanks everyone. I look forward to hearing what you all think.
 
Just add water.... Dechlorinated, of course. I'd also boil it and cool it to prevent infections.
 
Just add water.... Dechlorinated, of course. I'd also boil it and cool it to prevent infections.
Thanks nosybear. Can I assume that I would add another 2.5 gallons of filtered water to cut that 11 abv in half? Thanks.
 
To be safe you should use distilled or R/O water, and boil it and cool it as suggested by Nosybear. Because you will also be diluting the flavour along with the ABV, you may want to start by diluting with 1 gallon and taste as you go.
 
Yep that will be a big concern diluting it and it becomming too watery.

Only other option to avoid this (andnits a long shot and not talking from personal experience) would be to brew another very light mead and blend the strong with the low ABV mead to create a happy meadium?
 
Yep that will be a big concern diluting it and it becomming too watery.
Seems to me that mead wouldn't suffer the same way that beer would doing the same thing. Since mead is made from honey and doesn't have the proteins and body associated with malt, it's more like a wine, anyway. As long as the flavor is intact, the body shouldn't matter. Maybe something like sterilizing and back-sweetening would ensure that it doesn't lose too much flavor in the process.
 
To be safe you should use distilled or R/O water, and boil it and cool it as suggested by Nosybear. Because you will also be diluting the flavour along with the ABV, you may want to start by diluting with 1 gallon and taste as you go.
Diluting the flavour was exact what I was afraid of. But if I was to make a batch from scratch with the target abv of six I would have to use less honey per volume of water then what I did so I guess that would be the same thing?
 
Seems to me that mead wouldn't suffer the same way that beer would doing the same thing. Since mead is made from honey and doesn't have the proteins and body associated with malt, it's more like a wine, anyway. As long as the flavor is intact, the body shouldn't matter. Maybe something like sterilizing and back-sweetening would ensure that it doesn't lose too much flavor in the process.
Thanks. I plan on primeing this last 2.5 gallons with honey (or dextrose) to carbonate it. That would make sterilising and back sweeting impossible ... Right?
 
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Diluting the flavour was exact what I was afraid of. But if I was to make a batch from scratch with the target abv of six I would have to use less honey per volume of water then what I did so I guess that would be the same thing?
Uh, any way you choose to reduce the alcohol, unless you have some kind of vacuum still available to you, is going to thin everything else. If you're doing a straight mead, an ABV of 6% is going to be a very watery mead. I have one at 9% that is too watery for my taste. Things to think about.
 
Diluting the flavour was exact what I was afraid of. But if I was to make a batch from scratch with the target abv of six I would have to use less honey per volume of water then what I did so I guess that would be the same thing?
Yes, that probably would be about the same thing
 
Uh, any way you choose to reduce the alcohol, unless you have some kind of vacuum still available to you, is going to thin everything else. If you're doing a straight mead, an ABV of 6% is going to be a very watery mead. I have one at 9% that is too watery for my taste. Things to think about.
That's a very good point. Maybe I'll forget the carbonated part and just bottle the whole 5 gallons as it is (I certainly don't want to waste 2.5 gallons of product) . Or maybe I'll prime a gallon of it and see if I can get the mead equivalent of sparkling white wine.
 
Thanks. I plan on primeing this last 2.5 gallons with honey (or dextrose) to carbonate it. That would make sterilising and back sweeting impossible ... Right?
Yes, it wouldn't work. If you're carbonating, you might be able to maintain a little sweetness but you have to worry about over-carbonating if your remaining yeast eats up all the sugars you put in.
 
You could do it like an off-dry wine, kill the yeast with metabisulfite and inhibit further growth with potassium sorbate. You'd have to look for dosages - I don't know them off the top of my head.
 

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