Sparkling Butterscotch Mead

Boil:

• Boil honey, cane sugar, & lactose in 1 to 1.25 gallons for 45 minutes
  
• After boiling 45 hour add Candi sugar and 1 cup hot water, let dissolve
  
• keep adding cups of water until Candi sugar fully dissolved (approx. 15 minutes)
  
• make yeast starter with Go-Ferm
  
  Primary:
  
• at 98 deg. F, pour into fermenter, add wine tannin, top with water to 3 gallons and add honey to reach target OG (1.064)
  
• Add yeast starter
  
• Fermaid-O TOSNA
  
  Secondary:
  
• Once fermentation ends, transfer to secondary
  
• Add vanilla beans in steeping bag
  
• Add second dose of lactose
  
• Add maltodextrin
  
• Add lactic and citric acids
  
• Add potassium sorbate and metabisulfite to stabilize
  
• Let sit 1 week
  
  Kegging:
  
• Backsweeten to 1.032
  
• Transfer to keg, cold crash, carbonate to 4 volumes
  
  Notes:
  Takes a while to condition in the keg, When young, has a slightly chemical flavor, likely from the lactose or maltodextrin. After 1 month, taste balances well, tastes more like butterscotch. would likely modify the recipe if done gain: reduce the initial boil time to 30 minutes while pushing lactose till later, use half the lactose and no maltodextrin.