It Ain’t Over ‘til it’s Over Mead Finishing Techniques
Gordon Strong Curt Stock 2002 Mazer Cup winner 2005 Meadmaker of the Year 5 NHC mead medals 7 NHC mead medals BJCP Mead Judge BJCP Mead Judge Mead is Easy – Except When it Isn’t Making Mead is a Simple Process Mead isn’t as Predicable as Beer Significant Money and Time Investment Recognizing Great Mead What Can You Do if Your Mead Needs Help? When are you Done?
Modern Mead Making Sufficient Honey, Fruit, Fermentables Quality In, Quality Out No Boil Staggered Nutrient Additions Yeast Preparation Fruit in Primary Fermentation Management See BJCP Mead Exam Study Guide for details
Evaluating Your Mead Give it Time before Tasting Basic Triage Good to Go – Package, Consume Dump – Don’t Waste Your Time Tweak – Here is Where We Focus Look for Clean, Complete Fermentation Absence of Flaws Balance Issues Can Be Fixed “Balance” doesn’t mean all components equal Everything in the right amount FOR THE STYLE Pleasant, Harmonious, Enjoyable Elements of Balance Sweetness, Honey Flavor, Fruit Flavor Acidity, Tannin, Alcohol Sweetness:Acid is Most Important Not Just Proportion, but Intensity Acid and Tannin Work Together (Structure) Tannin Adds Dryness and Body Honey vs. Added Flavor Ingredients Mouthfeel (Body, Carbonation) Common Balance Problems Too Dry – Over-attenuated, Not Enough Honey Too Sweet – Stuck, Stalled Fermentation? Flabby – Acid not High Enough for Sweetness Balance Off – Too Much or Not Enough Flavor Doesn’t Taste Good – Ingredient Quality? Too Boozy – Could be Young Corrective Techniques Add, Subtract, Modify, Dilute, Intensify Be Wary of Side Effects Back-sweetening with Honey or Fruit Adding or Neutralizing Acid Adding Tannin Oaking, Peppers, Vanilla, Spices, other ingredients Carbonating Blending, Repurposing Back-Sweetening Problem: Mead Too Dry Solution: Add Sweetness Honey (raw, solution) Sugar (why?) Add Sweet Mead, perhaps Stuck Add Fruit (if melomel)
Caution: can add acid and tannin too Acidity May Need Adjusting Afterwards Example: Blueberry Melomel 3.5 gallon batch, 12 lbs wildflower honey, 12 lbs fresh picked frozen blueberries, 10 grams Narbonne yeast OG 1.133 FG 1.003 Dry, tannin/acid astringency Boozy and very warming Missing fruit character Fix: back-sweeten
The Process Use good tasting high quality honey, hydrometer, stir plate (optional) Dissolve honey in 250 mls of undiluted mead to achieve a specific gravity higher than you desire Make a series of samples back-sweetened to varying levels (1.050, 1.040, 1.030, 1.020, 1.010) It’s time to taste and decide what level of sweetness you want Enlist the help of trusted tasters to get the best results possible Start with the drier samples, proceed to the sweeter and work your back down again. Yes, your palate will be crushed when you’re done but this is important work. Discuss everyone's favorite and take tasting notes This mead needed enough sweetness to balance the tannin and acid, help reduce the booziness and bring out the fruit flavor. It was decided to sweeten this mead to 1.037 One pound of honey will raise the gravity of one gallon approximately 35 to 38 points. Knowing your actual volume is critical to hitting the proper sweetness level For this mead we used 2.5 lbs of honey slightly diluted with 10 ounces of hot water to help with even dispersion in the mead
Add the honey to the batch and stir
Best to do this in a keg to avoid O2 pickup The final gravity of this mead is 1.038.
Drawbacks to back-sweetening: Initially a raw honey flavor, this will become more integrated with age Easy to over sweeten, you can’t get the sweet back out Easy to over sample, but it’s fun! Adjusting Acid Balance Problem: Mead Fermented Well but Flabby Mead too Acidic Solution: Add/Neutralize Acid (+) Phosphoric acid, lactic acid, citric acid, malic acid, tartaric acid, acid blend (+) Add fruit with acidity
(-) KOH, K2CO3, Ca(OH)2, CaCO3, NaHCO3 Can also (-) back-sweeten or (+) blend with a dry mead
(+) Adding tannins can also balance sweetness Adding Tannin Problem: Mead Too Sweet Solution: Add Tannin Grape tannin Tea Oak/wood age (can also add flavor) Fruit with tannin (if melomel) Raw spices, hops, other more obscure ingredients If Tannin Too High, Add Sweetness Adding Other Ingredients Problem: Mead Too Sweet or Lacks Flavor Solution: Add Other Ingredients Oak (adds tannin, balances sweet) Hot peppers (adds heat, balances sweet) “Warm” spices (cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves, cardamom, black pepper, nutmeg, coriander, cumin) – adds heat and can add tannin Round/mellow with vanilla Accent with mint or other aromatic ingredients Carbonation Problem: Mead Too Sweet or Too Full-Bodied Solution: Increase Carbonation
Natural or direct with CO2 “Scrubbing bubbles” Offsets Sweetness Can Add Carbonic Acid Lightens Body and Finish Can Be a Very Quick and Easy Solution if you Bulk-Condition or Keg Blending Problem: Mead Not Right Solution: Blend with Another Mead Must have other meads available Cider (cyser), Wine (pyment), Beer (braggot) Choose mead to offset problems noted Can also use to “freshen” an old mead, add complexity Can’t Fix Bad Meads – GIGO Trial-and-Error, but That’s Part of the Fun Example: Cyser 5 gal batch: 3 gal cider, 1 gal water, 1 gal Tupelo honey, 71B yeast, 2010 vintage, bulk-aged. Balanced acidity, but aged character. FG 1.023 (medium). Unusual woody character in aroma. Apple, honey a bit subtle. Solution: Back-sweeten with juice and honey. Raise to sweet. Add cinnamon character to enhance spiciness and give interest (sweet-hot), carbonate to increase acidity slightly. Example: Cyser Transformed mead in 5 steps after racking brilliant mead to keg Added one can of apple juice concentrate (pure) [1.027, better sweetness] Added splash of cinnamon oil [red hot candy, very pleasant] Added some sweet Tupelo honey-water mixture (clarified) [1.029, very good] Added a splash of vanilla extract and a touch more cinnamon [rounded] Carbonated to balance added sweetness and body [dangerously drinkable, bold cinnamon, much more distinctive apple and honey character] Repurposed to Open Category Mead (Cyser with Cinnamon) Questions?