Do you let your hydromel go dry or do you leave some residual sugar? If the latter, how do you keep it from becoming a bottle bomb? Does cold crashing and keeping it refrigerated suffice?
I’m intensely curious about it, since I generally let the yeast just reach its conclusion at whatever gravity it decides to stop at. I don’t use chemicals to stop fermentation and I don’t pasteurize.
Thanks!
I let my hydromel’s go dry. If I’m bottle carbonating I typically don’t add anything in secondary except when I dry hop. For the hydromel’s I do want to make secondary additions to, I add potassium metabisulfe and potasium sorbate. I will then keg it and force carbonate, which I’m currently unable to do. I need to buy a co2 tank as I previously borrowed one I no longer have access to.
I will add a little honey to a glass when pouring the bottle carbonated ones if I want them a little sweeter.
I got my hands on an old laboratory constant temp bath and plan on experimenting with pasteurization when I get my fermentarium back in operation. Until then, I am with Duke, I let it go to the tolerance of the yeast, then backfeed to the sweetness desired and let it sit to make sure it really is done before bottling. It is a bit time-consuming, but I am not in a rush.
I make low ABV meads so I’m always well below the alcohol tolerance of the yeast. This current mead will be around 5% and the yeast I used has a tolerance of 12%.
Wow. Mine are high test. I usually am in the 15-18% range, occasionally 20%. Lalvin 71-B has a reported tolerance of 16 or so %, but it can’t read.
I plan on making a strong version of my blueberry coffee recipe. I will probably use 2 yeasts. I’ll start with Voss Kveik, which is what I normally use, then add something with a higher tolerance to finish it off.
Voss Kveik is labeled as 12% but I’ve read plenty of anecdotes about it going as high as 15%.
I make low abv meads primarily because I enjoy drinking a pint at a time and anything over 8% is more alcohol than I want in a pint. It’s also just cheaper, which means I can make more varieties. Low abv meads also don’t need to age like the stronger ones. I plan on letting the high test version of my blueberry mead sit in a carboy for 3 to 6 months before bottling, then age in bottles even longer.
Yeah, most of mine age 2-3 years before they are ready. But that’s the beauty of homebrewing, you can make it how you like it rather than some standard of “how it is supposed to be.”
The braggot I made with it went to 19%!
Gotta admit, i don’t think about it that hard! Get SG to 1.100 +/-, add whatever amendments I’m feeling and adjust on the fly as it brews. Not very scientific, but it works!
What style of beer did you use in the braggot?
That’s a funny story, actually. I had planned to use a dark amber as the base, but when the shipment arrived, a Bavarian wheat malt extract arrived instead. I like weissbier, so I just went ahead and used it. I used spruce tips as bittering instead of hops; I only used a handful, so next time I would use a lot more.
I just did a bunch of work in the meadery today. I have 4 brews in process:
That sounds like you might be able to really go heavy on cinnamon, ginger, or similar to make something interesting
Or, a bit outside the box, but I wonder what something like that would do as a mildly-caramelized bochet
Great find! I haven’t made a cranberry mead yet, but it’s on the list. I need some of my current brews to at least get to secondary, and then my next brew is last summer’s blackberries. Then I have a few special honeys to brew (from farmer’s markets and such), then I can get to some new brews.
I haven’t made a cranberry mead yet either. I plan on giving this:
a try when I get some cranberries or cranberry juice. I’ve had it before and like it a little more than the mead pictured above.
Has anyone used Costco honey in any of their meads. I couldn’t pass up the price ($12.99/5 lb of Wildflower) so I bought 10lbs, but I don’t know the quality of their honey.
I use it a fair amount. It’s a nice, neutral flavor for fruit or spice meads. Pretty plain on its own, though.
Thanks, good to know. I plan on using it in a higher ABV version of my blueberry coffee mead.
I use it regularly, but mainly for feeding/backsweetening. I don’t use it as the primary honey.
