• PATRONS: Did you know we've a chat function for you now? Look to the bottom of the screen, you can chat, set up rooms, talk to each other individually or in groups! Click 'Chat' at the right side of the chat window to open the chat up.
  • Love Gotmead and want to see it grow? Then consider supporting the site and becoming a Patron! If you're logged in, click on your username to the right of the menu to see how as little as $30/year can get you access to the patron areas and the patron Facebook group and to support Gotmead!
  • We now have a Patron-exclusive Facebook group! Patrons my join at The Gotmead Patron Group. You MUST answer the questions, providing your Patron membership, when you request to join so I can verify your Patron membership. If the questions aren't answered, the request will be turned down.

backsweetening/priming questions

Barrel Char Wood Products

TAKeyser

NewBee
Registered Member
Mar 4, 2012
1,228
3
0
50
Detroit, MI

Legitapotimous

NewBee
Registered Member
Mar 6, 2012
87
1
0
So any good lactose to sugar honey ratios out there? So with out kegging equipment to carbonate and backsweetin, adding both honey and lactose to a must late in life would get you a sparkling sweet mead. I gotta say it once to make it sink i guess, but sounds the best route for little batches..might use plastic till i trust my self... I have seen the pasteurization stove top done in caning but not cider/mead i would asume that they are similar.

that link really is a good method
 

HowardVic

NewBee
Registered Member
Sep 26, 2010
71
0
0
Ponce, Puerto Rico
champagne bottles

Greetings everybuddy. Long time no see.

Originally Posted by hepcat - I don't see why I couldn't add enough honey to make it a little sweeter than I want then not stabilize and bottle so it makes a sparkling mead?

If bottled in champagne bottles, would the above procedure avoid bottle bombs and produce a sweet, sparkling mead?

I found two articles on making sparkling mead that weren't so complicated which simply advised to use champagne bottles.
 

Chevette Girl

All around BAD EXAMPLE
Moderator
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Apr 27, 2010
8,443
53
48
Ottawa, ON
Howard, if you want it 14% and a little sweet but used a 16% yeast, the yeast will eat all your priming honey and will start into your backsweetening honey and will keep going until it's reached its tolerance, which will be way more than a safe amount of priming sugar... and you'll find as you make lots of meads that yeast's estimated tolerance is just that - an estimation. Sometimes a 12% yeast will hit 14% and sometimes a 18% yeast will stall out at 15%. You'll have no real idea exactly where the yeast will stop, and .005 (SG) of sugar converted to alcohol can be the difference between pleasantly carb'd beverage and dangerous bottle bombs... the yeast will eat all it can, whether it's safe to do so or not.

The safest way is to ferment it dry AND under your yeast's tolerance, then prime and bottle it. That's the simple one. Trying to also have it be sweet is when things get complicated.
 

HowardVic

NewBee
Registered Member
Sep 26, 2010
71
0
0
Ponce, Puerto Rico
Greetings Chevette Girl.

I greatly appreciate your feedback.

I was just about to turn off my pc when I remembered having posted this question and was happy to have gotten a reply.

Ok, so it will have to be a dry mead in a champagne bottle. It's been a loooong time since I last drank champagne but I have a remote memory that I tasted a semi sweet champagne once or twice. I think they referred to it as being demi-sec or something like that.

By the way, my mead with Passion Fruit, Rosemary and Cardamom is tasting VERY good. It has a strong honey scent. I drink it room temp in a snifter to better enjoy the fragrance. I'm still searching for that illusive ingredient to add mystery to a future batch. Something that was served on Mount Olympus. Pine resin, ground pine needles, organic Spikenard essential oil? I have a small amber bottle containing organic Spikenard essential oil and I think I am going to try a small one gallon batch with a few drops. Spikenard is a very ancient aromatic oil going back before Biblical times. It smells like an aromatic and "dank" forest after a rain.

Later...
 
Last edited:

Chevette Girl

All around BAD EXAMPLE
Moderator
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Apr 27, 2010
8,443
53
48
Ottawa, ON
There certainly are sweet sparkling wines out there, but I'd bet you dollars to doughnuts, they were stabilized, backsweetened and then force-carbonated.

That sounds like an interesting idea, but do make sure the stuff is edible, some essential oils shouldn't be taken internally.
 

HowardVic

NewBee
Registered Member
Sep 26, 2010
71
0
0
Ponce, Puerto Rico
I just did a Google image search for Wamssler Sparkling Mead and I noticed the bottles are not punted. Nor do the bottles look to be thicker like champagne bottles. What's up with that? From all I have read recently on making sparkling mead, champagne bottles are recommended to avoid bottle bombs. Seems this sparkling mead is from a centuries old recipe. I just don't get it. I am planning on buying two dozen, green, punted 750 ml champagne bottles for my next experiment on making a sparkling mead and these new pix and info on Wamssler sparkling mead has me confused.

Although, I found the following info on Spikenard being edible, I will contact the manufacturer of the organic Spikenard essential oil I have to ask if it can be used for flavoring beverages. I didn't post the link to the following info because, if am not mistaken, I remotely recall there being a rule against posting links in Gotmead.com . (?)

"...The edible roots of these plants are consumed to treat health disorders like epilepsy and hysteria.
Paste made from Spikenard root and water is used to cure inflammation and burning sensation of skin.
This root and its oil extraction are used for fighting many skin conditions like allergies and rashes.
This herb is useful in the treatments of cholera, hepatitis and enlargement of liver.
Its expectorant properties make it useful to cure cough, cold, asthma and fever.
This essential oil is used for alleviating headache, insomnia and other stress related conditions.
It is widely used by Tibetans for making healing incenses.
It is used as herbal remedy for numerous health disorders in countries like India and China..."

Later...
 

HowardVic

NewBee
Registered Member
Sep 26, 2010
71
0
0
Ponce, Puerto Rico
Thanks. Skunkboy.

I will Google search on how to carbonate beer and other alcoholic beverages, as well as, force carbonating as mentioned by Chevette Girl.
 

Chevette Girl

All around BAD EXAMPLE
Moderator
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Apr 27, 2010
8,443
53
48
Ottawa, ON
The thing with a normal bottle carbonation is that you have to make sure you're completely out of sugar in your must before you prime and carbonate. There are ways to sweeten and stabilize a bottle-carbed batch but it's a lot more work than just leaving it dry.

I've got a bunch of bottles I saved from sparkling ciders and juices that aren't punted either, but it's possible these aren't carb'd to the same extent as champagne is, which is why champagne bottles are so thick and heavy. Beer bottles aren't punted either... <shrug>
 
  • Like
Reactions: nosheet

skunkboy

NewBee
Registered Member
May 30, 2005
2,003
8
0
Between Jackson and Detroit
Champagne is carbonated to a higher pressure, then like pop, than beer.

champagne = 4-6 atmospheres
soda is about 2-4 atmospheres
beer about 1 atmospheres

corny kegs are rated to like 10 atmospheres or something crazy? would be nice if all of the industries used the same standard, I'm trying to compensate to one...

------

Hmm...I might not have been paying enough attention in my last post, I sparkle dry (fermented out) product like mead/cider like I do beer, but I match my container to
the pressure I am trying to obtain [ see above ].
 
  • Like
Reactions: nosheet
Barrel Char Wood Products

Viking Brew Vessels - Authentic Drinking Horns