Lawnmower mead?

[IvanhoeMT]

I'm new here and to mead making in general. One of my first posts was a question about a particular a yeast and the 'upper end' of mead making.

So now I am curious about the opposite end of the abv spectrum. Approximately where is the functional lower limit as far as abv and gravity etc.?

Are there specific challenges or drawbacks to brewing up a 'sessionable' mead?

Thanks for your insights!

[fatbloke]

None that I can think of, just that it's worth remembering, that a batch really needs to have a strength of 10% + for preservation reasons. So while it's straight forward to produce a lower strength "quaffable" mead, it's also worth remembering that it will almost definitely need to be aged (a lot of young meads can taste bloody horrible), so you may find the need to be completely anal about your hygiene regime (a la beer making) to prevent any problems. It's likely that a low(er) strength batch would end up fermented dry, so if you wanted to carbonate, you'd have to use fermentable sugars to do that, but non-fermentable sugars/sweeteners to sweeten with......

[skunkboy]

If make a 5-6 percent mead, it will help to carbonate and/or backweeten it to give it something else going on in it. Like session beers, they can be thin/watery.

[Guinlilly]

The Finnish Sima is a lovely session mead. Light, lemony, fizzy and ready in no time flat.

[Chevette Girl]

My 6% ginger hydromel's still good after two years...

[akueck]

I don't think there's a lower limit. Especially if you're not planning on doing extended aging (more than say 3-5 years), getting the alcohol up to prevent spoilage is not as important. Basic sanitation should serve you well enough.

Sima is a good drink with almost no alcohol. I've made beer with 2% abv (and not that much hops) and it kept just fine. You will lose body as you get closer to pure water, but for your "lawnmower" situations that is a-ok.

[ChadK]

Originally Posted by akueck

I don't think there's a lower limit. Especially if you're not planning on doing extended aging (more than say 3-5 years), getting the alcohol up to prevent spoilage is not as important. Basic sanitation should serve you well enough.

Sima is a good drink with almost no alcohol. I've made beer with 2% abv (and not that much hops) and it kept just fine. You will lose body as you get closer to pure water, but for your "lawnmower" situations that is a-ok.

I'm gonna have to check out this Sima. What is the actual ABV?

[akueck]

The abv of Sima depends a bit on how long you let it go before stopping it. I'd say it should range from about 1-3%. It's almost like the yeast is there just to make it bubbly, like many soda recipes, but with an extra few hours to a day to let a small amount of alcohol accumulate.

[JasonDunn11]

Thats good sharing and reading happy a lot.really thanks all.