but is the potential for bacterial growth non-existant ?
magarcia12
Heck no!
Now, the potential for harmful/toxic organisms to grow in mead is essentially zero, but spoilage organisms can definitely take over your mead. As outlined in the prior posts, the potential for mead spoilage may be less than with comparable wines as there tends to be little if any nitrogen nutrient left in a mead (at least as a Show mead or with many historic recipes).
With the modern practice of adding nutrients it is very possible to leave extra nutrients in the mead, and if residual sugar is also present, spoilage organisms can have a field day with it unless your alcohol level is in the 18-20% range. Even a dry mead may have unfermented pentose and hexose sugars that yeast don't metabolize well but bacteria can. What's more, aging on the lees releases all kinds of nutrients into the mead (that's why it is done to support malolactic fermentation in wine).
Does that mean you need to pasteurize? No. Alcohol provides some protection, a low pH is protective (esp <3.5), using sulfites provides protection, using good sanitation provides protection, minimizing exposure to oxygen provides protection, and keeping it cool provides protection. Is this a guarantee that you won't have some nasty critter take over your mead? No. But it does mean that the likelihood can be quite low. I do not pasteurize my meads (with the possible exception of the estufa treatments for my Meadeiras, but that's another topic) and I have not yet had a mead taken by spoilage (knock on wood - though some would say I haven't made anything good enough to attract the attention of a spoilage organism
)
So, you definitely do not need to pasteurize meads to have a stable product. Pasteurizing may change the flavor (in my case it might be an improvement
) so your best bet to convince yourself may be to try it yourself. Make a batch of at least two gallons, split it apart, and pasteurize one. Then compare the results and see if you think it is worth it. It might surprise you. If you give it a go, post up the results here and let everyone know how it turned out.
I hope that helps.
Medsen