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Back to Basics - Backsweetening

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Chevette Girl

Chevette Girl

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So something turned out a little drier than you'd prefer? Here's how you can fix it... we'll be discussing several different methods and who prefers which way and why they prefer it. We will be discussing this topic on Gotmead Live on July 5th.

If you have specific questions you'd like answered on the subject of backsweetening, post 'em here and we'll make sure we address it on the show!

We've already got one question from jflanigan244 about stabilizing before adding fruit in secondary, and a few more from EvolvingCaveman including how long to wait after stabilizing before backsweetening.
 
Mikeymu

Mikeymu

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Hi. I have an oak leaf mead which was stabilised some time ago. It is twelve months old and too dry for our tastes. I don't mind waiting for it to clear again if I use honey, as I've used in the past, but cannot help wondering what it would taste like if I used the non-fermentable wine sweetener I just purchased.
 
Chevette Girl

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I have some of that stuff too (wine conditioner, for use in stabilized wines), Mikeymu, although I've never used it on a mead, only on wines. Well, there's only one way to find out!! Pour yourself a glass of the mead and test it! See how it tastes! I'll ask around on the show to see if anyone has any experience with that or other nonfermentable sweeteners. Do you happen to know the ingredients in what you've got?
 
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Farmboyc

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I also have the wine sweetener for use in stabilized wines. But the key is the stabilized part.

Mine is Inverted sugar and/or High Fructose Corn Syrup. Both of these are fermentable.
 
Mikeymu

Mikeymu

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Chevette Girl said:
I have some of that stuff too (wine conditioner, for use in stabilized wines), Mikeymu, although I've never used it on a mead, only on wines. Well, there's only one way to find out!! Pour yourself a glass of the mead and test it! See how it tastes! I'll ask around on the show to see if anyone has any experience with that or other nonfermentable sweeteners. Do you happen to know the ingredients in what you've got?
Click to expand...

Hi.

"Ritchies" wine sweetener contains Glycerol, Propylene glycol & Aspartame.

I purchased this because I reasoned that having three different ingredients would mean that no ingredient would stand out in the resultant taste.
 
Chevette Girl

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I hope you caught the show last night Mikeymu, we did cover this and our various experiences with other artificial sweeteners! I have tried using Splenda and Vicky and I both have limited experience with Stevia. What we've found is that less is more, and most of us prefer either backsweetening with honey or blending with an oversweet batch to using nonferrmentable or artificial sweeteners for taste reasons but if for whatever reason you can't stabilize it (either problems with stabilizing chemicals or you're trying to bottle-carbonate), go easy on them or you will be able to taste it.
 
Mikeymu

Mikeymu

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Chevette Girl said:
I hope you caught the show last night Mikeymu, we did cover this and our various experiences with other artificial sweeteners! I have tried using Splenda and Vicky and I both have limited experience with Stevia. What we've found is that less is more, and most of us prefer either backsweetening with honey or blending with an oversweet batch to using nonferrmentable or artificial sweeteners for taste reasons but if for whatever reason you can't stabilize it (either problems with stabilizing chemicals or you're trying to bottle-carbonate), go easy on them or you will be able to taste it.
Click to expand...

thanks I would have liked to watch the show but missed it, not knowing when or how I could watch it. The advice in the above post though is very helpful. :)
 
Chevette Girl

Chevette Girl

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Mikeymu, you can catch all the Gotmead Live back issues in a bunch of different places, just google "gotmead live", it's faster than me tracking down the link I have bookmarked :)
 
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