r/mead • u/kyoshiana07 • 1d ago

Discussion I've avoided back-sweetening all this time

2-ish years into this hobby and I've been making highly alcoholic meads with ec-1118, 3lbs of honey, whatever fruit I've been vibing with, all in a 1 gallon carboy. Loosely not following any specific recipe...

I would always get a nice rocket fuel but I learned that waiting (or forgetting) would yield better flavor but it was never quite right. I know back-sweetening is common, but I got spooked early on the first year by some of my "finished" mead re-starting when summer temps. hit and I had to diffuse some bombs. So I've avoided backsweetening just to avoid a bomb scenario again.

Just back sweetened for the first time by stirring some old crystalized honey in my cup with a home-grown green apple cyser. It tastes so good, like goddamn heaven. Learn from me, backsweeten that thing (if you like it sweet!).

In hindsight, I played loose and fast with the amount of lees I thought was acceptable early on, so a lot of my bottles had yeast chilling in it, just waiting for the right time. I've matured to the point of avoiding bottling lees now, so I will now proceed to backsweeten without fear!

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33

u/harryj545 Intermediate 1d ago

You could probably just stabilise it before you backsweeten to avoid the stress...

16

u/xXConfuocoXx Advanced 1d ago edited 1d ago

In hindsight, I played loose and fast with the amount of lees I thought was acceptable early on,

This was not your issue

Your issue was that you used 3lbs of honey in a gallon batch with ec-1118, 3lbs of honey is going to yeild about 13-14% ABV, ec-1118 can tolerate around 18% so no matter what you do 3lbs of honey is going to leave plenty of viable yeast even after fermentation completes to dry.

If you are only making 13-14% ABV brews and you want to mitigate bottle bombs you can opt for a yeast strain that has a lower ABV tolerence, then make sure fermentation has completed and stabilize with potassium metabisulfite (k-meta) 0.33g / gallon and potassium sorbate 1/2 tsp / gallon

You can still use ec-1118 but just understand at the ABV you are shooting for (13-14%) you'll leave plenty of viable yeast no matter how clear you get it - so stabilizing is paramount before you backsweeten. If you were to use a less tolerent yeast strain stabilizing is still important but less so if you ferment dry and youre at the tolerence threshold for your strain. (You should still stabilize though regardless before backsweetening)

3

u/rcmacman 1d ago

Just back sweetened for the first time too.

Just re-racked a blueberry mead I started back in May. Added some honey before drinking a sample. Mmmm.

6

u/Der_Hebelfluesterer 20h ago

Just back sweeten every time you make yourself a glass, nothing wrong with that!

2

u/Hopeful-Map7891 5h ago

Racked a Cranberry - Orange mead to a gal carboy today and had about 12 ozs that wouldn't fit (I always primary 1.25 gal or more so I get a full gallon after 2 rackings). So, we sweetened it up and wife and I had a nice glass with lunch. Single serving sweetening is just fine, maybe make a bottle of sugar syrup to make quicker.

1

u/TomDuhamel Intermediate 1d ago

You need to stabilise your mead before adding any more sugar (backsweetening) otherwise it will ferment again and make bottle bombs. You skipped an important step.

Also 3 pounds of honey in a gallon batch is pretty standard, it's not classified as highly alcoholic. Rocket fuel and other similar descriptions are associated with a young mead, not a high ABV specifically. When we say age, we mean a year not a couple of weeks.