Structural Drying Mead

If your mead is too dry, there are a number of ways you can make it sweeter. Back-sweetening is a common method. For back-sweetening, you add fermentable sugars or honey after fermentation is done. If you don't stop the yeasts with potassium sorbate and potassium metabisulfite (K-meta), the yeasts will start up again and produce CO2 and alcohol. And I don't think you want that! If you do want your mead to be a bit fruitier, you can add fruit juices or purees of your fruit of choice or even just fruit-flavored teas. Just make sure to taste often and to use enough flavor concentrates that you can actually taste them in the mead.

We don't drink mead as commonly today primarily due to historical, cultural, and commercial factors. Over the centuries, beer and wine gained popularity due to advancements in brewing and winemaking techniques, making them more widely available and affordable. Industrialization and the rise of commercial breweries and vineyards further pushed mead into obscurity. Additionally, cultural shifts in beverage preferences and limited commercial production compared to other alcoholic options contributed to its decline in mainstream consumption. However, there is a modern resurgence of interest in mead, with craft producers reviving its production and creatively experimenting with flavors.

To achieve stabilization of yeast in mead, you can employ a series of techniques. First, ensure that fermentation has finished completely. This can be checked by taking specific gravity readings for several days in a row and confirming that they are consistent. Second, rack the mead off the yeast. This step is vital because it reduces the amount of yeast that is still in contact with the mead and minimizes the chance that any of the yeast will start fermenting again. Third, potassium metabisulfite. This compound protects the mead from oxidation and, more importantly, from all manner of microbial spoilage. When using potassium metabisulfite, it is very useful to have a scale that measures in grams. Fourth, after the mead has been stabilized, sanitary conditions are very important when bottling the mead.

Including raisins in mead-making can serve multiple ends. They often function as a nutrient source to help fermentation along when traditional sources have proved inadequate. They steep a long time in the must, and their sugars and other fermentable goodies help the yeast do its job. Raisins also help mead improve by making it an even better beverage—if you happen to like drinking complex, flavorful, and aromatic libations.

To establish whether mead has gone bad, observe it for alterations in appearance, odor, and flavor. If mead shows a clouded appearance, emits an off or sour smell, or has any kind of unpleasant taste, then these are indicators that it may be spoiled. Look also for any sediment that wasn't originally present—this is a sign of a possibly ruined batch. If the mead has turned, it will smell or taste like vinegar. Always check expiration dates and storage conditions; the quality of mead before tasting is made in part by the preservation of proper storage.

When "dry" Mead is discussed, it indicates that the drink has very few to no remaining sugars. This means it isn't sweet like other meads, and not because the producers set out to make an unsweet mead. Rather, it's the drink as it should be: a barely sweet, complex, honey flavor with just the correct amount of alcohol. Even meads labeled "semi-sweet" can taste undesirably cloying if you're used to wines and beers that don't have much residual sugar. In comparison to those beverages, even sweet meads are not that sweet.

Botulism in mead is very rare. Mead-making, like winemaking, is an alcoholic fermentation process. Alcohol production lowers pH, and both of these factors create an inhospitable environment for Clostridium botulinum, the bacteria that causes botulism. Cleanliness in all aspects of the mead-making process, from the initial fermentation container to any tubing used to siphon the mead into its final container, is of utmost importance in avoiding contamination. Mead stored improperly, especially at a dangerously high temperature, is at risk, as are any mead ingredient that might be at risk of harboring C. botulinum.

To ascertain whether your mead has completed fermentation, employ a hydrometer to take the specific gravity of the liquid. Make your readings several days in a row to establish any sort of consistent pattern. If the liquid's specific gravity is showing consistency, you can safely assume that fermentation has indeed stopped. Visual cues are also important. If the airlock has shown no bubbling activity for some time, that coupled with a smell that hasn't changed much from the day you started fermentation, as well as a taste that hasn't morphed into anything outstanding or different from what you began with, might also be signs that the yeast has thrown in the towel.

To amend low-grade mead in Mead, assess what problems are making it bad. If the flavor is poor, try perking it up with honey or fruit or re-ferment it with those additions. If it's cloudy, get it sparkling with good filtration, speedy centrifugation, or other methods that won't strip flavor. If it's lost a lot of flavor, the off-flavors may mellow with time, or you could blend Mead that's a little better with this batch at bottling time. Bad wine makes good vinegar, so ensure your ferment is going without a hitch: cool, clean, and calm is the way to go. If all else fails, apply the knowledge of what you did wrong and the clues to why it went wrong to your next attempt.

Mead that is contaminated might look cloudy or hazy. This is a sign of being infected with some kind of microbe, like a bacterium or wild yeast. The mead might also have some sediment that you don't expect to find at the bottom of the bottle or barrel. In other words, the mead might have something at the bottom that seems to be stuck there. Sometimes, the mead might smell or taste "off." (These words are, after all, very subjective.) So, what's a person to do with a contaminated batch of mead?