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I am looking to see if anyone has tried a "Sparkling Mead". I make quite abit and have a recipe down for a semi dry mead. tastes awesome still. I am going to try kegging a batch but not carbonating it. Just plan on using low pressure to dispense and in theory the CO2 on top will prevent any spoilage. I tried to make a cider from some left over apple cider. It tasted like strong apple wine, then I carbonated it. That's when it turned horribly wrong and tasted like an old school homebrew from grandpas basement. Strong dry and just plain harsh. I fear of the same thing happening to a Mead if it was carbonated. I only carbonate my braggot (Of Course). Just looking for some input.

I think I would rather have still mead, but it couldn't hurt to bottle and carb some, so you can see for yourself what you prefer.

It may be difficult to balance the acid profile. Things seem (are?) more acidic when carbonated. I think that was what caused your cider to go wrong. Probably that acidic apple twang?

Sparkilng Mead is pretty common, although I haven't made it. If you have some RS in the Mead, you are probably ok to sparkle, and not worry too much about the added acidity. I had trouble force carbonating wine last year, and so haven't done it since. Having said that, I don't see why you couldn't use low pressure CO2 to essentially exclude O2 and dispense your mead.

Juniper Hill wrote:I had trouble force carbonating wine last year, and so haven't done it since.

Just curious as I'm in the midst of trying to force-carb a wine-based beverage, in what way did you have trouble with this? I started off at 30 psi but have realized that I need it much higher to get the sparkle I'm looking for. Someone suggested I give 'er a whirl at 50 psi. I'm hoping this will work as I have a line up of wine-y stuff for my non-beer-loving guests that I'd like to carbonate.

Sorry, bobblack, if this is a bit out of the way of your OP! FWIW, I've only had mead once. It was sparkling, and I enjoyed it quite a lot.


Kirsten

I tried a Finnish mead recently that was carbonated by adding couple of raisins into each bottle, was pretty nice, very light carbonation and some interesting flavours from the raisins.

redoubt wrote:

Juniper Hill wrote:I had trouble force carbonating wine last year, and so haven't done it since.

Just curious as I'm in the midst of trying to force-carb a wine-based beverage, in what way did you have trouble with this? I started off at 30 psi but have realized that I need it much higher to get the sparkle I'm looking for. Someone suggested I give 'er a whirl at 50 psi. I'm hoping this will work as I have a line up of wine-y stuff for my non-beer-loving guests that I'd like to carbonate.

Sorry, bobblack, if this is a bit out of the way of your OP! FWIW, I've only had mead once. It was sparkling, and I enjoyed it quite a lot.


Kirsten

The problem was bottling under high PSI. Lots and lots of foaming despite keeping things cold. If I were to do it again I'd get a Counter Pressure Bottle Filler...the beer gun works great for beer, but not fab for 30-40 psi sparkling wine. I'm gonna try encapsulated yeast next time I make a sparkler.

Thanks, Neil. That's good to know going into this. I had plans to beergun this stuff into Grolsch bottles for friends. Sounds like I'll need to revisit that plan.


Kirsten

Not that this adds anything, but I was just on vacation in England, and tried a "traditional mead" (not sure what that meant) that was carbonated... Very floral, with some clove notes, and a very thick mouthfeel. I was floored! It was delicious! It was a sample at room temp, so not sure what it would taste like cold, but, had it not been for the hefty price tag, I would have grabbed a bottle (or two....). Definitely going to try this, so I'll keep you updated once I take the plunge. I also do braggot, so this was a cool new experience for me.

I'm making a sparkling Mead out of Charlie Papazian's book, it's a dry Ginger Mead that uses champagne yeast, supposedly it's delicious

I have 5 gallons of mead aging in a carboy right now. A dry mead lightly spiced with cinnamon, cloves and dried orange peel. Fermented from 1.100 down to 0.994 (about 15%). So quite dry. Was planning to lightly carbonate by traditional bottle conditioning. Don't want to accentuate acidity but want a slight carb. Letting bulk age in glass carboy for a couple months before bottling. Tasted good when racking so hope bottle conditioning won't negatively impact!

I made an orange mead using the recipe in this book: Winemaking: Recipes, Equipment, and Techniques for Making Wine at Home by Stanley F. Anderson

If memory serves me correctly, it was 4lbs honey and 4lbs sugar. Based on the SG readings and comments from friends, it was more wine-like than what people expected, not overly sweet at all. Anyway, after about 4-5 months in my basement, I opened a bottle and the taste/palate was significantly different than a few months prior. I essentially got an accidental secondary fermentation in the bottle that turned out to be quite unexpected but thoroughly entertaining. Both versions were good and I would happily serve either to guests...except that they were bottled in regular wine bottles, so I drank them all for fear of exploding corks.

I'm planning on making a second batch soon but doubt that I'll be able to recreate the accident. Might be worth reading up on Malolactic fermentation.

So why did you use sugar rather than 100% honey? Honey is almost as fermentable as sugar and will have much more flavour. Or was the point to thin the Flavour out?

Hobbitfu wrote:So why did you use sugar rather than 100% honey? Honey is almost as fermentable as sugar and will have much more flavour. Or was the point to thin the Flavour out?

The simple answer is that it was my first attempt at a mead-like brew and I was more or less following the recipe in the book that I referenced (link below). I usually prefer a dry wine and based on the comments that I got, most people liked that it wasn't overly sweet. So, I can't really answer why he made a blended recipe but it turned out pretty good.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/015697 ... QE4N55Y8VT" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Great that it turned out well! Have a batch of mead aging that need to bottle soon and hope it turns out as anticipated!