Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Mead Lovers Digest #1328
Subject: Mead Lover's Digest #1328, 25 June 2007
From: mead-request@talisman.com
Mead Lover's Digest #1328 25 June 2007
Forum for Discussion of Mead Making and Consuming
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
Re: Back Sweetening Mead ("Jones, Steve (IT)")
Re: Artificial Sweeteners ("Eric Wescott")
NOTE: Digest appears when there is enough material to send one.
Send ONLY articles for the digest to mead@talisman.com.
Use mead-request@talisman.com for [un]subscribe/admin requests.
Digest archives and FAQ are available at www.talisman.com/mead
A searchable archive is at www.gotmead.com/content/category/9/43/69/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Re: Back Sweetening Mead
From: "Jones, Steve (IT)" <stjones@eastman.com>
Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2007 12:46:54 -0400
It isn't an artificial sweetener, but I'd try Xylitol (aka wood sugar or
birch sugar).
It is an all-natural, non-fermentable sugar alcohol that occurs
naturally in many fruits and veggies, with no known toxicology, a 1 to 1
sugar substitute ratio, and it may actually be beneficial as far as
dental health is concerned.
It is not calorie-free, but has about 2/3 the calories of sugar, with
zero net effect carbs. I use it to sweeten homemade rootbeer for the
kids - they love it.
DISCLAIMER: I've never tried it in mead.
But instead of 'back-sweetening', why not design your meads up front to
finish where you want them? The concept is to determine where the yeast
will quit working (the generally accepted ABV tolerance of the yeast),
pick the desired FG, then calculate the SG needed to begin with. This is
much quicker than waiting till the mead is finished, then going thru the
cycle of adding honey, waiting, adding honey, waiting, etc. until the FG
is where I want it.
Assumptions:
Honey contributes 38 pppg (points per pound per gallon)
Use the formula (SG =3D 1 + ABV/133 + (1 - FG)/1000)
This is a concept that I'm just beginning to apply to my meadmaking, and
here were my first two batches:
Target: FG 1.015 using Lalvin 71B-1122 (~13% ABV)
SG will be 1 + 13/133 + 15, or 1.112
I needed (112/38), or 2.95 lbs of honey per gallon of must
(actual FG of this batch was 1.012)
Target: FG 1.010 using Lalvin D-47 yeast (~15% ABV)
SG will be 1+15/133 + 10, or 1.123
I needed (123/38), or 3.24 lbs of honey per gallon of must
(actual FG of this batch was 1.007)
Of course, yeast alcohol tolerances are not an exact fixed number - it
will depend much on the health of the fermentation.
I use 1/2 tsp nutrient per gallon of must, oxygenate well, and control
ferm temps to around 68-72F. I attribute the lower than predicted FGs to
healthy fermentations due to this process. Next time (which will be
within a few weeks) I'll use 13.5% and 15.5% in my calculations for
these two yeasts.
YMMV, but it seems to be working for me.
Steve Jones, Johnson City, TN
State of Franklin Homebrewers
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Artificial Sweeteners
From: "Eric Wescott" <eric.wescott@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2007 09:41:20 -0400
Dick Dunn mentioned cider makers using splenda for sweetening.
I started the hobby of brewing with ciders, and I also started by
sweetening everything with splenda. It worked well until I started
having hooch stay around for more than about 2 months. Somewhere
between 2 and 6 months, the sweetness of it died out, leaving just a
dry and slightly weird tasting beverage.
I did a lot of internet research on Splenda, and found that it
*should* be fully stable long term. But my anecdotal experience was
that the sweetness just did not last.
Also, after about a year of using splenda (in coffee as well as
ciders), my tastes related to it changed. It started tasting odd,
like bitter or sour but not in a good way, not much like sugar at all
to me, and so I've stopped using it all together.
Now, if I want sweet, I go with preservatives like sulfites, real
sugars, and time. Or, I go with lots of honey to start, and let the
yeast give up against the masses of sugar (ABV attenuation).
- --EW
------------------------------
End of Mead Lover's Digest #1328
*******************************
