In which Ricky the Meadmaker answers questions about aging on spices, where he got his brewing education, making strong mead, degassing without introducing oxygen, and adding a smoky flavor to mead.
Great news for my younger viewers: you can now Snapchat your questions at me. I do not have a Snapchat account, but Snapchat is stupid and ephemeral anyway, so it'll make no difference.
Welcome to Ask the Meadmaker, where I, Ricky the Meadmaker, answer your questions about mead making, mead drinking, mead brewing, and really any question you're willing to send to me.
Our first question comes from Jason, who was reading our recipes online and saw that winter warmer is essentially Valkyries choice with additional ingredients added. Then I say, "Wait." How long, he wonders? That's a great question Jason. In house, we pressure age. So, we're really pushing that mead into the spices. We do it for about three to four weeks. If you're not doing it under pressure, which you almost certainly are not, about two months would be good. Mikey wants to know where I got my education in brewing. Did I get any formal education in college? The answer is no. I got essentially no education in college because I didn't drink until I left college. So, the answer is I got my education in brewing exactly where you're getting it. I watched these videos.
Next question is far too long to read verbatim. It is from Siko. Siko has a bunch of questions in here about a possibly-stuck fermentation. Here are the salient points. Starting gravity: 1150. That's very high. He or she would like a high-alcohol content mead, 18% or so, and have residual sugar. What I want to read to you verbatim is, Siko's original question is very well spelled and punctuated, the follow up however, is, "I put too little in my first batch and the smell taste I had when bottling was very watered does tasting. It seemed healthy at first and is still going a bit weeks later. I'm hoping it turns out well."
So, I'm unclear as to how your batch turned out, given the "smell taste water does tasting," but I think I got your initial question. Will a very high sugar content - a lot of honey to water - in the initial fermentation actually get you a high octane (high alcohol content) sweet mead? The answer is a lot of things can stop yeast in its tracks. Too much sugar. That's why honey in a jug does not start fermenting. Two, too much alcohol. 22% is about as high as you're going to go with any standard strain. Sorbates. Natural antibiotics and certain spices. There are a lot of things that can stop your mead from finishing where you want it. One of the complicated things is yeast is affected by all of these things. So, if you have a very high sugar content initially, the residual sugar coupled with the CO2 in solution, and the alcohol content can all work together to stop your mead before you want it to finish.
So, as you know if you've seen any of these episodes, I am not a huge advocate for staggered nutrient additions. But if you're trying to hit 18-19%, stagger your nutrients, degas, rouse up your yeast. And if it really, really, really gets stuck the two strains I recommend are DV10 or EC1118 and you should still have some sweetness on an 1150 starting gravity and plenty of alcohol.
Speaking of rousing up yeast and degassing, Mike wants to know if there is a risk for introducing oxygen post-fermentation if you degas. We recommend vigorously degassing Psychopomp if you make it at home. The reason for this is, at the very high temperatures of fermentation, there are all sorts of pretty crazy fruity flavors, aromas, and a little bit of sulfur that gets developed and stuck in there. He wants to know if the oxygen is not an issue, or if the CO2 blanket protects it. When I say vigorously degas, I'm not talking pouring it from bucket to bucket. That is a bad idea. But getting a paint whip and just gently doing it until bubbles stop coming to the surface, the CO2 will float on the surface of your bucket or carboy. And you really shouldn't have much issue when you go to bottle it.
Our last question this week comes from another one of those handles that I can't pronounce. Stauhuthuntr42 wants to know if there's a way to get a smoky flavor in a mead. Is a brochet the maximum smoky you can get? The answer is no. There are people who have experimented with liquid smoke in their mead they say a little goes a long way, and even a little is pretty gross. We have a great trick at the Mead Hall, because we do make smoky meads from time to time, only for in-house. The answer is lapsang souchong tea. Make a couple very strong cups of it, pour it right into your mead post-fermentation and you'll have a smoky mead. It'll also have a little caffeine, if that's your thing, even if it's not.
Anyway, that's our last question. Keep sending them and I'll get to them as soon as possible. Cheers.
