MEAD Presentation – Grapebusters – 040611
By Peter Bennell (Central Toronto Wine Guild)

1) Honey

As most people probably already know honey is produced by bees from floral pollen as a source of winter food and to feed their young. It is a complex product which, from the Mead makers perspective, has the following general characteristics-

Sugars- 80 > 84% by weight. Fructose/glucose.

Acidity- 2 > 3.5 g/L (as tartaric). Mostly gluconic.

Ph- 3.00 > 4.00

Nutrients- Low

Proteins High

Other- Traces of Hydrogen Peroxide

In North America honey is graded by colour, mineral content and degree of off smells and flavours (i.e. Canada #1 White). It is permissible to label by PRIMARY floral source (51%) though there appears to be no rule as to how this is determined.

Raw Honey (unprocessed) - Honey obtained at the apiary is usually heated and roughly filtered through a mesh screen to remove larger particles, dead bees, etc. Visually it is clear but not bright. Rural supermarkets may sell products of a local apiary.

"Processed" honey (i.e. that sold under proprietary brand names -Billy Bee, etc.) is highly filtered and pasteurized to preserve shelf life and minimize crystallization. For the mead maker this is a disadvantage in that some nutrients, minerals and flavour components (from floral pollen residual) are removed. It also tends to be more expensive. Much of this honey is imported.

Definitely buy from the apiary. If you plan to make mead on an ongoing basis it is a good idea to develop a relationship with the bee keeper and let him try the results of your efforts once in a while.

On choosing a supplier-

a. Honey from a small producer will tend to vary with each batch since he has to blend whatever the bees produce regardless of time of year and flora available.

b. The larger apiary will often blend from a variety of sources for a consistent product though some years this may vary. For example in 2002 there was practically no summer crop due to hot dry weather.

I get most of my honey from one of Ontario's largest producers (Parker Apiaries in Beamsville). Charlie Parker blends the honey from his 4,000 colonies to produce a very consistent White honey and sells the remainder as varietals (primarily Clover, Buckwheat and Goldenrod).

2) Honey Varieties.

I use three honey types, Buckwheat, #1 White (a.k.a. Parker) and Golden rod. I don't get into the more exotic honeys, such as Blueberry, due to cost and supply problems (Blueberry does make a nice mead however). Much like the grape different honey varieties are suitable for different Mead styles. I avoid honey with a high Clover content since it seems to add a musty component. It would be worth asking your supplier what percentage of Clover is in his honey (even varietals - that other 49%).

With the above exception most honeys will produce an intense nose and beautiful colour hue if made in a desert style. I use the following honey/mead style matches.

Buckwheat - Dessert or after dinner style (makes a terrible dry mead). Oak aging recommended (I age after dinner style for 18 months in American oak).

Canada #1 White- Usually a good all round performer for styles from dry through dessert provided the Clover content is low (my most successful competition wine is a dessert style made from #1 which through four generations has won gold consistently at all levels). It is also the cheapest quality honey.

Goldenrod - Methode Champenoise. Also makes a good dry Mead but usually needs a bit of something else to give it colour. Best nose (delicate) that I have found in a dry Mead.

3) Clarity.

Honey is high on protein so you will have to fine for protein hazes, though choice of yeast will help (see below). I have done quite a bit of experimenting with finings and yeast and from the fining perspective now use the following regimen on all my Meads.

0.5g/l Bentonite slurry during primary fermentation.

0.5g/l Bentonite slurry after fermentation and at least one racking to remove settled yeast cells. This should be well mixed with the mead.

0.25g/l Sparkeloid dissolved in hot water & stirred into the top of the mead after the Bentonite has settled (a week or two).

After racking the clear mead the remaining sludge can be put into a smaller container (full) and up to 50% can be recovered after settling. Before bottling I filter the mead twice using a medium (polishing) pad and 0.5u (so called sterile) pad.

At the first filtering I add sorbate and check protein stability (by boiling a sample for 15 minutes and then leaving it in the fridge for 24 hrs - any sediment drop indicates proteins are still present). If the Mead is to be barrel aged I leave out the first Bentonite treatment since tannins from the barrel assist in precipitating proteins.

4) Yeast.

Of the many yeasts that I have compared only two have made the grade. D47 for moderate alcohol (<12%) , EC1118 for higher alcohol (<15+%). D47 produces a clearer mead after fermentation. Both are from Lalvin and are commonly available in 5g packets. I use double the recommended dose (10g/19l). I always build a starter by adding an equal amount of must to the hydrated yeast slurry and leave it an hour before pitching into the bulk. In recent batches I have been using Go-Ferm (Lalvin) in the hydration water and find that it speeds the starter development and ensures a quicker and more complete fermentation.

5) Nutrition.

Diluted honey is very short on nitrogen and other micro-nutrients. I strongly recommend using a yeast nutrient product such as Fermaid at double the manufacturers recommended dose (which is designed for grapes). For dry Mead I use three times the rate to increase glycerol production and increased mouth feel (a common fault with commercial dry Mead is the lack of fullness in the mouth).

6 ) How much Honey?

All pure honey falls in the sweetness range of 80>84 Brix which makes calculating the dilution real easy (I use 80 as a rule of thumb) and then adjust when necessary to the desired starting SG. For dry mead 2.5 to 3.0 lb per imperial gallon will do the trick (I have found that for most honey 1 litre=1.45kg). It should be remembered that Brix is a weight ratio and, since 1 litre of water weighs 1 kg, diluting 1 kg of honey with 3 litres of water will produce a must of approximately 20 Brix.

It depends on how sweet you want the Mead for other styles. It is not difficult to calculate using the magic 80 Brix. For my Dessert Mead I ferment a dry mead to 13% alc & then dose it with all the sweetening honey in one go. For my traditional (after dinner) style I feed the fermenting must with small amounts of honey (1kg in a 50 ltr batch) each time it reaches SG 1.015 until it stops fermenting (aprox. 16% usually) and then bring it up to the desired level of sweetness. Remember that when you add bulk you are diluting the alcohol.

7) T.A. & pH.

Here we have the heart of Mead making. Undiluted honey generally has T.A. between 2g/l and 3.5g/l (mostly gluconic acid with traces of citric) and pH in the range 3.0 to 4.0. Now we dilute the honey. T.A. gets diluted in proportion and pH stays the same. However honey has poor buffering properties. This means if we add a little acid the pH drops drastically and the must becomes unfriendly to the hungry yeasts. The way around this dilemma is to add a small amount of acid before fermentation and balance the mead acid after fermentation. In practice I add 1g/l of tartaric acid before fermentation which brings the pH typically to around 3.0 then balance the mead with citric acid (0.9g/l adds 1.0g/l T.A.) adjustments after fermentation.

Here are typical numbers that I aim for in finished Mead.

DRY: SG 1.000>1.005, TA 5.0 if pH is 3.00 (a little residual sugar, balanced by acid, is desirable)

MEDIUM DRY: SG 1.010>1.015, TA 6.0 if pH is 3.00

DESSERT: SG 1.040>1.045, TA 7.0 if pH is 3.00

TRADITIONAL: SG 1.045>1.050, TA 4.0 if pH is 3.00

Typically at bottling time the pH is between 2.90 & 3.00 for all styles except Traditional which is around 3.20. If the pH is going to be above or below 3.00 I adjust for this when calculating how much acid to add. 8) SO2.

Due to the low pH much less SO2 is required for anti-microbe protection. Also Mead seems to be much more immune to oxidization than a wine would be. There also seems to be something in honey that fixes more of the SO2 releasing less to form in the free state. At bottling time there is often less than 10ppm free SO2 despite having added a total of 100 ppm. My SO2 regimen is the same as that for wine but I use half the dose.

9) Tasting samples.

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