So after chatting with one of my friends here I thought I would bring something up for discussion.
We both are of the same mind, that too often, standard practices of back sweetening cheats people out of learning opportunities.
Let me explain.
If we ferment to dry, and then let it age at least until it has become mostly clear. Or better yet, if you can afford the patience to allow it to become completely clear. Or even better, longer. We can learn many things we would have glazed right over had we back sweetened within a few weeks like so many here do.
Why is this. If we backsweeten so soon in the process. Just by the nature of adding more honey. We completely cover over flaws and never even know they exist. Now had we waited for several months, or usually much, much sooner. The flaws and faults become obvious. The best thing you can do if you want to know how well your mead taste is to get the yeast out. Ale yeast flocculate quickly, as does cold crashing/fineing help to cause the yeast to drop out. This alone has been the saving grace for the BOMM, and if you fine a clean ferment with wine yeast, they both become much closer to drinkable as soon as they have the yeast in suspension removed.
It's really only now at this point to we get the first glimpse of what we have created. Does it still taste young? Of course it does. Once this takes place polymerization begins to take place. Each mead is different, but none the less over time our finished product starts to come around and many changes take place. Even the very best mead as a youngster will improve vastly between 3-6 months. ANd most will be quite nice in a year. Only on occasion does a really clean fermentation require more time to make things really shine. Even with this said. A two year old mead is much better than a one year old.
Now lets go back to the subject of this conversation. The only way you can be absolute in knowing how your process is working for you is to be patient and wait for a while while, you mead is bone dry. Even very slight flaws can be covered up when adding honey. It was during prohibition that the idea of cocktails came into fruition. The rot gut of most distillers tasted hot or worse until they added fruit juices and sugars to mask the fussels and faults that would have made the shine alone undrinkable. Even the very best of the best ferments till have fussels. In fact, some of the pleasant things we enjoy in alcohol are fussels. They are a byproduct of respiration. This si the process that creates ethanol during the metabolization of sugar by the yeast.
So two thing here. If you really want to truly want to know what you are making. Run your must dry and wait until it has cleared. Either by time or manipulation. ANd then, the longer you wait the clearer the glass becomes to see inside. Lastly. Not a single one of us can really be absolutely unbiased towards our creations. So find some family or friends that will be honest and ask them what they think.
Or even better yet. Submit them to competitions to get certified judges to give you opinions along with suggestions to avoid the things that show up that reduces your scores. These are done totally blind so no one has any idea of who's mead they are critiquing. Over time you will find yourself winning places in these competitions. Especially if you are open minded enough to listen to what the judges have to say and act accordingly to.
Hopefully some of you have examples of stuff you may have already learned while doing this to share with the other readers.
We both are of the same mind, that too often, standard practices of back sweetening cheats people out of learning opportunities.
Let me explain.
If we ferment to dry, and then let it age at least until it has become mostly clear. Or better yet, if you can afford the patience to allow it to become completely clear. Or even better, longer. We can learn many things we would have glazed right over had we back sweetened within a few weeks like so many here do.
Why is this. If we backsweeten so soon in the process. Just by the nature of adding more honey. We completely cover over flaws and never even know they exist. Now had we waited for several months, or usually much, much sooner. The flaws and faults become obvious. The best thing you can do if you want to know how well your mead taste is to get the yeast out. Ale yeast flocculate quickly, as does cold crashing/fineing help to cause the yeast to drop out. This alone has been the saving grace for the BOMM, and if you fine a clean ferment with wine yeast, they both become much closer to drinkable as soon as they have the yeast in suspension removed.
It's really only now at this point to we get the first glimpse of what we have created. Does it still taste young? Of course it does. Once this takes place polymerization begins to take place. Each mead is different, but none the less over time our finished product starts to come around and many changes take place. Even the very best mead as a youngster will improve vastly between 3-6 months. ANd most will be quite nice in a year. Only on occasion does a really clean fermentation require more time to make things really shine. Even with this said. A two year old mead is much better than a one year old.
Now lets go back to the subject of this conversation. The only way you can be absolute in knowing how your process is working for you is to be patient and wait for a while while, you mead is bone dry. Even very slight flaws can be covered up when adding honey. It was during prohibition that the idea of cocktails came into fruition. The rot gut of most distillers tasted hot or worse until they added fruit juices and sugars to mask the fussels and faults that would have made the shine alone undrinkable. Even the very best of the best ferments till have fussels. In fact, some of the pleasant things we enjoy in alcohol are fussels. They are a byproduct of respiration. This si the process that creates ethanol during the metabolization of sugar by the yeast.
So two thing here. If you really want to truly want to know what you are making. Run your must dry and wait until it has cleared. Either by time or manipulation. ANd then, the longer you wait the clearer the glass becomes to see inside. Lastly. Not a single one of us can really be absolutely unbiased towards our creations. So find some family or friends that will be honest and ask them what they think.
Or even better yet. Submit them to competitions to get certified judges to give you opinions along with suggestions to avoid the things that show up that reduces your scores. These are done totally blind so no one has any idea of who's mead they are critiquing. Over time you will find yourself winning places in these competitions. Especially if you are open minded enough to listen to what the judges have to say and act accordingly to.
Hopefully some of you have examples of stuff you may have already learned while doing this to share with the other readers.
