Back sweetening with flavored syrup?

[A-a-ron]

I recently started a simple 1 gallon batch of semi-sweet mead and I was curious if back sweetening with fruit syrup would add off flavors or if anyone has tried it with success. More than likely I will not go this route (or may try it on a small amount), but I thought this might be a viable option for adding flavored sugar content. My original plan was to add another pound of honey after stabilizing the yeast.

The recipe I started was:

93oz water
2.5# honey
1 tbs yeast energizer
1 packet Lalvin ICV-D47

OG - 1.8

I plan to add a small amount of wine tannins and acid blend to secondary as well.

Thanks for any input!

 

[caduseus]

I recently started a simple 1 gallon batch of semi-sweet mead and I was curious if back sweetening with fruit syrup would add off flavors or if anyone has tried it with success. More than likely I will not go this route (or may try it on a small amount), but I thought this might be a viable option for adding flavored sugar content. My original plan was to add another pound of honey after stabilizing the yeast.

The recipe I started was:

93oz water
2.5# honey
1 tbs yeast energizer
1 packet Lalvin ICV-D47

OG - 1.8

I plan to add a small amount of wine tannins and acid blend to secondary as well.

Thanks for any input!

Fruit syrup is usually high fructose corn syrup artificial flavoring and little to no actual fruit flavoring.

Granted most soft drinks are like this.
Whether you use syrup, real fruit or fruit juice, or honey depends on what flavor you are going for.

 

[Dadux]

Hey there

So im not sure if you have many knowledge about meadmaking, if you are a newbee i recommend you read the newbee guide. I say this because your recipe is confusing to say the least. But that's for next time

Regarding your question: Yes you can backsweeten with syrup as you would with honey but you want to make sure the syrup is low on fats, or better, does not have any fats. Also check for stabilizers and chemicals in the syrup.
After saying that, i would not recommend using syrup right off the bat. I think if you are using expensive honey to make good mead, using syrup would sort of ruin it. It might be posible to add it and get a fairly decent mead, but if you are new to this i would not recommend it for now, unless you want syrup tasting alcohol. But for that you can just ferment sugar...
Instead go for a honey that has more taste or aroma, such as rosemary maybe (just a suggestion, there are many that are powerful), or if you look to give a fruity taste add the fruit to the mead directly, because the freshest the better.
If its you who is making the syrup then its better, try to use the best fruit avaliable, and dont add sugar. Then you can add to the mead the reduced juice

I assume you know how to stabilize, because obviously you need to stabilize before backsweetening in any way.

 

[JamesMTH]

The recipe you have posted is formatted a little off and the OG is way off. Pure honey has a SG of 1.43ish so 1.8 SG is way too high.

It looks like you will be making is a dry 11.75% ABV Mead. With an OG of around 1.090, depending on your honeys sugar content.

To make what your after without filtration the recipe would be;
You should cold crash and rack when you hit the FG though. Yeast can go +/- 2-3% of tolerance, and D47 is 14% tolerance.
3.2 pounds honey
0.73 gallons water
OG 1.115, FG 1.020, ABV 14%.

You should use GoFerm and a rehydration protocol with the following.
5 grams D47
6.25 grams GoFerm
125 ml water

Nutrient protocols, use 1 of the following.

SNA - 1.7 grams Fermaid O, 1.81 grams Fermaid K, 0.9 grams DAP
TOSNA - 3.4 grams Fermaid O

I can put in the SG's and qty to add later today.

 

[A-a-ron]

As you guys can tell, I am definitely new at this and this is actually my first mead. Sorry for the confusing formatting of my recipe, I should have looked at the recipe format guide before posting!

Dadux, that is exactly the answer I was looking for. I think I will stick to my original plan and use some nicely flavored honey. Really this was a curiosity of mine as I have been researching more diverse flavor options.

James, thank you for the advice and the OG corrections. I believe I may have made a newb mistake with my OG, as it was probably 1.08 instead of 1.8. I would like be more precise on my next batch, so I will come back to your suggestions when I start it.

 

[Dadux]

As you guys can tell, I am definitely new at this and this is actually my first mead. Sorry for the confusing formatting of my recipe, I should have looked at the recipe format guide before posting!

Dadux, that is exactly the answer I was looking for. I think I will stick to my original plan and use some nicely flavored honey. Really this was a curiosity of mine as I have been researching more diverse flavor options.

James, thank you for the advice and the OG corrections. I believe I may have made a newb mistake with my OG, as it was probably 1.08 instead of 1.8. I would like be more precise on my next batch, so I will come back to your suggestions when I start it.

So you know, gravity is always posted with 4 numbers, as 1.XXX
You should definitely read the newbee guide and use the search engine to seek answers to the questions you will surely have. If you dont find them or understand feel free to ask around here.
Its also very important you read on nutrients and get some good nutrients, a common brand such as fermaid, so we know what it has exactly.
About recipe posting, you usually want to be as thorough as possible when asking for advice. Total volume, SG, grams of yeast pitched, quantity and type of honey, and how you did everything.
I would refrain from adding tannins and acid if you are not sure of the ammount you need (dont trust the manufacturer because the info is usually for wine/beer, do some searches here, someone most likely asked the same or posted something about it)

About the syrup, adding normal corn sugar to mead is not the best play because honey is so much expensive than sugar that if you are going to do mead, go ahead and do it well. Using homemade fruit syrup is not a bad idea but commercial stuff with corn sugar or even unfermentables sugars (such as stevia) can alter the taste of mead, and that would be a pity. That being said, there is a name for fruit mead,s they are called Melomels, and they are done with nearly any kind of fruits, so im sure there are recipes here that can be interesting to you. For best honey flavour use raw or strained honey only (non heated honey. heating diminishes its original flavour and aroma, so it has lower quality)

If you are going to make a next batch i'll say to you what i say to every newb lately. Read about meadmaking frist, then post the plan before you actually do it. This way someone from the forum can look at it and point at recipe mistakes or potential flaws in your plan.
Also a common newbee recipe is JAOM. Many people start there. I dont specifically recommend you to do it, im just saying its super easy, and good for people who dont want to start with a lot of complicated stuff.

 

[JamesMTH]

Here is the schedule and the SG readings.

 

[bernardsmith]

Not sure my calculations match yours but they do match what you say a-a-ron's recipe ought to look like.
93 oz of water is about 3 quarts. 2.5 lbs of honey dissolved in 3 qts is the same as 3.3 lbs of honey in 1 US gallon (2.5/3*4). Assuming 1 lb of honey dissolved to make 1 gallon will have a gravity of about 1.035 then 3.3 lbs will have a reading of 3.3 *.035 = a starting gravity of about 1.115 and the potential ABV of such an SG = 15%

I assume that a-a-ron's starting gravity 1.8 is at once a typo (could be 1.080) and might also reflect a less than perfect distribution of the honey throughout the solution.

 

[A-a-ron]

Not sure my calculations match yours but they do match what you say a-a-ron's recipe ought to look like.
93 oz of water is about 3 quarts. 2.5 lbs of honey dissolved in 3 qts is the same as 3.3 lbs of honey in 1 US gallon (2.5/3*4). Assuming 1 lb of honey dissolved to make 1 gallon will have a gravity of about 1.035 then 3.3 lbs will have a reading of 3.3 *.035 = a starting gravity of about 1.115 and the potential ABV of such an SG = 15%

I assume that a-a-ron's starting gravity 1.8 is at once a typo (could be 1.080) and might also reflect a less than perfect distribution of the honey throughout the solution.

I just saw this post and it made me start questioning my ABV. I have based my calculations on a SG of 1.080. Was my initial reading incorrect due to the honey not being fully dissolved? If so, that leaves me with a higher ABV than I initially thought.

I ended up with a gravity of about 1.000 and back sweetened to 1.030 (using roughly 1# of honey). Using my first reading I was assuming my ABV to be about 7.5% but if my SG should have been 1.115 that would leave me with closer to 11.5%. I guess I can't be sure this time around? Next time, how can I be sure to get an accurate gravity reading?

 

[Dadux]

I dont even understand these lasts posts. Its not so hard, gotmead calculator convers and does the math for you. 2.5 pounds are 27 FL oncues. Adding that to the 93 of water that is a total volume of 120. And according to gotmead calc that is a gravity of 1.096.

1.080 is too low if you used those ammounts. Either you measured wrong, you are not talking about fluid US ounces (some new people have used imperials before so...), or when you measured the gravity the honey was not absolutely dissolved and homogenized (A common mistake. Even if fully dissolved, the top can be foamy if you are using a carboy or bottle and you measure after aereating and not represent the real SG if you pour it in a glass). Next time use the calculator first. If the difference is big, something was not properly done and you need to shake some more and measure again. And its easier if you tell us the total final volume after adding honey water and everything else.

Also if you want to be accurate, when you add honey post ferment (specially if its a lot like you did) post ferment, you have to account for its volume. So if you had 120 FL oz with 12.7% ABV (gotmead calculator) and added honey to 1.030 you added nearly another 10 fluid US ounces of volume. So your mead would have (120/130)*12.7 = 11.7% ABV.

Also Ron i dont know what calculator you are using for those calculations. But better use gotmeads, this (https://www.brewersfriend.com/abv-calculator/ that has two equations) or learn about how to do it by hand with brix degrees, if you dont think the calculators are totally accurate (because, in all honesty, no single ecuation is right for calculating ABV. its just a ballpark).