Hazes - back sweetening with honey ?

[fatbloke]

Ok, so if I make a batch but find that the "finished" taste warrants some back sweetening and I use honey, I've read that this can often cause hazing.

So if the batch is a traditional/show type mead, then it's unlikely to be caused by pectin or starch. Which I presume means that it's likely to be a protein haze.

What would I need to do or use to sort this out ????

I haven't actually experienced this, but I've read in a number of places where they recommend against using honey for back sweetening because "it causes hazes which are hard to clear" ?

regards

fatbloke

 

[male]

You can use boiled honey to back sweet.

 

[Medsen Fey]

The easiest thing to do (...or perhaps the hardest ) is just letting it sit until it clears. Honey may contain protein elements, pollen, wax particle or bee parts but if you backsweeten with it, these things will usually drop clear in a few weeks. The sweeter you make it, with the resulting higher viscosity, the slower it clears.

While boiling it will remove those haze elements it will also remove some of the aromatic stuff you'd like to keep in a batch. If you are in a hurry, fining or filtration are options, but every batch that I have left alone has cleared eventually.

Medsen

 

[fatbloke]

You can use boiled honey to back sweet.

The easiest thing to do (...or perhaps the hardest ) is just letting it sit until it clears. Honey may contain protein elements, pollen, wax particle or bee parts but if you backsweeten with it, these things will usually drop clear in a few weeks. The sweeter you make it, with the resulting higher viscosity, the slower it clears.

While boiling it will remove those haze elements it will also remove some of the aromatic stuff you'd like to keep in a batch. If you are in a hurry, fining or filtration are options, but every batch that I have left alone has cleared eventually.

Medsen

Hum? Right, Ok that's no problem for me.... I was wondering if there was a specific enzyme that could treat the issue

It's just that I usually end up fermenting dry and then after a couple of rackings, I just put it under the stairs to finish clearing/bulk ageing. Plus I like my meads about 1015 to 1020

I suppose I could just sweeten them before I bulk age them, then it's just a case of running them through the filter as I bottle (enolmatic)..........

regards

fatbloke