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Question about strength and sweetness

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Mortician607

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Registered Member
Feb 5, 2008
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Ok, I made a braggot over the summer and I'm thinking about entering it into a competition.
They want to know its strength in terms of hydromel, standard, or sack. They also want to know its level of sweetness. Dry, semi-sweet, or sweet.

I primarily brew beer(but plan on making more in the way of mead soon too), so I know very little about this subject when it comes to mead. I would guess that sweetness is kind of a realitive thing that depends on the drinker. But I was wondering if there were OG-FG ranges that could give you an idea as to what strength and level sweetness you have? Or are there other ways to figure it out.

Thanks,
Dave
 
In my experience, the higher the final gravity the 'sweeter' it is. I think that sweet is classified as 1.016 and higher, but I cant remember where the other ranges are.
 
Here's at least a general FG range, from Ken Schramm's "The Compleat Meadmaker":

Dry Mead: 0.099 to 1.006 (or lower)
Medium Mead: 1.006 to 1.015
Sweet Mead: 1.015 to 1.020
Dessert Mead: 1.020+
 
Mortician607 said:
Ok, I made a braggot over the summer and I'm thinking about entering it into a competition.
They want to know its strength in terms of hydromel, standard, or sack. They also want to know its level of sweetness. Dry, semi-sweet, or sweet.

I primarily brew beer(but plan on making more in the way of mead soon too), so I know very little about this subject when it comes to mead. I would guess that sweetness is kind of a realitive thing that depends on the drinker. But I was wondering if there were OG-FG ranges that could give you an idea as to what strength and level sweetness you have? Or are there other ways to figure it out.

Thanks,
Dave
Click to expand...

From BJCP

SG's
Hydromel 1.035-1.080
Standard 1.080-1.120
Sack 1.120-1.170

FG's
Dry 0.990-1.010
Semi sweet 1.010-1.025
Sweet 1.025-1.050

Cheers,
Jon
 
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Final gravity is not the only determining factor in how sweet a mead is. Spices, pH, even the type of honey can trick the tastebuds. I always tweak my meads when they're done to bring the gravity up to 1.006 (or so). Even with this, their sweetness level vary a great deal. Use the gravity as a guideline, but your tastebuds should be the deciding factor.


Phil
 
Thanks for the help guys. Just to give you an update as to how well it did in the comp: The competition that I entered was the American Homebrewer's Association's National Homebrew Competition. It took 1st place in the northeast regional comp, and will be going into the AHA finals.

Thanks again guys, I couldn't have done it with out you.
 
NP, I can probably post it tomorrow. I guess I should put the recipie in the "Brew log" section of the forum, and not in this thread right?

It's probably unconventional, compared to what you guys are used to making. Remember, I usually brew beer, not mead. lol.
 
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No matter where you post it, we'd love to see it. But there are two specific places to post a recipe - first is the General Recipe Discussion area, and you should post there if you have questions about a recipe before you start it. Otherwise, the Brewlog is, as you guessed, where it should go.
 
I guess I put it in the wrong place then, sorry. I looked over the general recipie section, and thought that it might belong there. I saw a few threads that looked as though they were post production. Sorry about that. But the recipie is posted.
 
Mortician607 said:
I guess I put it in the wrong place then, sorry. I looked over the general recipie section, and thought that it might belong there. I saw a few threads that looked as though they were post production. Sorry about that. But the recipie is posted.
Click to expand...
No worries! Either place is OK, but those recipes in the General Recipe section are usually posted by folks who have questions about their ingredients, process or technique. But it isn't a hard and fast rule. ;)
 
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