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Residual Sugar

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beekind

beekind

NewBee
Registered Member
Nov 14, 2008
102
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Vermont
okay, probably a dumb question, but...

when figuring out residual sugar, is that just whatever is over 1.000 (assuming there aren't any other things making the must denser)?

and if so, what percentage constitutes a "sweet" vs. "semi-sweet" vs. "semi-dry"?

i'm just getting ready to make a rhodomel-ish kinda thing (rose, rose hips, calendula, damiana, red clover), and i want it to finish sweet, but not too sweet to ruin the very heady flavors. i'm pretty sure i want to have an ABV of 14-16%.

thanks for any help,
dave
 
Here's a link to my 'aha!' moment a while back, after i asked the same question as you, and finally figured out it's not nearly as complicated as I was making it out to be.

http://www.gotmead.com/forum/showpost.php?p=112896&postcount=9

If you want an ABV of 14-16%, pick a yeast that will get you to that point, and will give you the flavor profile you want, convert that to gravity points, and or amount of honey you need, and then anything else you add will remain as residual, give or take (depending on how well your ferment goes, whether it stops early or pushes the tolerance of the yeast to the limit or not, etc).

There are also charts of some guidelines for basic sugar profile levels - Ken Schramm has it in his book, and it's been reposted on here a few times. As many more experienced folk have remarked, those are just to be used as guidelines, because what one person thinks is 'semi-sweet' may be too dry or too sweet to another. So to firmly quantify it, and say for example that a mead that finishes with a gravity of 1.010-1.015 is 'semi-sweet' may be spot on for your palate, or you might need to go higher or lower. In the end, YMMV, so take it with a grain of salt. But at least that should point you in the right direction as to how to get the numbers you're looking for. :)
 
ahhh...thanks

thanks so much for all the help.
yeah, i forgot to even look in Ken Schramm's book.:BangHead:

now, if everything else goes according to plan...
:cheers:
 
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