General Notes on Mead

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Some general notes, facts, quickie calculations, and tips for making mead. I’ll try and keep this updated as I learn new tips.

Originally Posted: Aug. 3, 2020

Assorted bottles of basic Apple Cyser mead and caramelized Bochet Cyser mead.

Table of Contents

Terminology for Beginners

Beer: Any grain-based alcoholic beverage, typically consisting of malted barley, hops, water, and yeast. However, many historical and regional styles may contain adjunct fermentable sugars, alternative herbs to hops, spices and other flavorings. A beer with a high proportion of honey as an extra fermentable is called a “Braggot”, a type of beer-mead or mead-beer.
Cider: Traditionally, cider has meant a fermented drink made from apple (or more rarely, pear) juice. In the US the word has come to mean “unfiltered apple juice”, though historically this is a misnomer that I believe dates back to the days of the Temperance movement and Prohibition.
- Fruit Cider: This is more my own opinion, but if I were to ferment a fruit juice (blueberry for example) and it resulted in a beer-strength drink, I would consider it a fruit cider. Traditionally, many Fruit Wines (wine-strength) were made by mixing fruit juice and extra sugar. Many fruit ciders are made using apple juice as a base (for cost reasons) and then adding fruits for flavoring.
Degassing: A good practice with higher gravity brews like mead. During fermentation, some CO₂ produced by the yeast stays trapped in solution. Degassing frees up this dissolved CO₂, helping the yeast to stay healthy and shortening fermentation time. Best done slowly, otherwise you might end up with a foam explosion and a messy cleanup.
Mead: An alcoholic beverage of varying strength, primarily fermented from honey; also known as “honey-wine”. Below are a few examples of different types of mead:
- Acerglyn: A mead made with maple syrup as an adjunct sugar source. Described as “smokey”. I like to pronounce it “ass-er-glin”.
- Bochet: A mead made from caramelized honey. Depending on the caramelization of the honey, can be described as having caramel-like, toffee-like, or toasted marshmallow-like taste.
- Braggot: A hybrid brew made from both malt and honey. A mead-beer or a beer-mead. Braggot (a Welsh word) was once common in Wales, though hybrid brews like it were likely even more widespread. Sounds like a dirty word.
- Cyser: A mead made with apples; a specific type of melomel, but common enough that it gets its own entry. Can also be thought of as a fortified cider.
- Melomel: A mead made with fruit. Historically, melomels were made as a method of fruit preservation; one could eat the preserved fruit for months or drink the fruit-flavored mead.
  - Bilbemel: Likely a neologism. A blueberry mead.
  - Capsicumel: Definitely a neologism. A spicy, pepper mead. Great with chicken.
- Metheglin: A mead flavored with herbs or spices.
  - Rhodomel: Mead flavored with roses.
- Pyment: A wine-mead hybrid made with wine grapes. Not to be confused with “Hippocras” or “Mulsum”, or wines sweetened with honey after fermentation.
Must: Unfermented honey water, or unfermented mead. The term is shared with winemaking. Comparable to “wort” in beer brewing.
Racking: Also known as “transferring”, “siphoning”, or “secondary”. After primary fermentation slows, it is often advisable to rack mead into another sanitized fermenter. This is done for several reasons. It can reinvigorate the yeast and kick off a secondary fermentation, speeding up total fermentation time greatly. It also helps mead to clarify. Racking onto fruit in secondary is also a good practice when adding fruit; since fermentation won’t be as vigorous, more of the fruit’s flavor and aroma is preserved in the mead.
Specific Gravity (SG): A measure of density, used in brewing to determine sugar content in a solution. Related terms are Original Gravity (OG) and Final Gravity (FG). Alternative measures of gravity include Brix and Plato, though I have no experience measuring in either.
- Original Gravity (OG): The specific gravity at the beginning of fermentation.
- Final Gravity (FG): The specific gravity at the end of fermentation. If you choose to halt the fermentation to preserve some sweetness, the gravity at which you halt fermentation is still considered your FG.

Gravity of Honey

Although honey varietals will range in specific gravity, a general rule of thumb when it comes to honey is that 1 lb. of honey (.45 kg) will raise the gravity of 1 gallon of water (3.79 L) by 0.035. This is scalable, so 5 lbs. of honey will raise the gravity of 5 gallons of water by 0.035 as well.

I usually like my wines to be of medium strength, around 12 – 13% or so. To get this strength in my meads, I’ve found that 3 lbs. of honey per gallon of water is a good ratio (I think this comes to about .351 kg/L in metric, if my math is right). This is the most honey I would add at one time before I start worrying about step-feeding. If adding honey to fresh juice, I’d add even less honey, since you’ll need to take the sugars in the juice into account.

Generally, an equation for estimating Mead Gravity can be given as:

SG = (H)(.035)/G

Where:

H = pounds of honey

G = number of gallons you’re mixing it into

Important Note on SG

Note: Remember, these numbers are estimates. Honey’s SG can fluctuate by season and availability of food for the bees. To get a truly accurate SG, you have to mix the honey into the must well and take a reading.

Gravity of Juice

Apple juice can range from 1.035 to 1.045. Often, I’ll just give it an average of 1.040 if I’m estimating an original gravity.

I’m not sure about other juices off the top of my head, but I’ve included links to some exhaustive lists and online calculators down below. The best way to get an accurate reading is to always take gravity readings yourself, but this can be hard if the honey hasn’t fully dissolved into solution so I’m a big advocate of coming up with a gravity estimate first and comparing that to your readings.

Temperature & Heating Honey

I prefer to make mead using the so-called “No-Heat” method. The name is a bit of a misnomer, as you can still warm your honey to make it easier to pour from its container. However, starting at about 95°F (35°C), honey begins to lose its delicate aromatics. This is especially problematic if you’re using a nice varietal honey like orange blossom.

My favorite method to gently warm honey while staying under 95°F (35°C) is to use a sous vide circulator. This preserves the aromatics while allowing for an easy pour.

Keeping honey at a low heat throughout the process also allows the mead to age/mellow quicker and be drinkable sooner. One caveat to this general rule is Bochet style meads. In a Bochet, you heat the honey to a high temperature over a long period of time, in order to caramelize and darken the honey. This yields caramel-like, toffee-like, or toasted marshmallow-like notes to the finished mead. And in my experience, this mead is just as drinkable and quick-mellowing as a mead produced by the No-Heat method. I still don’t know why this is the case.

Useful Links

Here are a few useful links I’ve found, such as calculators, average sugar contents of various fruits, etc.: