How to Identify Mead

In this post, we go over (1) clarifiers and (2) how to identify mead.

How To Identify Mead

For a clear and beautiful mead, the most efficient approach is to let your mead grow old until it is clear. The unwelcome haze in your mead could be due to floating yeast, proteins, or polyphenols. 

Clarifiers added to your mead will help remove the fog. Clarifiers attach to the particles and help to remove them from the mead. It is possible to use Bentonite or Sparkalloid, substances you can add to your mead to speed up the clearing process. 

But, it’s recommended to let the mead mature until it is balanced. Hence, the honey, along with the rest of your mead.

Clarifiers, also known as clarifiers, are commonly known as fining agents. The reason we utilize these additives is to eliminate the haze that is present in our mead or wine.

• The positive charge of fining substances like Gelatin, Isinglass, and Sparkled is created by bonding negatively charged substances found in the must. Gelatin bonds to tannins and clump and fall from suspension. Isinglass is made from fish bladders and is effective in small fogs. Sparkolloid will require some preparatory work before being employed but is efficient on persistent hazes.
• Fining agents that are negatively charged, like Bentonite, make protein and yeast. Bentonite is essentially dry powdered clay.  Bentonite is highly effective; however, it could require an additional racking procedure to eliminate excess sediment.
• Pectic Enzyme is the compound found in fruits that transforms into a gel upon heating. Melomels found in pectin could cause cloudiness in your mead or wine. Pectin starts to form a gel at around 180 degrees F. The pectic enzyme works to dissolve the pectin haze. It can be added to yeast.
•  Acids like Citric, Tartaric, Malic, and Acid Blend are utilized to give an underlying tartness that helps reduce residual sugars within the mead. Citric is the acid that occurs in citrus fruit. Tartaric can be described as the acid derived from grapes. The acid malic can be you find in apples. An acid blend is an excellent mix of all of them.

The Different Types of Mead

• Traditional Mead A fermented honey beverage comprises about 1 to 2 pounds of honey per gallon of water.
• Dry mead will have little to no sweetness, but it will still have honey notes.
• Semi-sweet meads should end medium dry with more honey flavor and a touch of sweetness on the finish.
• Sweet Mead My favorite is the most awe-inspiring in terms of honey and sweetness quality.
• Hydromel: Watered or wet mead
• Sack Mead: Mead is sweetened by adding 20 to 25 percent more honey. It is a drink that resembles sauterne.
• Metheglin: Metheglin is mead with a spicy flavor and herbal extracts (gruit). However, later hops gained popularity.
• Sack Metheglin Mead sweetened with spices generally akin to vermouth.
• Melomel or Mulsum: Mead is made with fruit juice.

Fruit mead, also called Melomel, is essentially an original mead with the addition of fruits. The honey flavor is at the top of the list, while adding different fruits opens the traditional mead to new flavors and choices.

The two most popular fruit meads are Cyser, a mead made of fruit made with apples, and Payment, a fruit mead made from grapes.

• Cyser A model made from cider or apple juice, like a sherry wine.
• Payment or Claire A melomel made of grape juice, sometimes called the honey-sweetened wine of grapes.
• Hyppocras Spiced Payment.