[THC] fix oversweetened mead?

[Linda Swihart]

Phillip Fell wrote:
> its a jalapeno mead, very mild, 1 gallon batch, we did add sorbate 2 
> days before we sweetened, its still in secondary
>  
> btw, this was an 8 gallon batch of dry mead, we divided it, 3 gallons 
> for a holiday blend (we used mulling spices), then 5 (1 gallon) 
> batches, pineapple, vanilla, jalapeno, cherry/chocolate and 
> raspberry.  they are all very good, we are extremely pleased....
>

There is not a way that I know of to reverse the action of the sorbate, 
if you used enough to stabilize and all the other things upon which this 
depends are correct.  (Long-term "stabilized" is some kind of four or 
five-variable function depending on acidity, alcohol, free SO2, yeast 
concentration, and sorbate.  Makes my eyes glaze over trying to cope 
with it.)

And the sorbate/etc combination does not "kill" the yeast, but it 
prevents budding, which is the way yeast reproduce, so reproduction is 
stopped.  If you have racked the mead away from most of the yeast, 
most/all of what remains will be dormant or reproductively disabled, and 
there will be no fermentation.

If you were to at this time add a WHOLE LOT of new yeast it would 
probably ferment a little more, but those yeasts would probably not 
reproduce, depending on the sorbate/sulfite/alcohol/pH concentrations.  
And even if they did ferment some it's unlikely to be a very healthy 
fermentation in the already highly alcoholic, sweet, oxygen-free, 
possibly low free-amino-nutrients environment.  I wouldn't even consider 
that approach if it were my batch.  I would just leave it sit for a 
while, a long while, half a year in the gallon jug, then taste it again.

What I see as the most likely approaches are
1 -- enjoy it and/or find people who enjoy it the way it is.  Some 
people like very sweet mead, and aged sweet mead can be extremely 
complex and interesting.  (Get some of the Polish 25 year old Miod 
Pitney and experience this.  There are no jalapeños, but it's a very 
interesting, very sweet experience.)

2 -- make another batch of dry mead and blend some into the too-sweet in 
order to dry it out.

I hope to taste some of the other parts of this at Nancy's!

Linda
(not an expert, just a long-time dabbler)




> --- On *Mon, 8/11/08, Linda Swihart /<swihart at purdue.edu>/* wrote:
>
>     From: Linda Swihart <swihart at purdue.edu>
>     Subject: Re: [THC] fix oversweetened mead?
>     To: p.fell at sbcglobal.net
>     Date: Monday, August 11, 2008, 8:07 AM
>
>     Phillip Fell wrote:
>     > how can we do this?  thanks in advance...
>     >  
>     > phil & lori
>     >   
>
>     Did you add sorbate when you sweetened?  (to "stabilize," i.e.
>     prevent fermentation of the added sugar)
>
>     Is it in bottles?
>
>
>
>               
>