Comparing some "commercial" Meads

[fatbloke]

I mentioned in another thread that I was planning to try and get some commercially made meads, to compare and test, to see how they stood up to some of the ideas/suggestions I've had about making meads.

So, rather than take up WAH server space and bandwidth, I've put a rather basic description of how this went on my blog for anyone interested.

Hope that's ok to do it like that.

regards

JtFB

[Rich]

Interesting numbers you've got there from the commercial stuff.

Got me wondering how they make it...

Do they ferment to dry and back sweeten it, like has been suggested here, or just start with an incredible high SG and the yeast cops out at 14.5% ish, leaving that still high SG and residual sweetness.

Could it be that they taste good, because they have been allowed to age a while too?

Rich

[lockwood1956]

Hope that's ok to do it like that.

regards

JtFB

no probs......nice blog by the way

why dont you put a link to it in your sig line?

[lockwood1956]

Noticed your "rant" on your blog John



You have an SG drop of 110 you say....

look that value up in the alc by volume chart and there is your answer......

that doesnt require a tutorial on how to do it John....now does it?

[fatbloke]

Interesting numbers you've got there from the commercial stuff.

Got me wondering how they make it...

Do they ferment to dry and back sweeten it, like has been suggested here, or just start with an incredible high SG and the yeast cops out at 14.5% ish, leaving that still high SG and residual sweetness.

Could it be that they taste good, because they have been allowed to age a while too?

Rich

I dunno Rich, I'm just supping the Lindisfarne, and am quite startled to read (on the back of the main label and therefore through the glass), that there's the usual carp about mead being old/celtic/ etc etc, but then it goes on about how the honeys are multinational, an "vatted with fermented grape juice and water from an artesian well" - call me picky, but if it's got "fermented grape juice" in it, then it's not even "real" mead, it's bleedin' pyment!

I don't know if Bob can confirm i.e. that it's got the same marketing garb on the back of the label, of the bottle he mentioned ? That might go some way to explaining why I'm finding it very light on honey flavour!

no probs......nice blog by the way

why dont you put a link to it in your sig line?

Well I thought it might be frowned upon, because it's me that controls it, I (being of a rebellious nature) get a bit angry/stressed/emotional/opinionated/whatever in my musings, and presumed that you might not appreciate the linkage, but if you don't mind, then excellent. Cheers Bob.

Oh, and could you see if the bottle of Lindisfarne you mentioned does have the marketing garb on the back or on a separate rear label ?

regards

JtFB

[StockeyDAW]

Nice blog FB. Some of those gravities are much to high for my taste. The pH numbers look great though. Nice that you have so much choice there. I bet when it really comes down to it that you will find that you enjoy the mead that you made yourself the best. Cheers on that heather mead looks like it has great possibilities. Daw

[fatbloke]

Nice blog FB. Some of those gravities are much to high for my taste. The pH numbers look great though. Nice that you have so much choice there. I bet when it really comes down to it that you will find that you enjoy the mead that you made yourself the best. Cheers on that heather mead looks like it has great possibilities. Daw

I'm thinking that the choice is a recentish thing - Middle Farm only had 2 or 3 meads last time I looked, but this time, bingo!

I might have got more but a lot of them are only in 750ml bottles i.e. a bit to expensive for an experiment.

So far, I've finished the Lindisfarne, which might be more well known than the others, but it's too light for my taste.

I'm about half way through the "Witham Friary" one, which is good flavour-wise, but it's a bit heavy (I'm thinking too much body - but that might be the wrong thing I'm trying to describe). The flavour also seems to have a bit of a "floral" after taste. It reminds me a little of some sort of sherry.

I intend doing a proper (well as proper as I'm able) report/review when I've "tasted" them all - to emptiness

regards

JtFB

[StockeyDAW]

I'm thinking that the choice is a recentish thing - Middle Farm only had 2 or 3 meads last time I looked, but this time, bingo!

I might have got more but a lot of them are only in 750ml bottles i.e. a bit to expensive for an experiment.

So far, I've finished the Lindisfarne, which might be more well known than the others, but it's too light for my taste.

I'm about half way through the "Witham Friary" one, which is good flavour-wise, but it's a bit heavy (I'm thinking too much body - but that might be the wrong thing I'm trying to describe). The flavour also seems to have a bit of a "floral" after taste. It reminds me a little of some sort of sherry.

I intend doing a proper (well as proper as I'm able) report/review when I've "tasted" them all - to emptiness

FB another suggestion - use your pH meter to do some acid testing on the various Mead's. You should be looking at a figure of something like .7% for sweet mead. This is all of course done to your tastes - but this is a figure to start by--- see what you like. Then do your acid adjustments using citric acid if you want to increase and potassium carbonate if you want to lower the acid?? Just another test that you can do and find out what you prefer? Cheers Daw

[rjb222]

Nicely done fatbloke records like these keep things organized and reproducable good job man

[fatbloke]

Nicely done fatbloke records like these keep things organized and reproducable good job man

Ah! well you better not look up other threads I've posted too then! - 'cos you'll notice a distinct lack of record keeping

It's something I'm trying very hard too remedy - if, for no other reason, I might be able to remember "where I went wrong" with something.

The whole reason for publishing the test results of some commercial meads, was that while it's common practice to ferment to dry and back sweeten or use a yeast with a specific (documented) alcohol tolerance with a must of a high enough SG to allow X? % of residual sweetness, yet it would appear that the commercial examples have gravity readings that are that high, you'd think that they hadn't finished fermenting.

I'm guessing that they probably make them with a high alcohol yeast, but then back sweeten and reduce the % ABV with a honey/water mix (or similar). Plus the pH figures also suggest that there's been some acid addition along the line there.

For my liking, the numbers are just too uniform not to have had that sort of adjustments - but I'm guessing that's got more to do with "standardisation" of recipes/products.

I'm sure that others can supply further reasons for this sort of thing, but it does seem like they've been "standardised" (for instance the virtually identical 14 to 14.5 % ABV, but that probably has more to do with duty/excise charges than anything else, but it does highlight "commonality").

regards

JtFB

[lockwood1956]

You have an SG drop of 110 you say....

look that value up in the alc by volume chart and there is your answer......

see also here

http://www.winesathome.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=2008