Re: "in hindsight..." OR "still need some suggestions"

"Emo Funk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> So generally, sweet meads arent sparkled by bottle conditioning? and then,
> not the ones of heroic gravity?
>
> maybe this cyser should be blended with a "dry, low gravity mead" and then
> kegged.....
>
> hmmmm....

Emo,

The danger with trying for a bottle conditioned sparkling sweet mead is that
it's very difficult to know exactly where the yeast will quit.  If it's too
soon, you won't have much sparkle.  If it's too late, you might have more
pressure than your bottles can take.  And the problem with trying to sparkle
a mead made to a high alcohol level is that the yeast may simply give up
without converting the added sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide.  The
most safe option is to ferment to dryness a mead of wine strength or less,
add a known quantity of sugar, and let the yeast use that to create the
sparkle.

Having said that, you have raised an alternative that is quite valid, which
is to simply force carbonate your mead.  I don't own any kegging equipment
and so this method, although known to me, is one that I often overlook as an
option.  Given that you have kegging equipment, you may make a mead of any
strength a sparkling mead by force carbonation.  With a counter pressure
filler you can even bottle this, but I'd still hesitate to bottle (or even
keg, as even the keg will still have an upper limit to the pressure it can
contain) a sweet mead that hasn't been properly stabilized with sorbate and
sulfite.


-- 
Cheers,
Ken