If you are trying a mead recipe for the first time, there is good news – the process doesn’t get much easier than making mead. All you need to do is mix honey with water in a fermenter and add some yeast.
But at the same time, you need to consider certain measures while trying the mead recipe. These tips and tricks will improve your mead. In some cases, your drink will get ready to drink right after you bottle it.
Here are the five essential tips to improve the taste of your mead.
Use Quality Ingredients
Whether trying mead recipes or cooking anything else in your kitchen, the quality of the ingredients is responsible for enhancing their taste. When your ingredients are good, your mead will taste rich and sumptuous.
Do not compromise in terms of quality. To get the best honey for mead, look for locally-sourced honey. Ensure that the honey you choose hasn’t undergone too much processing. For yeast, we would suggest a homebrew shop. When you use water for mead, ensure that it is free from flavors.
While making your mead, you intend to develop rich aromas and flavors. The best way to do this is, to begin with, all the high-quality ingredients.
Say No to Heating
When you explore the internet for mead recipes, many of them will tell you to heat the water and honey mixture to avoid contamination. But do you know heating comes with its own downsides?
When you heat the honey-water mixture, it will lose many of its flavors and aromas. Consequently, your mead will not taste how you want it to taste. A simple way to sanitize your mead preparation is to use sulfites.
Nonetheless, many mead-makers skip the step of sanitizing the mead. It is because their equipment itself undergoes an ample sanitation process. The amount of wine or yeast is more than enough to combat the contaminants present in water, honey, or other ingredients of mead.
Keep a Check on the pH
One of the essential tips to consider when you prepare mead is to monitor and control the pH level of the preparation. The pH level of mead should always remain between 3.7 and 4, respectively.
A perfect pH level will aid in optimizing the conditions for yeast to carry out a quick and easy fermentation.
Cool Fermentation is a Good Idea
While many strains of yeast used in the mead-making process have tolerable fermentation temperatures reaching 80-degree Fahrenheit, we recommend cooler fermentation temperatures as they help preserve the aroma and flavors of honey and other ingredients. Fermenting mead at cooler temperatures also reduces the prominence of alcohol-based off-flavors.
It would be best to maintain the fermentation temperature at the lower end of the temperature tolerance of yeast. You can also go below such degrees. It will encourage a less vigorous fermentation. Eventually, your mead will retain its flavor and aroma, thus giving a more enhanced taste.
Try Backsweetening
In many cases, the final preparation of mead may appear a little dry in texture. It is fine unless you want your mead to be sweeter.
It is possible to make your mead sweeter after it is completely fermented. You can perform back sweetening. The process includes adding more sugar or honey to the mead to increase its texture and taste. The only challenge here is to ensure that the yeast doesn’t consume the sugar. The mead will become drier and stronger for your taste buds if it does so.
Takeaway
Whether you are a novice or making mead for the umpteenth time, the above-listed tips will come to your help in enhancing the taste of the honey wine, thus making it sweeter, richer, and flavorful. Try these tips now.
