I kegged these the other day and they are carbing up.
I decided to go as simple as possible and just added super clear in the fermenter and transferred to kegs the next day. I added a little acid blend and tannin to the peach. I didn’t backsweeten either. We tasted last night and the flavor profiles were great. I think they will be very enjoyable when fully carbed.
Sounds delicious! What was your FG on these? I can picture a dry carbonated melomel drinking kind of like a hard seltzer.
Both were 1.000.
I haven’t had enough hard seltzer to say but I feel there is a touch more body in these. I sampled each close to fully carbed yesterday. I like the berry as is, the peach flavor is more subtle than I hoped and even though I thought I was very light with the acid blend I would go even less.
I think a closer comparison to how it drinks is cider rather than seltzer.
I recently made two more session meads at 6%abv. Traditional and pyment (wild grape). We are really enjoying both and surprised at how satisfying the body and flavor are.
I’m not a big mead drinker, but I might be if I had those nearby. They look great!
@ing you again here pete, but i could for sure see making a session mead again some day. i just had a technical failure with mine (failure to carbonate due to overfining). i also felt like even if mine was carbonated there would be a lot of room to dial it in. any thoughts on water profile or additional flavours?
As far as water profile goes I don’t do anything with my softened well water for mead like I do for beer. Because it goes through a softening filtration system it’s pretty light in minerals with maybe 55ppm sodium and 75 sulfates standing out in my mind. As far as additional flavors go I think you mean adjusting for acidity or backsweetening vs different flavors such as berries or fruit. I don’t backsweeten due to personal tasts. These get fermented to about 1.000 and are dry but not as dry as the driest ciders. Honey always seems to leave flavor and mouthfeel despite being completely fermentable. I do taste and sometimes add a little acid blend and/or tannin at kegging.
FWIW the flavors of session mead I have made tus far are mixed berry, peach, grape, and plain honey.
IMO, very helpful topic! Was wondering about a “session” mead as I’ve had enough of the “high octane” versions.
Yea, it is something that hadn’t been on my radar until the last year or two. I had always had mead compartmentalized in my mind as “wine” and only drank it when with meals or when I was in the mood for wine. It drinks like cider and is great to have on tap. It also is a cinch to make and on the same time frame as beer as opposed to the months for wine strength mead. FWIW its lower in calories and carbs than a similar abv beer and therefore less filling.
I got a lot of encourangement and advice from Matt Chrispen, who has been involved in meaderies in Texas and is sometimes on this forum. He was especially helpful with my confidence that it could be fully clear and mature very quickly.
I need to make!
Because it is so easy and good and it drinks so well I am getting addicted. I have a spiced elderberry session mead brewing now.