Mead Making and Alcohol Content

Some guidelines and rules of thumb when it comes to percentage of alcohol in mead making.

Amount of honey used during the initial creation of must:

The amount of honey you use to make your mead will have a small effect on the alcohol level. The more honey the higher the alcohol. So, dry meads will have a bit less alcohol and sweet mead a bit more.

Adding honey later in the ferment - You can always add more honey to your batch of fermenting mead after the initial ferment has finished. This will make the mead sweeter and boost up the alcohol level.

The most important factor when it comes to alcohol content in mead

The yeast you use is the single most important factor when it comes to alcohol content. Every strain of yeast has a specific tolerance for alcohol Once this tolerance is reached the yeast will die and the ferment will end. These tolerances are well documented and here are the figures for some of the more popular yeasts that are used in mead and wine making:

If you are a beginner to mead making and you simply choose your yeast and follow standard formulas for making mead without adding extra honey you will get a pretty accurate indication of alcohol content. With adjustments for amount of honey it can vary by one or two percent either way. With a dry mead that is light on honey the percentage would come down and with a sweet mead the percentage would go up,

One thought about Alcohol content. If you are trying to make a dry mead with a very low alcohol content - say below 10 or 11% it will be very susceptible to going bad. Alcohol acts as a preservative and a low alcohol content makes it susceptible to contamination. You may end up with a vinegar mead!

Calculating Alcohol Content with a Hydrometer - I have some information about using a hydrometer here

You can get a fairly accurate calculation of the alcohol content in your mead if you take two hydrometer readings of it. The first reading should be taken when the initial must is mixed. Just the honey and water mix, take the reading before you pitch any nutrients or yeast.

And when the mead is completed and ready to drink you take a second hydrometer reading. The difference between the two measurements will give you a good indicator of how much alcohol is in it. This difference is a drop from the first reading to the second.

Here is the formula for calculating the alcohol level:

Take your final hydrometer reading and subtract it from the original reading. Then divide this by .00736. The answer is your alcohol content in percent.

Sample:

Let's say your original reading was 1.08

and your final reading is 1.01

Your subtraction gives .07

Divide this by .00736 and the alcohol content is: 9.51%

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