Comments on: Lord Rhys Chocolate Mead Recipe

By: Erroll

Erroll — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 02:45:41 +0000

Is there a way to halt fermentation without using Camden tablets? The sulfite thing makes my lady a bit twitchy.

Hi Patrick,

This is really a two-part question. The first part is about halting fermentation, and sulfite really isn’t good for that – sulfite and sorbate together are excellent for stabilizing a wine once fermentation has stopped. If you really want to stop fermentation at a particular point, I think cooling is your best bet. Chill the wine well below the yeast’s tolerance – into the low 30’s if you can. Once you’re sure fermentation has stopped, rack into a new container with sulfite and sorbate. That said, I think it’s easier and more reliable to ferment dry and then stabilize and sweeten.

The second part of your question is about doing without sulfite. I get asked about this from time to time and there isn’t a good answer. Some people do it, so it can be done, but sulfite is a great way to reduce the risk of problems like infection and oxidation. So to me, not using sulfite is a mistake.

If you must do without sulfite, then cleanliness and sanitation must be top notch. Make a vigorous starter. You racking technique must be perfect – no splashing – and you must top up religiously. Sweetening will be difficult, maybe even dangerous because fermentation might resume in the bottle, so bottle dry.

Good luck (you’ll need it!),
Erroll

By: Patrick

Patrick — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 17:00:23 +0000

Thanks for the response. My computer has been down and I didn’t get a chance to thank you and, of course, ask another question. Is there a way to halt fermentation without using Camden tablets? The sulfite thing makes my lady a bit twitchy. Thanks again. Oh, and I used Penzey’s powdered cocoa (Mail Order). Intense chocolate flavor, good price. $7.50/lb
http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/p-penzeyscocoapowder.html

By: Erroll

Erroll — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 02:26:46 +0000

Hi Patrick,

You’re right, my Simple Mead Recipe is 5 parts water to 1 part honey. So if you made up your must that way and you’d rather have a 4:1 ratio, you can add honey to your fermenting must right now. How much? Multiply the quantity of honey you added by 0.25. So, if you added 1 gallon of honey (and 5 gallons of water), then add a quart of honey to your fermenting must right now.

It’s probably not that big a deal, but it’s easy to do so why not do it?

The sweetener isn’t specified in the recipe, but I would probably use honey. You can make a good case for a neutral sweetener, like table sugar or corn sugar, and I think either way would be fine.

Hope this helps,

Erroll

By: Patrick

Patrick — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:32:32 +0000

Thank you for this recipe. This looks great. I do have a couple of questions, though.
Question 1: It says “This recipe assumes a standard 5 gallon batch of mead using a 4 parts water to 1 part honey mixture” I might have missed that part when putting this together and used your “Simple Mead Recipe” as the base. I think that is a 5:1 ratio, right? If so, how badly did I bollix up this recipe? I added the starter (using mead yeast) and the thing took off like a rocket, bubbling within 2 hrs. or so.
Question 2: What do you sweeten with? Honey, corn sugar, organic cane sugar, Agave Nectar? I would assume with the chocolate flavor, you may want a neutral sweetener. What do yo suggest? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

By: CuAllaidh

CuAllaidh — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:07:52 +0000

Wonderful blog you have. I have just recently begun my journey in to the fun of mead making. My first Cyser is happily bubbling away in my storage closet even now, this recipe intrigues me, and I am thinking that I might just have to attempt it.