Carbonating Mead: A Step-by-Step Guide for Home Brewers

Mead is a fascinating beverage and is known as honey wine. It involves the fermentation of water and honey using a year, but it can also be flavored using a wide variety of ingredients such as hops, grains, spices, and/or fruits.

It is a unique category positioned alongside beers and wines.

This guide will look at whether or not mead is carbonated, along with how to complete the process.

Is Mead Carbonated?

Mead can be carbonated, and this begins during the initial fermentation process. As the mead starts to age, the carbon dioxide gets released, which causes the mead to become still. However, if mead is fully carbonated, carbon dioxide has been introduced into the fermentation process in a targeted fashion.

This process involves the inclusion of carbon dioxide into the system while also including honey for a more refined taste. Once completed, they place the ingredients in a bottle. This is known as bottle conditioning.

How To Carbonate Mead

Let’s assume you are interested in the idea of mead and want to ensure it’s carbonated. How do you go about completing the process?

Sweet and sparkling mead is always fun to consume, and it often comes down to the process. You will have to complete it the right way with the right ingredients.

Carbonated mead or sparkling mead has been around for a long time. It is noted for being a prominent sparkling alcohol that has a riveting taste everyone notices. It was during the 1700 BCE when sparkling mead came to prominence.

For those who want to start the process nowadays, you are going, beginning with bottle conditioning. This is the most common way to carbonate mead.

For this process, you will want to start by accumulating all of the items needed to complete the task. You will want to get it spot-on to ensure the taste is perfect and it doesn’t get overdone.

Items To Buy:

* 2/3 Cup of Honey
* 5-Gallon Batch of Mead
* 24 Champagne Bottles (750 ml)
* Dark Space

1. Start With The Mead

You will want to begin with the foundation of the carbonation process, which is the mead. This means finding the correct type of mead that will work well for carbonation. It often comes down to your preferences with regards to taste as well.

In most cases, it is best to go with a lighter brew to allow the carbonation to stand out more. You will begin to appreciate the finer details of the beverage that is in your hands.

2. Prepare the Mead

You will have to take the time to brew the mead, and which will be done through traditional fermentation.

You will want to time each part of the process to make sure the sparkling mead is consistent. This is easy for those who are giving the fermentation time to complete the process.

It’s important to remember; you don’t want to have excess yeast during the secondary fermentation. Having a lot of yeast can get in the way of carbonation, and that is the last thing you want.

3. Add Honey

At this stage, you are going to have to be meticulous with your approach. The goal is to pour the honey into the mead.

This should be raw honey as that is the best way to get a more authentic tasting mead. Once the honey is in, you will want to begin to stir it. It would help if you also had the champagne bottles emptied and ready to go by this time.

4. Bottle the Mead

Honey and mead are poured into the bottles together. This will ensure the mixture is perfect and it tastes the way it is supposed to.

For the carbonation process to go through, a lot of care is needed. The carbonation will happen inside the champagne bottle, and the more honey added, the sweeter the mixer. . This is ideal for those who do like something sweet.

The yeast will also begin to settle, and that will stabilize the alcohol content in the mead.

It is essential to understand that the gas will remain inside the bottle, which will begin the carbonation process.

Please remember, you should be looking to use champagne bottles as they are robust enough to sustain this process without breaking down. Other types of bottles might not cut it or could lead to unsatisfactory results over time.

5. Keep in a Warm, Dark Space

Now it is time to let the mead do its work in a warm, dark space.

You will want to place all of the bottles inside this space safely. The process is going to take at least 2-3 weeks.

It is better to have the sparkling mead set at room temperature. This will ensure the sparkling mead has time to settle and it doesn’t begin to get out of the bottle early on. This is why a lot of bottles shatter because they are kept in piping hot rooms.

Most people tend to use cork bottles because they can handle the additional gas without breaking. Anything else will not seal the bottle, and that is the real problem with CO2.

If you are going down this path, it’s important to complete the bottle conditioning properly. It’s the only way to see good results over time.

Final Thoughts

When you have carbonated the mead, it’s time to serve it cold.

Place it in the fridge and enjoy how it tastes. This will be a unique beverage that will bring a smile to your face as soon as you take a sip.

If you want carbonated mead ready to go, then it’s time to look at the BEARDED SAINT CARBONATED MEAD. This is a powerhouse product that tastes like a million bucks.