Sugar? Honey? Erythritol? What to Backsweeten Mead with? 

Because of you two, I've been making meads and Wines nonstop this whole year! Don't think I've purchased a bottle of wine this whole year!!

I'll think I had seen and upvoted everything then, nope. Something wonderful I had missed. Thank you for your work.

HAHA Derica : " I'm detecting BS". Great video guys. Love it

Awesome! From now on I'm back-sweetening mead with simple sugar syrup. Using honey always leaves residue in my bottles no mater how well I mix it up.

WOW I am shocked! Insane that sugar tastes more like honey than honey does! But, this test is great, that means that using sugar to backsweeten mead is not only better but also cheaper! You should try a test between the various non-fermentable sugars. For the last year I have been using Sucralose because it is available at my super market and it is used 1 to 1 as a sugar replacement. I do have to try other things like monkfruit and erythritol and stevia but I haven't gotten to it yet. Love your videos guys!

You proved experiments are informative and fun. It's a good group experiment as well. Give everybody a score card and get to tasting. Then use that as a starting point for the next brewing.

I brewed a batch of strawberry cider a couple months ago and back sweetened with erythritol. Before I did that I tried it in a couple cups of coffee to make sure it wasn't going to be too artificial in flavor as I didn't want to ruin some perfectly yummy cider.. I did notice a slight artificial flavor but not enough to detract from the flavor of the cider and the fact that is was non-fermentable made it an acceptable sweetener.

Great experiment. I have been wanting to try this one.

I love videos like this where you guys experiment 🔬

Sugar and salt are both flavor enhancers, so adding sugar to the mead should enhance the honey flavor.

Made some JAOM that needs back sweetening. This video definitely helps in figuring how I'm going to approach doing it. Thanks!

After being a diabetic alcoholic most of my adult life I no longer am able to drink any alcohol without feeling good about it plus I have neuropathy in my head, feet and arms and alcohol definitely makes it worse, but I love the process and the hobby Thanks for sharing 👍🍺

Love those tests. I have *BAD* experiences with Stevia (dumped an entire 5 litre batch of cider because of it). Lactose doesn't have the required sweetness and can might cause dietary issues. And because of the higher price I only recently started experimenting with Erythritol. So far so good but you two give me the confidence to keep using it more.

Great Video! I like this Experiment and might even try this in the future cause every pallet is slightly different. I always appreciate and value your opinions and Expertise, Thank you.

This is unrelated to this video but I was wondering if you guys had any plans to do some of the other meads in the Elder Scrolls Cook Book. That's the book that made me want to start brewing but you guys are the ones that taught me how and made brewing a passion of mine so seeing those two things come together is just wonderful for me. I love this channel so much by the way. Never stop doing what your doing. 😂

Have you guys ever brewed a bunch of different small batches with slight variations on a recipe to see how the variables affect the final outcome? For example, it would be cool to revisit the tea wine, but do say, four half-gallon batches. One could be the original recipe, one could be double the amount of tea bags with half the brewing time, then the other two could be the exact same thing except with earl grey tea. Keep all the other variables exactly the same. I think something like this would be really cool to see.

I would like to see a part two with differend sweeteners like stevia, brown sugar, maple syrup, palm sugar, cane sugar, caramelized sugar, sorbitol, and any other form of sweet substance.

One of these days, one of them is going to be mad at the other one and slip iocane into the glasses. But seriously, I appreciate the experiments. Useful information without guessing.

I use Erythrtitol about half the amount that i would use sugar or honey otherwise i get that weird cooling menthol thing, also the cooling effect works well with oak aging. Great video you guys.

From the UK, Used your videos as a basis for my first mead brew, I started it on 11th Nov, and will be bottling/drinking it from the 21st Dec for Yule (yes, very last minute i know, definitely going to give my next attempt longer to age). I have today (9th Dec) put it into conditioning, removing the lease(?) it is still cloudy, im hoping that changes in the two weeks i gave it for conditioning after just under a month fermenting. tasting it today, it is super super dry, i didn't take any measurements, just went blind on 680g local honey, 1.5l of water, and 7g of bread yeast. I plan on using the same honey to backsweeten as i will be drinking it immediately for celebration I wont have to worry about further fermentation. The style of your videos has definitely given me the confidence to start a hobby i have been thinking about for a while, so many thanks.

well now I have seen this :) I can understand what you are saying, but as for me I would not be able to tel the difference! Welder for 44 years and smoker for 51 years my sense of taste is very low. I think that why I like strong flavours. Good video Kiitos

I love these kind of side-by-side experiments! You guys do a great job highlighting the differences and what you might want out of one option over another, which is really helpful. It's also fun to know when you don't really notice a difference. It might be a bit more basic for your palates, but as a newer homebrewer I would be really interested to see a comparison of different kinds/qualities of mead - very good, mid-level, and some grocery store or clover vs wildflower or whatever. I feel like obviously there should be a difference but no idea what it would be if you put them next to each other. Keep up the good work!!

you guys got my start in mead making

That is very interesting. I’m a sugar guy all the way. Or raw sugar but it alters the taste a bit.

This was a great video. Thanks so much for what you guys do. I really appreciate everything I have learned from you. I am a beginner, and I am in the process of making two of your mead recipes. I got to taste one last week (honey, water, black tea, raisins, and orange peals recipe). I was SO scared it would taste like battery acid, but it was GOOD! I had two friends with me who were raving!!! We started your new updated Vikings Blood last week as well. I am very excited to try this one. Anyway, I appreciate you guys. Thanks again!

Yeah, my guess was that the sugar added more sweetness, bringing out more of the honey flavour...

Wow!!! I said someplace else, would love to see a test with monk sugar since it's zero cavities, but is 200 times more sweet than sugar. What a thrilling test!!!

Don't know you if you all have done this, but how about making a welches wine as fancy as possible?? Oaking!? Orange zest?! vanilla?? Spices!? I bet you could make something amazing!!

Love the test

I'm looking after my A1C numbers so artificial sweetners really help keep my numbers down. So far, allulose has been my hands-down favorite sweetner. It performs exactly like sugar, has the same 1 to 1 ratio of sweetness and can even be made into caramel. The only problem is that it's pricy.

Not sure if anyone has said this, but sugar does the same thing that salt does with regards to flavoring. Sugar is a flavor enhancer. Strangely i would think that the amount of sugar added wouldnt effect the viscosity so much. But it would in effect change the viscousity more than honey by volume added. Surprised it was that noticeable

I have access to dried stevia leaf. Will be doing some back sweetening test next week.

First off I want to say thank you for being such a great source of information and inspiration. I am new to making mead and wine and thanks to you two I have learned a ton. One thing I am confused about is aerating meads. My wife bought me a book by Robert Ratliff named "Big Book of Mead Recipes". In his process he uses 1 gallon of must in a 2 gallon fermentation bucket and says to aerate it twice a day until 1/3rd sugar crack then once a day until 2/3 sugar crack. My confusion comes from aerating the mead during fermentation. Isn't that quite risky? Or am I misunderstanding his meaning of aerating? He also says to just use a sanitary cloth and large rubber band over the bucket for primary no airlock.

OK not started watching the video YET! but I think you have to use honey, the reason I say this is because I always try to back sweeten all my wines with the fruit I made it with, because it brings out the flavour of the fruit more. Now let see what your test shows :)

Another great video 👍. Thanks for taking the time and experimenting (as well as researching) this aspect of wine and meads. It really makes things enjoyable that both of your opinions are shared equally, broader insights to glean from. I'm Looking forward to making another batch of sweet apple tea wine (the first gallon was taste tested with some friends at my church. Two votes it was too sweet but good flavor, the others just wanted more 😁). Thanks to your encouragement!! I tried brians method of smashed fruit/no bag, Major airlock clogging due to foaming during startup but subsided. BTW, powdered sugar is mixed with cornstarch, where is cornstarch used in fermentation?😁👍🙏

I love science, I'm an executive chef, and I'm gonna lean towards white sugar to backsweeten my honey mead, obviously for my fruit and herb ones. But I will backsweeten some of my og(honey) with honey

Thank you for all your help and all the informative videos you guys are amazing

Have you thought of making apple jack with, freeze distillation? Keep your beer near, but bring the liquor quicker.

After about 6 months aging I decided I like honey best. the one with erythritol tastes thin without the body I got from the honey. My opinion.

It makes sense that the sugar one would be the thickest, after all honey has some water in it, sugar does not.

Hey guys, Got fun one for ya. Just for grins, I got 4 lbs of agave syrup from Costco and threw it in a 1 gal fermenter just to see what would happen. This was July 12 when I did that. Starting SpGr: 1.152. I used 1/4 tsp Lalvin K1-V1116 & 1 tsp nutrient. Fermentation started but never really took off. There was some sediment so after a month I figured it was stuck. I racked it on 8/4 with a SpGr of 1.130. I then added 1/4 tsp of Red Star Pasteur Blanc yeast and gave it about a week but no change. I verified it was organic and pure syrup so I don't think it's an unfermentable sugar/additive/preservative issue. 8/23, SpGr hadn't changed so I added water hoping diluting it might help. New SpGr is 1.120 and fermentation has started... maybe. It's now 10/12 and it's still bubbling. Not off-gassing bubbles. But a steady, small, stream of bubbles and the airlock bubbles very slowly. Kind of like what you get in the early stages of a fresh brew (like 2 or 3 hours after pitching yeast) and the SpGr is still 1.120 as of today. Any thoughts? I've been doing mead/wine for about 4 years now and this is a new one for me. I'm curious as to what your thoughts are on what's happening. Thanks!

As I mentioned in another post of yours.. be warned - Erythritol can react with people in the same way that Olestra does You also have Monk fruit sweetener to try

Daricas B.S. detection meter is most accurate

Tis the season! I've recently had a friend mention that I should make a mead for Halloween 2023. I'm not a pumpkin spice guy. Any ideas for a green "zombie" mead?

Could you do a compare with allulose? I switched to it in my baking and I haven't noticed an aftertaste. It seems more sugar comparable flavor wise.

I’ve seen you guys use monks fruit in the past. In your opinion, how would that sit? Was it comparable to sugar or did it leave a weird funk flavor?

How would CS BREWS make a wine or mead slushy? Thanks for everything love your channel.

Xylitol gives the cooling effect.

Fermenting honey? I’m a beekeeper. I have a five gallon bucket of honey that had a little too much moisture and it has just started to ferment. Should I just add the proper ratio of water to it and let it keep going? Should a add some more yeast to it like the 1118? I have made wine in the past and have carboys and fermentation buckets and all that stuff but have never made mead and I figured let’s give it a try. What advise can you give me for this great honey that has already started to ferment? Thanks ❤❤❤

hmmm very interesting.. and thoughts/differences with using brown sugar as opposed to regular sugar? I am curious

Ok I'm need try white sugar for back sweating vs honey now

I think my next mead I'm going to test a 2 to 1 ration of honey to sugar. Curious what happens.

I just had the bowel punishment of drinking my hard cider too early. I didnt really believe it now I do.

I am curious about monk fruit (which is typically cut with erythritol) or allulose (much less "artificial" taste). I'm feeling allulose might be the best non-pasteurized option for flavor.

Have you made a crabapple wine? We have some crab apple trees at our house and want to see if it’s any good but looking for a recipe.

Interested if you have tried this with Splenda (sucralose). I can't tell the difference in any other food/drink except mead / wine. I wonder if alcohol changes the sweetness of the chemical differences.

There is no definitive, we all like different things.

Did the hurricane make your day rough ,when it went over Florida?

can ale yeast Be used for wines...???? grape juice, apple juice, etc....????

Oh The Maths!!!! 🙀😱🙀

Sugar enhances flavors while honey only adds a honey note and erithritol enhances nothing, which is why the sweetness tastes artificial.

Question the honey corn syrup mix that you can get I call it wanna be honey could that work I haven't seen anything about someone using corn syrup or the cheap honey corn syrup mix so I was curious its cheap a buck for 9 onces.

Can you guys try to make blaand plz

So I made my first batch of mead a week ago. I have 2gal in 2 containers. I used the same everything in both except the yeast. 1 is still golden color and the other is more of a light brown. Maybe the yeast pack was bad?

Did you notice the artificial taste with the erythritol in the passion fruit mead?

Brill! 😁

Have you ever tried Splenda in your brews?

Thanks!

Surprising!

Would have like to see it with Alulose. 8)

This always confuses me. Idk how to calculate what I need to make my meads. I need help on how to calculate the sugar ratios. FYI I’m super new to this.

I just saw that shirt and then went in a robotic voice *thwack your packet* it was like automatic

I have a situation and need you input if you please. made a cherry mead waited 2mths on fermentation and checked the numbers for 2 weeks. all was right for bottling, so I filled 5 wine bottles and a one gallon (3 gallon batch) the wine bottles were great the gallon bottle started to produce gas. I didn't worry drank it 4 moths after wine bottles and it tasted fine for the first half gallon. mean while It is still producing gas and started to taste bitter not like vinegar more like sulfur what happened to my wine? please help so this does not happen again.

Have you guys ever tried a muscadine mead??

I am now doubting my choice to pick up light corn syrup to sweeten my experimental batch 😅

1 gallon of mead I'd say 1/2 cup of sugar

What about sorghum suryp?

nothing, my mead is neat

Fwust!

Lol, you have SHE glasses.

Your wife's facial expressions 😂

Wonder what brown sugar would do as that tastes different to white sugar.