On Mead and Additives

Hello! This is Yazawa from ANTELOPE.
In this Mead Class, I will be explaining Brewing Science—the science behind how to make the alcoholic beverage known as mead—from the perspective of a maker.
By incorporating insights we’ve gained through our comprehensive studies in brewing, I hope to increase the resolution of mead as a liquid, even if only by a little.

Today's theme is: "The relationship between mead and additives."
The word "additive" often makes people shudder, but I'd like to explain things slowly.

On the relationship between alcohol and chemicals

The relationship between alcohol and additives is actually very old, said to date back as far as the Roman era. Leaving aside the arguments for and against them, what is the first additive that comes to mind when you think of alcohol?

"Sodium sulfite"

If you hear that, most people will recognize it as something found in wine. It is a chemical component that has contributed greatly to improving the quality of wine by acting as an antioxidant or by inhibiting the growth of microorganisms.

In the world of beer, the use of additives such as enzyme preparations and antifoaming agents is also becoming standard practice.

Of course, while these offer great benefits in terms of brewing, it is also a fact that they carry the risk of not agreeing with everyone's body, so there is an approach that chooses to brew without them. This involves the philosophies of both the maker and the drinker, so there is no right answer.
If I had to say, the correct answer is to drink what you like in the way you like.

I've digressed slightly, but this sodium sulfite is sometimes used in mead as well. It is more commonly used in the form of potassium metabisulfite, but the effects are similar.

I would like to slowly explain the brewing of mead, which requires these substances to suppress the growth of microorganisms as well as various other chemicals.

Additives frequently used in mead

Fermentation aids

• DAP
• Fermaid O
• Fermaid K
• Go Ferm

Quality preservation

• Potassium Metabisulfite
• Pectic Enzyme

There are quite a few, but let's start by looking at fermentation aids.

DAP

This is a chemical that can efficiently supply ammonia to yeast. First of all, the activity of yeast is essential for fermentation. The nutrients that yeast needs to carry out fermentation are considered to be ammonia, arginine, and urea.

Of these, ammonia and urea are somewhat similar, and it is possible to supplement them with DAP. Since rice and barley naturally contain abundant nutrients, fermentation proceeds smoothly without needing these chemicals, but honey contains almost no nutrients other than sugar. Therefore, we can add these to help the fermentation proceed efficiently.

DAP is cheap and can advance fermentation efficiently, but it has the disadvantage of being so effective that it can raise the fermentation temperature and easily lead to a nail-polish-like aroma. Also, adding it at an alcohol content of 10% or higher, or using it under high temperatures, increases the risk of producing ethyl carbamate.
Ethyl carbamate is considered to have the potential to increase cancer risk (though this has not yet been proven).

As long as it is used appropriately, the yeast will efficiently digest the DAP, so there is almost no risk.

Fermaid O

This is an organic fermentation aid from a yeast manufacturer called Lallemand. The raw material is processed inactive yeast. Yeast contains many very rich nutrients, and among amateurs, it is common to use a liquid boiled down from dried baker's yeast as a fermentation aid.

Fermaid O is a more efficient and convenient way to do this.
It contains nothing refined, so I was unsure whether it should be called a chemical additive, but I included it because it is very commonly used in making mead.

Fermaid K

A nutrient containing DAP blended with Fermaid O.
It also contains alpha-amino nitrogen, magnesium sulfate, thiamine, folic acid, niacin, biotin, and calcium pantothenate. These help keep the yeast cell walls in a healthy state.

From the perspective of a nitrogen source, Fermaid O is superior, but this one wins in terms of overall capability. However, modern cultured yeast is also very high-performing, so it is rarely heard of to use only K.

Go Ferm

The ingredients of this are unknown, but it is a nutrient used before adding the yeast. To make alcohol, you add yeast to juice and have it ferment. Before adding it to the juice, sometimes we rehydrate the yeast in water to let it "warm up" before pitching. This is called rehydration activation.

Go Ferm is the nutrient mixed into the water at that time; it is one of the essential additives in mead making that shortens the time until fermentation begins and creates a more vigorous fermentation.

These four nutrients are the main ones. We currently only use Go Ferm, and for other nutrients, we get them from fruits or grains, or sometimes we boil the lees (yeast sediment) to use as a substitute for Fermaid O.

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Next is about additives for quality preservation.

Potassium Metabisulfite

For professionals, it is easier to understand if you call it Potassium Metabisulfite. Its effect is to inhibit the growth of microorganisms and to stop yeast activity to prevent re-fermentation after bottling.

Potassium metabisulfite has the effect of suppressing the proliferation of yeast and bacteria, preventing accidents where mead containing residual sugar and yeast re-ferments in the bottle and explodes.

Yeast eats sugar and produces alcohol and carbon dioxide. If a large amount of this carbon dioxide is generated inside a sealed bottle, there is a possibility that the bottle could pop, like a balloon bursting.

In particular, with mead, this potassium metabisulfite is sometimes added when fermentation hasn't completely finished to stop it. This is a field where experience matters; we are afraid of failure, so we use heat treatment to prevent re-fermentation.
Like sodium sulfite, there is an upper limit to the amount that can be used. Personally, however, I think you don't need to worry about it too much, as the actual amount used is about 1/20th of the amount used in dried fruits.

It is "natural" to use this additive in the world of mead. That is the culture, and it is a fact that there are many scenes where you want to leave residual sugar to express the honey character, and in such cases, chemicals are often used for safety.

Pectic Enzyme

This is an enzyme preparation that breaks down pectin contained in fruits. It is also commonly used in the world of beer. Pectin has the effect of clouding the liquid, and there is a possibility that pectin substances will float in the liquid as well.

Since many makers consider a clear liquid to be a delicious liquid, I personally believe that if the recipe is the same, mead is more delicious if it is clear.

I don't know how much of an effect this pectin has on the flavor, but it is said that the less turbidity there is, the slower it will deteriorate over time. I think this theory is correct based on my own experience.

Because it is impossible to determine whether the cloudiness is due to pectin or some other mistake, many makers add enzyme preparations to break down pectin and remove pectin-related turbidity.

Summary

This time, I explained in quite some depth the additives used in mead!
I think there are many people who say "NO!!" when they hear the word "additive." In fact, even among those making it, there are times when I wonder how much they really understand when they claim to be "additive-free."

Mead is an alcoholic beverage that has many reasons to use additives.
(Other alcoholic beverages don't need this many fermentation aids.)

Whether or not to use additives is a brewer's philosophy, so if you have any questions, please feel free to ask us at any time. We always welcome questions!👏

References

[Modern Mead Making] https://meadmaking.wiki/en/home
[Lallemand] https://www.lallemandwine.com/

See you next time!