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

We test sugar vs honey vs erythrtitol for sweetening mead. Each has it's plusses and minuses. We were shocked by the results! Sugar is sweet, honey adds character and erythritol needs no stabilizing afterward, but is there any flavor difference? Can we tell which is which?

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[Exit_]

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!!

[benway]

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

[alexlarsen]

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.

[ricksigurdson]

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.

[Silverholic]

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!

[davidgaylord]

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.

[driver]

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

[hrothbertco]

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

[G-boi]

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.

[coldwind]

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

[louiel]

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.

[roytelling]

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

[julietardos]

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.

[elricthebald]

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.

[Tungsten_Pyre]

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.

[justindurbin]

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

[mr.skipper]

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 👍🍺

[--sql]

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.

[alexcan]

I love videos like this where you guys experiment 🔬

[andreweischen]

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