Alcohol & Specific Gravity (SG)

The amount of alcohol in your finished mead is dependant on the amount of fermentable sugars (Honey, for our purposes) available to be fermented, and the alcohol tolerance of your yeast. Simply said, the more sugar/honey, the higher the alcohol in your mead.

Specific Gravity (SG) is the ratio of sugars to water. Distilled water has a SG of 1.000. Adding sugar/honey raises the density of the liquid, thus raising the SG. Alcohol has a density less than distilled water, and has a SG of less than 1.000.

Potential Alcohol (PA) is the amount of alcohol that can be expected from a certain starting SG, if your fermentation proceeds to a final SG of 1.000. The amount of alcohol in your finished mead is simply calculated by subtracting the PA of your final gravity (FG) from the PA of your original starting gravity (OG).

Most winemakers try to make their wines with10%-12% alcohol. This is the minimum amount of alcohol to prevent spoilage. Most grape wines are dry to off-dry, and this amount of alcohol is pleasant.

Most mead is in the medium-sweet range, and a higher amount of alcohol balances the additional sweetness. A good alcohol range for semi-sweet mead is 12%-15% alcohol. Sack mead can have as much as 20% alcohol, or more, and is generally a sweet mead, to balance the high amount of alcohol.

As a rule of thumb the more alcohol in mead, the longer it is going to takes to age. 10%-12% is a great place to start. You can easily achieve that with just about any yeast and they tend to age to drinkable in about 6 months or less.

Use the following as a general guide:

ORIGINAL GRAVITY (OG)

Dry mead ~ 1.080-1.095

Semi-sweet mead ~ 1.100-1.118

Sweet mead ~ 1.120-1.150+

The following table was created by John Gorman, and is found at The Bees Lees web site: http://brewery.org/library/beeslees.html

Volume of Honey to add to 5 Gallons to Achieve a Particular Specific Gravity: (Q=Quarts, c=cups)
SG	0.000	0.001	0.002	0.003	0.004	0.005	0.006	0.007	0.008	0.009
1.000	0Q,0c	0Q,0c	0Q,0c	0Q,1c	0Q,1c	0Q,1c	0Q,1c	0Q,1c	0Q,1c	0Q,2c
1.010	0Q,2c	0Q,2c	0Q,2c	0Q,2c	0Q,3c	0Q,3c	0Q,3c	0Q,3c	0Q,3c	0Q,3c
1.020	1Q,0c	1Q,0c	1Q,0c	1Q,0c	1Q,0c	1Q,0c	1Q,1c	1Q,1c	1Q,1c	1Q,1c
1.030	1Q,1c	1Q,2c	1Q,2c	1Q,2c	1Q,2c	1Q,2c	1Q,2c	1Q,3c	1Q,3c	1Q,3c
1.040	1Q,3c	1Q,3c	2Q,0c	2Q,0c	2Q,0c	2Q,0c	2Q,0c	2Q,0c	2Q,1c	2Q,1c
1.050	2Q,1c	2Q,1c	2Q,1c	2Q,2c	2Q,2c	2Q,2c	2Q,2c	2Q,2c	2Q,2c	2Q,3c
1.060	2Q,3c	2Q,3c	2Q,3c	2Q,3c	2Q,3c	3Q,0c	3Q,0c	3Q,0c	3Q,0c	3Q,0c
1.070	3Q,1c	3Q,1c	3Q,1c	3Q,1c	3Q,1c	3Q,1c	3Q,2c	3Q,2c	3Q,2c	3Q,2c
1.080	3Q,2c	3Q,3c	3Q,3c	3Q,3c	3Q,3c	3Q,3c	3Q,3c	4Q,0c	4Q,0c	4Q,0c
1.090	4Q,0c	4Q,0c	4Q,1c	4Q,1c	4Q,1c	4Q,1c	4Q,1c	4Q,1c	4Q,2c	4Q,2c
1.100	4Q,2c	4Q,2c	4Q,2c	4Q,3c	4Q,3c	4Q,3c	4Q,3c	4Q,3c	4Q,3c	5Q,0c
1.110	5Q,0c	5Q,0c	5Q,0c	5Q,0c	5Q,0c	5Q,1c	5Q,1c	5Q,1c	5Q,1c	5Q,1c
1.120	5Q,2c	5Q,2c	5Q,2c	5Q,2c	5Q,2c	5Q,2c	5Q,3c	5Q,3c	5Q,3c	5Q,3c
1.130	5Q,3c	6Q,0c	6Q,0c	6Q,0c	6Q,0c	6Q,0c	6Q,0c	6Q,1c	6Q,1c	6Q,1c
1.140	6Q,1c	6Q,1c	6Q,1c	6Q,2c	6Q,2c	6Q,2c	6Q,2c	6Q,2c	6Q,3c	6Q,3c
1.150	6Q,3c	6Q,3c	6Q,3c	6Q,3c	7Q,0c	7Q,0c	7Q,0c	7Q,0c	7Q,0c	7Q,1c

Many meadmakers use weight, instead of volume, when formulating their recipes. Several factors can vary the weight of a given volume of honey, including variety and age. The AVERAGE weight of a gallon of honey is 12 pounds (192 oz.). From this, you can infer that a Quart of honey weighs 3 pounds (48 oz.) and a cup of honey weighs ¾ pound (12 oz.). With this assumption, and the above chart, you will be able to calculate the weight of honey need to produce a particular Specific Gravity.