Every brewing resource, whether an article or a blog, discusses the topic of "fermentation". Let's explore the true meaning of fermentation and understand its importance.
Wikipedia defines the process of Alcoholic fermentation as follows:
Ethanol fermentation, also called alcoholic fermentation, is a biological process which converts sugars such as glucose, fructose, and sucrose into cellular energy, producing ethanol and carbon dioxide as by-products.
Various beverages rely on distinct materials as a sugar source. In traditional mead, honey serves as the sugar source, beer is made from malted barley, and wine is produced from grapes.
For the chemistry enthusiasts, here is the actual reaction that occurs.
That Ethyl Alcohol aka Ethanol, is what we want, don't we? There are also some additional compounds produced, such as methanol, but their quantity is insignificant.
Wait but....
What is that thing ...... yeast?
So, yeast is basically a tiny single-celled organism. When there's no oxygen around, it munches on sugar and spits out carbon dioxide and ethanol as leftovers.
Back in the day, brewers just crossed their fingers and hoped the wild yeast in fruits or honeycombs would start the fermentation party. But that was a bit of a gamble because you never knew how much yeast or what type you were getting.
Thankfully, nowadays we have fancy specialised yeast for all sorts of fermenting needs. For example, for making mead, you'd want to use wine yeast.
Yeast is added to the must (mixture of water and honey), which begins the process of Primary Fermentation!
Primary vs Secondary Fermentation
Now that we understand the process of fermentation, let's delve deeper into it. Mead typically undergoes both primary and secondary fermentation stages.
Primary Fermentation begins with the addition of yeast to the must, where it transforms the sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide.
It is an incredibly robust process that generates a significant amount of Carbon Dioxide gas, which is expelled through the airlock. As a result, any flavours added before pitching the yeast may be lost in this vigorous activity. So how can we add flavours to our drink?
This is where the secondary fermentation comes to the rescue!
Secondary Fermentation commences once the primary phase is finished. Most of the times, the mead is racked into another container for this.
If all the sugars have been consumed by the yeast, the result will be a dry mead. To include more flavours into our beverage, fruits, spices or sweeteners are incorporated to create our unique blend! Typically, mead is stabilized before introducing any flavors. For example, Potassium Sorbate is added to prevent the fermentation process from restarting before the flavors are added.
So, there's this ongoing debate about when to add flavours to your mead - should it be during the primary fermentation or the secondary one?
Some brewers say go for it in the primary, while others are all about the secondary, or hey, why not both!
If you're all about letting those flavors shine in your mead, adding them in the secondary is usually the way to go as it keeps the flavor locked in. But, trying out both primary and secondary stages might just give you the ultimate flavour combo!
And that's it! I hope this explanation has given you a wonderful insight into the magical process known as fermentation!
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