Dextrose or honey for priming sparkling mead

[meadman77]

Hi everyone,
I'm about to bottle my sparkling gingermead with plums. Charlie Papazian recommends using 3/4 cup of corn sugar per 19L. I take it that there is a bit of room to move here as volume does not seem a very accurate way of measuring a powder. I also see that some people use honey for priming. I was hoping to get some feedback on whether there is a noticeable flavour difference or quality of bubbles between using dextrose or honey for priming. I wouldn't have thought so as it is only a small amount relative to other ingredients. Also if using honey, what quantity is recommended per 5 gallons.

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

Why in the world would you ever add sugar to a mead? The one drawback to honey though is it can make your cleared mead a little cloudier. WVMJ

 

[meadman77]

You mention one reason. The other is the difficulty in ensuring the right amount of carbonation. Is there a formula for how much honey to add to a 5 gallon batch to get a good level of fizz without blowing up bottles? I'm assuming here that for carbonation purposes, honey and sugar are not equivalent (weight wise).

 

[seth8530]

By mass honey is around 80 percent sugar, so if you need to add 1 lb of sugar you would need 1.2 lbs of honey. However, for carbonation, I would stick to sugar since it dissolves well and you want to make sure you have a nice and uniform sugar distribution when you go to bottle.