Ethanol is the type of alcohol in mead and the freezing point of ethanol is -173 degrees fahrenheit. That's minus 173! If you had pure ethanol it would be very difficult to freeze it. You couldn't do it at home. But mead only has a small percentage of ethanol and this changes the actual freezing temperature of mead.
- The higher the alcohol content the lower the freezing point of mead
Mead typically has between 7.5 and 14% alcohol. So if you put these typical meads in the freezer they will freeze solid.
And there is a range of meads when it comes to types and alcohol content. Let's take a look:
Types and Names of meads based on the strength of the alcohol.Arranged from lightest to heaviest:
- Hydromel - 3.5% to 7.5% alcohol
- Session Mead - Light mead, light alcohol Four or five parts water to one part honey - Under 10% alcohol
- Standard Mead - 7.5% to 14% alcohol
- Sack Mead (Also known as Great Mead) 14% to 18% alcohol
- Dessert Honey Wines - They vary a lot and typically are very sweet and over 14% alcohol. They can go up as high as 22% alcohol.
- Fortified Mead - also known as Honey Liquers can go as high as 60%
In the Dessert Wines at around 18 -20% alcohol they typically will not freeze in the average home refrigerator/freezer but they may become slushy - which may be desirable to you.
And with the fortified meads going up over 40% alcohol you can chill them in the freezer but they will not freeze.
Be careful when freezing meads of lower alcohol content
As mead freezes it expands which means the cork might pop right off the bottle in the freezer or more commonly you can shatter the bottle or glass.
I recommend, if freezing, that you use ice cube trays or a plastic container that tapers more open toward the top which gives the ice room for expansion.
Another good option is to freeze it in paper cups.
Looking to make frozen or slushie drinks with mead?
They are terrific but you are going to have to experiment a bit because whatever mixture you have will vary the temperature needed to freeze or slush the drink.
Quick Guidelines
- Up to around 14% alcohol it will freeze.
- 15-20% you can get it to slush in an hour or two.
- above 40% and it will not freeze. You should be able to safely put a bottle in the freezer to chill it.
Experiment and monitor the drink. If it is not turning into the desired slushie or frozen state add water or more juice to it. This brings up the freezing temperature.
If it is freezing and you only want it to slush you either remove it from the freezer in a shorter period of time or make the percentage of mead in the drink higher.
I love slushie drinks and I also will sometimes just freeze mead in ice cube trays. They make a nice sweet-honey spike to various drinks.
 New: Making a fruit mead (melomel)? Here are some tips for getting more fruit flavor
Making a fruit mead can be surprising. You can add a pound of fruit and let it ferment. And when it is done it will have just a hint of the fruit flavor! Huh? How do you get your melomel to have a more potent fruit flavor? Well, Maybe you need more cowbell!!! Just kidding. In this tutorial I make a batch of mead and lay out some tricks for getting more flavor from the fruit. Included is a video. How to get more fruit flavor in your mead. |
