If you’ve ever made a basic mead – just honey, water, and yeast – you’ve probably noticed that it’s missing something. Honey, on its own, simply doesn’t provide that bite that’s necessary to balance a mead or wine. I’ve spent a lot of time and effort over the years figuring out how to fix this in my own meads, and I thought I’d add a write-up to help out anyone else looking to solve this problem. So – how do you add tannin to a traditional mead without losing that pronounced honey character?

There are a few ways to add tannin to a mead and still have it qualify as “traditional.” The most traditional option is via oak aging. Other options include tannin powders available on the market as well as black tea. Fruits and spices also add tannin but using them disqualifies it from the “traditional” category.

When I started mead-making several years ago, my first foray into it was naturally by way of a number of simple, traditional meads – honey, water, and yeast. At the time, I didn’t even use nutrient!

I then offered some to a buddy of mine. He considers himself a bit of a wine connoisseur, and is pretty into tasting, judging, and giving flavor notes. His opinion: it was good, but the mead was missing its mid palette.

I’m not much of a sommelier, but I have to agree: something was missing. My less-than-professional description was that it needed bite.

At this point, I kind of “moved on” from traditional meads for a while, diving into meads that relied heavily on fruits or spices for character. And they were delicious!

But there’s something magical and intriguing about creating a good traditional mead. After all, the best wines are just grapes, and the most iconic beers are malt, water, and hops.

So how does one make a good traditional mead? How do you add tannin to the recipe when honey has little or none of its own?

Methods for Adding Tannin to Your Mead

According to the mead-making “purists” out there, the only method on this list that is acceptable, and still results in something that qualifies as a “Traditional Mead,” is oaking.

Even though the BJCP allows most of the other options for adding tannin (in moderation) and still allows you to enter your mead as a “traditional,” technically the other ingredients on the list are either fruit- or spice-derivatives.

However, I’m not a purist, and I think that’s dumb. So I have my own way of qualifying whether these additions still count – and I’d encourage you to consider this way of thinking as well!

Think about it this way: the point of a traditional mead is to showcase the varietal of honey that you’ve chosen for that mead. It allows you to explore the flavors that specific honey creates after fermentation.

So, to keep in line with that, then, the point of “balancing” your recipe (and tannin additions) is to create something that keeps the honey (and its flavor profile) at the center, while adding character and making something good.

In practice, what this means is that you need to focus on moderation. The goal isn’t to combine all available ingredients into the best possible mead you can (although that’s not a bad goal – it just wouldn’t necessarily result in a “traditional mead”); the goal is to use small additions to give the mead some bite, some character, while still having the honey flavor prominently displayed at the forefront.

What I’ve found is that there are a handful of ways of doing this.

1. “Oaking” Your Mead

Oaking your mead is probably the only thing you can do to add tannin while truly keeping it a traditional mead.

You’re not really altering the recipe of the mead when you add oak. It’s still just honey, water, and yeast – just aged to perfection.

In fact, I’d imagine that many or most meads were historically oaked – out of convenience or necessity rather than specifically to add complexity.

Oak barrels were a common storage or transportation vessel for things like mead, beer, and wine. It was likely just a nice bonus when people discovered it made the stuff better.

But oaking at the homebrew scale is a bit more complicated. We don’t exactly have the ability (within reason) to fill up 55- or 60-gallon barrels and store them for a period of time in our homes.

The entire discussion about oaking mead (and other homebrewed products) will likely fill many articles in the future, but for now, I will touch on a high-level overview that can get you started on the process of adding a bit of oak character to your traditional mead.

Barrels, Chips, or Chunks?

I’d strongly advise not to use those mini barrels that you can purchase on Amazon and elsewhere. They’re great for decor, but in my experience (and from what I’ve heard and read from others) they don’t do a great job of oaking your product.

See, one very important part of oak aging to consider is the Surface Area to Volume Ratio. The more direct contact that the surface of the liquid in the oak barrel has with the oak, the more quickly and intensely the oak flavor is imbued on the product.

This isn’t a good thing. I’ll expound on this a bit more below in Time Under Oak but the gist is that, to a certain point, less oak and more time produces nuance and complexity of flavors, whereas simply adding more oak creates simple, intense, and unpleasant flavors (imagine licking a piece of raw lumber from your local hardware store).

Commercial products age in fairly large 55-gallon barrels, which results in a much lower surface area-to-volume ratio of about 54 in²/gal (this ratio changes a bit based on how full the barrel is).

While there is no perfect ratio, targeting this number is probably a good start, since it seems to work well enough that we’ve been using it forever for all of our alcohol aging needs.

These mini barrels have a significantly closer ratio. A 1-gallon mini-barrel might have a ratio of 1:1!

55-gallon barrels are not reasonable for use in a homebrew setting. A typical homebrewer probably doesn’t make much more than that in a year!

So, most of us rely on dropping some oak chips or chunks into the vessel rather than storing our mead in oak barrels. It doesn’t produce perfect or consistent results in comparison to barrel-aging, but it’s far easier and works just fine.

A good rule of thumb is to use about 10 grams of oak chips (or one 15 gram chunk) per gallon of mead. Feel free to toss them in loosely after fermentation is complete.

Finally, there is one other alternative: the Bad Motivator Barrel! This is a really cool idea; the creator uses a stainless steel vessel with one face made from oak to achieve the same surface area to volume ratio as a 55-gallon barrel, so that it theoretically produces the same results for smaller batches.

I’ve never used the Bad Motivator Barrel (though I intend to in the future!) and I don’t get anything from telling you about it. I just think it’s a cool idea.

Whichever method you choose, let it age for a period of time, tasting every day or two. Once you try it and decide “Yes, that’s it!” that’s when it’s time to remove the oak and finish aging or bottling.

One note from experience: aging the mead after the oak is removed may not result in additional oak flavor being imparted to the mead, but will allow the flavors to mellow, soften, and meld together, creating a much more complex and interesting product over time.

Toast and Char

Another thing to consider about your oak additions are the toast and char on the oak.

I can tell you that the first time I tried oak-aging, I forgot about these! Without toast and/or char, the oak won’t impart any of the caramelized flavors created through the maillard affect on the wood; it’ll just taste like licking a piece of raw lumber.

Toast is created by applying lower heat to the wood over a longer period of time, impacting the entire piece of wood, and char is created by burning the exterior by exposing it to direct flame for only a few seconds.

You can experiment with different levels of toast and/or char to create different flavor profiles. There’s no perfect toast or char: just seemingly infinite possibilities to play with!

The oak products you can buy from homebrewing stores like MoreBeer.com come in various levels of toast and/or char already, or you can do it yourself at home: toasting can be done on low heat in the oven, and char can be done with a blowtorch.

Time Under Oak

The key lesson to learn when it comes to oak-aging any alcoholic product (one that many of us need to learn the hard way, unfortunately) is that there is no substitute for time under oak.

Many have tried to quick-age their brew: by adding more oak, or by artificially forcing the temperatures higher and lower to cause fluctuations.

This can impart something to your brew, but it doesn’t create the nuance, complexity, and deliciousness that less oak and more time can provide.

There’s no perfect recipe, and every batch is different.

The best you can do is use the rule of thumb above (to achieve the optimal surface area to volume ratio of mead-to-oak) and then just give it time.

Once you’ve added the oak, try a bit of it every few days to see if it’s ready. Once you try it, and it tastes amazing – that’s when it’s ready!

2. Using Tannin Powders or Other Products

There are a number of products on the market intended to add extra tannin to your homemade mead or wine.

These are usually powders, derived from some natural tannin source such as fruit skins, spices, or even wood.

As such, they typically technically don’t fall under the “honey, water, yeast” requirement of a traditional mead… but the BJCP doesn’t care, and it’s all semantics, anyways.

There’s a wide variety of different powders available; they provide a range of flavor and texture contributions to your mead, and come in at a range of price points.

Feel free to experiment with all of the different products out there (that’s what this hobby is all about!).

The most commonly used product is red wine tannin, derived from the skins of red wine grapes. The skins (as well as seeds and stems) of the wine grapes are what give a bold, complex red wine its character (and its tannin), so the powder made from those grape skins is meant to approximate that experience.

Additionally, red wine tannin is incredibly inexpensive, and a single purchase will last you for several batches.

You can get a package of red wine tannin on Amazon with this link.

Be aware, however: like anything else that’s derived from something, these powders only approximate the experience that you’ll get from actually using whatever the powder was made from. It’s great for a quick burst of added tannin, but it doesn’t lend the same nuance and character as actually e.g. macerating on the skins, seeds, and stems of red wine grapes.

3. Adding Tea to Your Mead

The most commonly-used method amongst home mead-makers to add extra tannin to their products is to simply add a bit of black tea to the must prior to fermentation.

Technically, the addition of tea would result in a metheglin, or spiced mead. However, if you use the right amount, the tea flavor won’t carry through (just the tannin) and it will still taste like a traditional mead.

Tea is widely available and easy to use! Even if you’re not a tea-drinker, you probably have a box of tea bags in your pantry somewhere.

If not, there’s probably a wide variety of cheap tea at your local grocery store!

For the purpose of adding tannin to your mead, any basic black tea will do. It doesn’t need to be fancy or high-end – you’re not looking for a bunch of tea flavor, just the bite of astringency it gives to add some character to your mead.

You also probably don’t want to use other kinds of tea – green tea or herbal teas – because the point is not to change the flavor of your mead, just to add some character.

I prefer Twining’s Irish Breakfast tea; but that’s mainly because it’s the go-to in my house when making pitchers of sweet tea so we always have plenty.

As little as one individual-sized tea bag for one gallon of mead will do to add some bite, although you may want to adjust that amount depending on your personal tastes and the specific recipe for the mead you’re making.

Just don’t add too much! Remember: this is a traditional mead, meant to showcase the honey, not a tea mead.

4. Alternatively: Using Fruits, Spices, and Other Recipe Additions

At this point, we’re just throwing the entire concept of a “traditional mead” out the window.

But, if your goal is to make an awesome mead and not to conform to the arbitrary rules defining a style then it doesn’t hurt to think outside the box.

Fruits, spices, and other ingredients have their own balance of tannin, acid, and other flavor components that, when added to your mead, can enhance the existing flavors or add balance to an otherwise too-sweet product.

When using a few different ingredients that complement each other, you can end up creating an amazing mead whose sum is greater than its parts.

That’s kind of the idea behind cooking, and recipe building, and can be utilized to great success in mead-making as well.

I realize we’re getting a little bit off-topic from the original premise, but I figured it was worth mentioning!

Can You Add Tannin Before Fermentation?

Yes, you can add tannin to your must before primary fermentation. Doing so can achieve a mellowing and melding of flavors due to the yeast. However, it is much harder to dial in just how much to add at this stage.

It can generally be desirable to add your source of tannin at the beginning of the process, along with the rest of your ingredients.

This makes sense – it’s usually how recipes are built.

As a result, the flavors contributed by the ingredient will mellow and merge with the other flavors in your mead (the honey). Biotransformation will also occur: the yeast will interact with any organic matter in your tannin source, changing the flavor. This isn’t a bad thing!

Ideally, this will create added nuance and complexity in the mead, rather than just simple added tannin. 

But, at the beginning of the process, it can be difficult to judge just how fermentation and aging will affect your mead. It can be easy to add too much or too little of an ingredient, especially something that creates as pronounced an effect as tannin!

I’d strongly suggest that you dial back your tannin additions at this early stage – at least until you’ve gotten some experience with recipe-building (or at least, with the specific recipe you’re working with) and you know what to expect.

You can always add more tannin, but once it’s in there, it cannot be removed!

Can You Add Tannin After Fermentation or After Aging?

Yes, you can add tannin later during the mead-making process, both after fermentation is complete and after bulk aging. It can be much easier to fine-tune your tannin additions later in the process, but fermentation won’t be able to meld and change the flavors of the tannin.

It’s actually much easier to add tannin at the end of the process.

In fact, it’s often recommended for a mead- or wine-maker to fine-tune the flavors of their mead after bulk aging and just before bottling, balancing sweetness, tannin, and acid at the end stages of the process.

At this point, your mead won’t change too much before you drink it. If it ages for a very long time in the bottle, the flavors might soften and blend together, but they won’t outright change. This makes it easier to know what you’re going to get: you can add some tannin to your mead, try it, and reasonably expect that’s effectively the final flavor profile.

And, at this stage, that’s exactly how you should be performing your tannin (and other) additions: add a tiny bit to a glass, try it, and consider the flavor. If it needs more tannin, you can simply add more. Once you find what you consider the correct amount in the glass, just scale it up to your full batch. Again, use very small, incremental additions when trying it – if you go too far, you’ll have to start all over!

Unfortunately, this isn’t a perfect solution. Fermentation does something to ingredients, and by adding your tannin at the end, you’re missing out on that.

Unless, of course, you’re oaking – oak-aging does its own thing to the mead and doesn’t need fermentation. But that’s a whole different story.

Adding tannin at the end isn’t necessarily bad, just different.

Which begs the question: which is better? Should you be adding your tannin additions at the start, or at the end?

I’d advise you to do both!

To really get the optimal balance of tannin in your mead, you should start with some at the beginning, as part of the recipe-building process. Add your tannin according to the recipe you’re following or according to the directions on the packaging.

Be sure to go light at this stage – it’s far better to have too little than too much!

That’s because you’re only trying to get most of your tannin flavor this early in the process.

After fermentation is complete, your mead has aged for a while, and you’re ready to bottle – that’s the time to complete the process. Most likely, if you went light on the tannin additions early, your mead will have some tannic element but still be a little flat at this point. That’s to be expected!

You can fix that with minor tannin additions now, just before bottling.

In this way, you should be able to fine-tune your tannin profile and end up with a perfectly balanced traditional mead!

Why Add Tannin?

So why add tannin in the first place?

What’s wrong with a simple, sweet, honey-forward traditional mead?

Honestly: nothing! If you enjoy your traditional meads as they are, and you don’t feel that they are lacking anything according to your preferences, then there is nothing wrong with that!

That’s the beauty of homebrewing (and home mead-making). We’re doing this for ourselves and the people we want to share with! If we’re happy with the end product, that’s all that matters.

However, in terms of recipe-building, there is something to be said for balance. A mead (or other brew, or a food dish, for that matter) is said to be balanced when the various flavors are working together, and nothing is considered too much or too little.

Additionally, it shouldn’t be lacking something.

A full discussion on balancing flavors and recipes would take at least its own article – and very possibly more!

In mead-making (and wine-making, for that matter), it’s generally accepted that there are three flavor components to balance against each other: sweetness, acidity, and tannin.

Honey already has sweetness, obviously – even the driest of dry meads still present on the tongue as a bit sweet. It also has its own acidity – whether it needs more is often up to the mead-maker and drinker to decide.

However, honey does not provide any tannin of its own! A mead made of solely honey will not have any bite or aggressiveness of any kind.

(If you don’t like the bite at all, then that might sound good to you! I personally prefer a lot of tannin in my meads and wines).

For this reason, other sources of tannin are almost always needed in order to bring the mead back into balance. With other styles, the tannin can be found in the skins of fruit or added spices.

But with a traditional mead, we need to get a bit creative.

Conclusion

Tannins are a very important part of the overall flavor profile of a balanced mead, yet traditional meads are usually really lacking in this department.

That’s often why new mead-makers quickly pivot towards using other ingredients, like fruit and spices, which can add their own complex flavors to create a balanced and delicious product.

But, as it turns out, there are plenty of options for adding tannin to a traditional mead, while still retaining the pronounced honey character that you’re hoping for from the style.