Ridding the Rind Flavor

Well, I did a bit of a search, though not thorough by any means. I found vague references to complaints of a rind taste, and some saying it aged out with time.

I made a lemon tea mead, and threw half a lemon in secondary, cut into eigths, obviously with the rind on (hence my problem :-\). It was aged entirely too long with the peel, and now the taste is very, very sour and unenjoyable. It is a shame, because this mead had a very subtle taste, with the lemon-tea and honey playing back and forth in the flavor.

I'm definitely a newb, so I haven't the foggiest as to how to fix this. I'm thinking a possible solution is to sweeten, though the mead will then not be in the flavor profile I was shooting for. It is done fermenting, just degassing. Has an SG of 1.004. I've finished two previous meads, both sweet, and was hoping for a dry-profile mead. However, if sweetening to even a medium bodied mead would help, I'd be willing to do that.

I could also just age it longer, but am less willing to try that. First, I'm heading off to school, and have to leave it alone for a while not being able to check it, care for it, sing it lullabies and the like. But also, I fear that aging won't help this problem. Something tells me that in this dry mead with its subtle flavor, this sourness is going to stick out like a sore thumb.


So please, if anyone has any suggestions or any experience with something of this sort, I'm entirely open to your help.

Heheh, sorry for the confusion. I was meaning to communicate that it was bitter, from the peel, rather than sour from the fruit.

The mead itself was created 1-16-06. The lemon which wrought havoc was thrown in 2-5-06, and was not removed until... uhmm... 7-23-06. Yeah, I screwed this one big time. :

And if it helps, OG 1.105, FG 1.0045.

True, by most people's standards this is a young mead, but I've sampled my other meads through their various stages, and am starting to get an idea of what flavors are present, where they might go, and others that might make an appearance. I can say with 95% confidence that this, though not a flavor, will not age out, but as you said, will integrate into the mead.


That is why I'm thinking sweetening is the best option. Yes, this bitterness will still be present, but it will be together with sweetness, so maybe I can get it to even out. The major problem I forsee is losing the delicate flavor, but its already being covered up anyway.



Hmm, idea. It is a one gallon batch, so maybe I'll split it in two, and rack each onto honey and more of the lemon tea, to help keep the flavor. Then wouldn't the only issue, assuming that the bitterness is taken care of, be that the A.B.V. goes down? It is at 13.64% now, so would it just be halved (approx)? I think this may prove to be more profitable than just sweetening alone.

Oh, suppose I should mention that I stabilized, as I was planning to bottle. This was of course before I tasted it. *DUMB*