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Rezzin

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 15, 2006
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I sampled the cyser tonight and I'm hoping it's just young. It's only a month old or so but I wanted to get an idea of where I was at. I made the New Years Cyser recipe and samples during fermentation were great. OG 1.130 FG 1.020. It may have dropped a little but I doubt much. It's been racked to secondary and has been sitting at 68 the past couple weeks.

Anyways, I took a sample and put it into a wine glass. Placed it in the freezer for a few mins and brough it out to warm up again. Took a whif and smells of apples, honey, and fruit are all there. There is a slight spiciness to it (I used D47 for the yeast) in the aroma I guess. I had my wife take a sip and she pretty much summed the experience up with "its atrocious". She says the initial flavor is ok but the after taste is medicinal. I'm not sure if I have mead blinders on but I don't taste it as heavy as she does. I guess there is a slight medicinal flavor... it's not as apple, honey, fruity as I was expecting. I figured this was because the cyser was young and needs more time.

So, is there a flavor flaw chart of some sort I can reference to see if maybe I made a mistake somewhere? I don't think it's contamination as it looks fine (still has lots of haze), smells fine (maybe Im confusing spicy with medicine?), and tastes not too bad to me but something I'd defintely want to age longer before sharing.
 

Rezzin

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 15, 2006
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Wrathwilde said:
Here's a wine fault guide to tastes, the italic colored entries are considered taste faults, I haven't seen a similar list for meads.

http://www.aromadictionary.com/winemakinglist.pdf

Wrathwilde

Thanks - I'll be sure to save that chart. I wish it gave a symptom / cause list. It's a start though. I think I need to have someone else sample my cyser to get a better opinion. I think I may be suffering from "I think it's good because I made it" syndrome :-\
 

lostnbronx

Senior Member
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Dec 8, 2004
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Rezzin,

Patience, patience...

One month is entirely too young to even tell what you have with most meads, let alone where they're going, flavor-wise. My advice is to carefully write down your tasting notes from today. Put the mead aside for six months. Taste it again and record your notes. Then put it aside for another six months and do the same. You'll be flat-out amazed at the changes.

One month means close to nothing for the majority of mead recipes, and it's not even a great idea to sample it so early unless you know what you're looking for. When you read the early tasting reviews of some of the old mead hands here at GM or on other boards, you have to understand that they are taking the mead's youth into account when describing it. After enough batches, you'll become familiar with the stages and not be alarmed at early off-flavors (though, as in all things mead, there are exceptions).

I say put this one up on a shelf to age, and then make more mead!

-David
 

WRATHWILDE

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Mar 19, 2005
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I agree with lostnbronx, 1 month is way too early to be "judging" your mead, but a good for learning.

CarGirl... Hessian is a course hemp fabric, think of sucking on a wet burlap sack... same thing.

Wrathwilde
 

finburger

NewBee
Registered Member
May 23, 2006
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One month is indeed very young. Meads are a minimum 1-2 year venture. But it is a good learning tool to take a sample at each racking to see how the mead changes and develops.

My orange blossom mead is the opposite. At one month the aroma was not pleasant at all but the taste was very promising. Now, almost 4 months later, the aroma and taste have both improved.

Wrathwilde: thank you for defining "wet hessian". My first thought was the odor of an unbathed 1780 German mercanary ;-)
 

Rezzin

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 15, 2006
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lostnbronx said:
One month means close to nothing for the majority of mead recipes, and it's not even a great idea to sample it so early unless you know what you're looking for. When you read the early tasting reviews of some of the old mead hands here at GM or on other boards, you have to understand that they are taking the mead's youth into account when describing it. After enough batches, you'll become familiar with the stages and not be alarmed at early off-flavors (though, as in all things mead, there are exceptions).[/b]!

Yeah I knew one month was much too early but I wasn't clear on just how much different a young cyser/mead would be from the end product. I'm used to the brewing world where (for the most part) you can get a good idea of where the beer will be in 2-3 months by tasting shortly after fermentation has finished. It's not really bad - I think my wife was just expecting something much more finished and was caught off guard. I'll leave this batch alone for the next several months before sampling again. Thanks for the reassurance.
 
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