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Bad tasting mead

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rnb54

NewBee
Registered Member
Jan 23, 2006
2
0
0
Hi folks,
Got a problem I need some help with. I bottled one of the most beautiful runs I have ever made and right now it is almost un-drinkable. We aren't just talking about the young mead lighter fluid taste here, of course that's there too. It has a harsh acidity that hits you on the back of the tongue. It worked for the better part of a year (I like to slow ferment) before I bottled. Never done this before but I decided to chemically stabilize and mechanically de-gass. I used the reccomended amounts of potassium metabisulphite and the reccomended amount of potassium sorbate. I'm wondering if I may have overdosed on potassium. I will admit that on this run my record keeping left alot to be desired so I don'r remember if I used lemon or an acid blend to bring the Ph down. I used grape tanin for astingency and toasted oak for character. It is medium dry. I tried mixing some honey in a glass of it and it made it almost bearable. at this point I really don't know if I should let it age and try it later or re-rack it, add honey and yeast and let it work longer. By the way, I'm not a rookie at this but this is the first run that has abosoloutley baffled me. Also the first run I have relied so heavily on chemicals (which I will probably never do again).
Thanks for the help,
rnb54
 
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rnb54

NewBee
Registered Member
Jan 23, 2006
2
0
0
Thanks,
4lbs raw honey/gal. Heated to point of boil the heat turned off. I add acid source (?), tanin (1/4 tsp/gal) and oak (good hand-full) to heated must. I always do my primary in a carboy, in this case a 5 gal. Lalvin K1-V116 yeast. Stir once daily for 1 week. When fermentation slows I rack into another carboy and top off with sterilized honey water at same proportion as original. I rack as I see fit. As I mentioned, this one was on for the better part of a year when I decided to stop it. I added 1/2 Tsp/gal. potassium sorbate and .024oz/gal potassium metabisulfate/gal. I let it go for another week then mechanically de-gassed it (the usual electric drill aparatus) and bottled. Note taking was woefully lacking so that's about all I can tell you.
Thanks for any help you can give.
 
Oskaar

Oskaar

Got Mead Partner
Administrator
Dec 26, 2004
7,874
8
0
34
The OC
OK, going forward please put your recipe in a line item by line item format, for example:

12 lbs honey
4 lbs blackberries
H2O to five gallons
10 grams Lalvin 71B-1122 yeast

Then list your steps one by one in the order you did them (sorry, I know you did a lot of typing but there are so many posts that if they're not in the above format I pretty much just skim and move on)

OK, I have a lot of questions here to help me figure this out. You need to be really specific about your treatments.

Since you're using a 5 gallon carboy I'm guessing this was a five gallon recipe?

1. How much acid did you add?
2. How much tannin did you add?
3. A "handfull" of oak doesn't help much since hands vary in size. How much, what type, and what configuration (chips, cubes, sawdust, etc.) of oak did you add, and what was the toast level of the oak?
4. How did you rehydrate your yeast?
5. What was the pH when you added your K-meta and K-sorbate?

It sounds to me like you were making additions without really checking to see what your mead was doing before you added them. I wouldn't blame this on the chemicals you used, but on the way in which it seems you added them.

If you can provide additional information based on the questions above it would be really helpful.

Oskaar
 
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Rhianni

NewBee
Registered Member
Nov 13, 2006
292
1
0
49
Chemicals work but you gotta be careful. I have ruined a batch cause I used a 1/2 tsp scoop instead of my normal 1/4th for sulfite.

Did you taste it at all during the year to see if it was acidic tasting at a certain age?
 
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