Hey guys...I need a little help with some trouble shooting. I made 3 batches in early May. All from the same honey, with the express purpose of trying the same recipe with different yeast. And two of the three have gotten a really nasty rancid or burnt plastic smell along with a nice milky white substance clinging to the top of the mead and sliding down the inside of the carboy. Batch 1 has exhibited no smell or milky substance yet, batch 2 has the smell in the back ground and batch 3 was so bad with the smell that you couldn't put your nose to it (I actually tossed it it freaked me out so bad).
On to the particulars.
I used the same recipe for each batch with a different yeast in each:
16# honey and distilled water to 5 gallons.
1/2 a finger of ginger
2 sticks of cinnamon
1/4 tsp. rosemary
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1.5 vanilla beans
3 tsp of yeast nutrient
1 tsp acid blend
1 tsp gelatin
The process was very similar for each batch. I put a gallon of water in the bot, got it up to a boil then lowered the heat and folded in the honey making sure to keep the heat around 150 for a few minutes than I killed the heat (I know...I have since read that there is no need to use this method and plan to do it like Ken and Okaar suggest with my next batches). I then put my must in the fridge until the temp got down below 100 then poured it into a 6 gal carboy with a couple gallons of cold dist. water already in it. Then I filled to 5 gallons and did my best to manually mix the must with the water. Not sure if I did a good job or not though.
I then pitched the yeast. Batch 1 I put in Wyeast Sweet Mead 4184 which is a liquid yeast. Batch 2 I used their Dry Yeast, and batch 3 I used Lavalin D-47. I rehydrated the D-47 with some of the must (which was probably the wrong thing to do...I now know).
Initial gravities were the same 1.114-.115. I then let them ferment. Once the activity feel below 1 bubble every couple minutes I racked them off. There was no off odor or taste in batch 1 or 2 at this time but batch 3 was so bad you couldn't put your nose to it with out recoiling from it. Like I said it had a distinct milky substance that was on the surface of the mead and it was think and slid down the carboy as the liquid was racked off.
I racked off batch 1 the other day, and other than having a gravity of about 1.060 and being a little sweeter than I expected it was fine. Smelled nice and tasted nice. I just racked off batch 2 today (almost a month since I did it the last time) and it has the same oder and taste as batch 3, but it is in the back ground. It has a gravity of 1.002 and is pretty dry and has about 14% alc, but it has that odor and tast.
The best way I can describe it is that it smells like organic stuff in the trash can that has sat too long before being taken out. Batch 3 was so bad I just threw it out. Batch 2 it is there...but in the back ground.
The only things I can think of is either I didn't clean as well as I thought I did, my air lock wasn't as tight as I thought, or my ginger being cut on and then reused a couple days later opened up the door. I made batch 1 on may 8, batch 2 on may 10, and batch 3 on May 13...and used the same piece of ginger for all three.
Any ideas would be helpful...as I would like to know what I did wrong so I don't do it again.
Thanks in advance.
Chris
On to the particulars.
I used the same recipe for each batch with a different yeast in each:
16# honey and distilled water to 5 gallons.
1/2 a finger of ginger
2 sticks of cinnamon
1/4 tsp. rosemary
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1.5 vanilla beans
3 tsp of yeast nutrient
1 tsp acid blend
1 tsp gelatin
The process was very similar for each batch. I put a gallon of water in the bot, got it up to a boil then lowered the heat and folded in the honey making sure to keep the heat around 150 for a few minutes than I killed the heat (I know...I have since read that there is no need to use this method and plan to do it like Ken and Okaar suggest with my next batches). I then put my must in the fridge until the temp got down below 100 then poured it into a 6 gal carboy with a couple gallons of cold dist. water already in it. Then I filled to 5 gallons and did my best to manually mix the must with the water. Not sure if I did a good job or not though.
I then pitched the yeast. Batch 1 I put in Wyeast Sweet Mead 4184 which is a liquid yeast. Batch 2 I used their Dry Yeast, and batch 3 I used Lavalin D-47. I rehydrated the D-47 with some of the must (which was probably the wrong thing to do...I now know).
Initial gravities were the same 1.114-.115. I then let them ferment. Once the activity feel below 1 bubble every couple minutes I racked them off. There was no off odor or taste in batch 1 or 2 at this time but batch 3 was so bad you couldn't put your nose to it with out recoiling from it. Like I said it had a distinct milky substance that was on the surface of the mead and it was think and slid down the carboy as the liquid was racked off.
I racked off batch 1 the other day, and other than having a gravity of about 1.060 and being a little sweeter than I expected it was fine. Smelled nice and tasted nice. I just racked off batch 2 today (almost a month since I did it the last time) and it has the same oder and taste as batch 3, but it is in the back ground. It has a gravity of 1.002 and is pretty dry and has about 14% alc, but it has that odor and tast.
The best way I can describe it is that it smells like organic stuff in the trash can that has sat too long before being taken out. Batch 3 was so bad I just threw it out. Batch 2 it is there...but in the back ground.
The only things I can think of is either I didn't clean as well as I thought I did, my air lock wasn't as tight as I thought, or my ginger being cut on and then reused a couple days later opened up the door. I made batch 1 on may 8, batch 2 on may 10, and batch 3 on May 13...and used the same piece of ginger for all three.
Any ideas would be helpful...as I would like to know what I did wrong so I don't do it again.
Thanks in advance.
Chris