I've got a strawberry wine, a grape mead and an apple cider that I am planning on bottling ASAP. I tasted them last night and they taste pretty good, except they seem watered down. Like I added too much water initially. Is there anything I can do from here? Will the flavors improve when I back sweeten each batch?
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Wine/Mead/Cider seem "watered down"
- Thread starter matt burks
- Start date
Hmmm... I can't say much without knowing the specifics of your recipes (ingredients and amounts), but I do know that some flavor will return on aging. Whether it will be enough is impossible to predict.
If these are your first attempts at each, then please post your recipes. We'll better be able to assess what you've ended up with that way.
If these are your first attempts at each, then please post your recipes. We'll better be able to assess what you've ended up with that way.
The Strawberry Wine is from "The Joy of Home Winemaking"
The pyment is Joe's Grape Mead/Pyment
The Apple Cider I think I just basically made 3 gallons of apple juice with "Seneca" brand frozen apple juice concentrate and pitched a champagne yeast to it.
Now, with the recipes above, I tasted them after stabilizing them and before adding any thing back to sweeten them.
The pyment is Joe's Grape Mead/Pyment
The Apple Cider I think I just basically made 3 gallons of apple juice with "Seneca" brand frozen apple juice concentrate and pitched a champagne yeast to it.
Now, with the recipes above, I tasted them after stabilizing them and before adding any thing back to sweeten them.
Did you take specific gravity readings of the musts before starting fermentation? From the recipes, the strawberry appears to be trying to achieve a target initial gravity around 1.090-1.095. That is "typical" for pure grape musts, but in my experience I like the starting gravities to be a bit higher, say in the 1.110-1.120 range, to give that little extra flavor, body and mouthfeel, in melomels. The amount of strawberries you used seems OK (4 lb/gallon), but if I were making this recipe I'd have used another lb of honey in the strawberry mix.
If you don't have a hydrometer, I encourage you to pick one up. The typical three-scale hydrometer costs less than $10, and it will help you to know more about what you're fermenting than pretty much any other tool out there.
The Joe's grape is not starved for fermentables, but you shouldn't expect more than a "hint" of grape wine character from the Welch's juice in this recipe. More grape character shows up upon aging.
Apple cider made strictly from concentrates will always taste "thin" and not apple-y at first, especially if you use a champagne yeast. Likewise, some of the apple characteristics will come back with aging.
BTW - here's a recommendation for the future. In the recipes that call for additions of acids (lemon juice) or tannins, reserve those additions for the secondary fermenter. Putting them in early in fermentation can compromise the process, since they can drive the pH of the must too low, making it hard for the yeasts to work well.
If you don't have a hydrometer, I encourage you to pick one up. The typical three-scale hydrometer costs less than $10, and it will help you to know more about what you're fermenting than pretty much any other tool out there.
The Joe's grape is not starved for fermentables, but you shouldn't expect more than a "hint" of grape wine character from the Welch's juice in this recipe. More grape character shows up upon aging.
Apple cider made strictly from concentrates will always taste "thin" and not apple-y at first, especially if you use a champagne yeast. Likewise, some of the apple characteristics will come back with aging.
BTW - here's a recommendation for the future. In the recipes that call for additions of acids (lemon juice) or tannins, reserve those additions for the secondary fermenter. Putting them in early in fermentation can compromise the process, since they can drive the pH of the must too low, making it hard for the yeasts to work well.
I agree with Wayne. Boiling the fruit and using hot water to break down your honey causes you to lose flavor, aroma and mouth feel after the fermentaion is complete. Next time try the cold start method to making your initial must. This will make it harder to mix but gives the must more aeration time on your start up. For apple wines or cysers I like to use k1v-1118 yeast because it has amedium tolerance and bring out the apple flavor well, in my opinion.
