Did I ruin my mean?

Prophet Mykola · Aug 24, 2012

Hey there,

I think I have just destroyed my whole batch of mead. Any advise on what I can do with it?

The recipe:
1700 g of Heather Honey
tap water (cold) to 5 litres
1/4 tsp tronozymol

edit: +1 packet of Gervin GV3 yeast

stand 24 hours, then added
1/4 tsp tartaric acid
2 tsp grape tannin (this is where I screwed up)
1/4 tsp tronozymol

stand 24 hours, then added
1/4 tsp tronozymol

I will add another 1/4 tsp tronozymol in a week time.

My concern is addind 2 tea spoons of tannin, which should have been good for 10 gallons, to just a little over 1 gallon. Does it mean the mead is lost?

Should I bother adding gelatine and aging or I am way beyond a point of no return?

Chevette Girl · Aug 24, 2012

Welcome to the forum!

I'm guessing there was yeast in there somewhere too?

Well, if you overdosed the tannin, it might be a bit pucker-worthy... have you tasted it?

The good news is that it's probably not ruined, tannin and its associated bitterness does eventually age out (sometimes it takes a long time, I've got one batch going on something like 7 years now), and backsweetening it might also help with it. I'm not sure if the gelatine will help or hinder it dropping out.

So, did you get any specific gravity readings? Unless it's a really slow fermentation you might not want to use any more tronozymol next week, depending how well your fermentation's gone, it may be too late to be of much benefit to your yeast.

(I'm guessing you're somewhere in Europe if you're using metric units and tronozymol?)

Prophet Mykola · Aug 24, 2012

Thanks for a reply. I am from the UK indeed.

It's the first time I decided to use powdered tannin, and didn't calculate the proportions properly. It tastes OK, well, at least it's not terribly disgusting. I think I will bottle it in the end skipping the oak (I have plenty of tannins don't I) and put it in my cellar until some distant future.

Duh, I completely forgot to mention yeast. It's Gervin gv3. Not my usual yeast, but it is working perfectly so far. Fermentation is very active and looks healthy.

OG was 1.100

Chevette Girl · Aug 25, 2012

Ok. Generally you'd want to stop aerating and adding nutrients/energizer by the time the yeast have eaten 1/3 to 1/2 of the available sugars, which would be 1.066-1.050 in your case, so it's not a bad idea to keep an eye on your SG as things progress.

If it doesn't taste bad now, then it'll probably be fine after some age and/or backsweetning, and avoiding the oak is probably for the best!

Medsen Fey · Aug 28, 2012

You can also help remove excess tannin by fining with egg white if you find the tannin is too much once it clears. The added tannin should speed the clearing by binding with proteins and yeast cells. If it is too "puckering" once it is clear, you can either try fining, or blending with another batch, or sweetening to offset the tannins, or aging.

It wouldn't surprise me if it turns out fine. Heather honey tends to be loaded with protein (making it very foamy) and a good size dose of tannin might not cause any problem.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

Prophet Mykola · Sep 6, 2012

Well, the primary fermentation is finished. I had a sip, and so far it is the most disgusting thing I have ever tried. GV3 yeast fermented it bone dry, no residual sweetness at all. I wouldn't judge the thing after the primary though, will see how it tastes in a couple of months time.

fatbloke · Sep 6, 2012

Well with the suggestions from CG and Medsen, I can assure you that they're good. Both know their sheee-at !

As for the brew tasting like total barf! That's hardly a surprise. Lots of young meads are like that. The trick is too bulk age it once clear, then every 3 or 4 months, take a single measure (25 mls) and taste it. I age for a very minimum of 6 months..... even JAO that's supposed to be drinkable when cleared. Most of my brews will get at least 12 months, often more.

You'll be amazed at the changes that time brings to meads..... just have a search for the late Brother Adam and his brews down at Buckfast, he used to age them for 7 years or thereabouts. Plus before his death in the mid 90's, he was using the montpelier strain of yeast a.k.a. Lalvin K1V-1116 or Gervin varietal E which is a damn good yeast for traditionals...

ken_schramm · Sep 16, 2012

The only thing I would add that others here have not touched on is that tannin and acid additions are best done "to taste" after the fermentation is done, and the mead has been given some aging - say, three months. I tend to do that with any ingredient that can go over the top very quickly - tannin, acid, or spices. You can always add more, but getting anything back out of a mead once it's in there just doesn't happen.

Blending is an option. You can find out if that night be worth your while by using a batch you have already bottled, or a commercial example you like but think lacks acid or tannin backbone.

Yours,
Ken

BSC · Sep 16, 2012

The tannin I have say 1 teaspoon to a gallon, so assuming you have similar then only twice the amount. Youngs tannin ? (UK also)

Suspect that it will not effect it too much, just treat it as normal, and leave to mature for 6 months then give it a taste again.

You said it was dry with GV3 and 1.7Kg honey I would expect dry. GV3 is tolerant of higher alcohol level so will have devoured all the honey you had in, so dry, possibly very dry. Guess about 12-13% with the honey you said, maybe a little higher. As you didn't mention metallic than I would say the tannin added has not done any harm.

Willing to bet that in 6 months it will be reasonable and by christmas 2013 quite good. Don't worry.

Prophet Mykola · Nov 18, 2012

Well, I tried the egg white trick, it didn't do much as much as I can taste. I am currently bulk ageing it, and will try it again in 6 month time or so. GV3 made it bone dry indeed.

PitBull · Nov 18, 2012

Give it time.

Prophet Mykola said:
Well, the primary fermentation is finished. I had a sip, and so far it is the most disgusting thing I have ever tried. GV3 yeast fermented it bone dry, no residual sweetness at all. I wouldn't judge the thing after the primary though, will see how it tastes in a couple of months time.

"A couple of months" is hardly any time for aging mead, especially for a dry, traditional. With such a small batch, I recommend bottling in beer bottles. Beer bottles are approximately equal to 1/2 a standard 750 ml bottle. That way you can sample along the aging process without using a great deal of your product in one sitting. Also, take notes on your impressions. You'll learn a great deal from the process that, I'm sure, you will want to reference late. You'll be glad you did.

Best of luck!

Search

Did I ruin my mean?

Prophet Mykola

NewBee

Chevette Girl

All around BAD EXAMPLE

Prophet Mykola

NewBee

Chevette Girl

All around BAD EXAMPLE

Medsen Fey

Fuselier since 2007

Prophet Mykola

NewBee

fatbloke

good egg/snappy dresser.....

ken_schramm

The Compleat Sybarite

BSC

NewBee

Prophet Mykola

NewBee

PitBull

NewBee