I was hoping you guys could diagnose my mead; I recently started making it, my first batches simply used Allison's baking yeast and raisins as nutrient; one with orange following the Storm the Castle guide, another with English lavender, and one with apple, cinnamon, and tea. I used Youngs sanitiser from a beer brew set I got for Christmas, and they all came out pretty tasty (the orange was a bit bitter because I didn't remove the pith). Anyway from this success I decided to get a bit more serious; I got some tronozymol for nutrient, a hydrometer to know what I made, and some D47, K1V, and EC1118 to experiment with. I started them all going with just honey at SGs of 1.104, 1.102, and 1.106 respectively using 3tsp tronozymol.
Anyway the fermentation was incredibly fast and after just 10 days the D47 and EC118 look done. I measured the SG to check, and it they were both 0.993; around 15%, isn't this above D47 tolerance? The K1V was at 1.004 so about 14%. They all tasted and smelled really, really rough. I mean, not honey at all, it burned in the mouth and tasted like sweetened rocket fuel, not at all like the nice first three wines I made. I'd be inclined to think them infected but they were all prepared separately so I can't help but wonder if it's normal? Will it start to taste good in time? Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Anyway the fermentation was incredibly fast and after just 10 days the D47 and EC118 look done. I measured the SG to check, and it they were both 0.993; around 15%, isn't this above D47 tolerance? The K1V was at 1.004 so about 14%. They all tasted and smelled really, really rough. I mean, not honey at all, it burned in the mouth and tasted like sweetened rocket fuel, not at all like the nice first three wines I made. I'd be inclined to think them infected but they were all prepared separately so I can't help but wonder if it's normal? Will it start to taste good in time? Any advice is greatly appreciated.