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Watery mead

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kudapucat

NewBee
Registered Member
Dec 2, 2010
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Bundoora, Melbourne, Australia
I've just racked my first batch of mead. I tasted some, and got a hint of lemon, and a honey aftertaste.
But it was watery and tasting like diluted wine...

What have I done wrong? And what can be done to fix it?
 

AToE

NewBee
Registered Member
Jun 8, 2009
4,066
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Calgary AB Canada
Yup, can't tell you what you did wrong until we know what you did! Some meads just taste bad at the beginning too, doesn't necessarily mean much.
 

kudapucat

NewBee
Registered Member
Dec 2, 2010
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Bundoora, Melbourne, Australia
Sorry,
This was in a different thread, I forgot to repost.

OK Things are suddenly happening.

Batch No 1011210 has drastically slowed bubbling.
I took a sample and tested the gravity. So here's the data: *CG is current gravity at the date this was written

Prepared: 21/11/10
Volume: 1 gal
Style: Dry Show Mead
Yeast EC-1118
Honey: CB10 - mountain honey with gum, teatree, lavender and orchard influence.
Nutrient: 1 tsp DAP - added on day 4
OG: 1.085
CG: 1.000
ABV: 12% --not too sure on this calc.


So... does this mean it's time to rack?
I tasted it.
Wine like bouquet.
Rather dry, but not offensive.
Nasty twang of some sort - hopefully time will fix this
Definite hint of Lemon.
Edit: Watery

There are some plums falling off the trees in our street, so I'd like to rack it onto some of these... any ideas or procedures that would be advised?

Edit: The plums are very tart usually, more so than sour cherries. If this makes a difference.
 

AToE

NewBee
Registered Member
Jun 8, 2009
4,066
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0
Calgary AB Canada
Well, that's a lower ABV mead, which means less honey per volume, but well high enough to make a good dry mead. My guess is simply that this is too young to judge. Many light dry traditionals taste watery at first, even up to and past a year, but at some point the honey flavour and aroma come back in a big way that is very surprising.
 

kudapucat

NewBee
Registered Member
Dec 2, 2010
2,383
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Bundoora, Melbourne, Australia
How much honey (pounds) did you include in this batch???

Enough to get an SG of 1085 as per Ken Shramm's recipe for dry show mead.
I dont know.
I added 3kg to 2 batches such that one was 1085 and the other 1115
Sorry, that's all the info I have.
The 1115 is still fermenting strong. I fear the EC-1118 will make that just as dry, only much higher alcohol.
The CG yesterday when i racked was actually 0995 or less.
 

AToE

NewBee
Registered Member
Jun 8, 2009
4,066
3
0
Calgary AB Canada
Enough to get an SG of 1085 as per Ken Shramm's recipe for dry show mead.
I dont know.
I added 3kg to 2 batches such that one was 1085 and the other 1115
Sorry, that's all the info I have.
The 1115 is still fermenting strong. I fear the EC-1118 will make that just as dry, only much higher alcohol.
The CG yesterday when i racked was actually 0995 or less.

Yup, that one's likely to go dry as well, don't fear though - while that higher ABV might make it require longer aging, it also means more honey flavour and aroma (though this only works up to a point, eventually high ABV starts covering up flavours, so you can end up with the opposite effect).

Don't worry about the quality of the mead yet. I know it's hard not to just a mead by its early impressions (which is why most of the time I've stopped even taking taste tests until after months of aging, other than in situations where I want to observe and learn from the changes), but give them some age and I'm confident you'll be surprised.

As you mentioned in the other thread too, if you don't want traditionals these will make great bases for melomels. If you like a little sweetness, try adding sulphites and sorbate prior to adding the fruit - that way the fruit won't ferment and you'll get a little sugar.
 

kudapucat

NewBee
Registered Member
Dec 2, 2010
2,383
10
0
Bundoora, Melbourne, Australia
Correction

They were 2 x 1 gal batches with 3kg or somewhere near 6lb of honey between them.
The second I think was 1150 not 1115, but I'll check when I get home.

Re melomels

I'm keeping one as a show and one racking as a melomel. Of all my batches. This is for comparison reasons. So I can work out what I want.

I discovered ripe boysenberries so picked them all, finding I had 200g / 1 litre. I thought this a good medium flavour when using ken schramm's guide for raspberry quantities.
The colour change was amazingly quick.
Fermentation continued (well bubbling did) but at a slower rate to the non melomel racking.
The show mead is still bubbling this morning, but the melomel appears to have inverted the process, and drew the water in the lock so as to suggest negative pressure. It's not much(8mm H2O) but certainly not positive pressure.
Is this normal or something to worry about.
All the fruit began floating too.


I washed the fruit to remove leaves, spider webs etc, then rinsed in metabisulphate (or whatever it is)

Thoughts?
 

Medsen Fey

Fuselier since 2007
Premium Patron
In your dry batch, aging may help it a lot. The body usually becomes fuller with time. Adding some tannin may also give a dry mead a bit more mouthfeel and body, and of course, sweeting it will increase body as well.

I'd let it clear and taste in about 6 months to decide if it needs some tweaking.
 
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