My recipe and entire log are included after a description of the problem.
I have a 5 gal batch of straight-up orange blossom BOMM. For the first few two weeks the mead tasted mind-blowingly fantastic. It fermented bone dry so at 40 days in I back-sweetened up to 1.01. At this point it was pretty good but somewhere between days 14 and 40 it took on a slightly sourdough flavor which I very my dislike. My partner wanted to try oaking it, so we added 12 cubes of medium+ toast Hungarian oak. Now, a week after oaking, the mead is very sourdoughy and frankly quite gross.
I have a 5 gal batch of straight-up orange blossom BOMM. For the first few two weeks the mead tasted mind-blowingly fantastic. It fermented bone dry so at 40 days in I back-sweetened up to 1.01. At this point it was pretty good but somewhere between days 14 and 40 it took on a slightly sourdough flavor which I very my dislike. My partner wanted to try oaking it, so we added 12 cubes of medium+ toast Hungarian oak. Now, a week after oaking, the mead is very sourdoughy and frankly quite gross.
- What could have caused this sourdough flavor? I would blame the oak but it was already there (albeit faint) before adding the oak.
- Is there any way to save this batch? It's not undrinkable now but the sourness makes not something I really want to drink
I note that I had previously tried a batch of BOMM using avocado blossom honey. That batch was also really sour. I blamed this on the honey type and the fact that I left it on the gross lees for almost two months, but looking back with the information from this latest batch I'm not sure.
Recipe
Starter of Wyeast 1388
Add the following to a sterilized 2 liter flask- 1800 ml of Ozarka spring water
- 1/2 cup of honey (SG ~1.04)
- 1 tsp of GoFerm
- 1 activated smack pack of Wyeast 1388
- 1 cross shaped stir bar
- Place covered but not air locked on a stir plate for 3 days.
Brew day- Add 1 gallon OB honey to 3.5 gallons water. (SG 1.09-1.1)
- Used a big spoon to mix honey completely.
- Dose the following: 1 TBSP DAP, 2 TBSP Fermaid K, 3/4 TBSP K2CO3
- Stir again to aerate and add starter.
- Add additional water to SG 1.09-1.1.
- No water in airlock for 1 week.
- Swirl daily.
Log
Day -4: Starter
Made starter
Day 0: Brew day
Followed recipe instructions (including a test of the honey's gravity, which allowed me to nail the 1.1 SG!).
Day 1
Very bubbly.
Noticed sediment on the bottom of the carboy. Gave good swirl to loosen. Swirled too hard and created so much CO2 emission that I got a lovely fountain of mead shooting out of the airlock and all over my floor.
See sediment again at 11pm. I wonder if this is normal.
Day 2
Somwhat bubbly.
Sediment on bottom. Looks like yeast, or GoFerm, or Fermaid-K. Not sure.
SG = 1.068. Close enough to ⅔ sugar break:- Dosed 1 TBSP DAP
- Dosed 2 TBSP Fermaid K
- Swirled with some oomph, but no fountain this time
Day 3
Still nice and bubbly.
Gave it a good swirl.
Lots of sediment. Not sure if this is ok or not. Probably fine.
Smells pretty darn good.
Day 5
Gravity = 1.01.
That’s a bit lower than I was hoping, since this means I missed the ⅓ sugar break. No big deal though.- Dosed 1 TBSP DAP
- Dosed 2 TBSP Fermaid K
- Swirled around real good.
Day 14
Tastes pretty good
Day 28
Racked. SG=1.004. Tastes reasonable. Needs oak and vanilla, and honey, but didn't add anything today.
Day 40
Racked. SG=1.002.
Sweetened to 1.01.
Siphoned some out and tasted. It’s really good, but Mike wants to add oak.- Soaked 12 cubes Hungarian medium+ toast in vodka for around an hour and a half.
- Dumped off vodka. Had brown color.
- Added 12 cubes to mead.
Day 47
Tasted. Gross. It got sour. Bottled three bottles for later taste comparison, racked, and put the rest back into the carboy with a vanilla bean. Interestingly, gravity = 1.01 which means no yeast activity after sweetening on Day 40.