Pumpkin Mead Question

[sandig]

I made a pumpkin mead based on Mac's Bumpkin recipe (in log). I racked it for the second time and it has a rocket fuel taste. SG 1.00. I suspect it is from yeast stress as it was hot this summer. Also, I did not aerate past the 3rd day (newbie mistake)....I am not sure if I should backsweeten now before bulk aging, or wait until after. Also, I put a large glass in the refrigerator just to see what would happen. I backsweetened it with blackberry honey (2 TBS)...it has really cleared and tastes good, no rocket fuel taste....however, no pumpkin or maple flavoring has come out. Is it too late to add to these flavors? Fermentation is done. I was thinking I could add some maple or brown sugar to honey for backsweetening....any thoughts on how this could come out?

Thank you
Sandi

[TheBruce]

It's a real pickle - if you backsweeten while you have the rocket fuel taste you will possibly overcompensate. If you wait until the last minute to backsweeten the honey/sugars won't have much time to integrate.

I would let it age a while, see what it needs (if any) after the flavor is more mature, then adjust and let age a while more. It's not the quick way to do it but it's more likely to give you the product you want.

[sambashoe]

The rocket fuel taste is from the stress, generally called "hot fermentation" in the wine business. It's certainly not too late to add flavoring if you want, and waiting longer probably isn't gonna hurt anything (I have no experience with this recipe so I'm not certain). If you do add flavorings do it in SMALL increments. You can always add more but getting tastes out of mead is pretty tough. Give the mead some time after each addition and then taste to see what you think.

Good Luck