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Help!

Barrel Char Wood Products

Launcelot

NewBee
Registered Member
Dec 9, 2007
157
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Ok, so for the first time ever, I managed to get something to clarify.

I did a pineapple mead, using concentrate. It seemed happy in the primary, rotated to a carboy and proceeded to do the rack dance (re-racked it twice in a 3 month period) wandered out for a sample and a looksee and noticed this stuff had came up a rich vibrant golden color, nearly perfectly clear and looked fantastic.

Unfortunately, it tasted rather acidy... the kind of taste that sucks the enamel off your teeth.

So, tossed in some enzyme to reduce the acid level (it had a rather nice pineapple floral at this point).

Let it set for a couple weeks until it dropped clear again.

Now I managed to kill a bit of the floral, and the flavor would best be described as a cross between paint stripper and really cheap white wine.

I picked up a couple sample bottles and part of my goal is to send them off to folks like Oskaar, Wraithe and probably Vicky to get some feedback, but pretty much at this point I am stumped.

Prettiest looking stuff I have made to date, and sure nuff, tastes completely aweful (so I figured I would send out samples to see if I could spread the love ::laughing:: )

--Launce
 

Angus

Lifetime Patron
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Aug 19, 2005
908
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55
Milwaukee, WI
Lance,

Recipe please, with detailed description of prep method, SG, pH (if you measured it), etc. etc.

3 months is very young. I have a strawberry mead going that started off very acidic, but at 1 year now it has started to show signs of smoothing out. Give it time, and you may find the same result.

Angus
 

vahan

NewBee
Registered Member
Oct 27, 2006
124
0
0
Hi SIR Launcelot!

I would recommend you post specific details on your mead so that the smart ones may scrutinize your methods/recipe. I am not that smart, however, I will tell you that your mead is probably just much too young. Melomel, especially those using acidic fruits taste like absoute garbage for the first 3-4 months.
I have a mango melomel that was horribly acidic at 3 months, but tastes quite fine at 6 months. The same for my multi-fruit melomel (I posted asking for some help on this). After time, the wicked acid taste has mellowed very nicely.
Meads can go from tasting like Listerine to nectar if given the proper time.
That being said, you could check a pH to ensure the pH is at a proper level.

what enzyme did you add? Was it to raise the pH?

vahan
 

beachfrontmeadman

NewBee
Registered Member
Feb 15, 2008
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www.myspace.com
take it easy, and just let it age a bit, at one point my best mead was a face scrunchingly sour liquid, and two weeks later it was golden nectar , though in reality a much longer aging process will be in order
 

ucflumberjack

NewBee
Registered Member
Sep 4, 2006
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hmmm.... i think this might not be what you want to read, but i have read on other forums that pineapple meads take a long long time to get awesome, 7 years is what i read. i have no personal experience with it, but there were a couple meadmakers discussing the topic and they all seemed to agree.
 

Launcelot

NewBee
Registered Member
Dec 9, 2007
157
1
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53
Ok, this is entirely from memory.

Original event was a mixed batch, I don't generally measure by weight, instead going by volume, long story as to why.

3g honey, 2.5g water, pasteurized at about 120/15 (I would have to dig up the actual table to remember where I set the temp)

pulled off that and added reconstituted pineapple concentrate so bring the sg to 1.2

Oxygenated, pitched pasteur champagne.

added nutrient and stabiliser (basically followed the directions on the packages.)

Allowed to sit in primary for about 2 weeks, transferred it to a 5g carboy

re-racked it twice in a 3 month period ::counts on fingers:: ok, we made this in october, and it is now feb, so 4 months? It dropped clear, but was *very* acidic, I don't recall the ph off the top, but it is now at like 3.6.

and that is where it sits, it may well be that those bottles get tucked into the back of the cellar for a few years to see where they wander round to. But I have to say ::makes a face:: it was interesting to say the least.

I have better documentation at home...

--Launce
 

beachfrontmeadman

NewBee
Registered Member
Feb 15, 2008
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there is a proccess for lowing acid levels called malolactic (sp?) fermentation, you may want to look into that
there is an herb or an enzym that you add to the mead and it starts up this type of fermentation, give me enough time and i'll dig it up, but you will have a better chance finding it on your own with the search function
 

Oskaar

Got Mead Partner
Administrator
Dec 26, 2004
7,874
8
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34
The OC
Heya Launcelot and BFMM,

Malolactic fermentation wouldn't be useful here. The acidic reduction focus during malolactic fermentation is on Malic Acid which is not present in sufficient enough levels in either pineapple juice or honey to make any detectable difference. The main action of Malolactic Fermentation is to reduce one of the two acid groups in malic acid to produce a softer creamier character in wine.

I'm seeing that you added enzyme to reduce the acid. What specific enzyme and how much did you add?

I'm also seeing that you added nutrient and stabilizer. Again, can you give specifics on type and quantity for both please?

Was that 3 gallons of honey in 2.5 gallons of water? Can you elaborate that please?

Ack, then you heated this eh? How did you prepare the Pasteur Champagne yeast?

Did you take any SG or Brix readings (I see 1.2 but that is most likely a mis-read on your hydrometer, or the SG was so High it was off the scale and you were guessing?)

Gimme the goods and maybe we can help,


Oskaar
 

Launcelot

NewBee
Registered Member
Dec 9, 2007
157
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Ok, in my infinite wisdom, I never actually recorded what I used, I believe it was mallolactic enzyme, which you have already stated would have done nothing to help (it didn't).

That was 2.5g water, added to 3g of honey, enough to produce a thick must which I then gave a *very* low temperature spool, my honey was crystalized and I have been giving it gentle heat in a water base to assist in the mixing process, run that temp long enough and Prof Pasteur is satisfied as well.

The enzyme was in a package labeled "add to 5gal of product) which is exactly what I did, I did not record the measurement (this all started before I found GotMead and consequently I had literally no clue what I was doing)

What I ended up with for my must is the same thing I *always* end up with. A must that is extremely heavy, an SG that when I drop my hydrometer in, the bulb doesn't sink.

I then split the 5.5 gallons as follows.

.5 into a 1g jug, reserved for future feeding.

2.5g into primary1
2.5g into primary2

It allows me to punch out 2 5 or 6g batches. In this case it was a 5g batch of pineapple, and a 6g batch of coffee. The coffee and the carboy went on to feed the accident gods.

So, in my happy 8g primary bucket, I tossed in 2.5g of this exceptionally heavy well mixed blend. I then back filled it with pineapple (from concentrate) juice until reaching my final SG of 1.07 (for some reason my back to back posts managed to carry the same typo) I was aiming at a lighter drier mix than I have *ever* made.

My final sg is about .98 if I recall correctly (I just finished mopping the garage due to a coffee mead blow-over, and my notes are out there next to the wet spot)

For whatever reason, all winter long my garage maintains a nice 67f temp (might have a lot to do with the server rack out there providing heat) which is to the best of my knowledge a good temp (it's worked so far) in the summer I have a space under the stairwell I use, and I maintain a 70f interior temp (thanks to central air).

So, after a bit of discussion with my crazy partner in booze adventures, he pointed out that we were both too lazy to go back to the supply shop, and we had been out of everything except yeast nutrient (I did check the package tonight, there is no specific name, it is a bag from www.valleyvintners.com that says "Yeast nutrient" on it)

I followed the instructions on the package, which states "add 1tsp/gal at initial pitch" In addition to this, we prep our yeast as follows:

1c water heated to roughly 70f
1/4 cup of must at aproximately 80f
add 2tsp yeast
wait until it foams up (ok, I know, I am not aiming at the super scientific side of things, I am more the "go with what looks right" type)

Oxgenate with a 5pnd tank and an oxygen mesh (bought from earlier mentioned site) for about 5m.
add prepped yeast mixture, allow it to settle out on surface, then gently stir into the must.

re-oxygenate if I think it didn't get enough.

In this case, I have a crystal clear absolutely gorgeous final product, that came out crystaline clear. And tastes like paint thinner.

As I said, if you would like, I will happily foray down to the shipping folks, buy their wine bottle shipper, assure them that there is absolutely no alcohol in the package (after they loan me tape to package it) and ship it off to you. I think it may be rather useful for oil stains and ridding yourself of neighborhood pests.

I bottled out over the weekend, and got roughly 28 bottles of final product, I usually label it as soon as I am done cleaning the bottles, this time however the laser printer has remained idle, and the boxes are marked "Do not open unless there is a severe alcohol shortage"

--L
 
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