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Off taste question.

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MJuric

NewBee
Registered Member
Sep 30, 2012
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0
I made a couple batches of mead back in Sept of last year.

One was a traditional mead. This one I do not think fully fermented and ended up very sweet and never cleared entirely.

I bottled this one anyway as it still seemed to taste pretty good. It does however have a few flavors in it that I can not seem to identify that aren't not particularly pleasant, not terrible, but distracting enough that I would like to identify them and figure out where they came from as to avoid them, if possible, for the next go at it.

I'm wondering if there is some sort of "Bible" that might help in both identify the off flavor and then help in figuring out how to get rid of it and it's cause.

~Matt
 

MJuric

NewBee
Registered Member
Sep 30, 2012
28
0
0
Here's the recipe and procedure from a previous post. Final SG ended up in the 1.04 range which is significantly higher then what I thought it would be. It is sweet, borderline too sweet for me, but still good.

Honey only, I believe it's called a "Show mead"? Is that correct. Temps for both meads have been at a low of 64 and a high of 72. It's pretty consistently been around the 68-70 range.

Recipe and process.
18#'s of wild flower honey from my hives and enough water to make move it up to 5gal. That's it.

Mixed it up, added a Campden tablet. Let it sit over night.

Next day I mixed up one packet of Lalvin IVC D-47 yeast per package instructions and 1/2 tsp of WYeast wine nutrient.

Mixed everything up thoroughly making sure to get it well aerated and put it all in a 6gal glass carboy with bubbler.

Starting SG on 9/22 was 1.126. I did check PH, but it was high, near or off the wine PH strips chart I had. 4.3+.

Fermentation started slowly and seemed to be taking off after 48hrs.

I added an additional 1/2 tsp of the same nutrients at 24, 48 and 72 hours and mixed it in.

SG on 9/24 was 1.119. SG on 9/25 was 1.111. I checked at the same time I added nutrients.

About half way thru the week I was concerned that it was fermenting to slow so added some more nutrients...not sure if that was good or bad at this point, but added another 2 tsps of the same wyeast wine nutrient.

SG 9/29, one week after pitching the yeast was 1.104 and final SG check yesterday 10/7 was 1.072.


The taste....hmmm, guess I have an excuse to go get a glass :)

I'm by no means a connoisseur so it's difficult for me to even describe and or even know if it's a good or bad thing.

The smell is very pleasant, again, to me. It has the same smell as most meads I've had. The very first sip tastes very good initially but then leaves a very poor after taste that hits mostly the middle and back of the tongue. It also seems to only be the very first taste with subsequent drinks not having a similar effect. Again I just can't seem to describe it but it has one of those flavors that seems like it should be a smell and the smell would be a bit like you would expect a slightly dirty sock to smell.

It's very odd. It's not like "Oh my that is horrible" just a "That's good followed by a well that might not be so good". Then you have another drink and it's fine...not sure that any of that is very helpful but I'm at a loss to describe it any other way.

After the first swallow the effect goes away and after a glass or two you don't really care anyway :)

~Matt
 

Loadnabox

NewBee
Registered Member
Apr 17, 2011
849
3
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Ohio
A Show mead doesn't have any nutrients either, you have made a traditional, which is mostly honey and water, but also includes the nutrients.


As for stalling out early, you should probably check the Ph. Trads tend to have trouble with the brew not being acidic enough (most yeast were designed for somewhat acidic grapes). Ph strips designed for wine are usually enough to get a good idea if you're in the right range and are cheap (about $4 for 100 strips)
 

MJuric

NewBee
Registered Member
Sep 30, 2012
28
0
0
Is that final gravity from a hydrometer or a refractometer? I ask so we can understand whether it is stuck or not.

Refractometer. Until your other post about being able to have a high SG because of the ABV I was unaware that that was even possible. LEarn something new every day I guess.

~Matt

Edit to add: I've been doing some messing around with some online calculators and going from a few numbers from memory.

The OG for this mead was 1.126. The final measured gravity with a refractometer was ~1.06. Putting these into the converter leaves me with a 1.019 real FG. This is much closer to the description given for how this should taste as far as sweetness.
 
Last edited:

Bob1016

NewBee
Registered Member
Jun 24, 2012
662
3
0
Coral Springs, FL
I think a clarification of terms is necessary here. Acidity as in TA, or active acidity as pH? Yeast can survive at even slightly basic environments, but need a certain amount of TA. This has been proven in many studies on mead nutrients: DAP does good, DAP w/ citric acid may stall, DAP w/ citric acid and pH adjusted upwards again (to previous level) does best.
pH most certainly stall fermentations, added acids, with buffering, aid ferments.
 
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