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Made a pyment with Welches frozen concentrate

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McJeff

NewBee
Registered Member
May 17, 2013
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Farmington, Maine
Im on on day 4, but im so excited. just wanted to share, It smells sooo good :p

1 gallon batch
3 cans of concentrate(concord? I think it was)
6 oz of frozen elderberries, made a tea with them
about 1.5lbs of honey to a gravity of 1.100
KV1116

the color is starting to fade a bit....

FF68F2F9-4EAD-4D34-B3EF-360604E9515F_zpsnoft2yqs.jpg
 

EbonHawk

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Registered Member
Apr 24, 2014
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Dothan, AL, USA
I dislike backsweetening too because it requires something to stop fermentation, and I hate adding anything extra to my meads/wines. But, that's about to change, since my wife won't drink anything dry or even semi-sweet, unless it's at the higher end of the sweet range of semi-drys. I actually like the finishing points of most yeasts I use, but gotta keep the woman happy, or this hobby will take a severe hit. :)

I just got in a plum wine kit I'm dying to try. Can't wait to get into wine making seriously, as opposed to beer and fruit-based mead making. Guess I've got some more reading to do.
 

Squatchy

Lifetime GotMead Patron
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Nov 3, 2014
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Denver
awesome! well I did get one pointer out of those links. Don't backsweeten. want to drink it right now!

The best way to backsweeten, or if something is too sweet out of fermentation is to have on hand a bone dry , or super sweet traditional mead to add to your unhappy batch. I totally agree. If you add honey to a finished Mead that does not taste like mead. It's not supposed to taste like honey. If you don't believe me send in a bottle of honey back sweetened mead to the Mazer cup and see what they tell you.
 

EbonHawk

NewBee
Registered Member
Apr 24, 2014
491
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0
Dothan, AL, USA
The best way to backsweeten, or if something is too sweet out of fermentation is to have on hand a bone dry , or super sweet traditional mead to add to your unhappy batch. I totally agree. If you add honey to a finished Mead that does not taste like mead. It's not supposed to taste like honey. If you don't believe me send in a bottle of honey back sweetened mead to the Mazer cup and see what they tell you.
Haha, good to know about the 'cup.

As for adding a super sweet traditional...wouldn't fermentation just start up again, since the mead you're trying to sweeten up will still have leftover, ready-to-go yeast in it that's currently dormant?
 

pokerfacepablo

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 17, 2012
806
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St. Cloud, MN
My first brew ever was a concentrate wine that turned out so awesome. Thank heavens because the next few were failures.

Nice touch with the elderberries. That should give a little more complexity to the frozen grape concentrate.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 

EbonHawk

NewBee
Registered Member
Apr 24, 2014
491
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0
Dothan, AL, USA
Haha, good to know about the 'cup.

As for adding a super sweet traditional...wouldn't fermentation just start up again, since the mead you're trying to sweeten up will still have leftover, ready-to-go yeast in it that's currently dormant?
Or were we assuming the usual method of stopping fermentation at that point with K-meta and K-sorbate?
 

McJeff

NewBee
Registered Member
May 17, 2013
1,095
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Farmington, Maine
My first brew ever was a concentrate wine that turned out so awesome. Thank heavens because the next few were failures.

Nice touch with the elderberries. That should give a little more complexity to the frozen grape concentrate.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

that's what im hoping for ;)
 

Squatchy

Lifetime GotMead Patron
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Nov 3, 2014
5,542
261
83
Denver
Yes indeed it would probably start up. That's why you would first need to stabilize it so that it wouldn't be able to start up again then add some sweet meat

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Wingnut

NewBee
Registered Member
Jan 29, 2012
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0
Snohomish, WA The Evergreen State
I dislike backsweetening too because it requires something to stop fermentation, and I hate adding anything extra to my meads/wines. But, that's about to change, since my wife won't drink anything dry or even semi-sweet, unless it's at the higher end of the sweet range of semi-drys. I actually like the finishing points of most yeasts I use, but gotta keep the woman happy, or this hobby will take a severe hit. :)

I just got in a plum wine kit I'm dying to try. Can't wait to get into wine making seriously, as opposed to beer and fruit-based mead making. Guess I've got some more reading to do.
That's funny. My wife is the same way.
She try my latest mead, wrinkles her nose and says " sweeter" .
So I go try again. Funny, it all seems to dissappear.....


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EbonHawk

NewBee
Registered Member
Apr 24, 2014
491
0
0
Dothan, AL, USA
That's funny. My wife is the same way.
She try my latest mead, wrinkles her nose and says " sweeter" .
So I go try again. Funny, it all seems to dissappear.....
Haha, I feel ya, man. I'll taste a batch of cyser and get ready to bottle it, and she's going "Sweeter, lot sweeter" and I'm thinking I'm already about to slip into a diabetic coma from how sweet it is now. This situation has forced me to consider using K-sorb and K-meta so I can backsweeten with more control. I used to just let everything ferment as dry as it could and just enjoy it au naturale. Not me, the mead. :p I detest adding any more chemicals to my precious brews and meads than I have to.
 
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