NOOB - 30 litre mead..turned out fizzy and sourish ???

Hi all,

I've made the simple Joe's Ancient Mead, love it, and have no reason to make anything else.

I took it to my mum's for xmas (last year), she loved it too, and wanted to make some.

I've always just done 4 to 5 litre batches each time in a glass carboy (demijohn).

My mum wanted to go all out and make 30 litres lol.

So she gave it a go, just did the recipe I used for 4 litres, and calculated it for 30 litres worth.

After about 12-14 weeks, all the orange, raisins etc had dropped, she assumed it was ready.

Upon trying, she said it was kind of fizzy/carbonated, and a sourish flavour.

I've always made it, and it's more of a slightly thick sweet, port style consistency/taste.

I've never looked into the science/method too much with making mead, since my ones have always turned out well, so please excuse the ignorance here, but what is or was the problem with the 30 litres my mum tried to make?

Do larger batches need more yeast? more time? different fermenting temperature etc??

Thanks in advance

darigoni said:

Was it clear?

Did she shake it, so that the honey was thoroughly mixed, when she started?

3 months should have been plenty of time for it to finish.

Sourish could mean that she didn’t use enough honey and that all the sugar fermented. Or, it could be that the orange pith really came through and that’s what she is tasting.

A JAOM is a special mead, in that it breaks some rules, but works because each part balances out another part.

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It was kind of like a light brown ginger beer look, and watery with a bit of fizz, not dark amber/honey colour, and thicker, like mine, that I assume how it should be..

Yeah, it was mixed well..

Maybe fermentation temperature difference? She lives in a colder climate to me..