• PATRONS: Did you know we've a chat function for you now? Look to the bottom of the screen, you can chat, set up rooms, talk to each other individually or in groups! Click 'Chat' at the right side of the chat window to open the chat up.
  • Love Gotmead and want to see it grow? Then consider supporting the site and becoming a Patron! If you're logged in, click on your username to the right of the menu to see how as little as $30/year can get you access to the patron areas and the patron Facebook group and to support Gotmead!
  • We now have a Patron-exclusive Facebook group! Patrons my join at The Gotmead Patron Group. You MUST answer the questions, providing your Patron membership, when you request to join so I can verify your Patron membership. If the questions aren't answered, the request will be turned down.

Aroma and Flavour

Barrel Char Wood Products

JamesP

Senior Member
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Dec 3, 2003
654
1
18
Brisbane Australia
I tasted some pineapple mead I had, that came about by mixing some left-over mead (a ginger/yellow box metheglin) with some leftover pineapple wine (it is in a 600ml PET bottle).

It is now about 6 months old, sitting in the fridge, and has sweet-sticky honey/pineapple nose, but the taste was a real let down, because it was dry and the fruit flavour didn't come through :-/

Oh well, I'll sweeten it with some honey, and let it sit some more.

It can be a real let-down when the nose suggests one thing, and the tongue gives you another ::)

All part of the learning process!!
 

Sabastian

NewBee
Registered Member
Nov 21, 2003
2
0
0
46
James,
I started a 5gal batch of what I thought would be a great combination, Cherry/Pineapple. After a week in the Primary it was clear that this was to be no normal mead! The odor was hideous and my wife made me move it so she didn't have to smell it! After a few weeks I racked it and it was still Cherry Kerosine. Now almost a year later it resembles a beautiful Chardonay, according to my wine drinking buddies anyway. No one can even taste the fruits that went into it but all in all that aweful blend turned out pretty good.
I've since been told that Pineapple tends to taste aweful for about 6 months after fermentation but cleans up nicely around the one year marker.
All I can say is, Don't give up on it! No one has been able to tell me why the Pineapple does this or whether or not your use of wine will change that result or not, but time will tell. You might just end up with something really good in a few months. ;)
 

JoeM

NewBee
Registered Member
Jan 9, 2004
665
1
0
43
Is the smell you speak of a sulfery, rotten egg smell?
 
R

Rurouni85Samurai

Guest
Guest
Wonder how Coconut and Pineapple would taste ??? Anyone out there ever think of trying it with that? (I have coconut tree's and I am growing some Pineapple plants right now).
 
T

TeaTruck

Guest
Guest
JoeM said:
Is the smell you speak of a sulfery, rotten egg smell?

My first batch--fermenting for about three weeks now--smelled just like that for the first week. It was a little disconcerting, but it smells fine now. Should I be more concerned? I just guessed it was from the potassium metabisulphite and hoped it would go away.
 

JoeM

NewBee
Registered Member
Jan 9, 2004
665
1
0
43
Did your mead happen to be a cyser? Many fruits realease sulfer containing compounds when initially fermenting. This is ESPECIALLY true for apples. Ciders and cysers can smell absolutly disgusting for the first few days, kind of a rotten egg/rotting fruit/nasty gasbage kind of smell. At times it can even fill a closet or small room and be almost overwhelming. The smell should completely dissipate within a week or two and will not effect the flavor of the final product.
 
T

TeaTruck

Guest
Guest
No, just plain mead from a kit I got at the homebrew store where I get all my beer stuff. I've read a fair bit about making mead since I started this one and will do quite a few things differently next time, but for this one I've just been following instructions.

It's a five gallon batch with about 14 pounds of honey. Also, an unknown amount of acid blend, yeast nutrients, potassium metabisulphite, and bentonite (all pre-measured and mixed for the kit). A day after mixing all that together, I added the yeast and a package of oak chips. It took forever for the fermentation to start (about a week) and when it finally did that's when the smell got bad. I have no idea what part of that soup was causing the smell, but it was pretty rank.
 
R

Rurouni85Samurai

Guest
Guest
A whole week just to start? Mine started with one hell of a bang, the next morning it spewing alot of delish smells into the air and that was without using a Yeast Started. I'm afraid that if I do use one now my bucket will go kaboom.
 

ThistyViking

NewBee
Registered Member
Nov 15, 2003
529
0
0
JoeM said:
Did your mead happen to be a cyser? Many fruits realease sulfer containing compounds when initially fermenting. This is ESPECIALLY true for apples. Ciders and cysers can smell absolutly disgusting for the first few days, kind of a rotten egg/rotting fruit/nasty gasbage kind of smell. At times it can even fill a closet or small room and be almost overwhelming. The smell should completely dissipate within a week or two and will not effect the flavor of the final product.

I've made 6 or 7 cysers and never experienced this effect. Perhaps it is also related to the yeast used.
 
T

TeaTruck

Guest
Guest
JoeM said:
The Kit had you add metabisulfite BEFORE fermenting?

Lots of recipes call for sulphite before fermenting. See Boil or sulfite?:
http://www.gotmead.com/index.php?op...=Natural;action=display;num=1066172959;start=

I wouldn't use it again next time though. After reading that thread, I'm not convinced it's necessary, and the folk at the brew store figure it was likely the cause of the delayed fermentation--Especially if they mixed too much of it in the kit. I never asked them about the smell though. It went away before I got around to it.
 

JoeM

NewBee
Registered Member
Jan 9, 2004
665
1
0
43
I know that sulfites are commonly used to chemically pasturize, in fact i've done it myself...i just wanted to clairfy that thats what the kit had you do and not use k meta to stabilize AFTER fermentation. In response to your querstion about k meta causeing the smell i've never had that experience, in response to it slowing your fermentation, did you wait at least 24 hours AFTER adding the k meta befroe pitching? beucase if not then it most certainly did cause the slow start. And no it certainly is not necessary, i've made meads by bioling, heat pasturizing, sulfite pasturizing, and not pasturizing at all...and in my experience i am most happy with the heat pasturizing method (or just dump and stir but i'm always afraid something will go wrong with this method)
 

JoeM

NewBee
Registered Member
Jan 9, 2004
665
1
0
43
Thirsty Viking...i'm just curious only because i know that what i have experienced with ciders is a very common experience. Have you ever stuck your nose in the airlock of a cider that has been fermenting for about 3 days or so? (Of course i'm assuming you have, i guess that sounds like a terribly silly question). the only reason i ask suck a rediculous question is because i know its a well reported phenomenon. But again as you pointed out about the yeast there are just so many variables, who knows why one person experiences something and someone else finds something completely different.

This is just a random thread on another forum but i did a quick search just to prove to myself that i'm not crazy!

http://www.tastybrew.com/forum/thread/6900
 
T

TeaTruck

Guest
Guest
The kit included k-meta for both chemical pasturization, and--along with potassium sorbate--for stabilising, but I haven't stabilized yet. I did indeed wait 24 hours before pitching. Closer to 30, because I got tied up at work. Anyway, it was only a wild guess that it might be the source of the smell. No foundation in experience or science. I'm just pleased that the smell has improved.
 
R

Rurouni85Samurai

Guest
Guest
At first mine smelled like white wine for 4 days which had me worried a bit, was thinking with that much sugar it should be sweater. Now I can eat sugar out of the air, but I can't place the smell.
 

ThistyViking

NewBee
Registered Member
Nov 15, 2003
529
0
0
I've never made a plain cider, but it's still all applejuice and honey in my cysers, I do not typically add k-meta before fermentation. I do not add yeast energizer/nutirent to cyser either, instead I rely on the Apple juice nutrients.

As far as the smell, I primary ferment in my pantry with the door closed and so get a concetrated whiff every time I go to cook. Also an oddity of my house... the place that the smell escapes is into the stairwell that leads to the garrage giving me a shot of the nose anytime I leave or return.
 

Hidalgo

NewBee
Registered Member
Jan 25, 2004
140
0
0
ThirstyViking said:
I've never made a plain cider, but it's still all applejuice and honey in my cysers, I do not typically add k-meta before fermentation. I do not add yeast energizer/nutirent to cyser either, instead I rely on the Apple juice nutrients.

That's what I have done with my first batch. I took your advice so the only thing I put in the primary was apple juice, honey, and yeast. According to the taste and the smell, it seems to be coming along just fine.
 
Barrel Char Wood Products

Viking Brew Vessels - Authentic Drinking Horns