I made a JAOV raspberry melomel, starting it on May 25th with 250g of normal (non-frozen) raspberries. I didn't realise at this point that frozen were better for the release of the juice. Within two hours it had frothed up so much I had to throw some away to stop it from crawling into the airlock, but the next day while it had frothed back up, it was staying put.
The raspberries gave a slight pink haze to the mead but then they started to look off so I racked them off on the 3rd of June. Fermenting stalled but I figured adding more fruit would give it a kick and add the colour and flavour I was looking for so I added 600g of defrosted raspberries and floated them in a sanitised stocking with a weight to keep them down, fermentation picked right up and they started going crazy, much stronger than the mead I made before.
I racked them again on the 19th of June (The fruit at this point has been in for a little over a week) and waited for the melomel to clear. At this point I tasted it and it had a powerful kick, but tasted really good and fruity, if the chemical taste was present, niether me nor my fiance tasted it, or recognised it at the time. My notes in my notebook says "it is still v. yeasty but as it has not cleared this is to be expected. It has a lovely fruity after taste that I think will take precedence after the yeast clears."
On the 19th of July there airlock is still releasing bubbles, about one every three or four minutes and the melomel is beginning to clear, but is still pretty cloudy. My fiance and I decided to taste it the kick had turned into a full blown chemical taste.
Today I decided to give it another little taste to see if the problem had resolved itself, the chemical taste is less than it was, but it smells and tastes almost like pure alcohol, it numbs my tongue!
Is the dog dying? Should I shoot it or is there a way to rescue this? It's still not fully clear so I don't know if this is normal because of the strength of the melomel, as I've said the strong chemical taste has lessened.
This is my second mead, my first melomel so I really have no clue... Help!
The raspberries gave a slight pink haze to the mead but then they started to look off so I racked them off on the 3rd of June. Fermenting stalled but I figured adding more fruit would give it a kick and add the colour and flavour I was looking for so I added 600g of defrosted raspberries and floated them in a sanitised stocking with a weight to keep them down, fermentation picked right up and they started going crazy, much stronger than the mead I made before.
I racked them again on the 19th of June (The fruit at this point has been in for a little over a week) and waited for the melomel to clear. At this point I tasted it and it had a powerful kick, but tasted really good and fruity, if the chemical taste was present, niether me nor my fiance tasted it, or recognised it at the time. My notes in my notebook says "it is still v. yeasty but as it has not cleared this is to be expected. It has a lovely fruity after taste that I think will take precedence after the yeast clears."
On the 19th of July there airlock is still releasing bubbles, about one every three or four minutes and the melomel is beginning to clear, but is still pretty cloudy. My fiance and I decided to taste it the kick had turned into a full blown chemical taste.
Today I decided to give it another little taste to see if the problem had resolved itself, the chemical taste is less than it was, but it smells and tastes almost like pure alcohol, it numbs my tongue!
Is the dog dying? Should I shoot it or is there a way to rescue this? It's still not fully clear so I don't know if this is normal because of the strength of the melomel, as I've said the strong chemical taste has lessened.
This is my second mead, my first melomel so I really have no clue... Help!
