Seriously! You read it right. I am willing to offer some one free mead if they are brave enough to taste my mead and tell me if I am doing something wrong. Now, bear in mind the mead may curl your toes, but I am at my wits end. I follow directions, ensure cleanliness, monitor temps, make yeast starters, etc. and a lot of my stuff just isn't drinkable. I have been at this for almost two years and I fear my last batch is as bad as my first. I know that is a small amount of time to be doing this but I want to figure out what to correct before I send more good honey to its death. One year old, two years old, etc. it doesn't seem to matter. It is either flavorless(the end flavor doesn't resemble the ingredients used.) or it is just screaming hot with alcohol. So, If you are a brave soul in the NW of Ohio and would want to punish your taste buds in order to help a fellow maker out, let me know. I am honestly close to stopping my mead making career. Thanks for listening, Welshie.
Free mead!
- Thread starter Welshie
- Start date
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Welshie,
How about posting a recipe or two, along with some tasting notes? They don't have to be super involved, just something to give us an idea of what went into it and what came out.
Also, think about this: Good old guinea (I'm Italian, so I can get away with saying that) vino doesn't taste anything like fresh grapes, right? Mead is the same. Backsweetening can/will add the flavors you're looking for. Or you can add a lot of honey up front and hope the yeast stops short and leaves it sweet.
My favorite mead (of mine) came out at about 13% AVB, was semi-dry, and tasted nothing like honey. It was just very very enjoyable. I backsweetened one bottle a bit, but decided I liked it as the yeast had left it.
As far as being alcohol hot, that can be caused by either fusels or just plain old lots of ethanol.
There are also other factors like temperature (both during fermentation and during storage), quality of water used, exposure to sunlight, stressed yeast due to lack of nutrients and oxidation, not to mention a couple dozen other things.
I had a big batch that oxidized and is undrinkable due to a heavy metalic flavor. I plan on experimenting with making vinegar with it.
While I am loathe to turn down free mead, I'm wondering if we can ascertain more more quickly by taking a look at the recipe, notes and tasting notes.
Hang in there. Its worth it. You know the old adage attributed to Thomas Edison when talking about the "999 times" he tried to make a working light bulb and failed? "I didn't fail nine hundred and ninety nine times. I found nine hundred and ninety nine ways to not make a light bulb". We learn much more from our failures than we do from out successes.
Be well,
Joe
How about posting a recipe or two, along with some tasting notes? They don't have to be super involved, just something to give us an idea of what went into it and what came out.
Also, think about this: Good old guinea (I'm Italian, so I can get away with saying that) vino doesn't taste anything like fresh grapes, right? Mead is the same. Backsweetening can/will add the flavors you're looking for. Or you can add a lot of honey up front and hope the yeast stops short and leaves it sweet.
My favorite mead (of mine) came out at about 13% AVB, was semi-dry, and tasted nothing like honey. It was just very very enjoyable. I backsweetened one bottle a bit, but decided I liked it as the yeast had left it.
As far as being alcohol hot, that can be caused by either fusels or just plain old lots of ethanol.
There are also other factors like temperature (both during fermentation and during storage), quality of water used, exposure to sunlight, stressed yeast due to lack of nutrients and oxidation, not to mention a couple dozen other things.
I had a big batch that oxidized and is undrinkable due to a heavy metalic flavor. I plan on experimenting with making vinegar with it.
While I am loathe to turn down free mead, I'm wondering if we can ascertain more more quickly by taking a look at the recipe, notes and tasting notes.
Hang in there. Its worth it. You know the old adage attributed to Thomas Edison when talking about the "999 times" he tried to make a working light bulb and failed? "I didn't fail nine hundred and ninety nine times. I found nine hundred and ninety nine ways to not make a light bulb". We learn much more from our failures than we do from out successes.
Be well,
Joe
I agree with Joe.. Please provide some more detailed information and some of your tasting notes.. It may be that your mead is fine but that you simply don't like mead...
Both of these guys are right. I would also say to find a proven recipe here on this site and follow it exactly. No deviations. It's not that hard. It sounds like you may have done this already. So many of the recipes you find on the web these days are really not good recipes at all. Most are old fashioned and use adjuncts that are not necessary, or worse, even harmful. Don't employ new science, pitch dry yeast on top of must, don't monitor temp controls ect. When you make stuff like that it will take several years to become drinkable. New science has allowed people to win medals 3 months after they pitch.
If you post you notes we can help lots just with that info
If you post you notes we can help lots just with that info
Detailed notes! Tell us everything. No matter how silly it may seem, it may be relevant. Take us through your process a step at a time, your ingredients including water source and treatment, yeast type, how you prepared the yeast, how you pitched, what your pitching rate was, temp of the must at pitching, how the fermentation progressed, temp and ph and gravity throughout the process, what you fermented in, how you transferred, how you managed your feeding and nutrient additions, where you stored for clearing and aging....
You see where I'm going here? Tell us everything.
You see where I'm going here? Tell us everything.
I will have to post a recipe so we can see what is going on. I like to employ a simple procedure as I figure Vikings made this stuff with out too much trouble. I will get more specifics for you in a bit. I'm at work and my log is at home.
My money is on the assumption that those Norsemen who went viking probably never made mead... But the Norsemen who farmed may have been mead makers and they almost certainly would have had far worse problems than you when they made mead because they would have used wild yeasts and would have no idea about sanitation, bacterial infections, temperature control, or oxidation...
http://www.viking-mythology.com/vikingmyths.php
http://www.viking-mythology.com/vikingmyths.php
