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Jet fuel

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AmNimru

AmNimru

NewBee
Registered Member
Nov 29, 2014
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Croatia
So, I made BOMM. Around 40 liters of it in total. Mixed what remaining honey I had with water and it came out way too much honey - I figured, naively, the little yeasties will stop after a certain ABV. They didn't. Also, I couldn't stop them with chemicals or cold. Meaning I now have 40 liters of BOMM that's over 18% ABV and has no taste at all.

What can I do now with this, since it's pretty much undrinkable (unless I mix it with natural juices)? Add honey until sweet? Mix it with more water and honey and start fermentation all over again?
 
You need to give us a log of everything you can so we can better help you. Don't do anything yet :)
Just get back to us with your notes as complete as you can.
 
I second Squatchy. But if you're already at 18% there's no need to add more fermentable ingredients. My humble opinion, if it is lacking in body or flavor, it's time to spice it or blend it. Or both. Although there is also much to be said for bulk aging before you do anything. A year or two can do magical things. Those things being said, I'll wait to hear how you got to this point. Very interested in the type(s) of honey and yeast that left you with such a "clean" end product.
 
So Your yeast should be close to going past your alcohol tolerances, if they're not already dead. I'm surprised it went that far. Personally I hate how it taste once honey is added to a finished Mead. In my opinion it;s not what Mead taste like. You could add honey. You could add glycerin to get a rounder mouth. If you have any sweet mead on hand that is the best way to sweeten a too dry mead. You could even go buy a really sweet mead at the store and add that and see how you like it. You could add sugar as well.
 
My blackberry/blueberry went to 20% ABV and it tastes delicious. Just have to get the right things added to his batch and he should be fine. It's just a matter of personal taste preference though. I like the idea of adding a too-sweet mead to "fix it" over the honey idea. I used to think honey added to backsweeten would be good..until I actually tried some. Not to my liking at all.
 
I guess I am missing something here... If your starting gravity was 1.120 then there is no way that it could have produced an ABV of 20%.. 120 * 131 = 15% - 16% if you stretch it...
 
Looks like there was some step feeding towards the end, like day 6 or 8. Not entirely sure. Would account for a higher ABV.
 
I don't know what the problem is. I don't even know what 'jet fuel' means in this case. It's not simply a problem of high alcohol, yet there is no information regarding taste other than noting that it is bland. All I can say is that it took one of my high alcohol meads two years aging before it went from 'bland' to almost 'too much honey for my taste'.
 
It was the first batch, 18L one. Melomel is wonderful, it's this one I have problems with.
It's just a high alcohol content and I don't know how to describe the taste other than it has no taste at all - like if you would drink vodka or something similar. This was actually my second mead (my first mead being Lalvin D47, which was excellent, albeit a bit not sweet enough for my taste). So the alcohol completely takes over so I'm not sure how to mask it - or whether I should do anything at this point, since it still might be too soon. 2 years, you say? And here I was hoping BOMM would be quick ;)
 
Oh it took 2 years for a mead using young's high alcohol tolerance yeast. Forgot the exact name. The mead was drinkable far earlier than those two years but nothing I was really proud of until two years passed. Hopefully this will be different with a Bomm. I'm quite sure Bomms are reliably drinkable so early with lower alcohol content meads. In general the more alcohol, the more aging time it needs
 
Btw isn't a vodka taste a sign of fusels? My high alcohol mead had this vodka taste but eventually it disappeared
 
I just bottled one that finished at 20%. It started in June this year. And despite this being an experiment for me, using Belgian super high gravity ale yeast, it turned out spectacular. Very drinkable now. Can't wait to see what it's like in a couple of years.

Time. It's the best ingredient, the easiest to add, and the hardest to have the discipline for.
 
Jet fuel, rocket fuel, fusel alcohols & just plain high ABV with ethanol, the first three are the same, the last one is just a fact of alcohol in general, all mean that it it in need of aging.

I have a dry traditional that came out to 17.06% ABV, the log is here: www.gotmead.com/forum/showthread.php/23121-Drad-Dry-Trad

Basically my mead went to a really high ABV stressing the yeast a bit, then requiring extended aging.

So far it's been aging ~1 year, needs ~1 more to really make it shine.

Just let it clean & bottle as per usual.

Then forget about it for ~2 years.

Time & patience are the two most under appreciated tools in a mead makers arsenal...
 
Well, then. I guess I will forget about this one for a year or so.
In the meantime, I will just have to make more. Got my hands on 40-ish pounds of acacia honey. What to do with it, what to do...

Thank you all for your replies!
 
So before you go off and make something half cocked, go look at proven recipes. Learn about rehydration protocols, SNA's, aration and degassing. Once you have all that understood check with us to make sure your next batch will be a great one taht you can drink soon enough.
 
I have posted a few recipe ideas. I have learned from each one. Test your idea against the forum. It can only make it better.
 
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