Last year I created some prickly pear mead. I used 200kg of red tunas (they are free) and added no water. I increased the OG so as to calculate a final alcohol level of around 12%. I cannot say what the amount of honey added was since the addition of honey was gradual.
The color started as a beautiful deep red, of course. After about a month the color was still red but needed aging. I used Gervin's Gv8 yeast which is supposed to be good for red wines. I hoped that this will keep the red color. After 6 months of aging over the winter I checked the airlocks (they were fine), took a sample to taste the mead and found that the color was yellow similar to whisky. I cannot think of any way to make this mead red since I have maxed out the amount of red tunas I can use in a batch. Could it be from the yeast I used? How is it that I find sites and posts which claim they manage to keep the red color?
On a positive note the mead tastes like wine with a nice prickly pear aftertaste. I hope that in another 6 months it will be even better and I could detect the honey's input.
Thanks for any advice!
The color started as a beautiful deep red, of course. After about a month the color was still red but needed aging. I used Gervin's Gv8 yeast which is supposed to be good for red wines. I hoped that this will keep the red color. After 6 months of aging over the winter I checked the airlocks (they were fine), took a sample to taste the mead and found that the color was yellow similar to whisky. I cannot think of any way to make this mead red since I have maxed out the amount of red tunas I can use in a batch. Could it be from the yeast I used? How is it that I find sites and posts which claim they manage to keep the red color?
On a positive note the mead tastes like wine with a nice prickly pear aftertaste. I hope that in another 6 months it will be even better and I could detect the honey's input.
Thanks for any advice!
