Mixing Mead to Drink

[colbycurtis]

Hi Guys well my first one gallon batch I started March 8 is so clear I can read through the glass. It looks beutiful. Now the bad part. It doesn't taste delicious yet. The first time I tasted it at about 2 months old it tasted like a burnt tennis shoe. Now it doesn't taste that bad but it is potent I can feel a warm burn all the way down my throat to my stomach. So my question is this. What does Mead mix with well for drinking. I tried adding some mead to apple juice tonight it wasn't that bad.

I didn't know what words to put in the search bar to find this if it has already been talked about. I understand to some of you mixing it might be a sin but I want to drink some tonight and it is still too harsh for me straight. Any mixer ideas? I'll still save some so I can see wht it tastes like at 6 months and 8.

 

[holycontagion]

Hi Colby. What type of yeast and now much honey did you use? Did you add any acids or nutrients before or after fermentation? Usually the folks here will have you detail your recipe in a similar fashion to:

Amount of honey and type
Yeast used
Nutrient additions etc

Then a description of exactly what you did during the creation and any manipulation of the must over the next few days. This is just for future reference sir. But yeah at the minimum you need to describe the honey and yeast and any additives you used as described above. After you do that hopefully someone can help!

PS. I have no suggestions on any mead mixing. You may try some gin, club soda, tonic water etc and see what happens though :cheers:

 

[wayneb]

So my question is this. What does Mead mix with well for drinking.

Time, and a healthy dose of patience. Especially if the mead started out relatively high gravity, and finished dry.

Again, we'd all like to know what you did to make this batch come about. As holycontagion has already asked, what is your recipe? It will also help if you can post it, along with whatever process techniques that you employed to make it, in an outline format so we can discern what was done. It will also help to let us know what the fermentation environment was like, as in what the temperature of the must (or at least the fermenting room) was, and what the pH was, if you have any of that info.

 

[colbycurtis]

Basically it was my first ever mead before I bought all the stuff for making it I now own. Anyways it was 3 pounds of store bought honey mixed with water to 1 gallon. Added 1 pack of Flieshmans yeast and 25 raisins also added 1 orange in slices without peel. I put a balloon on top with a pin hole and let it sit. I racked it once and now it is crystal golden clear.

( I use airlocks and primaries and carboys etc.. Now)

It was my first mead. All the other batches do not even smell close to this one because those I used good Yeast D-47 I believe. This one has always smelled a little Hot and tastes Hot.

P.S. I added about 1 tablespoon of finisher about 3 weeks ago but it is still pretty dry.

Temp was about 70F in the room and the


Hey here is my notes on it from my LOG. Forgot I took these notes.

First Batch Date 09 Mar 08
1 Gallon Batch used 3 pounds honey from Albertsons. Did not Pasturize. Did not Activate yeast. Just threw yeast, One Orange and 25 raisins into Must.

24 March Racked to 1 Gallon Carboy

28 March Added 4 OZ of Honey
Mead Calculater estimates OG 1.151
30 March Racked...No More Bubbles.

April 5 FG 1.020
April 8 put in fridge
April 9 removed from fridge
April 17 starting to clear

That was my last note. It was my first batch and I know it wasn't the greatest recipe or practices but it is what it is.

 

[skunkboy]

I occasionally mix some of my stronger fruit mels with sparkling water, and maybe once or twice with coke... ;D

A straight dry mead, that sounds like it could use some aging probably won't mix well with much right now...

 

[wayneb]

Hmmm... some of your notes don't seem to agree with other parts of your notes. If you really used 3 lbs of honey in a one gallon batch to start, the highest that your equivalent initial gravity could be is around 1.100. This is if you added just enough water to the honey to top off to one full gallon. If you instead mixed the 3 lbs of honey with a full gallon of water, your initial gravity was more like 1.085-1.090. These gravities would yield alcohol levels on the order of 11 to 13%, if fermented to dryness.

You say that your finishing gravity is 1.020. That is a pretty sweet mead, so it should not taste at all dry and harsh if your measurement is correct. Did you instead mean 1.002? That would match better with your description of the taste. Especially since you added the extra 4 oz of honey after racking to a secondary, it might be that fermentation re-started with that addition of sugar. If so, the fermentation would have been done with some stressed yeast, which could give rise to some off-flavors and a harsh, fusel flavor. That harshness will only mellow out with aging time.

I'd recommend that you check the finishing gravity again, and based on what that turns out to be, we might be able to offer more suggestions.

 

[colbycurtis]

Your right about everything. It did ferment again when I added the 4oz and I may have bad notes I was new to the Hydrometer. I will take another reading and post it later. It was pretty much a shot in the dark and learning experience. that first batch.

 

[wayneb]

No worries. If you can give it enough time to mellow out, I'm sure it would taste better. But take care not to let it oxidize -- rack carefully, and keep whatever container you age it in topped off as much as possible to avoid exposure to too much air.