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New batch ruined?

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H

HeadNeast

NewBee
Registered Member
May 9, 2014
3
0
0
I started this batch 12-21-2013

I used 5 gallons of water
1 Gallon of clover honey
1 test tube of sweet wine yeast (can't remember name)

Starting numbers : % sugar bailing =20
% Alcohol per volume = 10
Gravity = 80

05-09-2014

New numbers are: % 0.0 sugar bailing
% Alcohol per volume = 0.0
Gravity = 1.00

Is it ruined?
 
Sorry, I'm not sure why you think it has been ruined. From the numbers it would appear the mead fermented out completely dry.

How does it taste?
 
Yes, it's ruined....my address is {edited}. Send it over immediately and I will pay the shipping costs. I need to "study it" for future reference.

Seriously, it sounds like it's done. Dip some and taste it. Let us know your first impressions. Let us know if you can feel your face after subsequent "control" samples. :p
 
as iced metal said it appears as if it has just finished fermenting. has it been racked or anything? if it is because of taste it could be because you left it on the lees? But sounds like all is well
 
Even then, 4 months on the lees isn't TOO bad. Would depend on the yeast, but even then I wouldn't say it's ruined.

After further thinking I think a clover mead traditional at 10% alcohol would taste a bit bland. If the mead had a higher starting gravity it might have been better as there would be more honey = more flavor. Not fermenting it completely dry would also help. There has been another recent post in this section of the forum where the user stated this. If you find your mead to also be bland you might check that thread out for the suggestions. However, even here the mead would be nowhere near 'ruined'. Maybe some tweaks to make it a bit better, but this is optional.
If you tasted it recently and did not particularly love the taste remember that you could possibly give this at least another year to age. After aging mead tends to get better.
 
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And dry meads may not be your thing, they certainly aren't mine :p if it's not what you were hoping for you could try backsweetening some and see if that improves things.
 
Yeah It was pretty "unsweet" especially compared to my batch before this one. but I did things differently on this batch. The first batch I racked as soon as the bubbler stopped bubbling. I just now racked this one and took the second set of numbers and figured it went "flat" not co2 flat but sugar and alcohol flat. Maybe add some more honey or go ahead and age it? Thanks for your input!
 
Mead comes in many different forms. Some of them sweet, some dry, some are somewhere in between. Then there's the ones that are dry in terms of gravity, but sweet in terms of taste, or vice versa.

It sounds like you're looking for a sweet mead. If that's the case, then yes, you can add more honey to make it sweeter. Before doing so it's recommended that you stabilize it, unless you don't mind any remaining yeast kicking up and fermenting further. Do a search for potassium sorbate and sulfite, you'll probably get dozens of hits if not more. The active yeast (if any) will die eventually, but in the process, could be quite stressed by their environment, which can potentially produce more off flavors.

Sitting on the yeast for 4 months can impart some off flavors to your mead, depending on the yeast strain. Backsweetening often helps to cover those.
 
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