OG to low?

[SirWan]

Hi everyone!

Today I made a 5l batch with sunflower blossom honey. I got this honey as a present, but I'm not very excited about the taste.

Has anyone had some good results making a mead with this kind of honey?

Also, I was a bit suprised with the OG, measuring at 1010... Could something have gone wrong with my hydrometer? I tested it in water before I used it in the must, it should work fine.
I could not raise the OG , as I didnt have any more honey left.

If the OG is correct, what would be the best way to get it higher? (the batch is already fermenting happily)


Recipe:

6 grams of Mangrove jack's craft series M05 yeast
1.5 kg of Sunflower Blossom honey
a little more than 4 liters of bottled water
SNA : mixture of 2 grams which I will be adding (in equal parts) in 3 times over the coming 96 hours. ( first part added today ofcourse)
12 raisins (as I wanted to do something about the low OG, it's the only thing I could come up with)

So to summerise : Did something go wrong with the measurement of the OG? If not, is there a way to raise it, now thats it's already fermenting?


Thomas.

 

[budgies]

Not sure why nobody ever replied to this topic. I'm a newbie with mead myself but have a few years' experience in beer.

Are you sure the gravity wasn't 1.100? That would be about spot on for the quantities you listed.

 

[SirWan]

After 20 days of fermenting, I took a gravity reading. The fermentation was very steady, but is now almost at the end. Gravity was way below 1000. The hydrometer stayed on the bottom ( my guess is that the FG is under 90).

This is only my 5th batch ever... What can I conclude with this information?

 

[darigoni]

What can I conclude with this information?

That you don't know how to use a hydrometer!

 

[bernardsmith]

So ...given the assumption that the SG was closer to 1.100 than 1.010 your problem (apart from being able to read your hydrometer) appears to be a less than desirable flavor. Possible reasons might be a level of acidity out of balance with the ABV (alcohol by volume) and /or a lack of tannin. Does your mead taste too acidic or too bland? What about the level of tannin (tannins make your mouth feel dry)? Another possible reason might be that you encouraged the must to ferment dry and you dislike dry wine. You might for instance pour say a few 100 ccs of the mead and add known amounts of sweetener to this to raise the gravity to 1.000 , 1.005, 1.010, 1.015, 1.020. You want to add known amounts of sweetener (could be table sugar) because you want to be able to add the APPROPRIATE quantity of sugar to backsweeten the entire batch. But note -
Before you add sugars to the whole batch you need to prevent the yeast from fermenting the added sugar and you do that by a) racking the must off the yeast and b) adding two chemicals - K-meta and K-sorbate

 

[Shelley]

If you didn't really care for the taste of the sunflower honey, I expect the final mead will disappoint you if you leave it plain. If that's the case, you can think about adding some spices to adjust the final flavor and give you something you enjoy. Fruit is also an option, but spices are easier to manage when you're new to the craft; you don't have to worry about added sugars and pectins (among other things).

If you want to make a straight mead, start with honey you like. "Meh" honey is for baking and tea.