Racked a rhodomel last night, but....

[Raleigh]

Hello, have a question or two...

I had about 1.5 gals. of a basic mead fermenting, and I was deciding what to do with it when it was time for racking. Well I decided to make it into a rhodomel (Rose) mead. I put about 1/3 of a bottle of rose water, along with about 1 oz. of dried organic rose buds and petals into the racking carboy and racked it.....I also tasted the mead....It tasted very good, like a (watered) down wine......Which brings me to my question.....

I think my mead is too watered down, or else I didnt add enough honey.......Can I just add about another pound of honey to this racking batch and have it start fermenting again to make it a drier mead with more alcohol content? What if I just add some neutrient to the racked batch?

Question about this though.....My main fear fermentating this with the rose water and petals in there is that the fermentation will release the rose scent with the co2 which will eventually lead me to add even more roses.......Going about it this way also seems risky because I am afraid that by adding too much rose essense, the brew will become to bitter, as roses seem to have a basic bitterness to them......Should I then....

Start a new batch of 1.5 gals of regular but (stronger) dry mead (more honey), let it ferment completely, then, mix it into this rhodomel  batch when its done. I thought this would be the way to go just in case I over did it with the rose flavors......( I get the feeling this is easy to do after reading about other experiences with rhodomels here......I really dont want that bittery rose flavor, seems like less is better in this case)

By the way, I really dont know how much honey I added in the start, mabe 1 3/4 pound to 2 gallons water, mabe......

I hope I didnt make this post completely confusing.

 

[WRATHWILDE]

You could add another pound and still turn out dry. Try that first. After it finishes fermenting, taste it again, it will have more body from the extra honey. If it still seems too bitter from the roses, go ahead and start a second batch without petals. Once that batch has finished, and had a chance to age several months, taste your original batch again, it might have improved to the point you don't have to mix them. If you still feel the need to do so... add a little at a time until you get the balance you want.

Wrathwilde

 

[kash]

I think your concerns about losing top end flavor notes are correct. To what degree this happens is another matter. I'm by no way expert enough in mead making to render a decision, however I do have a bit of O-chem that leads me to believe that most of the organic volatiles that are soluble in either alcohol or water will be preserved in soloution. Sure, some is going to gas off but most will be held in suspension. The flavorant molecules are quite heavy compaired to the CO2, it would take quite a bit of scrubbing to remove them all. Certianly more than could be generated by fermentation. Secondly, a greater fraction of what CO2 can scrub off will be water vapor. (Or to say it another way, If a certian amount CO2 can scrub off volume X, only a small portion of X will be flavorant. Water and alcohol vapor would probably be the next largest carried out of solution)

Temper my comment with the knowledge that I know bubkiss about mead making.

 

[pain]

For a rhodomel, I've found that racking onto the rose petals in secondary works best for me. I usually start with at *least* 3 lbs of honey per gallon of water, and usually end up adding more honey water at the end as well.

My usual approach to rhodomel is to set up a basic mead honey-to-water 3lbs per gallon, let it ferment for about a month, then rack onto a bag of rose petals (I usually do 5-gal batches, and work with around a 1-gal bag of frozen rose petals from my garden). Let sit at least another month. You'll notice a sort of greasy film on the top, thats the oils. Let it sit until this evaporates, then rack again, and add rose water to bring up the rose flavor. In my last 5-gal batch I believe I ended up using a bottle of rose water, plus about a half bottle of rose syrup (gotten at World Market). I ended up with a really excellent mead that smelled like roses and had a really nice delicate, full-bodied flavor.

For the batch you're working with, there's no reason you couldn't add more honey and let it ferment further, and see what happens...

 

[Oskaar]

If you're anywhere near Middle-Eastern markets you can find some excellent rose water there. I'ts where I get mine when I use it to supplement the petals.

Cheers,

Oskaar

 

[pain]

Yeah, I get my rose water at a Middle Eastern shop/restaurant in Raleigh. And *oh* is the food gooooooodddddd....

Vicky - with visions of tabbouleh and hummus dancing in my head...

 

[WitchyWoman]

What store? I live in the triange area too and would love to find a place with high-quality rosewater and syrup.

Witchy

 

[pain]

Hey Witchy,

I get mine at Neomonde, just off Hillsborough Road before you get to Meredith College. They're on Beryl, on the other side of the railroad tracks, behind the Waffle House.

Great place, but watch out! They're not only a Middle Eastern grocery, they're also a restaurant, and their baklavah is *fab*. I go there and pig on tabbouleh and other nummy things from time to time.

Vicky - now I'm jonesing for a Neomonde fix....

 

[Raleigh]

Holy Mackeral.....I just had a little taste of my rhodomel which is close to four months old now.....alI I can say is uuummmmmmm, yum, yum, yum........Its sweet, rosey, and emmmm goood......One thing I have noticed though about meades in general is that.....Sometimes I taste my brews and I think they are really delicious, and yet at other times.....not so good.....and yet, this has nothing to do with age.....Anyway....I am getting off topic here....This rose meade is yummy....I really wish you all were here now cause Id pour ya a glass....Me fellow meade enthusiasts. Unfortunately I probably only have....mmmmm, bout half a gallon left.....I have been taste testing just a weeeee bit too often. Any who.....This glass is fer you! I luv you man!!! Mabe Ive drank a bit too much......

P.S. Any of you think of making meade with lotus flowers and or water lilies???....Do a search.....They might have certain, ummmm (extra benifits) to the honey wine.....The Egyptians knew...However, I wont tell you....Do your own research!!

 

[Fwee]

Anyone else have an involuntary smile form on their face after reading that post above?

 

[Oskaar]

You're thinking of the Blue Water Lily. There was an experiment done in England some time back that was the subject of a documentary on the History Channel.

There is some information on this (I don't know if it is the same documentary information or not, but there it is) here:

http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/lotus.htm

Never had the opportunity to try this plant, or infuse it into my mead. It would be something that I would tend to infuse rather than placing in the primary. Or it might be interesting to pulp the plant in the primary in a very weak short mead, and then step feed it more honey up to say 14-16%. At that point placing more of the flowers in the secondary.

Sounds like fun.

Cheers,

Oskaar