really strong peppermint mead question.

[BaronIV]

heres the deal. I made a peppermint mead that i plan on aging until next holidays. Anyways, i used 4 lbs of honey, 1 gallon of water, a whole small bottle of alcohol based peppermint extract ( didnt seem strong in the water when i was making it), 1 tsp of nutrients, 1/2 tsp energizer, and a packet of rehydrated ec-1118 lalvin yeast.

So now that the batch has been in the primary for a few days, i opened it up to check everything and add the last bit of the staggered nutrients, they smell of peppermint is almost overwhelming. This concerns me a bit because i've been told that mint and other spices tend to get stronger during the aging proccess and i don't want to have a batch of mead that is way to potent to enjoy.

My question is, is there a way i would be able to make another batch and combine them together, or water it down somehow, so i dont have such a strong batch? or would it be safer just to leave it alone and see how it turns out?

thank you for the responses in advance! Im brand new to the forum and extremely new to the home brewing world. I've made a semi-sweet show mead thats aging right now and this peppermint batch is only my second, so i would like this batch to actually be drinkable after it ages.

 

[dr9]

In my extremely limited experience, I have found that adding stuff to/during the primary will weaken the affect, the co2 "airs out" the additives. I added clove to a cider recently, it was very strong at first but was not noticeable at all in the final product. Basically, that "strong smell" of peppermint means the essense is in the air, from the liquid. The stronger the smell, the more of the essense you are losing from the liquid.

Is that consistent with what some of you more experienced meadmen have found to be true?

 

[TXBeowulf]

Were you planning on bulk aging, or bottle aging? The constituents in peppermint that give it it's distinctive strong aroma are volatile oils that evaporate relatively quickly, if given the opportunity. These oils are concentrated in commercial extracts. I have no personal experience using peppermint in mead making, but presumably in a bulk aging scenario, some of those oils will evaporate out of the mead, and leave with any excess CO2 via the fermentation lock, but whatever is in the mead at bottling will stay in until the bottle is opened.

Were I in your situation, I would make a batch of show mead using the same recipe sans peppermint, and be prepared to cut the peppermint mead at the time of bottling if necessary. If it isn't necessary, then you have more show mead to drink, and that's never a bad thing.

 

[Kee]

I made a peppermint batch as well. Even though I wrote down that I added peppermint extract, I couldn't smell it at all. I convinced myself I forgot to add it, and added more. I used a heavy hand both times. A few weeks later when I checked on it, the peppermint was like tear gas! If you opened the container, your eyes started watering. After a year, the peppermint has mellowed, integrated, and is very nice so there is hope for your batch.

At a few days old, it's hard to tell what this will do. I would keep going with this as is. During the fermentation process, certain scents will come forward and then fall to the background before fully integrating. Once this is out of the primary, put this away for several months. In 6 to 10 months, you can decide if you need to mix this with a show, but don't mix it for at least 6 months.

You should keep a good sense of humor with this batch too. It might always be on the strong side.

 

[BaronIV]

i appreciate the quick responses! i plan on bulk aging this mead for upwards of 10 months and hopefully another 2 in the bottle before drinking it. It's good to hear that the peppermint mellow out a little given some time. Since this was only my second batch i didn't want it to be like drinking minty gasoline!

and @ Kee, if this does turn out like that i definately will have a chuckle about it!

 

[Kee]

Baron, you should still make at least a gallon or two of show in the next couple of months so that if you need to mellow the peppermint out by mix it with another, you'll have an aged show on hand.

Good luck with this.