Samples and SG

[xanderphillips]

Ok, so I took gravity samples of my various meads tonight to see where they stand. All are progressing nicely.

Quick question:

Does the alcohol bite of an immature mead mask the sweetness?

Because from the gravity readings I took my meads are still in the 'Sweet' range, but I've tasted moonshine that had less kick!

I don't taste the 'sweet' at all...

Newbie question, hopefully it's just that they are too young and the bite goes away and the sweetness surfaces.

Ignoring the alcohol kick, there are some really nice flavors underneath that I hope survive and come out of each of my meads.

Just a small taste from each of 3 batches and I can feel it.
Probably less than 3 oz consumed...
Wondering if these things are going to be blow my head off strong...
71B-1122 may not have been the right choice of yeast for my first batches given it's 14% tolerance. (I'm used to my Guinness at like 4.2-4.3%)

Thanks
Xanderphillips

 

[GntlKnigt1]

It's not unusual for the alcohol to have a bite when the mead is young. That is part of the reason that people suggest it age for 6 months to a year; some folks say 1 month for every 1% alcohol. Can't speak to the 'Sweetness' issue unless you are talking about Walter Payton, or give us SG readings. However, I backsweetened another batch yesterday and where was it when the flavor was right and I stopped? Same as the prior 15 batches..... 1.020.

 

[fatbloke]

Further to Dougs comment, many young meads can taste hideous. 6 months down the line it can be a different drink entirely.

Despite what a lot of beer wallahs will have you believe, meads are more closely related to wines so comparing a mead to a beer is chalk and cheese......

Hence most method is similar to wines and not beer making.......

dry meads, once aged can have a distinctly white like character, but its easy to mistake the numbers and a perception of sweetness.

don't make the mistake of thinking that because mead is made with honey, it automatically tastes like watered down honey with a bit of a kick....

I, like Doug, routinely back sweeten, but I back sweeten to about the 1.010 area as I find that sweet enough for my taste.......

 

[GntlKnigt1]

Yeah...although i am going to cold crash and stabilize this traditional batch like A Stephenson thread.....and almost no nutrients. It better ferment faster though or temps will be up to 20 C by the time i want to cold crash

Sent from Arthur Dent's towel smothering a volume of Vogon poetry, some of which just leaked out.

 

[Kansas Mead]

but I've tasted moonshine that had less kick!

It sounds like you might have high alcohols which would make it taste like moonshine. They can age out with time. It is also a sign of yeast under stress.

 

[mannye]

Unless the "bite" you refer to is a bitter bite masquerading as booze which even a dry young BOMM will have. High alcohol in all (my all is much less than other peoples all. I have less than 10 batches under my belt) my meads has tasted "hot" at the finish. Kind of a slow burn more than a bite.




Sent from my galafreyan transdimensional communicator 100 years from now. G

 

[GntlKnigt1]

ROFL....

Sent from Arthur Dent's towel smothering a volume of Vogon poetry, some of which just leaked out.

 

[MJ7]

In t-minus 3 hours I will be cold crashing my first mead. It took two weeks using D47. It's current SG is around 1.025, and there is subtle alcohol flavor, nothing off putting. Mine is drinkable right out of the carboy as is. Age it and see what happens.