So, my first attempt at making a mead. I started a one gallon blueberry mead 2 weeks ago. The bubbling had come to a stop so I racked it tonight. I sampled it... Holy cow... It had a..well, almost a vodka taste to it. I felt like I could have used a lighter to blow flames. I added a cup of 50/50 honey water to it and put the airlock back on. Is this right? I have no idea what I'm doing. I don't have a hydrometer (I think that what is used to measure alcohol %) and I haven't used any sorabtes or carbonates. The only thing that is in this is honey, water, blueberries (that have now been removed from the racking) and redstar Pasteur champagne yeast. Is this normal? I know it's very young, so I'm not sure if it just needs time to age or if I need to do something.
Start a fire with my mead
- Thread starter Cryssunshine
- Start date
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No, a hydrometer measure the density of water and the amount of sugars in it when compared to pure water of a known value....
If you have no hydrometer you can't know if it was ready for racking.
Alcohol hot flavour.....is it just that the batch needs ageing or because you offer no real info or data it could be that your brew is just full of fusels ??
Your method is rather haphazard.
With little nutrients, its hard to know how complete it is.
Without good info, its entirely possible that its stuck, you've added further fermentables so if it dropped clear, you could end up bottling and its possible explosive result....
Bottle bombs are no fun.....
If you have no hydrometer you can't know if it was ready for racking.
Alcohol hot flavour.....is it just that the batch needs ageing or because you offer no real info or data it could be that your brew is just full of fusels ??
Your method is rather haphazard.
With little nutrients, its hard to know how complete it is.
Without good info, its entirely possible that its stuck, you've added further fermentables so if it dropped clear, you could end up bottling and its possible explosive result....
Bottle bombs are no fun.....
Heh, tasting anything less than a few months old is usually a recipe for panic! A 2 week old mead generally should taste pretty rough unless it's stuck and way too sweet...
Do yourself a favour and get a hydrometer, especially if you're planning to make more than just this batch... but in the meantime, your exact recipe (like it asks for up top there) would help us figure out whether it's going to continue to ferment or if it might be done about all it's going to do.
Do yourself a favour and get a hydrometer, especially if you're planning to make more than just this batch... but in the meantime, your exact recipe (like it asks for up top there) would help us figure out whether it's going to continue to ferment or if it might be done about all it's going to do.
If you added "honey water" (assuming that is half honey...), then yeast can consume that, IF they are still alive, and IF the maximum tolerance for alcohol hasn't been exceeded, IF....If.....
We need more info, as fatbloke and chevette have stated, but we were ALL rookies once. Persevere, my friend, and please give us more details.
We need more info, as fatbloke and chevette have stated, but we were ALL rookies once. Persevere, my friend, and please give us more details.
You might also want to read the Newbie guide that's on the left of the screen. It did wonders for me. I was cocky because I had been brewing beer for so long, but mead is a completely different animal.
