Watery Mouthfeel

[heathd666]

so i have a question. I havnt caught up on all of the podcasts but ive been binging the Back to Basics. One of them and i cant remember which one atm mentioned sometimes the mead will have a watery mouthfeel due to the body of the mead in the episode. my last traditional turned out just like that and i dont know what happened with the exception that i used a new batch of honey (wildflower). i read this article a little bit about it.

http://www.gotmead.com/forum/showth...ur-mead-taste-good?highlight=watery+mouthfeel

i dont claim to understand tannins and how they contribute to the taste of mead. but i dont understand what happened to make it have that watery taste. any help would be appreciated as i recently bought 60 lbs of Orange Blossom to try another Tradition with and dont want it to turn out watery as well. thanks for the help.

my recipe
Traditional #12
5/14/17 @ 10 am

13 pounds of wildflower honey from hunters honey farm
2 packets of nottinghams ale yeast (1 expired 12/16 other expired 3/17)
mixed honey and water with mixing rod and drill. Added 2 tsp diammonium phosphate, 2 tsp yeast energizer, 1 tsp fermaid k. mixed up yeast with ¼ cup water around 110 degrees. Gravity is 1.083 ph 3.8 temp 78 degrees. Added yeast.

5/19/17 no bubbles yet took upstairs into my air conditioned room 68 degreees.
5/20/17 temp is 68 degrees.
Has never really started bubbling much very slow to ferment.
5/27/17 added another pack of nottinghams exp 1/18
5/28/17 vigerous bubbles 68 degrees
6/16/17 checked gravity 1.010
7/1/14 gravity 1.002 temp is 75deg f
7/3/17 added ¼ tsp potassium metabisulphite @ 12 noon.
7/6/17 @ 5:45 pm added potassium sorbate 3 tsp.
8/26/17 put into fridge 42 deg
9/9/17 took out of fridge
9/10/17 added 2 oz of bourban wood chips to mix
9/23/17 removed wood chips
10/1/17 added honey up to 1.018
10/19/17 checked gravity and tried a sample. 1.018
11/17/2017 racked into carboy PH 3.8 FG 1.018

 

[Squatchy]

So each yeast adds certain aspects unique to that particular strain. One of the attributes that some yeast will add is mouth volume. And many do not. You need to learn what yeast adds mouthfeel. Do a small test batch with a few and see which one you like the best before you dive into the big batch.

Everything you could want to know about yeast is in here. http://www.scottlab.com/pdf/ScottlabsHandbook2017.pdf

I would suggest going to the podcast starting on 9/5/17. In it, you will learn how to employ a step by step approach to making great mead using the most modern protocols.

Lastly. Once you have a grasp of the podcast material and are ready to start your test batches. Run your ideas past us first so we can make sure you start out on the right foot.

 

[bernardsmith]

Just to piggy back on Squatchy's post, some wine yeasts are cultivated to produce lots of gycerols and others not. Not sure that an ale yeast would be required /used for glycerol production but glycerols are one way to enhance mouthfeel. I believe, for example, that DV10 is often used precisely because it enhances mouthfeel. But that said, residual sugar also increases mouthfeel in a similar way - it makes the mead or wine more viscous. It coats your tongue and does not simply slide down your mouth like water. But your mead you say had a final gravity of 1.018. That's more than 7 oz of sugar per gallon. With that amount of sugar the mouthfeel should not have been "watery"... There may be something else afoot.

 

[Stasis]

Watery in the sense of mouthfeel, or watery in the sense that the taste was 1-dimensional.
Traditionals can be tricky. Honey tends to be less complex (after fermentation) than other ingredients to make wine-like drinks. The first step to make a good traditional would be to select a good honey varietal. Have a taste of the varietal before you use it in a batch and after fermentation is complete compare the honey with the fermented beverage. You will learn what is kept in the taste and you will learn what to look for when selecting a honey for a traditional.

Another problem might be the nutrients which were used. You used fermaid K but only 1/5th of the nutrients were K. I wouldn't use less than 1/2 the nutrients Fermaid K. At the moment I use Fermaid O exclusively for traditionals.

With a temperature range of 50F to 72F you were fermenting on the hot side. Lower temps often lead to better mead. High temps and overuse of dap combine pretty badly.

The amount of residual sugars (FG) and initial sugars (SG) seem good, however having a higher SG i.e. using more honey in the beginning would have technically made your mead have more mouthfeel. However, your mead wasn't particularly low and if there is a problem now it would have probably still been there had you started with a higher SG. Also, I'm not sure how much higher tat yeast could go. Ale yeasts often have a lower alcohol tolerance than wine yeasts.