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M

Muirhead

NewBee
Registered Member
Nov 4, 2018
2
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0
Hey, first post but I've been lurking for a few weeks. I followed this recipe exactly
https://www.growforagecookferment.com/how-to-make-a-gallon-of-mead/
added one valencia orange and a handful of raisins, both soaked in vodka overnight. Instead of champagne yeast, I used a half package of EC-1118. It bubbled immediately but after ~3 weeks, no bubbles in the air lock. I tried stirring, waited 5 days and transferred to a 1gal glass jug and still no bubbles. When I took a sip, it tasted like carbonated vodka and smells like rotten fruit.
1st ferment was in a white plastic 2gal bucket and stored in a dark room at approx 65°F. Honey (3lbs) was purchased from a neighbor so I know it was raw and fresh. Any help to avoid repeating the mistake is greatly appreciated
 
You wouldn't know better as a newbbe. But that recipe was doomed to fail before you even started. So much of what you find is super outdated. And often times just plain junk even in it's day.

Look up Gotmead life podcast and start on 9/5/17 if you want to use modern methods and make good mead from the very start. I would just toss the crap you made. You will hear some say to save it for a year or two. I won't tell you what to do with your own stuff. But good stuff never comes from crap. The best you can get if your looky is ok crap. Not worth the time to wait if you ask me.
 
Welcome! I haven't had much luck with some of the 'quick mead' recipes out there - including the JAOM. I'm not saying they haven't ever worked well for others... To start, one fault here could be the vodka - I didn't see that in the recipe, but could have missed it. It sounds like the ferment may have completed too. EC-1118 can ferment up to 18% ABV, and can produce high amounts of SO2 if it's not happy (e.g. too low of nutrients, which this recipe doesn't call for). This could be the off aroma you smell with the fruit.
The podcasts Squatchy points to are good. Another resource here on GotMead is the NewBee guide. It's an easy read. This forum itself has a lot of answers too if you search for them, but you may end up with more questions - LOL. Another page to bookmark, or download the pdf is Scotts Labs handbook 2018 (google it).
I guess maybe the first question to answer is what you want to accomplish in making mead. Do you want to do it well, and understand what that means, then possibly refine techniques that work with the resources you have? That will take some study, and resources - even if you don't want to compete and just want to make good mead that you'd be proud to share with friends and family. I easily put in 80 hours of study and prep before I even took the time to plan out my first mead. I think it's like science and art at the same time, and I still have fun even though neither of those are my strengths.
 
I am no expert Muirhead, I am still a newbie, but from what I have learnt and read you have to be careful with adding raisins because what happens is the raisins rise to the top and then are exposed to oxidation and can end up growing mold, which may be where the off fruit taste comes from. I think 3 weeks primary fermentation with raisins is probably too long in my opinion, My second batch of mead has a tanic tea made from black tea and raisins. I am going to rack my mead after about a week of fermentation to get rid of the raisins as I think that is enough time for them to have their desired effect without rotting.

Just something to be aware of.
 
I'll second what Squatchy and 4give have already stated, and say that I didn't make my first batch of mead until after about 3 months of study. It actually takes that long to do enough reading, podcast listening and video watching, to figure out who knows what they are talking about and who has no idea what they are doing.

I've made 3 of the JAOM recipes and (like 4give) I'm not a fan either. In my case I think it's the taste of the orange pith and (when it's made with the intended bread yeast) a little to sweet for me.

Has it cleared? If not, you should put the glass jug some where (basement or refrigerator) and let the yeast and fruit residue fall out.

I'll add that after 3 weeks this has (probably) finished fermenting and has eaten through ALL of the sugar in the honey. Not a lot of people enjoy the taste of "dry" mead. You might want to draw off a glass and experiment with adding honey (back sweetening) to see what sweetness level you like.
 
ob1 said:
I am no expert Muirhead, I am still a newbie, but from what I have learnt and read you have to be careful with adding raisins because what happens is the raisins rise to the top and then are exposed to oxidation and can end up growing mold, which may be where the off fruit taste comes from. I think 3 weeks primary fermentation with raisins is probably too long in my opinion, My second batch of mead has a tanic tea made from black tea and raisins. I am going to rack my mead after about a week of fermentation to get rid of the raisins as I think that is enough time for them to have their desired effect without rotting.

Just something to be aware of.
Click to expand...

Welcome to the community. I just wanted to stop by and say that raisins are not nutrients and don't help unless you add so much that you then end up making a raisin flavored mead. You really need to learn about nutrition.

In my reply above you can find the podcast to do that
 
Squatchy said:
Welcome to the community. I just wanted to stop by and say that raisins are not nutrients and don't help unless you add so much that you then end up making a raisin flavored mead. You really need to learn about nutrition.

In my reply above you can find the podcast to do that
Click to expand...

Squatchy, thank you for your post.

Like I said I am a newbie, beginner, on my second batch whilst my first is fermenting and I am truly at the experimental stage. Listening to your podcast on designing your own mead recipes at the moment. I saw a youtube video a while ago that talked about making a tea of black tea that steeps raisins and was told that it adds tannic notes to the final mead. I thought I'd give it a try and see for myself the difference between doing this and just your bog standard sack mead.

Sorry to hijack this thread, just thought I'd tell you where I am coming from. I genuinely want to become an excellent meadist. So appreciate the rebuke.

Regards
 
ob1 said:
Squatchy, thank you for your post.

Like I said I am a newbie, beginner, on my second batch whilst my first is fermenting and I am truly at the experimental stage. Listening to your podcast on designing your own mead recipes at the moment. I saw a youtube video a while ago that talked about making a tea of black tea that steeps raisins and was told that it adds tannic notes to the final mead. I thought I'd give it a try and see for myself the difference between doing this and just your bog standard sack mead.

Sorry to hijack this thread, just thought I'd tell you where I am coming from. I genuinely want to become an excellent meadist. So appreciate the rebuke.

Regards
Click to expand...

It wasn't meant as a rebuke. I only wanted to help you out. I didn't realize you were looking for tannins. This is the first time a newbie wasn't using raisins for nutrition (YAN) for the yeast. So I wrongly assumed that was what you were trying to accomplish as well.

Please run by us your plans on the next few meads so we can catch any adjustments you would need to make. This way we can help steer you away from pitfalls until you learn enough on your own to recognize bad recipe faults.
 
Squatchy said:
It wasn't meant as a rebuke. I only wanted to help you out. I didn't realize you were looking for tannins. This is the first time a newbie wasn't using raisins for nutrition (YAN) for the yeast. So I wrongly assumed that was what you were trying to accomplish as well.

Please run by us your plans on the next few meads so we can catch any adjustments you would need to make. This way we can help steer you away from pitfalls until you learn enough on your own to recognize bad recipe faults.
Click to expand...

Thanks Squatchy I will take you up on that offer. PM'd you to avoid hijacking
 
I read somewhere, before joining here, that raisins were used as tannins, not nutrients. In another post I may have got that part confused & mentioned nutrients.
 
Excellent info, thank you all so much. I have a neighbor who supplies raw local honey so I'll be trying the suggested recipe this weekend
 
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