lots of matter in must - Page 2

mr_y82 · 01-25-2012, 10:58 PM

12/29/11 racked to secondary... still got that rocket fuel edge, but time, patience, and time should make this nice... 15% w/ SG of .998... but still a little sweetness.

truckjohn · 01-26-2012, 03:19 PM

Issue #1 - you are a beer brewer... Beer brewers are necessarily obsessed with PROCESS.... You are not brewing Beer... You are making Mead... Mead is Honey Wine....

It's different... VERY different! In Beer world - You can start with the same, exact list of base ingredients and yeast and make 100 different types of beer depending on your process.... If you start with Merlot grapes and Merlot wine yeast - you make Merlot wine..... You won't get Cabarnet or Zinfandel or Shiraz no matter how much you want it....

The Quality of Wine is heavily determined by the Ingredients... In this case - the Honey, Yeast, Water, Nutrients, and finally - Aging control the final quality of the mead - provided you can just leave it alone to do it's thing.... Process wise - so long as you don't make too many mistakes, it will be OK.... This is very different from Beer - where if you aren't somewhat obsessive about Process, you won't get a beer that bears any resemblance to what you were trying to make....

Don't take this as an insult - Wine makers can run into the same issue when trying to make beer... They focus in on the highest quality ingredients and the right yeasts, and don't pay as much attention to the process... and get weird results.... until they learn about the importance of the Process....

Anyway - let it be.... It will be fine. With 15% ABV - you will probably need to let it sit 2-3 years for it to really come into it's own and be totally delicious.... It will probably be pretty darn good in a year, though...

Thanks

mr_y82 · 01-27-2012, 02:15 AM

Thanks for the adive, but just in case you got the wrong idea, I was not complaining... I always taste my hydrometer samples and, if anything, I waited a couple extra weeks before racking to secondary... Any impatient impluse I have can be put off with my back to back to back beer projects and my weaker trial run of mead (which tastes rather appealing at 5 months).

No offense intended... just didn't think I had an issue, just offering an update... too many threads are seemingly missing conclusions that would be helpful to anyone who happens across them doing research (I mellowed out since the OP... it's been a while and the mead has been looking good... sitting in a corner, covered with a towel... mostly being ignored, as it should). :smile:

cheers.

truckjohn · 01-27-2012, 02:39 PM

Gotcha... Sorry about that... I do appreciate the update.... I think you more or less have it right... Leave it be a while longer if it still tastes like paint thinner....

We run into "Over processing" with Mead and Wine .. kinda like when the wine guys show up on the Beer boards with questions like "I got ahold of the rarest, original land race Ethiopian Barley and Bavarian Hops and Yeast from the Pharoh's tomb... Tried to make beer and it tastes all weird and bitter... What went wrong?" You ask about process and get...

"Well, I used tap water, and mashed it for a while, I forget how long... I boiled it till it looked thick, cooled it off, and pitched yeast." You ask... "Did you strain off any of the grain, hulls, or the the clumpy Trub stuff" and they say "I thought you leave all that stuff in there to add body... You know, Tannins?"

And you say "!"

Thanks

mr_y82 · 01-27-2012, 10:53 PM

haha...

No problem. I really do appreciate the feedback. I'm just here to learn and maybe even (occasional) help someone; though advice sought may (severely) outweigh advice given. I understand the impulse to assume I was some nutty kid trying to drink 2 month old fire in a carboy... as george carlin said:

"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that."

Thanks again.