Redhawke said:
Fatbloke,
After going back over Papazian's recipe for Barshack Ginger Mead in his book I think I see what has happened to your mead. You have, if I am reading you correctly, added the bottling sugar to the mead in the primary ferment. The sugar addition was intended to be added after the mead had aged for 1 to 1 1/2 months in the secondary and before you bottled it so it would carbonate or become sparkling.
No, I haven't got as far as the bottling stage. I've yet to add any more sugar in respect of carbonation etc.
How will this effect the mead??? You used table sugar so it can lighten the flavor and if impure it could impart some off flavors to the mead described as Cidery. It should of raised the alcohol % a bit, these are all things covered in Papazian's book The Complete Joy of Homebrewing third edition. If I were you I would consider picking up a copy of this book from Amazon, favorite book store or your local HBS.
Yes, I'd checked out the CJOHB at amazon, but it seemed more focused on beer. Which I don't make - I'm more of a wine/mead/spirits person. I've been thinking about getting a copy anyway as it seems that there is probably more info in it, that I may find rather useful - I can always just skip any parts that refer to beer.
Correcting this mistake may take a long time, the addition of extra honey may bring back more honey taste and nose. The addition of extra Ginger in the secondary may increase the ginger bite you are looking for but with the addition of the table sugar I think time will be your greatest ally at this point. The extra honey could also change the overall intent of the basic recipe in that it was intended to produce a dry alcoholic ginger ale with a clear color.
Yes, thats sort of what I'm hoping for. Though I suspect that I had the wrong idea of what it might taste like in the first place. It may be that I had the idea that it was light on honey (baring in mind the usual 3 to 4 lb per gallon of "normal" mead - and lots of the UK reference stuff is a bit anal as they probably wouldn't refer to it as mead, rather metheglyn I suspect). Also, due to the strong flavour of green/root ginger, I was rather taken aback that there seemed to be little or no taste of it. That was one of the reasons for using the max recommendation of 6oz's in the first place - ginger I love!
I hope that helps you at least a bit and remember as I had to learn the hard way mead is a slow slow endeavor but the rewards are fantastic on the other end. Good luck with your BGM and please do let us know how it progresses.
Yes, I think that you've "hit the nail on the head" there. It's one of the reasons I've started making my own spirits i.e. one of the smaller electric pot stills (they seem to stock them at Homebrew Heaven in Washington State) and the "still spirits" alcohol kits. Instant (well almost) spirits of whatever flavour "takes my fancy" in about 10 days.
It doesn't help that I can be very impatient. I'm hoping that I've done enough with the recipe to "close the gap" a little. Plus I intend to age it in bulk (haven't decided how long yet), but only once the last of the additional ginger has dropped into the lees.
As for the "corn sugar" issue, well now I know that it's basically dextrose, I can get that. Though I'm hoping to obtain "proper" corn sugar, as I'm thinking that it might be more than just refined dextrose, hence the "malty" taste that it apparently imparts.
Ha! the only real downside is that I made 5 gallons (US), so I'll need a hell of a lot of 330ml or 500ml beer bottles (I don't have a corking machine for champagne type bottles/corks). Plus a cheap "crown capper" isn't very expensive.
Once the batch has settled down some, I'll report back after I've racked it.
Thanks for the input though, it's answered a number of questions. Much appreciated.
regards
fatbloke.
p.s. Strangely enough, the most helpful link I've actually found thus far, is
this one. I wish I'd found that before I started, it also answers many of my questions!