After tasting mead at a local beer festival I decided to give brewing it a shot. I tried a recipe that was recommended by a friend which was 15lbs of honey, 5 gallons of water, oranges, cinnamon sticks, and some raisins for yeast nutrition. My OG was 1.102 I used Lalvin D47 yeast to ferment in a 6.5 gal carboy.
My problem is that it's only ~9 days after I first pitched the yeast and my SG is already 1.018. The taste of the mead is VERY hot, you can definitely taste a lot of fusel alcohols. I believe my problem is temperature since I live in the south and on the top floor of my apartment building so it gets pretty hot in my apartment. I kept my carboy in my closet as it's always the coolest place in the house but still this usually stays in the upper 70's.
Is this batch salvageable? I've heard that fusel alcohols can mellow out given a very very long time. Would sweetening it with more honey after fermentation help mask it a little or should I not even bother? I'm not even sure I could brew mead at these temperatures I might need to wait for winter and just do beers in the mean time.
My problem is that it's only ~9 days after I first pitched the yeast and my SG is already 1.018. The taste of the mead is VERY hot, you can definitely taste a lot of fusel alcohols. I believe my problem is temperature since I live in the south and on the top floor of my apartment building so it gets pretty hot in my apartment. I kept my carboy in my closet as it's always the coolest place in the house but still this usually stays in the upper 70's.
Is this batch salvageable? I've heard that fusel alcohols can mellow out given a very very long time. Would sweetening it with more honey after fermentation help mask it a little or should I not even bother? I'm not even sure I could brew mead at these temperatures I might need to wait for winter and just do beers in the mean time.