Hi fellow Homebrewers,
I'm fairly new at making mead, and just want to see what your opinion is on my latest batch. I am making a cyser using a bit of a mix and match recipe (aka. no recipe) using left over ingredients from a couple batches of mead, and a jug of apple juice from the store.
My "recipe" consists of:
8.7Lb Honey (Superstore Special, was just easiest to get)
2.83L raw unpasteurized apple juice
aprox. 18.5L water
2.5tsp spagnols yeast nutrient
I pasteurized the honey and AJ by heating at 145-150 F for 5 mins, added the nutrient, then cooled in a cold water/ice bath (next time I'm buying a bag of ice). I added the mixture to my bucket at about 80 F, and topped up to 24L with water. Pitched the yeast, and left it for about 2 weeks before transferring to my secondary about a week ago.
The OG was 1.053, and the FG was 0.997, with ABV of 7.3%.
When I racked it, I tasted a bit, and it had a bit of a strange taste to it, almost bitter, some may describe it as tart. Will this age out? I was thinking of backsweetening it with a bit of brown sugar to bring it up to ~1.006 SG (medium-dry according to a chart I found on a forum).
I'm not worried about it, but what are some of your opinions/experiences with recipes similar to this. I know as a rookie I probably should have used an existing recipe, but I like to live a little dangerously, and experiment with things :rockin:.
Edit: Another important thing I forgot to mention was I used EC-1118 yeast. I have used KV-1116 yeast before, but 1118 is more available for me. What is more commonly used for meads?
I'm fairly new at making mead, and just want to see what your opinion is on my latest batch. I am making a cyser using a bit of a mix and match recipe (aka. no recipe) using left over ingredients from a couple batches of mead, and a jug of apple juice from the store.
My "recipe" consists of:
8.7Lb Honey (Superstore Special, was just easiest to get)
2.83L raw unpasteurized apple juice
aprox. 18.5L water
2.5tsp spagnols yeast nutrient
I pasteurized the honey and AJ by heating at 145-150 F for 5 mins, added the nutrient, then cooled in a cold water/ice bath (next time I'm buying a bag of ice). I added the mixture to my bucket at about 80 F, and topped up to 24L with water. Pitched the yeast, and left it for about 2 weeks before transferring to my secondary about a week ago.
The OG was 1.053, and the FG was 0.997, with ABV of 7.3%.
When I racked it, I tasted a bit, and it had a bit of a strange taste to it, almost bitter, some may describe it as tart. Will this age out? I was thinking of backsweetening it with a bit of brown sugar to bring it up to ~1.006 SG (medium-dry according to a chart I found on a forum).
I'm not worried about it, but what are some of your opinions/experiences with recipes similar to this. I know as a rookie I probably should have used an existing recipe, but I like to live a little dangerously, and experiment with things :rockin:.
Edit: Another important thing I forgot to mention was I used EC-1118 yeast. I have used KV-1116 yeast before, but 1118 is more available for me. What is more commonly used for meads?