Mead still tastes bad.

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Tim27

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Hello all, I started a mead 14Nov2009. It has been eight months and it is still undrinkable based on my my hydrometer samples. Four weeks ago it finally started to clear. It did ferment out more than I thought, from 1.120 to .998 so maybe this has something to to do with it. Should I keep waiting, or is it a lost cause?
 
Well, based on your readings your mead is something around 17% ABV? The higher the alcohol content (in general) the longer it will take to mellow out once bottled. I'd say you want to bottle it once it clears and let it age 1 year minimum and even go 2 to 2 1/2 years. Of course if you want to stablize and back sweeten a sweet mead may be drinkable a little sooner.
 
I guess I will bottle in a month and go from there. I knew mead would be a test in patience just not this much patience:(. Oh well:mug:. Plenty of other stuff I can brew and drink in the meantime.:rockin:
 
how is it "undrinkable"? Acidic? Sour? Hot? Insipid?

With <1 FG it might just need a little TLC, not necessarily aging. Think about what could be done with it. Would some tannin help? Acid? backsweetening? Maybe consider adding oak, acid blend, or some additional honey (after sorbating).

If it's hot, there's not a lot you can do there, but if it's something else you certainly have options. :)
 
Hot is a good descriptor. I would go with rocket fuel:D. It is not even close to the Redstone that I had which is the only mead that I have tried other than my own nasty swill. Maybe I just need to do a bit more research before I try mead making again.
 
you need AT LEAST a year from start to cracking a bottle. If it cleared, I would bottle and leave it for another year.

Making good wine takes a lot of patience. You will be absolutely amazed how good it is if you give it the time to age.
 
My mead is 14%, also 8 months old, and still tastes too hot for me. I am waiting at least until January to try another. Do you like beer? Brewing beer has been the main thing keeping myself from messing with my mead. Otherwise maybe some quicker recipes like JAO or Joe's Pyment or a hydromel might keep you entertained.
 
you need AT LEAST a year from start to cracking a bottle. If it cleared, I would bottle and leave it for another year.

Making good wine takes a lot of patience. You will be absolutely amazed how good it is if you give it the time to age.

I don't mean to be a PITA (or a broken record), but it is absolutely NOT true that, in general, you "need" over a year before you can start drinking homemade mead. I keep seeing that sentiment all over the place here and I think it's a myth that needs to die a quick, painless death. We're drinking 2 meads we made in April (about 3.5 months ago) and they're fantastic! While they'll definitely change over time, they are fabulous as they are right now - no need to wait. Some meads might be made for aging (say a barrel-aged sack mead) but my point is that it's not some hard & fast rule that you have to age mead for at least a year before you can touch it.

Now, in the context of this thread, I agree - tuck it away somewhere and go dig it out a year from now and see how it is. If it's still undrinkable, put it away for another year & repeat. But you can totally avoid having to do this by managing your fermentation. Cool fermentation temps and proper yeast health (via nutrients, pH management, and degassing): those two variables are, IMO, what typically make or break a mead.
 
I have been able to make some quick meads around 12% to 14% that tasted pretty good after a few months. But making a high ABV mead, it taste like rocket fuel to me for at least a year. I just brewed two cysters, one is a little lower in the 12% range, the other is above 16%, I fully expect the higher to taste hot for a year or two.
I just also build into my pipeline the quicker ones to keep me from drinking the good stuff too soon.
 
if it is still in the fermentor, try crash cooling. i started doing that with mead and it seems to speed up the clearing/conditioning process. just put it in the fridge and let it sit for a month before bottling. ---this is not a good idea if you are planning on carbonating your mead.
 
Yep - in general, the higher the abv, the longer it will take to age out.....

At 17% - it will taste like gasoline for a while.... but eventually it will settle down and taste wonderful.... Let it sit - nothing bad will happen....

Slightly sweet Apple cider is my Go-To drink it soon beverage.... but it still needs at least 1-week aging before it's ready to drink..

Thanks
 
Any mead/melomel I make I bulk age for at least 1 year after it drops clear. I may bulk age longer, I may bottle & then let it age more; either way I don't expect any of it to be tasty until at least 1.5 years or more. Regards, GF.
 
Does bulk aging (by this I assume you mean aging in a barrel or semijon/carboy) produce different results to aging in the bottle? I've bottled immediately after clearing but don't intend to open them for six months.
 
We're drinking 2 meads we made in April (about 3.5 months ago) and they're fantastic! While they'll definitely change over time, they are fabulous as they are right now - no need to wait. .

Just curious, but what kind of meads are these?
I won't disagree that some meads are good at 3 1/2 months, but I have not yet made one that wasn't even better at 12-18 months.


Tim, a 17% ABV dry mead is generally going to be unpleasant to drink for about 2 years. Frankly, I don't like 17% ABV dry meads much at any age. For me, the alcohol burn tends to take away from my enjoyment of a dry mead above about 13% ABV or so. One way to make a batch of rocket fuel drinkable sooner is to sweeten it a bit.
 
Does bulk aging (by this I assume you mean aging in a barrel or semijon/carboy) produce different results to aging in the bottle? I've bottled immediately after clearing but don't intend to open them for six months.

There are differing opinions on bulk aging, but the general idea is that as the mead/melomel/wine changes over time, if 6 gallons is all in 1 carbouy it will be consistant. If it's been bottled before those changes happen it could vary from bottle to bottle. Some say that's a load of crap though. I just think it's easier to bulk age for a year or 2 before bottling. So far it works well enough for me, so that's what I do. Regards, GF
 
My mead now is not just "hot" in flavor. It is down right undrinkable. I literally gagged when I tried to taste a sample I think this batch is going down the drain. Hey it's my first brewing failure. I just wish I knew what I did wrong:(.
 
My mead now is not just "hot" in flavor. It is down right undrinkable. I literally gagged when I tried to taste a sample I think this batch is going down the drain. Hey it's my first brewing failure. I just wish I knew what I did wrong:(.
There's a few that I've done that have been "failures" Tim, but I never, never throw any away.

It's better to go to the hassle of getting another carboy/demi-john/fermenter etc. Then I just make sure that it's topped up as far as it will go, do the racking/clearing thing and once it's "there" it just goes under the stairs and gets forgotten about. Currently the max is 3 years.

The reason why, is because as some of the others have pointed out, the high alcohol/alcohol hot taste can take a number of years to mellow (think on how long the best whiskies and brandies can spend mellowing...).

There might also be enough tannins to make it unpalletable, and they can also take many years to mellow.

Worse case scenario, well I'd leave it as long as you can (read somewhere that if it's not improved enough in 7 to 8 years then it won't get any better than that), then once at that point, if it's still a bit nasty, just back sweeten it with a nice, flavoursome honey that you like. That will then provide the overriding taste to the brew.

But definitely don't throw it away, you've gone to all this hassle to make it, so why not just add a little more effort, like bulk ageing and then possibly back sweetening.......

Just my 2 cents worth

regards

fatbloke
 
My mead now is not just "hot" in flavor. It is down right undrinkable. I literally gagged when I tried to taste a sample I think this batch is going down the drain.

Tim, can you tell us what tastes bad about it? The more detail you give us the better we can understand what has happened. If you can tell us the details of your recipe (honey, yeast, fermentation temp, nutrients, etc.) we may be able to better predict if this one will improve.

I would never toss a dry mead without aging it for a couple of year. Time may make some VERY dramatic changes. Unless you have some bad sulfur odors or some foul spoilage going on, time is really your friend as a mead maker.

Medsen
 
Medsen, foul spoilage is what I think I got. My Airlock kept going dry for some reason. I thought it was broken so I replaced it. New airlock same problem, it would dry out in a few days. I think I deffinitely got some spoilage. It has been 13 months since brew day.
 
It smells kinda like nail polish remover. Very solvent like. There is something else there that is the worst odor. I can't put my finger on it. Here is the recipe I followed.


5 gallon batch
15 pounds Sue Bee honey(bulk costco)
4 gallons spring water
2 packages Lalvin 71b-1122(rehydrated)
2 TBS yeast nutrient
2 TBS yeast energizer
OG 1.122 FG 1.002
Ferment at around 72 degrees
Transfered to secondary at 14 days.
Still in secondary.


Maybe I should have used better honey?
 
Actually the costco honey isn't likely the problem. It makes decent mead. Which Lalvin yeast was that?

Was this batch fully topped-up? If not bacteria may have had the opportunity to grow.

Nail polish remover often comes from spoilage organisms like acetic acid bacteria and Brettanomyces, but you can sometimes get it from fusels which may age out. If there is something else there, it could be sulfur odors. Take a glass, and swirl it with a bright, shiny piece of copper (a pre-1982 penny, some copper wire, a copper scrub pad, etc.). If the smell improves in that glass then you should treat the rest of the batch.

After eliminating sulfur odors, I'd encourage you to keep it fully topped-up, and let it age for a year. Don't judge it before that - it may yet surpirse you.

Medsen
 
Thanks all, I will let it sit. I don't have a means of topping it off however.:( The yeast I used was 71b-1122. Sorry brain farted that one.
 
Don't have the means of topping it up?
You have no way to a cup or two of add boiled water to it? Strange....

2nd... "Dry" air lock - What sort of air lock are you using? What sort of Bottle/carboy are you using? What sort of temp controls?

3-pc airlocks + Plastic bottles + significant temp swings = massive suckback..... Get one of the S-type air locks and this problem will go away.... glass carboys are quite a bit more expensive....


Thanks
 
Fermenting at 72F can certainly give you some higher alcohols with solvent character, but aging will help them fade out (18 months or more in many cases). With 71B, you can get some funky odors if you leave it sitting on lees for extended periods of time, and you may want to keep it racked whenever a significant layer develops.

There are many ways to address the issue of headspace - but you need to choose one.

Medsen
 
I didn't think to add water:cross:. I thouught that would water it down to much. Medsen I think I may have had spoilage from a dry airlock or the fact I have left it on the lees for over a year now. I thought as long as I racked off of the gross lees I would have been fine.:(. Should I try to sorbate and back sweeten? Being a beer brewer of the "new school"(no secondary) and brewing all ales I guess I just need to grow accustomed to multiple rackings. Oh well.

Thanks for the replies everyone, unfotunately I will be out of state for few weeks on vacation. So the mead(if that is what it still is) will have to wait till the new year.

Thanks again, Tim
 
Once again - you can usually tell a big difference between Moldy and Nail Polish Remover/rocket fuel....

If it tastes like Nail Polish Remover - let it age another year or 2....

If it tastes Moldy, old socks, or wet cardboard - Dump.

If it tastes Oxidized - sherry like, but otherwise good... it still may be fine... it will just taste different than if it wasn't oxidized...

I haven't ever really had any trouble from extended aging on the lees.... Best batch of wine so far was one that I forgot about and let it age on the yeast lees for over a year.... They were *REALLY* compact by then.... I would rack it early to get all the fruit bits and such out - but not so much to remove yeast.... They don't seem to cause much trouble.

Thanks

John
 
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