All of you were RIGHT!!!!

I want to thank all of you who told me to let my jet fuel mead and my orange/grapefruit wine sit for a while!!! Both were akin to napalm, and I was going to use them to unclog drains...but due to the mass consumption of homemade wine, by my family, at Thanksgiving, I ran out of my personal stash, and had none ready for my nightly intake of recommended fruit. So I took a peek in those secondaries, in the far back of the "pile", lo and behold, both of them were as clear as clear could be! I thought it was a fluke, so I bottled them, and threw them in the fridge, just in case they were consumable...the next night, WOW!!! The mead still smelled hot, but tasted mellow, and the orange/grapefruit, I had second thoughts about trying to drink that, since it was as bad as my watermelon wine, but it was smooth and had just enough grapefruit to make it delishously tart. Thank you all for the tips and encouragement.

Any time MzAnnie. Glad they turned out well for you! Isn't it amazing how they change?
...Sara

saramc said:

Any time MzAnnie. Glad they turned out well for you! Isn't it amazing how they change?
...Sara

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Yes, it is...so much so, that I am considering adding more buckets to the pile, so that I can experiment with the aging process. I just bottled a Hibiscus/Pomegranate/Blueberry that tastes awesome, but it didn't clear as much as I thought it would. So I am going to start a Apple/Pomegranate/Blueberry/Hibiscus today and see how long I can let it age. For some reason, I love the color AND flavor of Hibiscus. I drink the tea everyday and I really glad that I can incorporate it into my wine.

Time heals all wounds. Glad to hear your aging worked.

MzAnnie said:

Yes, it is...so much so, that I am considering adding more buckets to the pile, so that I can experiment with the aging process. I just bottled a Hibiscus/Pomegranate/Blueberry that tastes awesome, but it didn't clear as much as I thought it would. So I am going to start a Apple/Pomegranate/Blueberry/Hibiscus today and see how long I can let it age. For some reason, I love the color AND flavor of Hibiscus. I drink the tea everyday and I really glad that I can incorporate it into my wine.

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Buckets? Don't age in a bucket. Either bottle age or get more carboys for bulk aging.

novalou said:

Buckets? Don't age in a bucket. Either bottle age or get more carboys for bulk aging.

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This may be a dumb question, however, I have never let that stop me from asking, but why? They are tapped to the top and have an airlock (of sorts), and are food grade. I do age some in bottles, but mostly, they are the experimental ones that taste like crap.

Plastic is not impervious to oxygen, so eventually oxygen will get in.

novalou said:

Buckets? Don't age in a bucket. Either bottle age or get more carboys for bulk aging.

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With buckets you have a good amount of surface area exposed to air with some head space.

With a carboy, you can fill it to the top and the amount of air in the neck is negligible.

MzAnnie said:

the next night, WOW!!! The mead still smelled hot, but tasted mellow, and the orange/grapefruit, I had second thoughts about trying to drink that, since it was as bad as my watermelon wine, but it was smooth and had just enough grapefruit to make it delishously tart. Thank you all for the tips and encouragement.

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And this from the honey hater.

I won't dredge up all the quotes from the previous thread, but I think fatboke's is the most appropriate: "Rocket fuel becomes nectar with age."

Glad it turned out so well.