maple wine/mead

1 month ago I diluted 1 1/3 quart of maple syrup to 1 gallon, with an OG of 1.110, added yeast nutrient, and champagne yeast.

Very active fermentation for about 1 week, then started clearing.

Its now a pale gold color, SG down to 0.980.

It still tastes sweet and slightly maple flavored. Not nearly as strongly maple flavored as when I started. Its very thin, almost no body, and the sweet is a a little unbalanced.

Any thoughts on adding acid blend and/or grape tannins? As sweet as it still tastes, it will be hard to drink much at one time (never mind the 17% abv).

Maybe bottle in 375 wine split bottles?

t

as far as costs--I used whole foods grade b maple syrup, $14/ quart

bonsai4tim said:

1 month ago I diluted 1 1/3 quart of maple syrup to 1 gallon, with an OG of 1.110, added yeast nutrient, and champagne yeast.

Very active fermentation for about 1 week, then started clearing.

Its now a pale gold color, SG down to 0.980.

It still tastes sweet and slightly maple flavored. Not nearly as strongly maple flavored as when I started. Its very thin, almost no body, and the sweet is a a little unbalanced.

Any thoughts on adding acid blend and/or grape tannins? As sweet as it still tastes, it will be hard to drink much at one time (never mind the 17% abv).

Maybe bottle in 375 wine split bottles?

t

as far as costs--I used whole foods grade b maple syrup, $14/ quart

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well the high-ish, %ABV is probably accounting for the lack of body, though strangely enough if it does still taste sweet that would be really strange with a gravity reading that low.

You could indeed, add some acid of some sort, that often counteracts too sweet a taste.

Or you could use some tannin powder (usually grape based). Either way, I wouldn't use both at the same time.

I'd try one or the other, and add a very small amount at a time until you get close to the taste you like, don't go over the top. Then leave it to age a while.

Did you take a pH reading to know how "acid" it already is ??? as you wouldn't want to use acid if the pH is already low i.e. less than 3.5 to 4.0 pH

What about throwing some oak cubes in it for a while? That would add tannins, and possibly some mouthfeel to "fill" it out a bit.

The few dry meads I have also felt very thin and out of balance. I should've done something to them, but they were some of my first batches and I had a "let it alone" attitude at the time. The dry vanilla definitely would have been much better had I tried adjusting the acidity, but it mixes greatly with an overly sweet chocolate.

For some reason I feel like this is a leave it alone and let it age for a couple of years type situation... maybe add cherry stems.