First mead - used molasses. Did I done goofed?

outback_brewhouse said:

Heyo,
I typically brew wines and fail miserably at brewing beers. I tried my hand at a mead. The honey was about to push me over my budget, so I bought a few pounds of molasses.

In my 5 gallon batch of apple cyser, I used:
8.5 pounds wildflower honey
2.5 pounds molasses
2 gallons fresh apple cider
2 gallons water
Lalvin 71B-1122 cider yeast

Of course, I used molasses without giving any thought at all to how potent the resulting flavors would be.

Is this brew salvageable? :'(

Click to expand...

bernardsmith said:

HI Outback! No irony intended, but if you like the flavor of molasses (absent its sweetness) then you haven't goofed*. But wine ain't beer and while it does take about the same effort to make 1 gallon of wine as it does 5, it is often better to make a one gallon batch with say, 2 pounds of honey than to go for broke and make a five gallon batch that you have to adulterate with other sugars...
I certainly don't consider myself or my actions as the gold standard but I have single gallon batches of lilac, ginger, heather, cyser, braggot, chocolate, t'ej meads amongst many others all quietly aging and these are all single gallon batches because of the particular varieties of honey I wanted to use

* why the asterisk? Because you diluted your batch with water. Why add water if you have apple juice to hydrate the honey? Adding the same volume of water as apple juice will make the apple juice taste like... water. There is just enough water in apple juice to make the apple juice taste fine. Diluting the juice with water may make sense if the only issue was one of quantity but as I argue, quantity should never be the issue in wine making - quality is. I will step off my hobby horse.

Click to expand...

gratus fermentatio said:

It still might be OK. Fermented molasses has a funky flavour IMHO, but that being said, I have used it in small amounts with success. I'd let that fermentation proceed & see what you get. Even if it turns out you don't like it, you might still be able to blend it and get something tasty.
Good luck, GF.

Click to expand...

Austin said:

You're worried about the sulfur flavor correct? I would age it, and age it real good.

Click to expand...