Question/Issue (Raspberry/Blackberry Mead)

I made a 1 gallon batch of mead, heres the recipe:
2.5 lbs clover honey
4oz fresh raspberries
4oz fresh blackberries
1 Juice of lemon
1 Juice of lime
1/2c Earl Grey Tea
Yeast: D47
Nutrient and Energizer


I made this on 1/18 and let it completely ferment. It stopped at 1.000 on ~1/24
On 1/26 I racked to secondary to clear. It cleared very fast without any finings or anything. On 1/29 it was completely cleared, And yesterday (2/4) I re-racked then bottled. When i took a taste. it was complete alcohol/yeast/fermentation flavor. And no hint of fruit or anything.
While it is aging in bottles, will the yeasty/alcohol flavor mellow out? I realize it is a young mead, but i figured it would have a small hint of fruit inside of it. I never stabilized the mead, so..after some aging would I be able to carb it?

Any suggestions to how I should backsweeten it? Then let it carb using the sugars from the backsweetening to carbonate. Or what I should have done different/still do?? Thanks for any insight.

-Dave

DaveVanO said:

I made a 1 gallon batch of mead, heres the recipe:
2.5 lbs clover honey
4oz fresh raspberries
4oz fresh blackberries
1 Juice of lemon
1 Juice of lime
1/2c Earl Grey Tea
Yeast: D47
Nutrient and Energizer


I made this on 1/18 and let it completely ferment. It stopped at 1.000 on ~1/24
On 1/26 I racked to secondary to clear. It cleared very fast without any finings or anything. On 1/29 it was completely cleared, And yesterday (2/4) I re-racked then bottled. When i took a taste. it was complete alcohol/yeast/fermentation flavor. And no hint of fruit or anything.
While it is aging in bottles, will the yeasty/alcohol flavor mellow out? I realize it is a young mead, but i figured it would have a small hint of fruit inside of it. I never stabilized the mead, so..after some aging would I be able to carb it?

Any suggestions to how I should backsweeten it? Then let it carb using the sugars from the backsweetening to carbonate. Or what I should have done different/still do?? Thanks for any insight.

-Dave

Click to expand...

Ok, backsweetening and carbonating will not go together. First things first.

Sweet meads usually are never carbonated unless you are force carbing. Bottle carbing is hard to do while having a sweet mead. The reason is that the yeast eat up all the sugar and you have bottle bombs.

The yeasty taste is because there is still a good amount of yeast in it and it went dry. The alcohol taste is normal of a freshly made mead in most cases. That is usually due to fusel alcohols and those will age out given time. But the dryness problem backsweetening is the best option.

Backsweetening (my method and generally accepted)
1. Stablize: this can be done with some Potasium Sorbate or Metasulfates.
Stablizing will stop the yeast and keep it from reproducing, now this is not a fool proof method but it works most of the time. Basically, yeast has a short lifespan and the presence of the Postasium Sorbate will keep the reproducing down and as the yeast dies it will flocuate (stick together) and sink to the bottom. Given time. Basically, I hit it with the potasium sorbate and wait a day or two. Then on the the actual sweetening stage.

2. Mix 1/2 water, 1/2 honey (I like to hit this mix up with the potasium sorbate in case of wild yeasts in the honey). Usually I am backsweetening with 1 galon volume using 1/2 gal of water and 6 pounds of honey. This mixture blends best when the honey/water is heated a little bit, not boiling and not even simmering. You can mix up how much honey/water you want to sweeten with.

3. take a sample and add measured amounts until you like the sweetness. Then scale it up. Or as I do, guesstimate the volume.

4. This will cloud it up so let it sit in the carboy and settle down again. Wait til it's clear enough to read through, or similar clarity.

5. bottle when ready

6. age for at least 6 months, best to age a year.

I sometimes find it benificial to put in a bit of oak to oak it, this mix would benifit from lightly toasted oak. For about 3 weeks while it's clearing from the backsweetening. For 1 gal go 1/2 oz of chips or cubes. You can age up to a month but I would only go 3 weeks with such a small volume. I usually do 5 gal batches and do 1 oz for 4-5 weeks.

For carbonating, I don't know but you would be best force carbonating with a carborator and not doing it in the bottle.

Matrix

ok thanks for the answer...Would aging it first then backsweetening be fine? It has no sugars left in it. I have yet to stabilize, so would i be able to just age first. THEN stabilize and backsweeten? I already bottled, and didnt use any expensive bottles because its my first time bottling mead anyways. Would the yeast hurt the bottling and backsweetening after aging process? I can do both, but dont really care to backsweeten yet because I dont know what I would use to backsweeten with. Might use a mixed berry concentrate juice or something. IDK though

DaveVanO said:

ok thanks for the answer...Would aging it first then backsweetening be fine? It has no sugars left in it. I have yet to stabilize, so would i be able to just age first. THEN stabilize and backsweeten? I already bottled, and didnt use any expensive bottles because its my first time bottling mead anyways. Would the yeast hurt the bottling and backsweetening after aging process? I can do both, but dont really care to backsweeten yet because I dont know what I would use to backsweeten with. Might use a mixed berry concentrate juice or something. IDK though

Click to expand...

Best to stabize then backsweeten, then oak and age. Adding honey will cloud it up and it will need to settle. Any addition will change the mead then it will need to clear and you can't start aging it until it is clear.

You can oak at any time but it is best to do when it is clear as the last stage before aging.

Matrix