Experimental Mead... oh boy

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YeastBeast

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hey all.. complete n00b here and I've got something weird fermenting.

Before I get into what I have...I'd like to ask a couple questions that are probably dumb.

First.. I used lemon curd in an attempt to get rid of it while adding flavor to the mead. It didn't really occur to me that the 'dried egg" in it would be bad until it was already in there... is there any danger?

Second.. I didn't toss raisins in since I thought that the nutrient I added would be sufficient. I followed the directions and put the proper amount in. Are raisins absolutely necessary to make mead?

Thanks..
 
I started this yesterday and only 1 gallon was created since I didn't know what was going to happen. i used a balloon with a pinhole in it to act as a makeshift airlock. The curd is the only variable.. i also have an orange and some cloves in there I used red star montrachet yeast.

Robertson's Lemon Curd:

sugar, water, corn syrup, palm and canola oil, reconstituted lemon juice, wheat flour, fruit pectin, dried egg, citric acid, salt, lemon oil, sodium citrates, yellow 5 and yellow 6

It looks *foul* ...there's an odd layer inside that appears to be semi solid..and the water jug is bloated to comical proportions.. but it's not exploding or leaking.... yet. it's only been a day.

I sniffed at the escaping CO2 and it doesn't smell bad.. kind of a fake lemon scent you get from a fruit pie.
 
I think the solids will be the oil from the curd that has separated out, but apart from that... no idea!

I'm not sure if it would be a good idea to skim off the oil soids? anyone?

Really interested to see what happens with this one! :)
 
I'm gonna wait until fermentation is complete before I crack it open.. the yeasties are doing their thing so maybe it'll work out.

I probably should have used a glass carboy instead of a drinking water jug you get at a store... but I don't have any gallon sizes.

If there are any solids left I can just filter them out when I rack it. I'm more concerned with pathogens and toxins.
 
I'm gonna wait until fermentation is complete before I crack it open.. the yeasties are doing their thing so maybe it'll work out.

I probably should have used a glass carboy instead of a drinking water jug you get at a store... but I don't have any gallon sizes.

If there are any solids left I can just filter them out when I rack it. I'm more concerned with pathogens and toxins.
Being worried about opening it is a false assumption. How would you test for how it's progressing without opening, how would you get into it to aerate it daily, until at least the 1/3rd sugar break, how would you get into it to add staggered nutrient addition ?

Fair enough if it's beer your making, but beer makers get overly obsessed. Sure, hygiene for equipment is a good thing, but it's a mead must (of sorts), not a beer wort. Hell, even commercial beer makers don't worry or obsess as much as home beer brewers seem to....

The lemon curd is a slightly unusual ingredient, yet it wouldn't say that it means your brew ranks among the weirdomels. What I would say, is that you're likely to need a fair amount of pectolase to break the pectins down, as jams, jellies and other such products do tend to have a fair amount.

Whether the lemon curd will actually add much flavour to the batch is another question, as Robertsons isn't as "lemony" as home made or other commercially made ones I've tasted.

If you're new to mead making, then here's an excellent link which should answer a fair number of questions you might have.
 
My post count is in the single digits...

I have no idea what I'm doing, and I've only tried the 'no boil' method.. I've made a ton of mistakes that I don't even know where to start.

I've "set it and forget it" with my previous batches.. ie threw the yeast in the mixture and let them run until the fermentation apparently ended.. then i put it into a new container to leave behind the stuff at the bottom and the floating bits of raisin and orange...

I didn't test it, didn't aerate it.. hell I don't even know what a 1/3 sugar break is...

The only thing I'm really worried about.. my main question for this particular batch is.. Is this dangerous?

If it's okay and not hazardous... then I'll worry about what to add to make it palatable.
 
I don't think its dangerous. Its powdered milk so when it was made it was dry and probably sterile, then it was put in a super sugary product and seeled. Now its going into a high alcohol product. It might taste nasty but not dangerous.
 
my concern with the dried egg is the method in which they did it. more than likely the process killed any salmonella or e.coli

I'll probably ask the local university microbiology lab to plate a sample
 
It wouldn't be safe to eat if they hadn't killed off the bugs! I really don't think you have anything to worry about.
 
yeah, you've got no worries with the egg re e.coli etc...

but it might add some protein haze(chill haze)?
 
Okay everyone... Fermentation has apparently stopped.

Heh the jug has been sitting between a couple carboys full of apfelwein (regular and wtf-are-you-thinking) so I looked at it every day but just basically saw that it was there... but today I noticed the makeshift airlock (balloon) had gone limp.. so I racked it.

It's...not a disaster.. surprisingly enough. The smell wasn't completely repellant and while there were some white clumps... it's got some potential to be palatable. maybe.

I'll wait another month to see what settles out. I might add the pectinase then.
 
Very faint lemon rind.

I'm kinda surprised that it supersedes the orange and the clove scent. I didn't exactly take it easy on either one. One whole orange and a handful of cloves..
 
I'm a little surprised that dried and rehydrated egg didn't go rancid. But I guess I don't really know anything about it. Also surprised that anything is dominating a handful of cloves. I put 2 in one of my gallon meads and to me it's dominant. Anyway, good luck. You've got mead! :rockin:
 
I'm a little surprised that dried and rehydrated egg didn't go rancid. But I guess I don't really know anything about it. Also surprised that anything is dominating a handful of cloves. I put 2 in one of my gallon meads and to me it's dominant. Anyway, good luck. You've got mead! :rockin:

It was probably such a miniscule amount of egg that all it translated into was those white clumps.. at least it might be the protein from it. Dunno.

heh I dont have mead yet. I hope that the scent improves at least. I'll find out in a month.

Another interesting thing is that when I started to pour the stuff into another container, the liquid at the top was surprisingly clear... that changed quick though, but it is encouraging.
 
You know what's interesting... prior to checking this thread, I looked at the jug (it's almost ready to be re-racked) and you're right odinsgift... the mead is clearer than the stuff I've had since January.

If my camera hadn't committed suicide, I'd have pictures. I might have to bite the bullet next paycheck and get a new digicam :)
 
Well boys and girls...here's another update.

The faint lemon rind scent has given way to a rather more potent and pleasant orange and clove that's more in line with the basic mead recipe that's floating around.

I racked into a glass jug (courtesy of a coworker) filtering out a little particulate but there was some immediately formed inside..but other than that it doesn't look bad.
 
Updating.. there is nothing to report really other than its very clear with a layer of funk at the bottom and a few floaties. I'm still too **** cheap to buy a camera. Might try it in a couple months.
 
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