Funky batches

Hello all! this is referring to my first two batches of mead, both of which have come out somewhat funky.

first my original batch which was just a simple 4L batch using orange blossom honey and some lavlain ec1118 which reeks of white wine gone funky.

my second batch (13L) is using some honey i purchased from my local supermarket (pure beechworth honey), a long stick of vanilla and two packets of some lager yeast which i forgot the name of. this second batch (still fermenting) tastes oddly like soy sauce.

so do i have anything to worry about or will this all subside and i'm pulling my hair out over nothing.

cheers in advance!

FireJesus

for those of you who may have given this a look over, everything turned out OK with the vanilla mead, i simply let it sit for a while longer and the vanilla flavour really kicked in and overshadowed any signs of soy flavour.

How does the first batch taste?

Blanchy said:

How does the first batch taste?

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fair question, given the weird changes in flavour that can come from meads until they're ready i.e. fermented, cleared and aged......

The smells worth worrying about are usually the bad ones i.e. sulphur/rotten eggs during ferment (stressed yeast lacking nutrition usually), vinegar (acetobacter contamination, making just that....vinegar). There's a few analogies that come up frequently, but as I say, if the smell is a bad one, then there may be a problem.

Otherwise, weird smells often are less of an issue, as they will age out.

Equally, weird flavours may be a fault, but not fatal. A lot of weirdness ages out over time.

I always plan for at least 6 months ageing for fruit/spice based meads and 12 months for traditionals. that's as a minimum.....

I always thought the mead needed some acid and some tannins to turn about balanced. Maybe your pH was off during fermentation? But yeah, it seems like aging can really balance things out otherwise. It'll still be drinkable, I think. Meaning, you won't die.