Rookie Question - Tannin and Acid Blend

My first finished mead is about ready to be bottled. It fermented out completely dry, which is what I wanted, but it tastes...flat. It lacks body and crispness. It was basically a honey-flavored, boozy water.

The recipe I used is very simple:
7lb Clover Honey
3 tsp yeast nutrient
Water to 3 gallons.
Lavlin EC-1118 Yeast

I know that one can add body with grape tannin and crispness with acid blend. However, being mainly a beer guy, I have no idea how much to use.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Try adding 1/8 teaspoon of each & waiting a few days before you taste it. Keep adding till it reaches the level you like. I takes time, but it works & helps to prevent adding too much. Regards, GF.

gratus fermentatio said:

Try adding 1/8 teaspoon of each & waiting a few days before you taste it. Keep adding till it reaches the level you like. I takes time, but it works & helps to prevent adding too much. Regards, GF.

Click to expand...

Would that be per gallon?

Is that per gallon? Can I just drop the powder in the top of the carboy, or should I suspend/dissolve in a small amount of water?

ruger12pk said:

Would that be per gallon?

Click to expand...

Correct. 1/8 teaspoon per gallon, to taste. You should mix the dry powder into a little water, or must before adding it to your carbouy as adding dry powders to liquids full of CO2 will oftentimes cause the CO2 to come out of solution & foam all over. And when you stir to mix stir slowly & try not to introduce any oxygen, at this point oxygen can ruin your product. You could also draw off a sample, do some math to adjust measurements & add acid/tannin to taste. Then you'd know exactly how much to add to the carbouy & could add the total amount all at once simply by racking onto it. Either way will work. Regards, GF.

Thanks. I'll give it a shot.

It's just me, and I don't know what yeast you used but 7# seems a little light for 3 a gallon batch. That might also be where the watery characteristic comes from. Remember you can always add more tannins/acids you will find, however, it much more difficult to remove them. Good luck and keep us posted. I'd like to hear how it turns out.

epimortum said:

It's just me, and I don't know what yeast you used but 7# seems a little light for 3 a gallon batch. That might also be where the watery characteristic comes from. Remember you can always add more tannins/acids you will find, however, it much more difficult to remove them. Good luck and keep us posted. I'd like to hear how it turns out.

Click to expand...

I agree I use about 15-20# for a 5-6 gallon batch normally. That does produce a sweeter mead, but it has plenty of flavor.

I agree with the folks above in general. I'd try 1/4 tsp of acid blend per gallon and wait 4-5 days to sample and evaluate before adding more.

This is only my second attempt at a mead. The first one I used ~10 lb for a 3 gallon batch (and overdid the acid blend) and that sucker just would not ferment out. Once you got past the acidity, it had a cloying sweetness, and was not (for me) the least bit enjoyable.

I have had a few commercial examples and have always preferred the drier meads.

So for the second attempt, I cut back on the honey, and have waited on the tannin/acid blend. I'll be racking again in a couple weeks (maybe). I'll be adding some tannin/acid blend then

Any recommendations for a good basic dry mead recipe I can use as the basis for a 3rd atttempt?

It depends on what you mean by "dry" like paint-thinner or like EW's Apfelwein?

My post over here shows my third mead, which is an exact replica of my first except I added a little vit C. And the first mead was nice, but did take at least 8 months to age out the tannins. I expect this one to be the same.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f30/beautiful-kraeusen-krausen-mead-but-why-105662/

Also check out gotmead.com and "The Complete Mead Maker".
I like my meads somewhat in the middle like apfelwein.

Good luck and don't forget to post what you've decided to go with.