Did I do something wrong or am I just impatient?

[Androshen]

I started my first mead on July 22 ... My first rack was September 12.
I sampled it at this point and it tasted promising.
The bubbles slowed considerably after that racking.
On September 19 I racked again in order to add a gallon of Honeycrisp Cider.
The bubbling picked back up for a week or so.
I last racked it on October 19 and the taste seems kinda sour.
Did I mess up somewhere? Or is it common for young meads to taste that way at this point?
Should I consider adding more honey? I used a sweet mead yeast and it is my understanding that it will stop fermenting when the alcohol level reaches a certain point ... So couldn't honey actually sweeten it at this point?
Unfortunately I never got an OG as I am a newbie so I cannot guess at the % alcohol except to say that the last sample appeared to pack a nice kick ...

 

[david_42]

I suspect that adding the cider diluted the mead enough that it will ferment out dry, it may also be the source of the sour flavor. Just leave it alone. Every time you rack it, you lose yeast and the process gets slower.

 

[Androshen]

I would like to get it back to a sweet mead ... anyway of doing this once the yeast is done? Maybe with a wine conditioner :-( or with more honey ? If I let it age in the carboy for a few months and then add more honey, will there still be live yeast?
Also .... if the alcohol level gets high enough .... won't that stop the yeast?

 

[truckjohn]

well... the traditional thing to do is backsweeten it once everything takes its course....

Apples have a bunch of acid, lots of water, and comparatively little sugar in them... probably where the sour apple taste came from.

Using the alcohol to stop things can work fine, but it can be trouble too... Some yeasts stop at some specific alcohol content, others run dry.... and Mead is famous for starting and stopping... sometimes for years. Do you have a hydrometer?

If you don't know whether or not you are below their alcohol tolerance.... You might get lucky, you might not... If you really want to be sure it is done and be on the safe side, read the FAQ's about stabilizing before you backsweeten....

Good luck

John

 

[Androshen]

Is it OK to back sweeten with honey? I was thinking about letting it stay in the carboy for about 2-3 more months before trying this ....
After back sweetening, should I hold off on bottling in case fermentation kicks back in? Or should it be pretty much done after 5 months of fermenting?

 

[hightest]

I started my first mead on July 22 ... My first rack was September 12... Did I mess up somewhere?...

These questions are classic. However, like most of these classic questions, you failed to provide the information necessary to offer any meaningful answers.

Please read the "I Need Help..." FAQ and answer the questions asked there. After that I'd highly recommend reading more of the FAQs...

Also get a hydrometer (or refractometer) and use it...

BTW, for the sake of clarity, someone (above) mentioned using a hygrometer. That would not be advisable as that instrument measures atmospheric relative humidity.

 

[truckjohn]

Yeah, sorry about the typo... NO need to check the relative humidity of your Mead... as it is probably pretty high

You want the glass pointy thing that floats...

 

[Androshen]

The recipe I used was for 15 lb of spring berry blossom honey, a "slap pack" of "sweet mead" yeast and water up to 6 gallons in a 6.5 gallon bucket.
I neglected to take an OG even though I had a hydrometer as it slipped my mind totally.
Started on July 22.

On the first racking the SG was 1.00 (Sept. 12)

On the second racking I added 1 gallon of raw cider (I had to remove a small amount of mead to make enough room). This brought the SG to 1.01 (Sept. 19)

Third rack was on Oct. 19 and SG was 1.002

 

[hightest]

Assuming your honey and total must volume measurements were reasonably accurate your OG was ~1.089. Fermenting that to a SG ~1.000 suggests your must ABV was ~11.8%.

The final ABV is presently incalcuable as the post-racking must volume (before adding the cider) is unknown as is the actual cider SG.

There are two opposing factors at work. One is the dilution achieved by adding a gallon of cider whose typical SG ranges 1.030-1.045, and the other is the additional fermentation seen after the addition.

 

[truckjohn]

I think what this boils down to in the end is that you diluted your mixture with the Cider... You mixed about 1-gallon of stuff that normally ferments out to ~5% into a mixture that Hightest indicates would have run ~11.8%

A rough guess would have the ABV sitting between 10 - 11%... but this is just a guess. Most yeast has an alcohol tolerance over 13%... Adding more sugar will most likely renew fermentation... but it might take a long time to really kick back over... Prepare for bottle bombs....

You will need to stabilize and then backsweeten if you are happy with the alcohol content you already got but want it a little more sweet.

 

[Androshen]

Hmmmm .... well, I have no problem letting it set in a carboy until I feel safe that I have avoided the bottle bombs.
How about if I add more honey to try and get it to ferment to completion (ABV too high for the yeast)?
Or should I consider something to kill off the yeast? I understand that does not always work though ....
I am not necessarily going for a high ABV (not that I will kick about it) ... but I do want stable mead.

 

[jezter6]

You have the option of adding more sugars. Wyeast Sweet Mead is known to die relatively easily. I think most people barely find it getting over the 11% mark. Do a search on wyeast sweet mead here in the forum and you'll see the tribulations of meads that have died out slightly earlier than expected.

To do the kill off - sorbate and sulfite. Between the two, in proper doses it should be quite effective. Another option is to drop the yeast out of suspension by chilling.

 

[Smogre]

hmmm
I got slapped around a bit the last time I used the words, "kill" and "yeast" in the same sentence.

Fortunately for everyone, hightest and wayneb stepped in with good explanations of that process.

Here's a link to the post