I did something wrong.

[Bobbo404]

So here's my mead and the steps of what I did, new to this and I see I messed up here and there (will learn for next time) but still need advice.
-Original:
6lbs of honey
6lbs of strawberry
1 gallon of water.
.5 tsp of pectic enzymes
OG 1138

-next day (I get that I messed up my OG now)
Learned I should put another gallon of water in so I did
Put 3 grams of wine tannin
Pitched another yeast (hydrated)
.5 tsp of fermaid-o
Stir

-next day
Stir, make sure fruit is wet

-next day
Add .5 tsp of fermaid-o
Stir

-week later
I split mead into 3 one gallon jugs
Adding .5 tsp of malic acid (racking on top)
Took out strawberries
Gravity Reading of 1.032

-Just tasted today(week later)
Tasted sour, gravity reading of 1.004
Kind of at a lost of direction

 

[Kyzaboy89]

What would you like help with, maybe clarify your recipe if you were to do this again, from that we could probably help Incase a few things are off a little.

As for your current batch describe the sour, could be a sour infection or something else. Are you planning to backsweeten or leave it dry?

 

[CKuhns]

You probably stressed the yeast early on, before you split the batch by adding the 2nd gallon of water.

Without knowing too much else:
- The good news is it will likely age out and be just fine.
The bad news is (depending on how bad it is) it could take a year or three

 

[Bobbo404]

What would you like help with, maybe clarify your recipe if you were to do this again, from that we could probably help Incase a few things are off a little.

As for your current batch describe the sour, could be a sour infection or something else. Are you planning to backsweeten or leave it dry?

I feel like I got lost and maybe bite off more than I can choose? I'm not sure why it came out as sour. I was thinking of back sweetening, but I'm starting to think im just doing too much now? It may just be a goner?

 

[SteveO820]

Sour makes me think acid and that the balance is off. Most berries are decently high in acid (adding the water would help bring that down) but it's also their sugars keep it in check. Seeing that almost all of the sugar is fermented out I would start at back sweetening to bring back this balance. Did you try it at 1.032? How did it taste then? I'd pull some samples and little by little add cane sugar to achieve certain gravities, maybe a 1.010, 1.015, 1.020 and see if it gets better and if one of these is closer to what you are looking for maybe try it again to dial it in but closer gravities to your favorite first result.

3g of tannin in 3 gallons also seems like a little much in my opinion (without having tasted it). I use about half that in most of my recipes. The tannin is going to dry out the mead even more furthering the need for more sugar to keep the balance in check.

The only other things I could think of is the notorious strawberry seed off flavor of plastic/bandaid or unwashed/unsanitized strawberries that where harboring some wild microbes like when you make a tepache but that usually comes off funk-like (kinda kombucha like in a way..it's a weird note but I find it pleasing and make it all the time haha).

 

[Maylar]

1.004 is normal, in fact it may go a bit lower. Sour is normal too, as all the sugars have been fermented and the strawberries have added some acid. It's not a dumper at all. Let it go another week or so to be sure the ferment is done. Then stabilize with sorbate & sulfite and back sweeten.