Alcohol (medicine) taste

[jezter6]

I tasted 3 of my meads of various age from 4.5 months to about 2 months old. All recipes were 3#/gallon and all were fairly dry but with a very "medicine" hot alcohol taste.

1 was fermented with Nottingham, 2 with Cotes de Blanc.

Is 3#/gallon just too much, or will this go down with age? The meads tasted "ok" outside of that cough syrup hint of alcohol.


Yes yes, I know they're green - but I'm planning to bottle the oldest one and decided while doing a sampling to just sample all the ones sitting in that closet.

 

[Poobah58]

The hot alcohol will dissipate with age. Might take 9-12 months or longer. You might not want to bottle until it has bulk aged at least 6 months.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

I always figure at least 1 year of aging for a mead/melomel, usually it's more like 2 yrs till they get really good. Regards, GF.

 

[jezter6]

So if I want a quicker tasty mead to drink while these are aging - would it work out to just make a slightly lover abv drink by using 9-10#/g to not get the hot alcohol flavorings?

 

[Austinhomebrew]

What sanitizer are you using?

 

[jezter6]

Starsan.

8,9,10...

 

[malkore]

Yes, lower abv meads, like Joe's Ancient Orange Mead, will be drinkable at a younger age.

 

[Tusch]

Lighter abv and possibly sweeter. Sweetness tends to cover some of the harshness of a young brew.