Cool cucumber mead

[Arpolis]

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH Blarguhackupgerbleblurpuck!!!!!!

 

[Arpolis]

OK now that that is out of the way.

I came home today and the balloon airlock would not even stay erect. I figured my yeast has died and it is time to measure the SG and see if it is stable over the next week. Well I be a monkeys uncle and it is at a gravity of somewhere between .992 - .993! Around 14.7% ABV. Less than one week and it is pretty much dry!?! The Cucumber may have been more plentiful in nutrients than I thought. It just wasn't as showy as other meads I have. An Identical sized batch of Vanilla Chamomile Metheglin took just shy of a month to go dry. So I thought to myself (This is just got to have a lot of alcohol hot being this young but I can probably get at least some flavor profile).........

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH Blarguhackupgerbleblurpuck!!!!!!

Took the smallest swig from the wine thief and there was an initial hint of Soured milk/vegetables and then vomit everywhere!!!!!! I am not impressed at all so far. I keep comparing to my metheglin because it is only a month older than this and was made almost exactly the same just swap mint and cucumber for the tea. And that tasted exactly like I thought. Not real great with no back sweetening but tasted like vodka tea....

I don’t know about this one Vahalla. If people can convince me I will keep this thing aging until clear.

 

[Atek]

Well im here to try and convince you. My Concord wine tasted life barf for 3 weeks after fermentation finished. Its been sitting for 6 months now and it tastes pretty good. I imagine cucumber as a pretty delicate flavor. Give it some time to clear and for those flavors to resurface.

 

[vahallasbrew2]

Yeah I have a mead that taste like crap but not like rank veggies, well so far I'm not convinced it's a success but I also have hope that aging may bring back the delicate flavors of the cucumber and mint. Hmm I got the data written down hopefully it'll be tastier in the future thanks alot for you help on this experimental brew if you want could you keep tabs on my like every other week or so with updates about this one thanks a whole bunch for your help, cheers

Vahallasbrew2

 

[hewnizit]

Correction, Cucumber is a fruit not a veg

 

[vahallasbrew2]

Correction, Cucumber is a fruit not a veg

It is? When did this change?

 

[Bhunter87]

Cucumber is a "vine fruit" because of enclosed seeds but is actually classified as a veggie in food groups and such. Thanks Wikipedia

 

[vahallasbrew2]

Wow that just shattered my entire universe I thought cucumbers were veggies since I was a kid.

 

[Bhunter87]

Universe shattering, huh?

 

[CreamyGoodness]

I think the real test will be once it clears. Since it is prepared like JAOM I would treat it like JAOM and wait for the cap to settle to the bottom and it to turn all nice and greeny see-through.

This experiment excites me since I am such a fan of cucumber. I think its going to get worse before it gets better, but once that happens my theory is that it will taste very mild and dry with lots of fun cuke notes and a background of mintiness.

Keep fighting the good fight my friend.

 

[Bhunter87]

I second this.

Time heals all wounds. Give it a few months. If its still a little crazy, give it a few years. If it still isn't good, it would make an excellent kitchen countertop cleaner!!

 

[hewnizit]

Srry. Didn't mean to shatter ne1s universe.... oops

 

[Bhunter87]

Srry. Didn't mean to shatter ne1s universe.... oops

So insensitive...

 

[vahallasbrew2]

Ahh it's ok my universe has been shattered a lot nothing to apologize about it , me being a lesser wise brewer than the others I do agree with them about the aging for the taste part I have learned lots from these brewers.

 

[bob1852]

Correction, Cucumber is a fruit not a veg

Cucumber is a "vine fruit" because of enclosed seeds but is actually classified as a veggie in food groups and such. Thanks Wikipedia

Wow that just shattered my entire universe I thought cucumbers were veggies since I was a kid.

taxonomically, there is no such thing as vegetables.

Carry on.

 

[vahallasbrew2]

How do you figure that?

 

[Insomniac]

wiki : "The noun vegetable means an edible plant or part of a plant".

It's not a thing in it's own right, it's not something plants produce and it is different in the case of every plant. It just says that it is a plant and it is edible.

 

[Bhunter87]

He is right

 

[vahallasbrew2]

I don't understand? Do you mean like a turnip plant the greens are a veggie but the turnip it self is not?

 

[hewnizit]

The turnip itself is a root

But let's get back on topic here shall we?

 

[Arpolis]

Back to the topic!!!!! lol I planned on waiting to post anything but maybe this will re-direct the thread. When I sampled the mead I did introduce some oxygen and I bet that is what kicked up a little fermentation. That died back down today and now I can see real signs of the mead starting to clear. Is this going fast or is it just me? I have a JAOM and a Bochet that are 3 times as old as this Cucumber mead and they are both fermenting strong and haven't started to clear at all. Is a fast fermentation an indicator of anything & can there be off flavors for a fast vs slow fermentation? Just food for thought.

 

[vahallasbrew2]

Maybe it did what if you gave it a little shake every now and then to introduce oxygen back into the brew?

 

[Arpolis]

Here is my weekly update. I checked it out again today and snapped a pic. I said it fermented a little more and when I checked the gravity reading today it was sitting at 0.991. So it is looking to be at 14.96% ABV. I must say the sour smell has died down a good bit. I can definitely smell the alcohol hot smell you get from young brews but there was a bit of a sour "after smell". Just enough to not give me the confidence to try this again lol. It is clearing a lot, I think in another two weeks I can rack off the sediment & place in secondary ingredients. Now the latest pic makes it look kind of amber but is has an almost lemony/radioactive kind of look in person. Enjoy!

These pics are ordered from pre-honey, Day 0, Day 2, Day 6 & Day 13.

 

[vahallasbrew2]

Ooh it has cleared up a lot, it looks much better than the previous pukey yellow damn it's abv lvl is high and you saids already dried pretty much at 2 weeks my my they grow up so fast lolol any thanks for the update

Cheers vahallasbrew2

 

[harveydent]

New to forum, but caught this thread...following!! this great, cant wait to hear about the final end to this.

 

[Arpolis]

Ok so the mead is 24 days old now and I went ahead and racked off of the lees since it was not doing any good anymore and I am hoping that some of the sour smell starts to fade away if there is less matter in the mead. Funny thing now is that I can notice little white things floating on the top. Anyone think this is just the oil from the mint? When I made mint extract with vodka a while back I did notice the oil floating but thought it was a bit more opaque rather than this white. I could be wrong. Well now for the best part of this thread. The comparison pics! :rockin: + One close up of the floaty bits.


Day 2


Day 6


Day 13


Day 24


Floaty bits

 

[Machalel]

Is the colour actually changing that much, or is it just the flash?

It does seem really fast!

 

[Arpolis]

Yes the color changed is about accurate. I originally did not decide to add any nutrients because cucumbers are pretty healthy and if you look up their amino levels, mineral levels and vitamin levels they are pretty decent. That may have just built up some healthy yeast. Or there is something else at work and that is causing the sour smell/taste.

 

[CreamyGoodness]

To my spectacled eyes that looks more like wee bits of cucumber matter and less like fungus...

 

[vahallasbrew2]

I would think cucumbers wouldn't stay white like that after 3 weeks, it looks like mold colonies are starting in it but it could be oils or the cucumbers like you all said I'm not to sure well thanks for the update