Did I drink too soon?

[Gunshowgreg]

Hello all. I looked online for something specific to my question. But never could get a nice warm and fuzzy about the information I seeked. If it's out there. I apologize in advance.

I making my first gallon batch of mead. (Months ago) 3 lbs of honey with Lalvin D47 yeast (i used the whole pack. I tried using just half but i realized i didnt hydrate the yeast well first time around. ) i also used sone yeast energizer second day after putting in fermenter. I put just what the bottle said to do. It foamed up a lot. I let sit in primary for 1 month. I then transferred to secondary. Let sit for 2.5 months. I added some potassium sorbate to the mix. (Bottle directions.)
.after 3 days I tried a bottle and it tasted.... weird... I don't know how to describe it. I think it taste like yeast. Wish y'all could taste it. But is the batch ruined? I know it was just 3 days. Will longer time produce a better taste?

Also I am very particular with sanitation. I use star San and clean everything well.

Thanks hope to hear from y'all soon!
Greg

 

[BeeDeeEff]

You mentioned you added yeast energizer, but did you add any yeast nutrient at any stage? Did you de-gas the mead at any stage? Did you minimize the head-space above the mead after each racking?

What kind of taste were you expecting? If it fermented dry, it'll taste like a white wine. What kind of honey did you use?

 

[Gunshowgreg]

BeeDee I will provide you more specific information when I get home. I don't have bottles with me now.

 

[Gunshowgreg]

You say de-gas? Are you referring to use of airlock? Yes I did that if your asking.

 

[bernardsmith]

Meads that have a yeasty taste ironically signify under-pitching. In other words, you really need to pitch many more viable yeast cells than you are apparently pitching. Home wine makers simply cannot (IMO) over-pitch (It's not as if you are adding a pound of yeast to a gallon or five of must) and what you are looking for is viable yeast cells - so anything that might result in the death of 30 -50% of the total cell count is going to be an issue... If you hydrate the yeast at too high a temperature; if you hydrate the yeast in solutions that damage the yeast cells; if you pitch the yeast into the must with too great a difference in temperature between the hydrating fluid and the must (10 F difference); if the pH of the must drops too low (3.0 or lower)... this can all result in a depleted yeast colony...

 

[Gunshowgreg]

Bernard that may have been my issue then. I appreciate the excellent info. I thought a cooler temp on the must was safer. With what you said it may have been a combo of both the temp difference and the amount of yeast that I successfully pitched.

 

[Gunshowgreg]

Sorry I started this thread and finally getting back to it I didn't use energizer I used yeast nutrient. FERMAX YEAST NUTRIENT by BSG to be exact. But did it only once. In the first 3 days. I used 1 teaspoon. As that is wgat it calls for. 1-1.5 teaspoons I used clover honey also. I thought there was atleast 5 or so inches from the opening to where the surface of the mead was. It was to the 1 gallon marknin carboy.

Sorry so late
Greg

 

[CanadianJesus]

It also may need more time to age. When I bottled my first mead, it was extremely bland with little to no taste. I opened a bottle 6 month later and it actually had flavor. After another 6 months, I opened another bottle. That was last week and it's actually starting to taste pretty good! So it took a year and a half of aging for my first mead to really start tasting good.

 

[Gunshowgreg]

You know what Canadian. I think your right. I just tried a bottle today and it taste slightly better.

As far as yeast nutrient is concerned. When do y'all normally add it? I'm wanting to make another batch. And am thinking about adding an orange to my one gallon batch. Suggestions?

 

[OswaldvW]

To get a good orange flavor, consider using the rind of oranges.

 

[BeeDeeEff]

Sorry I started this thread and finally getting back to it I didn't use energizer I used yeast nutrient. FERMAX YEAST NUTRIENT by BSG to be exact. But did it only once. In the first 3 days. I used 1 teaspoon. As that is wgat it calls for. 1-1.5 teaspoons I used clover honey also. I thought there was atleast 5 or so inches from the opening to where the surface of the mead was. It was to the 1 gallon marknin carboy.

Sorry so late
Greg

That nutrient works well, using clover honey will tend to make it a bit bland, just like cider made form Motts Apple juice will have less character than something from unfiltered pressed apples. Aging still does help though, as does stabilizing and back-sweetening to some degree.

De-gassing is a term for removing gas diffused in the liquid. CO2 dissolved in a liquid acidifies that liquid to some degree and puts some stress on the yeast. In the first few days of fermenting you'll want to cap shake or stir up the mead to remove the carbondioxide dissolved in the liquid. It will come out just like shaking up a bottle of soda would so be careful you don't spill it everywhere and let it out slowly after each shake, or stir it vigorously with a sanitized tool.

 

[Gunshowgreg]

Ok I've had it in the fermenter since Friday. Go ahead and give it a stir? I'm doing a 1 gallon batch and added yeast nutrient. 1.5 teaspoons before shutting the lid and giving a little shake. Is it recommended to add more later? I also have whole slices of orange in there with rinds.

 

[BeeDeeEff]

Ok I've had it in the fermenter since Friday. Go ahead and give it a stir? I'm doing a 1 gallon batch and added yeast nutrient. 1.5 teaspoons before shutting the lid and giving a little shake. Is it recommended to add more later? I also have whole slices of orange in there with rinds.

Yeah give it a few cycles of shaking and releasing the gas until it starts to settle down. You'll be surprised how much is dissolved in there. After that let it be until its done, seems like you have enough nutrient already.

 

[Gunshowgreg]

Ok I did that. I left the air lock on and gave it a little shake. Kinda bubbled into the air lock. Not too bad. I got it in a 2 gallon bucket. So plenty of head space. I filled my airlock with some of the star San mix solution when I sanitized everything. No worries if some of it in the airlock fell into the fermenter is it? It's been in it for a few days obviously.

 

[Dylan22]

I usually add the nutrient a little at a time, like 4 times, over the first couple days. And as for the yeast taste if you let it go dry, which is also possible if you didn't add the potassium sorbate for a few months, then that yeast flavor will sometimes be over powering. You can kind of mess with the taste a little by back sweetening it a little. It will still have that bite but sweeting can bring out the flavors a little more.

And as for you next batch I would recommend instead of using an orange use berries. Oranges are popular but i think it's easier to get more flavor from berries just a suggestion, but it's what ever you want to do.

 

[Gunshowgreg]

Yeah I didn't add the potassium sorbate until i was gonna bottle. The taste isn't bad. Nothing to brag about though. I kinda wanted it dry. Don't care for anything to sweet. A 12 oz bottle will give me a pretty good buzz before I finish it. I brought some to my local brew shop and they seemed to like it. They didn't care for my brown ale though lol. I don't blame them.

What kind of berries do you use.

 

[rlmiller10]

To get a good orange flavor, consider using the rind of oranges.

I would not so much use the rind as the zest. The white pith can give a bitter flavor that takes a long time to age out. But if you grate off the zest you will get a nice orange flavor.

Do a search for Joe's ancient orange mead if you would like a good recipe.

 

[OswaldvW]

When a recipe calls for rind, peel or zest, one is never supposed to use the white pith under the skin, which is too astringent and bitter.

 

[Gunshowgreg]

Thanks. Glad I'm using the cheap ingredients while I'm learning. I cook all the time and from what I'm told I'm a pretty good cook. But beer and wine is definitely it's own game. Doesn't compare.

Can anyone answer my question about the airlock and the star San mix that may have seeped into my mead?

 

[CanadianJesus]

I don't think the StarSan will hurt anything in an amount that small. I use my equipment still wet after using StarSan and haven't had anything bad happen. It is a no-rinse sanitizer isn't it? Should I allow my equipment to completely dry before using?

 

[Dylan22]

I've used strawberries, blue berries, and blackberries before all three have done well. If you do try those i would recommend 2-3 gallons of the fruit or fruits of choice per gallon. Since you don't like sweet things 2

 

[Drewed]

I don't think the StarSan will hurt anything in an amount that small. I use my equipment still wet after using StarSan and haven't had anything bad happen. It is a no-rinse sanitizer isn't it? Should I allow my equipment to completely dry before using?

I don't always let mine dry. If I'm on the ball, I'll wash my carboys, let them dry, sanitize them with StarSan, let that dry and then cover them with foil or Parafilm. But that is only if I have it all together. Often it is a wash, rinse, shake, sanitize, shake ferment.

As for in the airlock, a little wont hurt, but that is why I use vodka in mine.

 

[Gunshowgreg]

I don't let mine dry either. It is a no rinse like you said. Im Getting g deployed in a few months. Wanna make this batch and let it sit in bottles for the year that I'm gone and come back to some good mead lol. But I wanna fix anything that might be detrimental to the batch and it suck. Like re do if need be.

 

[CKuhns]

D47 does pretty well at 64 - 68 with energizer.

I would encourage you to consider using a Staggered Nutrient Addition (SNA) protocol.

Bernard may be right you could have under pitched but not likely in a gallon.

Star San in my opinion or less than professional pallet has no ill effect.

Potassium Sorbate can add strange flavors. I personally never use the stuff as i am sensitive to it and i do find it tastes weird.

The good news is D47 does well after aging and everything discussed here will only diminish over time. I have done a few Meads with D47 and everyone of them got considerably better after a year and very good to great after 18 - 24 months.

Be patient and try it again upon your return.

 

[Gunshowgreg]

If you don't use the potassium sorbate. What do you use instead? I'm supposed the stop the yeast from becoming active once I bottle it correct?

 

[rlmiller10]

If you don't use the potassium sorbate. What do you use instead? I'm supposed the stop the yeast from becoming active once I bottle it correct?

Two things naturally stop the yeast. Either they consume all the sugar so there is nothing for them to become active about (assuming not back sweetening). The other one is they exceed their alcohol tolerance. Essentially they poison themselves in alcohol. If either of those happens you don't have to worry.

The third thing that can happen is a stuck fermentation. Those have the possibility of starting back up and some sorbate is recommended if you are going to bottle that. Although I have just let it sit in bulk aging for 8 months or so then bottled and never had a problem.

 

[Gunshowgreg]

Is the staggered nutrient addition a way of slowly adding my nutrient over a period of several days?

 

[CanadianJesus]

In LoveofRose's recipe BOMM he suggests adding nutrients up front, and at sugar breaks, 1/3rd and 2/3rd. So bastically, when a third of the sugar has been eaten he adds nutrients, and then when two thirds of the sugar is gone, he adds a last nutrient addition.

Seems to work pretty well. My mead tastes pretty good and I haven't even waited the whole month yet. Yeasty taste though. I can't wait until mine is ready to bottle, and It's an even harder wait when I put them into storage to age 3-6 months. I'm making a lot and hopefully enough to last a full year or more.

 

[Gunshowgreg]

In LoveofRose's recipe BOMM he suggests adding nutrients up front, and at sugar breaks, 1/3rd and 2/3rd. So bastically, when a third of the sugar has been eaten he adds nutrients, and then when two thirds of the sugar is gone, he adds a last nutrient addition.

Seems to work pretty well. My mead tastes pretty good and I haven't even waited the whole month yet. Yeasty taste though. I can't wait until mine is ready to bottle, and It's an even harder wait when I put them into storage to age 3-6 months. I'm making a lot and hopefully enough to last a full year or more.

Pretty easy to wanna drink that mead you made. I make beer also and making and drinking that distracts me a bit from drinking the mead i made from my diet batch.

 

[wreboot]

I used D47 as well and it was completely undrinkable for 4 months (1 month fermenting & 3 months aging). Tasted like rocket fuel now it tastes just kinda like bland mead. I can't wait to try it in another three months...although I might be a few bottles light by then.

 

[CanadianJesus]

Give it an other 6 months and you will see vast improvement!

 

[OHVolsfan23]

You are asking the wrong gal. Is it clear? Then I'd say no. Lol! Aging is a constant struggle at our house.