Did I ruin it? 3.5 month Primary ferment with fruit still there

[Samohio1]

we’ve had a crazy few months as a family. This is my third or fourth time making mead. I didn’t keep up with it like I should have.

I started two gallons (two 1 gallon jugs) in December. Added to the must some yeast nutrient, orange slices, raisins, and blueberries.

So multiple things have happened here: I started primary on Dec 11, 2022. I checked in on it often, used blowoff tubes into mason jars filled with Star San water. Everything was fine during normally primary time, it was pretty active. Life got crazy. So I left the blowoff tubes on. Life stayed crazy. I never racked to secondary. Left blowoff tubes on. I decided to just leave it, but I forgot that all the fruit makes that kind of risky business.

The jugs have orange slices, blueberries, and raisins in them.

All of that is still in there. It April 2nd 2023. Should I just throw it out?

I don’t see infection or mold per se, the fruit looks a good bit brown and mushy.

At one point in end of February, I noticed I had even let the blowoff tube jars evaporate, so the tubes were sitting in dry jars to open air. >< They’re long tubes, one of the tubes had a section of it filled with sani water that it must have sucked in, so that one was sort of sealed. But the other didn’t.

So, all those factors considered, is there a high chance or some nasty botulism or something else being present in these now hiding in here due to this much neglect, or would it still be an age old situation of “just taste it, if you don’t see nasty stuff all in the jug and it tastes ok, it’s ok”

I know I really failed on this one.

 

[magundy]

just taste it,
but smell it first!

 

[Samohio1]

I should add, too, when I made the must, I heated the must on the stove to Probably 140 or 150, don’t remember if I went all the way to 165 but I heated it. Does that remove most of the botulism risk? Or would the fruit still carry that risk since that for added to the must in jug at 90 something degrees

 

[Samohio1]

So after bottling, both gallon jugs tasted pretty not great. Smelled fine, and we’re at the four ish month mark so not that crazy for it to be fairly jet fuel tasting, but there was a lot of zingy/spicyish/throat burning feeling to it, more than I think I’ve tasted in my previous attempts (again I’m new, this is like my 3 or 4th time in 3 years making mead). Maybe it’s over oxygenated from the blowoff tubes’ jars being dried out so long and open air? May have been a few days, May have been a week I don’t know for sure. Maybe tastes funky because I was dumb and kept the fruit in it for for months? My biggest concern here is could there be anything harmful or dangerous because of this, and would i have tasted it / seen it already?

 

[Samohio1]

just taste it,
but smell it first!

See update in comment below. Tastes super jet fuel ish . Which is not that abnormal at 4 months, but biggest concern is - will I die drinking it lol

 

[CKuhns]

I get it, sometimes life gets in the way.

Was the fruit submerged?

Was anything weird looking growing on it if not? Anything fuzzy green, orange red etc.. is it very cloudy? Should be pretty clear after 3 or 4 months. Any of the above and if it tastes like rotten or moldy fruit is definately a dumper.

As far as will it make you sick? Maybe, if undesirable bacteria have produced toxins. I would get some decent quality mead from a mead producer and compare it.

poorbor no nutrients early on will give you a harsh alcohol jet fuel like taste. Due to stressed yeast producing fusels etc. Those generally age out. Depending on how bad they are could take months to a few years.

"Tangy" is a bit concerning. Typically oxidized mead tastes a bit sour and smells a bit sour too. That could be the reason for the tangy flavor but also could be from unwanted bacteria. If it is oxydized that will not typically hurt you per say however over exposure to air can promote other bactetia growth. (Depending on alcohol content and amount of time.).

Here is a helpful link that explains some mead flavors both dedirable and less desirable as well.
https://butterypan.com/what-does-me...n’t,will leave behind a sour smell and taste.

 

[magundy]

Strain, and age.
if it is fuel-ish, almost certainly enough alcohol in there to keep anything nasty from killing you.

"Fusel alcohols are formed when fermentation occurs

at higher temperatures
at lower pH
when yeast activity is limited by low nitrogen content"

Fusels apparently will age out into esters.

 

[Samohio1]

I get it, sometimes life gets in the way.

Was the fruit submerged?

Was anything weird looking growing on it if not? Anything fuzzy green, orange red etc.. is it very cloudy? Should be pretty clear after 3 or 4 months. Any of the above and if it tastes like rotten or moldy fruit is definately a dumper.

As far as will it make you sick? Maybe, if undesirable bacteria have produced toxins. I would get some decent quality mead from a mead producer and compare it.

poorbor no nutrients early on will give you a harsh alcohol jet fuel like taste. Due to stressed yeast producing fusels etc. Those generally age out. Depending on how bad they are could take months to a few years.

"Tangy" is a bit concerning. Typically oxidized mead tastes a bit sour and smells a bit sour too. That could be the reason for the tangy flavor but also could be from unwanted bacteria. If it is oxydized that will not typically hurt you per say however over exposure to air can promote other bactetia growth. (Depending on alcohol content and amount of time.).

Here is a helpful link that explains some mead flavors both dedirable and less desirable as well.
https://butterypan.com/what-does-me...n’t,will leave behind a sour smell and taste.

Thanks for this -
The fruit was not entirely submerged, but half of it was. The other half was kind of sitting on top. Obviously during the gassy phase that doesn’t matter but the whole blowoff tube jar evaporating part, like I said I honestly don’t know if it was dry and open for a few days or a few weeks.

The fruit just looked like it had been in alcohol for a long time, had some gunk on it but it looked like lees gunk, no crazy colors but the overall color was kind of faded and brownish, maybe a bit red. The orange slices were reddish brown, Some of the raisins and blueberries were light brown or just covered in lees, etc. I did see a tiny bit of stuff hanging down under the fruit, but I am 99% sure it was just orange slices that had gotten a bit shredded / torn.

I did probbaly add the yeast nutrient at the wrong time and all at once - I always do that wrong either all up front which I feel like is not recommended or I do it too late when the yeast has already overacted without the nutrient to balance it out or whatever. So that could definitely be contributing to the jet fuel ness.

Tangy is a good word for it. It was almost as m the verge of fizzy tasting. My wife has made kombucha, felt like we were getting into that territory with the texture almost. So maybe there is good amount of something not desirable in there :/ I’ve had bad orange juice that felt a little that way before, now I’m worried :/

 

[Samohio1]

Strain, and age.
if it is fuel-ish, almost certainly enough alcohol in there to keep anything nasty from killing you.

"Fusel alcohols are formed when fermentation occurs

at higher temperatures
at lower pH
when yeast activity is limited by low nitrogen content"

Fusels apparently will age out into esters.

I’m newer to this, and getting over covid from a month or so ago.. I’ve been convinced my taste and smell are finally back, but if they’re not all the way back I could be underestimating how bad this is yes , I’d say it was fuel ish. I bottled it today, both jugs tasted that way. So maybe they’ll age out a bit and be drinkable for at least my wife and I. But @CKuhns ‘s comment has me worried I tasted more of a tangy / almost fizzy taste, which makes me think there was more than I wanted in there. It was clear ish, overall, but definitely not as clear as my few batches in the past. There weren’t like muddy clouds or anything, but it wasnt super see through clear either. But then again, I also racked them to secondary the past times, so they got more clarified that way too, which I didn’t do this time. I really made this one hard to tell in every area

 

[CKuhns]

I am probably over cautious when it comes to these things.

If not what I would call rancid etc. I think perhaps your on the right track. Let it age a bit check it again in 6 months. It may surprise you.

 

[Raptor99]

What is your estimated ABV at this point? If it is over 10%, it is unlikely that you have nasty bacteria growing in there. From what you say, the most likely problem is oxidation. If it is oxidized, you can't undo that. So as @CKuhns said, age it for 6 months and see what happens. It might turn out okay.

 

[Samohio1]

What is your estimated ABV at this point? If it is over 10%, it is unlikely that you have nasty bacteria growing in there. From what you say, the most likely problem is oxidation. If it is oxidized, you can't undo that. So as @CKuhns said, age it for 6 months and see what happens. It might turn out okay.

I didn’t take a sample on bottling this time because it takes 750 ml, and I only get 4-5 bottles out of it ha. But based on the past bacthes I’ve done with same recipe I’d guess it’s between 9.5 and 12. I did have that fruit lying on top of it and some was open to the air for a while, so the mead itself wouldn’t harbor or encourage more bacteria growth but it could be possible that some bacteria and toxin was on that fruit that I jostled a bit as I shoved the siphon through it yesterday. I’ll give it a try in a few months and see if some of the oxidation has calmed down