Ferment, take two

[nitack]

About three months ago I bottled some chamomile mead. It was 1.020 when the yeast pooped out, and the tea bags had been left in too long and it was overpowering. Normally, I've found that with really strong flavors that a little extra sweatiness can help balance the mead. In this case the chamomile calmed down and 1.020 is just way too sweet for me.

I'm thinking of starting some ec-1118 in a gallon of apple juice, and once it is going well, Unbottling all the chamomile and fermenting out most of the extra sugars. Anyone else had to restart fermentation after having something bottled for thee months?

 

[fatbloke]

Well I routinely ferment dry and then stabilise and back sweeten. I find it the easiest way to control the final gravity.

The blending idea should work. EC-1118 should certainly produce a bland, neutral traditional. For the best blending I'd have thought that if you made one that's dry, it should give a reasonable result thought it may reduce the original flavour a bit as well as the sweetness.

S' up to you which method you like......

Oh and you can also reduce the sweetness with fortifications, vodka or everclear, but you may then have to age it a bit longer.....