this is my first post and I’m doing it from a smart phone so please excuse any typos.
so I have been making Mead for a short time,about 4 months. I was working on a melomel with a friend who wanted a dryer less sweet one so per a suggestion from a brew shop I go to, for a gallon of mead, instead of 3lbs honey and D47, we tried EC1118 and 2lbs of honey... my alcohol readings on all batches are in excess of 16% after 4 days... I can’t tell if this is an error but they smell strong like alcohol so I believe it. The worst offender is at 20.1% and lost a lot of the fruity flavor and tastes like alcoholic water. All of them are still bubbling slightly but only a bubble every 30 seconds or so in the airlock. This was the fastest reaction time I’ve seen too. The worst offender looked like a 4th grade science experiment volcano within an hour and I had to do a substantial amount of cleanup. A picture is attached of that one.
I am wondering, is this “normal” for lack of a better term? That is the upper limit of alcohol content to my knowledge with meads and melomels so I am just sorta shocked and not sure if these batches are actually any good to hang onto so I want to consult with you all.
a few extra notes. They all got 1 round of yeast nutrients, i’ll be at, in hindsight, it probably wasn’t necessary lol. The really crazy one was moscato grapes and quince juice and the other 2 are hibiscus cherry clocking in at around 16.5abv.
Thank you all so much for your thoughts and insight.
so I have been making Mead for a short time,about 4 months. I was working on a melomel with a friend who wanted a dryer less sweet one so per a suggestion from a brew shop I go to, for a gallon of mead, instead of 3lbs honey and D47, we tried EC1118 and 2lbs of honey... my alcohol readings on all batches are in excess of 16% after 4 days... I can’t tell if this is an error but they smell strong like alcohol so I believe it. The worst offender is at 20.1% and lost a lot of the fruity flavor and tastes like alcoholic water. All of them are still bubbling slightly but only a bubble every 30 seconds or so in the airlock. This was the fastest reaction time I’ve seen too. The worst offender looked like a 4th grade science experiment volcano within an hour and I had to do a substantial amount of cleanup. A picture is attached of that one.
I am wondering, is this “normal” for lack of a better term? That is the upper limit of alcohol content to my knowledge with meads and melomels so I am just sorta shocked and not sure if these batches are actually any good to hang onto so I want to consult with you all.
a few extra notes. They all got 1 round of yeast nutrients, i’ll be at, in hindsight, it probably wasn’t necessary lol. The really crazy one was moscato grapes and quince juice and the other 2 are hibiscus cherry clocking in at around 16.5abv.
Thank you all so much for your thoughts and insight.