Mandarin Mead has no flavor

[jkuhl]

I made a mandarin mead earlier this month. Orange Blossom Honey (2lbs) and 30z of manderin orange slices. Also added tannin and pectic enzyme. 1 gallon batch.

It started at 1.090 and today I measured and tasted it and found it at 0.994 (13% ABV) with almost no flavor. Should I just go ahead and buy more mandarin orange slices? Was thinking of getting a bunch, putting them in a tupperware with pectic enzyme, waiting a day, then pasteurizing and adding the mixture to the mead.

I was also hoping to bottle carb this, though maybe a still drink might be a better option (and use only 1lb honey in the future for something more session strength.)

Any thoughts as to how to add more mandarin orange flavor? Can't seem to find mandarin orange juice (just regular orange juice.)

I also think in the future it might be better to make a traditional hydromel, then add mandarins after fermentation finishes, then bottle carb.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

From my experience, when citrus ferments out and all the sugar is gone, what is left is the acid, which to me tasted like a bit of throw up in the back of your throat.

 

[jkuhl]

So I did it wrong then. Can it be salvaged?

 

[RevA]

Best bet of getting the fruit flavor back is to either backsweeten or stabilized and add fruit to backsweeten

 

[Dr_Jeff]

I'd drink it dry or come up with another flavor to use.

 

[AzOr]

Save the mead!
As others have said, citrus fruit doesn’t add much except for acid.
HOWEVER- the zest has tons of citrus flavor.
Zest a couple of mandarin oranges and add that to your carboy for a month or so. I use a potato peeler to avoid the white pith. Start w the zest of 2 oranges and see what that gets you. I would sample every couple of days or so.

 

[AzOr]

Edit my above response. I was thinking this was for 5 gallons.
Start w half of zest from a mandarin orange.

 

[jkuhl]

If I can find mandarin oranges anywhere. They're easy to find canned, but finding them as whole fruits is harder. I'll keep a look out when i go grocery shopping this weekend.

 

[AzOr]

You could just use regular orange zest as well. Maybe a pinch of lime zest as well.