Mead Flavour

[Toxxyc]

Don't try to stop an active fermentation. Rather let it complete on it's own, and then use the online calculators to calculate how much K-Sorbate and K-Meta you should add. I usually let fermentation complete, and then let it sit for a while so it cleans up and drops out a bit. Then I'll cold crash, rack off the lees, and only THEN do I add Sorbate and K-Meta. Then I'll let it sit for a while so let the stuff work, and you'll see another thin layer of lees forming.

After a few days I'll often cold crash again, and then fine with gelatin and/or bentonite, and leave it for another week to clarify nicely. I'll then rack off the lees a final time, and dose again with K-Meta (free SO2 and all that, and to protect from oxidisation).

From there I'll bottle soon to benefit from the O2 protection of the free SO2 in solution. Then it can stand. I haven't had a mead go off using this process, although I'll be honest the longest my meads have stood is like 2 years or so.

 

[RossleberryMead]

I've been making this for almost a year now, I dont know how long this ferment could last. Bubbler is barely active, that's the only way I can gauge it at the mo aside from possibly using a gravity meter. I think I might well be drinking it pretty quick though... and half is for my mate who probably will drink it relatively quickly too.

I could possibly cold crash (literally put it in the garage since its sub zero temps out there right now) and then ad the sorbate after maybe but I've racked it off so many times, I think for my first ever batch I'll be happy with what I've got, see how it goes and then try to refine from there perhaps. I'll also store the bottles in the garage in case the bombs go off lol.

 

[Toxxyc]

OK so one of my opinions that's perhaps not so popular is that I think people rack too much. Racking involves a loss, and because I'm not a stingy bastard, but I do like to save wherever possible, I HATE racking. In general, I'll rack only once before bottling. I'll complete the ferment completely, and then I'll cold crash and fine to get the mead as clear as possible. Then I'll rack, the only rack, and in the new vessel I'll stabilize, backsweeten, bulk age for a bit and if needed, fine again. Here it'll sit for a while (bulk age for a bit), and from there I bottle. The result is very little racking and very little loss. Remember racking also introduces oxygen, which you don't want.

 

[Miraculix]

OK so one of my opinions that's perhaps not so popular is that I think people rack too much. Racking involves a loss, and because I'm not a stingy bastard, but I do like to save wherever possible, I HATE racking. In general, I'll rack only once before bottling. I'll complete the ferment completely, and then I'll cold crash and fine to get the mead as clear as possible. Then I'll rack, the only rack, and in the new vessel I'll stabilize, backsweeten, bulk age for a bit and if needed, fine again. Here it'll sit for a while (bulk age for a bit), and from there I bottle. The result is very little racking and very little loss. Remember racking also introduces oxygen, which you don't want.

Racking has no place in modern mead methods, unless you want to bulk age the mead. This racking madness comes from times where the yeast was so Shi**y that the autolysis was kicking in waaay quicker than now. You can leave your mead on the yeast for months without any issues with modern yeast.

There is absolutely zero benefit from racking when fermentation is still active but a lot of negative side effects.

You lose volume, you lose active yeast, you introduce oxygen.

Less active yeast means the remaining yeast will be more stressed as they need longer for the fermentation, meaning more possible negative byproducts and then at the end of fermentation, there is less yeast to clean these byproducts off.

So don't rack if you don't have a good reason to do so. Having a sediment at the bottom of the fermenter is not a reason.

 

[Toxxyc]

Racking had no place in modern mead methods, unless you want to bulk age the mead.

There is absolutely zero benefit from taking when fermentation is still active but a lot of negative side effects.

You lose volume, you lose active yeast, you introduce oxygen.

Less active yeast means the remaining yeast will be more stressed as they need longer for the fermentation, meaning more possible negative byproducts and then at the end of fermentation, the is less yeast to clean these byproducts off.

So not rack is you don't have a good reason to do so. Having a sediments at the bottom of the fermenter is not a reason.

Exactly my reasoning as well. However, there are still people I've found who advocates racking at the 2/3rd sugar break, etc. Saying you need to get the mead off the lees ASAP, etc. It's all BS, and founded in misinformation.

 

[Miraculix]

Exactly my reasoning as well. However, there are still people I've found who advocates racking at the 2/3rd sugar break, etc. Saying you need to get the mead off the lees ASAP, etc. It's all BS, and founded in misinformation.

Well, it might have been helpful 30 years ago when dry yeast was really bad, but nowadays it is just madness.

 

[Toxxyc]

Yeah definitely. I've seen many people still sticking to the old idea that yeast started breaking down (autolysis) after just a few weeks in the fermenter. I've had yeast break down on my only once. It was 71-B, and I actually forgot about an unfined bottle I had left in the pantry for over a year. I planned on using it at time of bottling for something else, but about 1cm of lees in the bottom of the bottle broke down completely and resulted in the most horrid crap ever.

So yeah, I love using 71-B, I simply adore the complexity it adds to even traditional meads, but you have to be careful with that one. I have to add that I've not had any off flavours from it in 6 months or less on the yeast cake though, so even that point is moot.

 

[jdauria]

I recently did my first mead too, a tart cherry one, using Knudsen tart cherry juice and wildflower honey. After it was done, I was also a little underwhelmed, thought it was decent, but not great. The tart cherry flavor was very muted. But then the mead master in my club, who is opening a meadery soon, tried it and recommended to acidify it with some malic acid. So I took 2 small samples of the mead, added 1/2 tsp of malic acid to water and dissolved and then added 2 ml of the acid water to one of the mead samples and WOW, what a change! The sample was heads and shoulders better than the plain one, I could smell and taste tart cherries now and it reminded me more of commercial tart cherry meads I have had. Could not phantom doing the math to figure out how much to use for the full batch, so just went with a 1/2 tsp per gallon, where people online recommend 1/2-1 tsp per gallon.