OP
OP
The Experimenter
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- Dec 5, 2020
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Here's an update based on some readings I took at the 30-Day mark (a couple of days ago):
- Regular Mead (Control):
- At the 30 Day mark I sat down to measure the rate of bubbling in the airlock (I know bubbling is not always a super reliable way to track fermentation, but I use it to give myself a general idea of how it's going). On this day, it was bubbling once every 72 seconds. Just 3 days ago it was bubbling once every 58 seconds and 3 or 4 days prior to that it was bubbling once every 35 seconds. In other words, in 1 week, the rate of bubbling has dropped by more than half.
- I measured it and it read 1.039 (3 points lower than the previous reading 3 days ago. It does appear to be slowing down; these 3 points over 3 days is a 1 point per day drop whereas all previous readings showed an average rate of drop between 2-3 points per day when compared to the readings that preceded them).
- The flavor of it on this day was good, but the honey flavor seemed a little off... I'm not sure what was off about it, but it didn't seem to taste like what I was expecting for a standard mead. It was also very yeasty, so maybe that was throwing me off. A friend who was present at the time and took a taste of it with me commented that the yeastiness and odd flavor of the honey made him feel like what he was tasting was a slightly undercooked pastry glazed with honey and then accidentally left out for a few days (which I think is a good way of describing the flavors of yeastiness + stale honey)... Not necessarily a bad flavor, just complex and slightly confusing in comparison to what I expected after previous tastings.
- Nothing about it on this Day screamed that it needed to be moved to Secondary, but to keep the experiment consistent and fair, I moved this one to Secondary since I moved the others. I know Secondary can last a while, sometimes longer than Primary, but because I want to make sure both the Loose in Primary and Loose in Secondary have the loose tea floating in them for the same amount of time to try to keep the results as fair and comparable as possible, Secondary will be 30 Days long (exactly how long Primary lasted). This means bottling will occur on Wednesday April 28th (OR, if for some reason I am not able to bottle on that day, at a minimum all 4 batches will be racked so none have any loose tea in them and none are sitting on their Secondary lees).
- Loose in Secondary (just regular mead during Primary, but now has loose bits of unsteeped tea floating in the must during Secondary):
- At the 30 Day mark I sat down to measure the rate of bubbling in the airlock. On this day, it was bubbling once every 3 minutes and 5 seconds. Just 3 days ago it was bubbling once every 47 seconds and 3 or 4 days prior to that it was bubbling once every 32 seconds. In other words, in 1 week, the rate of bubbling has dropped by a factor of about 5 times.
- I measured it and it read 1.044 (0 points of change since the previous reading 3 days ago and only 6 points of change since 1 week ago).
- The flavor of it on this day was good, but the honey flavor seemed a little off just like in the control... Again, I'm not sure what was off about it, but it didn't seem to taste like what I was expecting for a standard mead (which this one is until we get to Secondary). My friend made the same comparison of a slightly undercooked pastry glazed with honey and then accidentally left out for a few days... again, not necessarily a bad flavor, just complex and slightly confusing in comparison to what I expected after previous tastings. It is nice to know that despite the different readings and different rates of bubbling between this one and the Control, they both have very similar flavor profiles.
- This is one of the batches that convinced me to transfer to secondary at this point, the dramatic change in bubbling rate and lack of change in hydrometer readings seeming to signal that it is finishing up (much higher than I expected... perhaps it will restart in Secondary, but who knows).
- When transferring to Secondary I added 2 tablespoons of loose ground up Tealyra Strawberry Orange Sunrise tea in it (tea was ground up so there were no big chunks and therefore the measuring of the 2 teaspoons was more accurate; tea was added loose as opposed to being brewed/steeped before being put in). This is the same treatment the Loose In Primary batch received, but for Secondary instead of Primary.
- I know Secondary can last a while, sometimes longer than Primary, but because I want to make sure both the Loose in Primary and Loose in Secondary have the loose tea floating in them for the same amount of time to try to keep the results as fair and comparable as possible, Secondary will be 30 Days long (exactly how long Primary lasted). This means bottling will occur on Wednesday April 28th (OR, if for some reason I am not able to bottle on that day, at a minimum all 4 batches will be racked so none have any loose tea in them and none are sitting on their Secondary lees).
- Tea Steeped before Primary (then the solid chunks of tea were removed for Primary):
- At the 30 Day mark I sat down to measure the rate of bubbling in the airlock. On this day, it was bubbling once every 79 seconds. Just 3 days ago it was bubbling once every 49 seconds and 3 or 4 days prior to that it was bubbling once every 9.5 seconds (prior to 1 week ago, it had never gone slower than once per 10 seconds). In other words, in 1 week, the rate of bubbling has dropped by a factor of 8 times!!
- I measured it and it read 1.050 (2 points lower than the previous reading 3 days ago and only 12 points of change since 1 week ago).
- The flavor of it on this day was good, but more subtle and more muted than in previous tastings. As I noted in my previous post at the 1-1/2 week point, all of the tea's fruit and herb flavors (Fruits = Strawberry, Orange, and Apple ; Herbs = Hibiscus and Lemongrass) were coming through in this batch and the other one (#4 below). However, the difference between this one and the other one was which category of flavors, fruits or herbs, were coming through stronger. In this one, in which the tea was steeped in hot water prior to adding it to the must, the fruits came through stronger with the Strawberry being the most noticeable flavor... but as I said at the start of the bullet point, the flavor is now more muted and more subtle. If I was not aware of what dehydrated fruits and herbs were used in this mead, I'm not sure I'd be able to identify the individual flavors now. The Strawberry used to be strong and upfront with subtle orange, apple, and hibiscus notes in the middle and lemongrass gently on the finish. But now, I hardly get any of the herbs when tasting it and as for the fruit, the strawberry is no longer front and center. Instead, there is more of a mingled fruit medley flavor in which individual fruit flavors are unable to be singled out (but it's still very good).
- This is one of the batches that convinced me to transfer to secondary at this point, the dramatic change in bubbling rate and lack of change in hydrometer readings seeming to signal that it is finishing up (much higher than I expected... perhaps it will restart in Secondary, but who knows). I know Secondary can last a while, sometimes longer than Primary, but because I want to make sure both the Loose in Primary and Loose in Secondary have the loose tea floating in them for the same amount of time to try to keep the results as fair and comparable as possible, Secondary will be 30 Days long (exactly how long Primary lasted). This means bottling will occur on Wednesday April 28th (OR, if for some reason I am not able to bottle on that day, at a minimum all 4 batches will be racked so none have any loose tea in them and none are sitting on their Secondary lees).
- Loose in Primary (loose bits of unsteeped tea floating in the must during Primary, but were removed when I transferred it to Secondary):
- At the 30 Day mark I sat down to measure the rate of bubbling in the airlock. On this day, it was bubbling once every 7 minutes and 30 seconds. Just 3 days ago it was bubbling once every 61 seconds and 3 or 4 days prior to that it was bubbling once every 45 seconds. In other words, in 1 week, the rate of bubbling has dropped by a factor of 10 times!!!!
- I measured it and it read 1.044 (0 points of change since the previous reading 3 days ago and only 6 points of change since 1 week ago).
- The flavor of it on this day was good, but there was a very volatile characteristic to it (NOT in the common or colloquial sense of the word "volatile", which we often use to describe something that is likely to change suddenly, likely to have a tendency to explode, or describing a situation likely to become more dangerous... rather I'm using it in its chemical/chemistry usage, meaning "prone to giving off vapors"). Though ethanol (alcohol) is known for its chemical volatility, it wasn't the alcohol that was volatile in this case; there was not much of an alcohol flavor coming through. Instead, it must have been one of the flavor compounds giving off this gaseous and airy sensation. I suspect it was the lemongrass because the mouth feel was reminiscent of one I've had before when I ate Tom Yum in Thailand, a very lemongrass heavy dish. It was interesting though. While there was a gaseous or volatile sensation on the front end, I did not specifically notice any distinct lemongrass (nor hibiscus) flavors. I just tasted honey and noticed this airy sensation, but no distinct herb flavors. On the backend however, I did pick up herb flavors, with a strong lemongrass flavor first, followed by hibiscus on the finish (which is opposite of what it was the past few times I tasted it in which the hibiscus was stronger than the lemongrass and was noticeable throughout the tasting, not just on the finish).
- This is one of the batches that convinced me to transfer to secondary at this point, the dramatic change in bubbling rate and lack of change in hydrometer readings seeming to signal that it is finishing up (much higher than I expected... perhaps it will restart in Secondary, but who knows). I know Secondary can last a while, sometimes longer than Primary, but because I want to make sure both the Loose in Primary and Loose in Secondary have the loose tea floating in them for the same amount of time to try to keep the results as fair and comparable as possible, Secondary will be 30 Days long (exactly how long Primary lasted). This means bottling will occur on Wednesday April 28th (OR, if for some reason I am not able to bottle on that day, at a minimum all 4 batches will be racked so none have any loose tea in them and none are sitting on their Secondary lees).
