tacks
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2012
- Messages
- 291
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- 30
I made my second batch of mead on Sunday and wanted to get a little feedback since beer is my primary brewing experience. My first batch of mead took about 4 months to brew and has been in bottles for probably another 3. It is hot, abrasive, and the lemon flavor I hoped for was pretty awful. First story: my first mead was 5 gal, had 12 lbs honey and 5 cans of lemonade concentrate and fermented with red star premiere cuvee. It ended around 13% and turned out awful because I didn't do my homework and I had never made mead, I didn't know about degassing, nutrient, etc. This time I put 17# honey and a half pound of corn sugar, and it ended up being 5.5 gal. I degassed tonight and I don't understand how everyone else leaves so little headspace. I didn't want to hijack SebastianS thread about headspace, but when I degassed today (i probably have twice his headspace), I lost one or two cups of mead and I was careful when degassing to go slow. I'm probably going to introduce fruit to half of it in a few months, but want to make sure I do things the right way until I do. Is there anything I can do other than age to improve my first batch? Suggestions on what I can do to make sure batch #2 turns out good?