So while my lastest batch of mead was brewing the wife and I revisited some 9 month old bottles of a "failed" experiment.
I attempted to ferment mead with fruit in the vessel. 1 gallon batches an amount of fruit in each, strawberry, cherry, and blueberry.
I dont recall what honey or yeast, but im pretty sure it was 1lb fruit, 2lb honey, water to a gallon. I used frozen fruit from the grocery store.
I left the fruit in the whole time, and siphoned from the bottom of the jug into bottles.
All 3 batches were horrifically bad, bitter, sour, astringent, just gross. Disappointed by it i just pushed the bottles into a corner of the kitchen and ignored them for 9 months. The other night i decided i should probably go ahead and get rid of them and grabbed a shot glass to see if anything had changed. They all looked clear, no mold or anything, so i poured a half a shot glass of each and sipped and let my wife sip. The strawberry one is still horrifying, the blueberry has the same weird taste as the strawberry but not as bad, and theres a HINT of what i dare call blueberry flavor. The cherry one though... is actually "good" i think it taste like a non-sweet cognac, a subtle raisin taste and finishes with a definite dark cherry flavor.
As for my questions.
Should I have not left the fruit in the whole time?
Is there anything I can do with the bad tasting ones? (kind of an odd plastic flavor)
Am i correct in assuming no cloudiness or floating bits, like mold, mean its "safe" to drink?
I attempted to ferment mead with fruit in the vessel. 1 gallon batches an amount of fruit in each, strawberry, cherry, and blueberry.
I dont recall what honey or yeast, but im pretty sure it was 1lb fruit, 2lb honey, water to a gallon. I used frozen fruit from the grocery store.
I left the fruit in the whole time, and siphoned from the bottom of the jug into bottles.
All 3 batches were horrifically bad, bitter, sour, astringent, just gross. Disappointed by it i just pushed the bottles into a corner of the kitchen and ignored them for 9 months. The other night i decided i should probably go ahead and get rid of them and grabbed a shot glass to see if anything had changed. They all looked clear, no mold or anything, so i poured a half a shot glass of each and sipped and let my wife sip. The strawberry one is still horrifying, the blueberry has the same weird taste as the strawberry but not as bad, and theres a HINT of what i dare call blueberry flavor. The cherry one though... is actually "good" i think it taste like a non-sweet cognac, a subtle raisin taste and finishes with a definite dark cherry flavor.
As for my questions.
Should I have not left the fruit in the whole time?
Is there anything I can do with the bad tasting ones? (kind of an odd plastic flavor)
Am i correct in assuming no cloudiness or floating bits, like mold, mean its "safe" to drink?