Schmorgesborg of questions from Newbie starting up

[Baabaadoo]

I'm just gonna add more questions to this post to some meads that I have going. I've got 3 one gallon batches of mead going. JAOM, Cherry, and traditional.

I checked my cherry and traditional mead on the 3 week mark in its primary. The specific gravity of the cherry is 1.010 and the traditional is 1.004. They are a lot drier than I expected, but I can always sweeten it up. I'm happy the fermentations are clearly healthy. The cherry fermented with almost a pound of chopped dried tart cherries (it kinda taste a bit tart actually) and I plan to rack it onto a pound of fresh chopped cherries.

I added 3 lbs of clover honey to each using D47 at 64F. 1 cup chopped raisins in the traditional, almost a pound chopped dried tart cherries in the cherry, and yeast nutrient to both. My goal is a sweeter mead. Probably a desert mead or close to it. I'm a newb and didn't measure my OG, like I should have. Sorry. :/

Will the fresh cherry addition sweeten the cherry mead up significantly or should I plan on adding a bit of honey in the secondary as well? Same question with the traditional except I'm obviously not adding fruit.

Since they aren't bone dry and if their gravities don't change at all until this upcoming weekend, can I assume that if I add more honey, they won't kick up into another fermentation (since they've probably hit their tolerance)? How much honey should I add to each??

Since they were much drier than I wanted, I wasn't tasting them for balanced sweetness obviously, but I've heard of them tasting 'hot'. I'm just trying to calibrate my sense of taste. When I tasted the mead, it didn't leave a 'I just took a shot and I could breath fire' ish sense. They are dry, but the alcohol seems clean-i think. What does a clean fermentation taste like? Does my description of my cherry mead sound what's to be expected?

 

[Drewed]

As for adding honey to sweeten, you can, but it may start fermentation up again. A stable S.G. does not mean the yeast is dead.

The cherries will sweeten it some, but it also ferment the sugar that they have. You may have to add more honey to that as well.

How much honey is up to you. I'd pour some off into a glass and keep adding a bit of honey and mixing until you like it, then have somebody else try it. I used to over sweeten as your tongue can become "used" to the taste... Once you have a good mix, check the SG and make the rest of the batch match that.
As for taste, there isn't a "wrong" as long as you like it. I know guys who love the taste of fussels and think rubbing alcohol tastes good. You will learn the difference between "dry" and "rocket fuel."

 

[Lefou]

Dry = good vodka and rocket fuel = similar to Ron Rico or Bacardi 151 rum

 

[fossilcat]

I don't sorbate/sulfite because of preservative sensitivies in my family, so if I want to back sweeten I ferment until the yeast dies. I do this in primary so I can be more sure it's done in secondary after that rack off the lees and the subsequent rack after it clears. If I'm adding fruit or juice in the secondary I always allow for about 1.010 from the fruit. Sometimes I have to back sweeten again after I remove the fruit.

I've found that sweet for me is 1.015, although 1.020 is considered the upper end of sweet. Anything above that is considered dessert. When back sweetening for 1 gallon I mix 1 cup of honey with the must. I don't want to use additional water even if adding warm water is more convenient to dissolve the honey because that changes the volume and may start fermentation again. So you might still have crystals in your back sweetening mixture which I don't worry about because I only add about 2/3'ds of the mixture initially - then measure the SG. If it's close to my target SG I'm good. If I need more I add more must, mix, dissolve and add the rest.

I can't tell you exactly how much to add to get what you want. I always start with a cup and never add the whole thing without an SG reading. Best to under-add than to go over. Sometimes I throw out some of the back sweetening mixture, but what's that, a quarter cup of honey?

 

[Baabaadoo]

I'll add the cherries to the secondary and just taste a month after when I rack it again. If needed, I will add honey then. I don't want to overdo it. For the traditional, I will add honey to it when I rack it over to a secondary.

I'll sweeten it a bit according to your method, but I won't bring it all the way up to my taste preference just because I have read that the perceived sweetness can go up as it ages a bit. I can always add more after all.

I'm not familiar with Ron Rico or Bacardi 151. Sorry. :/

 

[fossilcat]

I'll sweeten it a bit according to your method, but I won't bring it all the way up to my taste preference just because I have read that the perceived sweetness can go up as it ages a bit. I can always add more after all.

"Perceived sweetness" is the key phrase. I don't think the actual sweetness changes at all, it's just after time some (what we perceive as) competitive less desireable tastes subside. That's why I use the SG as a bench mark instead of taste - I'm pretty sure what kind of sweet taste I'll eventually get from 1.015 for example. I tend to sweeten high gravity and tart meads more - looking for balance. I use tanin for that too, black tea or hibiscus in primary, and/or oak at the end. Not perfect yet but getting there.

I also take my time through secondaries, looking for reasons to rack to help clear, release CO2, and get closer to what things actually taste like. Time helps the additions to assimilate. I generally do 1 thing at a time with space in between.

 

[Baabaadoo]

Gottcha. They both taste just as dry to me, but I think the cherries make it tart and I perceive it to be different than the gravity shows.

I like that you take your time and look for reasons to rack. I'm going to try and assimilate that into my brewing as well as I can.

 

[Kody_Wulfe]

Welcome to the Great Hobby or Insanity of Meading..HEHHE

I am just about as new as you.. I asked almost the same questions...

This is a great bunch of people...

Good Luck..

Kody