Should I pitch it?

[Mainemoosepies]

So back in September I started my maiden voyage to making Mead. Started 2 jugs 1 was a JAOM and the other was an experiment with raspberry orange MAOM. Stuff kicked off great and I was like a nervous mama checking the babies several times a day. Since a watched pot never boils I decided place them in a cool dark place. Shortly after doing that a life event happened. Priorities changed and I forgot about them until someone asked the other day how they turned out.

Oh my gosh....head smack!!! (Don't judge me at the the time were more important issues than Mead ). They have been left in the primary since 9/9/18. Water was still in the air locks and I figured the first tell tale sign of utter disaster would be a foul smell. To my surprise they smell just like beer. However there are weird floaties that do not seem to be characteristic of many of the infected meads I have researched.

In JAOM the floating stuff is raisens and an orange rind with other floaties. Shouldn't they have sunk or did stuff grow due to it being left too long

In the other jug ot looks like either raspberry seeds or orange pieces with additional growth.

So should I chalk it up to a loss or could it possibly be salvaged?

 

[JimRausch]

Caveat- I have not made either of those recipes. But to me, those pictures look like fruit bits. And while 4 months is a bit longish in primary, it's not long overall in the grand scheme of things. I'd rack them to fresh sanitized jugs (with 1 Camden tab to scavenge O2) and see if you're going to get any more lees(sediment). Top them off up to the neck to also help limit O2 exposure. If in another 3-4 weeks you don't have anymore lees, then OK to bottle.

 

[Blacksmith1]

I too haven't done those but the threads where people did some of them left it for 6 or so months. "till the fruit sinks then rack" seems to be the rule of thumb. keep in mind, this is hearsay from an old guy with minor memory issues, and as such could be completely wrong. Do yourself a favor and search the forum for jaom.

 

[CKuhns]

I would only add that you taste a little from each check the gravity and after bottling let them sit in that same cool dark place for a year or more.

 

[loveofrose]

Beauty is the finished product; not the process to get there. You don’t have anything unusual here.

Rack the clear part into a new container and taste. If it’s good, bottle after it clears again. If it isn’t, let it age with minimal head space.