Strawberry Grape Mead, not even close

[Toy4Rick]

Hey gang,

Here is what has been in the fermenter for 2 weeks now

6 Lbs. light clover honey
5 Lbs. frozen strawberries - Pureed
WLP720 Sweet Mead Yeast (Made starter of 1/4c honey and 3/4 Qt water and a pinch of yeast nutrients, let yeast work for approx 18 hours)
1 Quart Welch's White Grape Juice – 100% juice
1 tsp of yeast nutrients in the must

First off, now I know what rocket fuel tastes like
SG is currently 1.000
However, NO strawberry flavor at all and color is barely pink

I am going to rack it to secondary tomorrow or Sunday on top of more strawberries and see how it goes.

Does this sound right?
Toy4Rick

 

[oldmate]

Sounds fine, I don't know what your OG was, but I wouldn't expect it to stop tasting like rocket fuel for a good few months.

 

[fatbloke]

The levels of colour pigment can be rather confusing. Strawberry is a good example, because while the fruit look nice and red to the eye, once fermented, it can vary from a very light pink to like a dark straw colour, not the nice red that the fruit was originally.

Good examples of fruit that will retain a reasonably good colour are things like blueberries, black currants, blackberries etc etc. These are all fruit with a very high "anti-oxidant" level and usually stain the skin like hell, especially when cooked (red/black fruit that improves with flavour when cooked, unlike white/green fruit that often show a "cooked" taste when, well, cooked..... think of apples or kiwi fruit and you'll follow what I'm on about).

That yeast is very finicky to use, so well done on getting the brew down to 1.000 - I'd guess that's down to your making a starter first.

Steeping the extra fruit will probably increase the fruitiness of the brew, because leaving it "as is", there's no guarantee that some of the fruit flavour will recover with time.

regards

fatbloke

 

[MedsenFey]

What is the size of this batch?

 

[Toy4Rick]

Thanks for the info everyone

Batch size is 2.2 gals
OG was 1.116

Since I am down to 1.000 I think it's time to rack to secondary. Now I just need to empty the 2 gal of cheap wine I just bought to get the glass

Toy4Rick

 

[Kauai_Kahuna]

Since I am down to 1.000 I think it's time to rack to secondary. Now I just need to empty the 2 gal of cheap wine I just bought to get the glass

Use it for cooking, unless it's not that bad.
It is very nice that I can find some pretty good wines, for a reasonable price.

 

[fatbloke]

I'd just get it racked, cleared and stabilised, then get it into the glass and age it. Some fruit flavour does disappear during fermentation, but recovers some of the fruitiness during ageing....

If it's rocket fuel, it's probably more to do with some fusels being present, which will require some ageing (possibly extended ageing) to mellow out.

regards

fatbloke

 

[gratus fermentatio]

I am going to rack it to secondary tomorrow or Sunday on top of more strawberries and see how it goes.

Does this sound right?
Toy4Rick

Yep, that's what I'd do; and have done (with great results) several times.
Regards, GF.

 

[Toy4Rick]

Hey gang,

Well I racked it into a couple 1 gal glass jugs yesterday on top of new frozen/thawed strawberries and I must say, today the color has turned a much deeper color of red it smells more like strawberries than before and the milky haze is going away. Looks like it's going in the right direction.

Based on how it tastes now , it won't be hard to wait until Christmas to try it again. I'll do most things once, twice if it won't leave a scar but this is just going to take time.

Thanks
Toy4Rick

 

[MarsColonist]

First off, now I know what rocket fuel tastes like k

What was your fermentation temp with this yeast?

 

[Toy4Rick]

The ambient air temp has been low to mid 70's

Today, 1 jug is pretty quiet, the other is actively fermenting, go figure.

Thanks,
Rick

 

[Toy4Rick]

Hey gang,

Last night I decided to rack off the strawberries which are still floating after 10 days. As you can see from the pic, lots of must in each jug but the color is better, smells much better and it's getting more clear. I had to top off one of the glass jugs with water to reduce head space.

Thanks again
Toy4Rick

 

[Toy4Rick]

Well, I added some Campden and Pectic Enzymes for 48 hours, cleared up nicely, then back sweetened to 1.104 and it was drinkable but not what I would call good, still very young. I bottled it and put it away until Christmas when we will try it for the first time.

Thanks everyone for the encouragement
Toy4Rick