Wildflower Honey - Bitter Finish?

[Sean75]

Y

Plus makes you feel more like a mad scientist at home hehe.
but seriously, there’s almost two teaspoons of potassium bicarbonate in your gallon, you’re most likely going to taste it. You brought this up a few weeks ago
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/mead-has-a-bitter-off-note.671288/#post-8700813

eah I’m going to get one. And yeah it’s a repeat but it’s hard to look at 4 gallons of mead and just shrug your shoulders. And this time I think we figured it out.

 

[Miraculix]

Y

eah I’m going to get one. And yeah it’s a repeat but it’s hard to look at 4 gallons of mead and just shrug your shoulders. And this time I think we figured it out.

If it is really just the bicarbonate, you could brew a second mead without carbonate and just mix the existing one in instead of using carbonate.

So you wouldn't need to throw it away.

 

[bernardsmith]

Totally agree with Miraculix. And what you can always do is blend small quantities of the problem batch with batches that don't have the bitterness you detect in this one. Though there is a downside and that is you might - you might - be spoiling good batches by adding samples of the problem batch rather than simply either giving the problem batch to people who do not detect that flavor or, worse case, pouring the bitter batch down the drain... (don't know if you can wisely compost wine)

 

[Maylar]

And FWIW, an expert mead maker I know has never used bicarbonate in any of his meads, even if they approach 3.0 pH. I have it on hand in case of a stall, but that's never happened to me. In fact, I don't usually measure pH of a mead, I just follow a proven protocol that always works.

 

[Sean75]

Totally agree with Miraculix. And what you can always do is blend small quantities of the problem batch with batches that don't have the bitterness you detect in this one. Though there is a downside and that is you might - you might - be spoiling good batches by adding samples of the problem batch rather than simply either giving the problem batch to people who do not detect that flavor or, worse case, pouring the bitter batch down the drain... (don't know if you can wisely compost wine)

It is a gamble, what’s the saying? Something about throwing good money after bad. My other concern is I’ve added sorbate and Camden to these batches and I wouldn’t want that to kill a good fermentation in a new batch. I’ve read about free vs bound sulfites and that fruit will bind up a lot. Plotting to maybe dump some fruit into the bad batch to tie up some of the sulfites then take the fruit out before adding parts of it to a new fermentation. How far down the rabbit hole will I go?

 

[Miraculix]

It is a gamble, what’s the saying? Something about throwing good money after bad. My other concern is I’ve added sorbate and Camden to these batches and I wouldn’t want that to kill a good fermentation in a new batch. I’ve read about free vs bound sulfites and that fruit will bind up a lot. Plotting to maybe dump some fruit into the bad batch to tie up some of the sulfites then take the fruit out before adding parts of it to a new fermentation. How far down the rabbit hole will I go?

Ok, under these circumstances, I would probably just put it into the corner of the room and forget about it for a few years. Then try again, still bad, dumper, good, bottling.

 

[dwhite60]

Sulphate can enhance bitterness in beer. What you're getting may be the sulphite (campden). Also, it's added potassium too. Might just lick a tablet and see what you get.

DO NOT DUMP THIS. Give it at least six months. Miracles do happen with mead. I've been shocked many time by what swill can evolve into.

All the Best,
D. White

 

[blasterooni]

Good point. I’ll check it out. Nutrients are ok to taste right? Gonna go ahead pass on the Starsan.

Starsan doesnt taste too bad just acidic I guess