Mead Diaries #3
So, another post so soon on this topic. I know it has only been a couple of days since my last. But I popped the top off my air lock on Frankenmead quickly the past 2 days since it has gotten so clear and the terrible smell from before is totally gone. It smells like perfectly good mead again.
Not sure what to attribute that too. After I had racked, the bottle still definitely smelled off then. My thoughts are that perhaps with such a short fermentation there were some smells from the young yeast that I simply hadn't experienced in the past which were throwing things off (as I said, I tasted a bit, and if you could get past the smell, it actually tasted good), or perhaps adding the extra cider and kicking off a secondary fermentation allowed alcohol levels to reach a point where they killed off whatever was causing the prior funk.
Either way, things are looking much better. Bottle is clearing up fairly rapidly now and looks like it will be colored like an amber ale. Secondary fermentation is still slow as it should be, but there is still a lot of visible activity in there, also as I guess I should expect from this strain of yeast. Still not sure how I want to approach the final product.
I really want to try back sweetening, but this yeast strain does make me a bit wary of that. Since, I think that with the lower ABV % I won't be able to age it long without spoilage, if I can truly get the yeast killed off and back sweeten I might be able to get a mead which tastes closer to a well aged mead in much less time. Heck, this one may even be ready to drink before my baby brew.
Meadtoberfest on the other hand was bubbling around 1 per/22second today. Still super cloud and still more of yellowy color. So, it might be down to the 1/30s before the weekend, but I think it still better to wait.
Lots of people advocate for racking often, but especially with batches which aren't just made from the dregs of another batch, I like to avoid diluting things any sooner or more often than I need to.
I don't mind the crystal clear yellows. But I really have to be honest... the amber color imparted by that old buckwheat honey just looks so much better and makes me want to crack it open and drink it now.
As another note... with 2 gallon bottled and 2 gallons on the go... I'm really tempted to make another sweet buckwheat honey mead, even if it means aging it for 3 years again. If that batch hadn't turned out as good as it had when it had, I probably wouldn't have made another batch. If I pickup another air lock I could even have 3 x 1 gallon batches on the go at the same time, so I wouldn't be losing anything versus my current setup.
Not sure what to attribute that too. After I had racked, the bottle still definitely smelled off then. My thoughts are that perhaps with such a short fermentation there were some smells from the young yeast that I simply hadn't experienced in the past which were throwing things off (as I said, I tasted a bit, and if you could get past the smell, it actually tasted good), or perhaps adding the extra cider and kicking off a secondary fermentation allowed alcohol levels to reach a point where they killed off whatever was causing the prior funk.
Either way, things are looking much better. Bottle is clearing up fairly rapidly now and looks like it will be colored like an amber ale. Secondary fermentation is still slow as it should be, but there is still a lot of visible activity in there, also as I guess I should expect from this strain of yeast. Still not sure how I want to approach the final product.
I really want to try back sweetening, but this yeast strain does make me a bit wary of that. Since, I think that with the lower ABV % I won't be able to age it long without spoilage, if I can truly get the yeast killed off and back sweeten I might be able to get a mead which tastes closer to a well aged mead in much less time. Heck, this one may even be ready to drink before my baby brew.
Meadtoberfest on the other hand was bubbling around 1 per/22second today. Still super cloud and still more of yellowy color. So, it might be down to the 1/30s before the weekend, but I think it still better to wait.
Lots of people advocate for racking often, but especially with batches which aren't just made from the dregs of another batch, I like to avoid diluting things any sooner or more often than I need to.
I don't mind the crystal clear yellows. But I really have to be honest... the amber color imparted by that old buckwheat honey just looks so much better and makes me want to crack it open and drink it now.
As another note... with 2 gallon bottled and 2 gallons on the go... I'm really tempted to make another sweet buckwheat honey mead, even if it means aging it for 3 years again. If that batch hadn't turned out as good as it had when it had, I probably wouldn't have made another batch. If I pickup another air lock I could even have 3 x 1 gallon batches on the go at the same time, so I wouldn't be losing anything versus my current setup.
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