fatbloke
General Idiot
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2007
- Messages
- 347
- Reaction score
- 19
Yesterday was a "I've gotta sort xxxxxxx out" sort of day.....
But it lead to the occasional "am I ever gonna get this right" despondency......
Out of about 12 or 13 gallons (various types), only 2 suggested to me that they had any promise.
The rest ? well it just got, well, sorted out.
For example, there was 5 different "reds", one of them, a "mixed fruit" melomel, was light, fruity, acidic enough to display the fruit flavour nicely and with a gentle sweetness.
But I'm **** at record keeping, so what went into it ? Don't know. What honey did I use ? Don't know.
2 of the others had good colour (none of them are bad, but varying shades....), strong fruit flavour (even I could tell that one was black currant and the other had a lot of raspberry in it), but very sharp, acidic, not nice......
So I've ended up blending all of the 4 "non-starters", and they're currently steeping about 1/2 lb of black currants that were frozen and waiting for something, topped up with about half a gallon of an "accidental" chenin blanc white. I'll probably leave the fruit in there for about a month and then rack it off and back sweeten it with honey, as that should mask some of the acidity and allow the fruit flavour through.
Most of the others were various types of meads, mainly traditionals. Some were just bland, some had good aroma but lacked in flavour/taste, some didn't have much body, etc etc etc.
It's all rather confusing, because the only one that tasted good was one that I'd forgotten to label or the label had come off. So I don't know what honey it was, I don't know what yeast was used, nutrients, etc etc. Plus, when I took a gravity reading, it was sitting at 1.020 so in truth the ferment probably wasn't finished (not gonna finish now as I racked it onto campden tablet, sorbate and added finings).
Of course, I know that my mead making techniques are very hap-hazard, lacking in consistency and so on.
I try to remember to label the batches as they're made, sometimes I forget or tie a label on the finger lug, which becomes detached as the jug gets moved around.
Damn! this is frustrating. I just want a recipe that comes out consistant, so the only real variation is that of the honey.
The problem seems to be that most of my knowledge and understanding of how meads "should" be made are from wine making websites, books etc etc.
Now we're all quite aware, that historically, meads were a bit of a PITA to make, available written guidance from historic sources is sketchy at best. So how close, really, was mead, to a wine ?
Some of the traditionals racked/topped up/tasted/fined etc from yesterday just tasted like badly made, mediocre white wines.
Are meads supposed to taste like that ? I don't think so....
A similar problem arises from my "reds". Many years ago, a local brewery, not only made good "real ale" type beers, but also a range of fruit/country wines. Maybe my memory is playing tricks on me, but I recall them tasting very like the fruits that they were derived from and much like "alcoholic fruit cordials". Which might have been for a number of reasons, like excessive fruit, or sweetening, or acids/tannin or whatever.
All I do know, is that I don't like the stuff I've made recently, and it certainly doesn't taste like I think it should taste......
Hum? back to the drawing board I suppose.......
regards
fatbloke
p.s. and no, I don't know any other local mead or fruit/country wine makers to compare notes/flavours etc etc.....
But it lead to the occasional "am I ever gonna get this right" despondency......
Out of about 12 or 13 gallons (various types), only 2 suggested to me that they had any promise.
The rest ? well it just got, well, sorted out.
For example, there was 5 different "reds", one of them, a "mixed fruit" melomel, was light, fruity, acidic enough to display the fruit flavour nicely and with a gentle sweetness.
But I'm **** at record keeping, so what went into it ? Don't know. What honey did I use ? Don't know.
2 of the others had good colour (none of them are bad, but varying shades....), strong fruit flavour (even I could tell that one was black currant and the other had a lot of raspberry in it), but very sharp, acidic, not nice......
So I've ended up blending all of the 4 "non-starters", and they're currently steeping about 1/2 lb of black currants that were frozen and waiting for something, topped up with about half a gallon of an "accidental" chenin blanc white. I'll probably leave the fruit in there for about a month and then rack it off and back sweeten it with honey, as that should mask some of the acidity and allow the fruit flavour through.
Most of the others were various types of meads, mainly traditionals. Some were just bland, some had good aroma but lacked in flavour/taste, some didn't have much body, etc etc etc.
It's all rather confusing, because the only one that tasted good was one that I'd forgotten to label or the label had come off. So I don't know what honey it was, I don't know what yeast was used, nutrients, etc etc. Plus, when I took a gravity reading, it was sitting at 1.020 so in truth the ferment probably wasn't finished (not gonna finish now as I racked it onto campden tablet, sorbate and added finings).
Of course, I know that my mead making techniques are very hap-hazard, lacking in consistency and so on.
I try to remember to label the batches as they're made, sometimes I forget or tie a label on the finger lug, which becomes detached as the jug gets moved around.
Damn! this is frustrating. I just want a recipe that comes out consistant, so the only real variation is that of the honey.
The problem seems to be that most of my knowledge and understanding of how meads "should" be made are from wine making websites, books etc etc.
Now we're all quite aware, that historically, meads were a bit of a PITA to make, available written guidance from historic sources is sketchy at best. So how close, really, was mead, to a wine ?
Some of the traditionals racked/topped up/tasted/fined etc from yesterday just tasted like badly made, mediocre white wines.
Are meads supposed to taste like that ? I don't think so....
A similar problem arises from my "reds". Many years ago, a local brewery, not only made good "real ale" type beers, but also a range of fruit/country wines. Maybe my memory is playing tricks on me, but I recall them tasting very like the fruits that they were derived from and much like "alcoholic fruit cordials". Which might have been for a number of reasons, like excessive fruit, or sweetening, or acids/tannin or whatever.
All I do know, is that I don't like the stuff I've made recently, and it certainly doesn't taste like I think it should taste......
Hum? back to the drawing board I suppose.......
regards
fatbloke
p.s. and no, I don't know any other local mead or fruit/country wine makers to compare notes/flavours etc etc.....
