Do you flavor in primary or after fermentation? I made a mead, and when I tasted it, I thought why does anyone make this? Honey is more expensive than sugar, and it is BORING. You warned me it would be insipid... And here we are! Bryan is right again...
Now I need to fix it.
I add flavoring prior to fermentation, this time ground cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and a bit of nutmeg. My regular notes are
here, and I'm also doing an
In Detail blog. Neither are not up-to-date; that should be fixed this evening.
This one is a poster child for "lack of proper planning" and "let's change our mind frequently".
My original plan was to make a 4 liter batch, as an experiment. The idea was to make a coffee mead, but I looked at the Coffee Port I have and decided I had plenty of that type of wine. I like it, but it's nothing I drink frequently.
So ... I decided to emulate Starrlight Meadery's Honeyed Spiced Apple mead. Ferment with apple pie spices and backsweeten with frozen apple juice concentrate. I got that started, diluting 5 lbs honey to SG 1.100, fermented to 1.020 and put it under airlock. Turned out I got 6 to 7 liters.
So ... I changed my mind on quantity, and was going to make another batch to fill a 12 liter carboy. As I was buying the honey, I changed my mind again, and decided to fill a 23 liter carboy. I figure it will come out good and I'll kick myself for not making more. That batch fermented to 1.020 and I put it under airlock, and the two batches were a few liters short of filling the carboy. Darn.
So ... I purchased 3 lbs of honey and started a third batch, which went under airlock at 1.015. Finally ... I have enough to fill the carboy + a bit.
I'm going to rack in 2 to 3 weeks, and make a decision on flavor. If it needs more spices I'll add some in bulk, and I'm considering adding 1/2 oz medium toast Hungarian cubes. I'll bulk age 3 months and taste test. At that point I may stabilize and add the apple concentrate, plus bentonite. From there I'll probably bulk age 3 months then bottle.