By fresh I mean no harsh after taste in the mouth and it just goes down smoothly, once you swallow the mouthful, the mouth is clear and clean, like having a mouthful of a good, chilled 'Sauvignon Blanc'. The effervescence on the tongue while you have it in the mouth I put down to the Co2 bubbles bursting in the mouth. There is a slight honey aroma, but most of it is gone.
This drop is not for drinking now, but for my wife's' birthday later in the year, so it is going to age.
Could you please inform me about stabilising and back sweetening as mentioned.
I read somewhere in this forum that mead has a habit of oxidizing, so to counteract this, the only empty space left in the storage container is in the neck of the container. To increase the 'volume' in the container, sanitised marbles are added to take up the extra space!
Thanks for the help, it has been invaluable.
athomas550
If it's 'hot' due to fusels (ie you ghad a hot ferment, and the yeast made higher order alcohols that burn heaps) then it could take years, but otherwise 5 months should start tasting interesting.
If it's a snappy bite on the aftertaste, this usually fades over the first few months, but it depends on how dry it is.
How many months until the birthday celebrations?
Stabilising:
Buy some K-meta and K-sorbate if you don't already have some. Na-meta will work, but no body needs the excess sodium this will add to the brew.
Option 1
So when it's at the required gravity, whack it in the fridge to stall it.
Then add a measured amount of k-sorbate and k-meta.
this will stop the yeast multiplying and inhibit their metabolism respectively
wait for it to clear and bottle
Option 2
Ferment it out dry.
Then add a measured amount of k-sorbate and k-meta.
this will stop the yeast multiplying and inhibit their metabolism respectively
Now add honey to taste.
wait for it to clear and bottle
be aware that meads will gain 'perceived sweetness' at 12 months or so, especially dry meads, so backsweetening should be held off if you can. Remember to leave time for it to clear again, as the honey will cloud up the mead.
If you don't wait, you may find with aging, that it becomes sickly tasting.
Backsweetening should be done in a glass until you find the desired sweetness, then measured for SG and then dose your batch accordingly. You can't take it out if you overdo it.
As with any sweet mead, beware of bottle bombs, stabilising doesn't always work. Take precautions, keep temps low if you can, place them in a cupboard or box to reduce glass schrapnel, and always listen to you gut when you pick up a bottle... usually you'll know if something's odd and it's overpressure.
Yep, marbles are the way to go, just be careful, some can leech dies or paint, so it's better to get the old standard "cat's eyes" or clear marbles