Too sweet Mead!

[HalfWit]

Hi, I have 19L of sweet honey blossom mead I would like to blend with fermented berry juice to dry it out. The mead started at 1.10 and finished at 1.030. I'm just wondering what berry juice and how much would be needed to make another 19L to blend? And could I get the juice already squeezed or should I go with frozen berries? I would like it to end up being quiet dry with plenty of berry taste.Thanks.

 

[troopa]

Is that FG using a champagne Yeast? if not get a decent starter going and throw it in. Or have you tried rousing the yeast, slight swirl, increase the temp a little?

Taste is subjective and the best bet is to use an accurate mixing vessel that you can blend the 2 together until you reach a desired dryness/taste profile then scale it up

Although a simple answer to your question is.. you need 19L of juice to make another 19L straight apple would be ok

 

[HalfWit]

Thanks Troppa, Ive actually decided to buy frozen Raspberries. How many kilos of berries would I need to add to 19L to make it 3% alcohol?

 

[Airgead]

Hang five little buddy....

1.030 is very high for a mead. What yeast did you use? Those figures give an ABV of around 10%. Most yeasts should get to 14 at least. It could well be still fermenting very slowly. Did you add nutrient? Low nutrient meads are notorious for stalling out and fermenting really slowly for months.

If the yeast is over its alc tolerance or has stalled, adding berries won't help you. What you need to do is kick fermentation off again. Add some nutrient, gently rouse the yeast, pitch a good starter of something like EC1118 which is very good for restarting stuck ferments.

The berries may add extra nutrients and rouse the yeast a little but its best to get things moving again first.

Cheers
Dave

 

[HalfWit]

Hi Airgead, I used D-47 yeast. and used all the nutrients needed (I hope). It has been sitting in a keg for 9 months so I will check the gravity again. I would like it to turn out quiet dry with some berry flavour and be around 5 to 6% alcohol. If I added 15L of water and some berry concentrate and some more yeast would that get me close? Thanks.

 

[Airgead]

Wow... 9 months.... that is a long time. D47 will hit 16% so it shouldn't have ended that high.

You said keg... is it chilled? If you chilled it before it was finished, that will leave it sweet.

What was the history on this one? Initial recipe, fermentation, racking, etc? That might help work out why it ended sweet.

If you wanted a dry mead at 5-6%, why did you start it at 1.1? That's about 13% potential.

If you water it down now, it will cut the sweetness a bit but you will still end up with a 5% mead at about 1.015 which will still taste quite sweet. Adding more sugar in the form of berries will also push up the sweetness. With no viable yeast to ferment it, it will stay sweet.

DV10 and EC1118 are used commercially to restart stuck ferments. Both will go up to 18% and will survive the initial shock of being dumped into an already partially fermented wine. Might be an idea to give one of them a go.

Cheers
Dave

 

[HalfWit]

Thanks for the post Airgead. Unfortunately, a made a few mistakes along the way but the mead itself tastes great. I lost my notes but from what I can remember I used fermaid a and DAP, racked once and swirled the fermenter for the first four days. I'm not sure about how much orange blossom honey I used and what volumes (doh). After fermentation finished I racked to a keg sealed for another month than it has been in the keg fridge for quiet some time.
My biggest mistake was not knowing that the people I was brewing it for like things on the drier side. So I'd like to dry it out ,lower the alcohol and add some berry flavour. I'm not home tonight but I'll check my gravity tomorrow night.thanks for the input.

 

[Airgead]

Bunging it in the keg fridge will stop it fermenting. If it was a very slow, stuck fermentation that would stop it finishing properly. If you let it warm up and give it a good blast of an alcohol tolerant yeast, that should get it going again.

 

[HalfWit]

I took the gravity last night and it's down to 1.014.Yay. I would still like to turn it into an easy drinker. Would it be a mistake to ferment out 4 kg of blueberries in 15 litres of water than add the Mead?