Sweet mead very dry and cidery at initial taste test (4 weeks) - is this normal?

[thebaldygoblin]

Hi All

My first couple of 1g demijohns of mead are reaching the end of primary fermentation. They’ve been in for just over a month and bubbling has slowed to once every 2 minutes or so.

I took an initial hydrometer reading of 1.12 for both batches, now I’ve got one at 1.02 (approx. 13.4%) and one at 0.98 (18.7%) – although I don’t really care about the alcohol content as long as it tastes good. The second, slightly stronger one has generally been slightly more visibly active in terms of airlock bubbles.

I used 3.5 pounds of honey for each and Lalvin 71b in the hopes of making a sweet mead.

On an initial taste test they are both currently quite dry and ciderish, I can’t really taste much in the way of honey in them. I assume part of this is the fact there’s been a lot of sugar in the relatively high volume of honey to chew through. I assume however from my choice of yeast that quite a high volume of sugar has been changed to alcohol, which at least explains the APV.

There’s also quite a lot of astringency to the taste, particularly the latter, stronger one (I still had a bit of dry mouth over an hour after doing my taste test), which I think is due to the tannin tea brew I added, although from a little research I think this will fade over time.

I appreciate it’s still early very days, and the flavour will change quite a lot (and I know that backsweetening is an option), but can anybody advise if it would be normal for more honey flavour to return to the mead as it ages?

I was planning to start a second batch this weekend. I don’t really want to mess around with the recipe too much during the first few batches until I’ve got a solid, relatively stable base to work from, but I am wondering if it would be worth me dialling back the honey to say 3 pounds this time round to try to get a sweeter, if less strong result? Or maybe even trying a different yeast (I believe D-47 is also a popular choice for sweet mead?). Or do I just have to relax and let things run their course?

Thanks.

 

[CKuhns]

Or do I just have to relax and let things run their course? (YES!)

The honey will likely come through with age and yes the astringency and perhaps some of the tea will fade over time. Rack from the Lees and let it "finish" for another month or three. Bottle and don't touch it for at least 6 -12 months.

 

[Steveruch]

Some that strong can take quite a while to mellow.

 

[thebaldygoblin]

Thanks, yeh, I'm going to rack them both into secondary within the week - one of them I'm going to add blackberries from my garden and make a melomel.

I did another hydrometer reading yesterday (about a week since the last one, there was a delay between me drafting this and posting it), and it looks to be sitting about 1.00 now (although I've rechecked the pics I took, and it was definitely sitting a little below 1.00).

I did make a bit of a newbie mistake and jam the bungs on far too tight, and that particular demijohn I had to wrestle with a fair bit to get the airlock and bung off. It didn't get shaken up massively, but I wondered if maybe some additional lees in the mix has affected density (although I googled this at the time and it suggested not).

I'm now wondering if maybe a slight inaccuracy in the hydrometer is the likeliest explanation for the earlier reading?

To be honest the ABV isn't that much of a concern, that was mainly just for background. I wasn't expecting it to taste anywhere near done after a month, but I was a little surprised/concerned by the fact I couldn't really taste any honey in it at all, and I don't have any frame of reference for how it's supposed to taste at this point.