Watery Strawberry Mead

[newbiewinemaker]

Hey Everyone,

My mead is beautifully clear now and I just took out the oak and vanilla beans. However while racking I tasted some and its pretty dang watery. It has an amazing smell tho!

I used about
6 lbs honey
roughly 3/4 of a 96oz can of strawberry purree
Around 2 1/2 gallons of water
K1v 1116 yeast

It started at 1.110 and finished at 1.000.

I am not sure if I did something wrong or not. Maybe I measured my honey wrong?

Any suggestions on trying to save this or what I should do with it?


Thanks Everyone!

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

The taste is watery? Or the body is watery?

 

[newbiewinemaker]

More so the body

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

I'd say let it age. How old is it? I've found that in my meads that finish in near 1.000, after they've aged close to a year, they will start to develop some body back.

You can also try back-sweetening. It will raise your body, but also your sweetness (and therefor the flavor and likely aroma). So age is probably the way to go here.

 

[newbiewinemaker]

I would like to backsweeten. It was built into my recipe to do this. Its about 2 1/2 months old. I just took the vanilla and oak off of it. I only oaked this for about a week as I have never worked with oak and was afraid it would have too much of that flavor. I have read that oaking for a long time will add body as well.

I have about 1 1/2 gallons of finished product. Any suggestions on how much honey to backsweeten? Then I will let it age for awhile.

Thanks

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

First stabilize it with sulfite and sorbate. Then after 48 hours or so you can mix some honey and water, see if it's where you want it.

If you're happy with it, bottle it, if it needs more sweetness; repeat step 2