Traditional mead tastes like... ****

[VCTFernandes]

Hey guys, sorry about the title, but that's the only way I can describe how it tastes.

So, the whole story:
I began this batch on 03/25/2013 and it was made of:
Water + Honey to give an OG of 1.110 (final volume of 35 liters)
A big handful of raisins
1 packet of rehydrated 71B-1122

I used a staggered nutrient addition but had a hard time oxygenating as it's a really big/heavy carboy.
Fermentation started fine and kept going for a couple of days until it reached 1.030 and slowed down. It kept going really slow until 1.010 where it stopped for good. "Well, time to rack to secondary" I said to myself, 8 weeks after pitching. By then, it tasted very good, delicate and floral. Time went by and nasty flavors started appearing: a really strong yeasty character and something I can only describe as rotten. Fearing that it might have been autolysis, I racked again and stabilized.
Only today did I realize that the stopper on this carboy wasn't sealing it correctly, so yes, it was exposed to big amounts of oxygen
I ended up racking to smaller containers and locked them up.
I really need some help in determining what the heck is going on here...
Is it oxidized? Did my yeasties went autolytic? Will it age away? Should I open all the bottles and start selling vinegar?

 

[saramc]

Can you put a sample in glass, hold against white background and tilt the glass? There will be a fine area of demarkation between inner aspect of glass and where the sample touches, and if look you will notice that 'halo' may be clear color and it bleeds into color of sample or if oxidized that halo is brown, no clear/white light shade of demarkation.
If not oxidized, your mead needs age, at least one month for each ACV%.

 

[Arpolis]

Autolysis should not be a problem this early. 71b is bad for that but with proper nutrients the a couple of months is nothing. I would bet this just needs some age on it. Time fixes all with mead.

 

[Bluespark]

I have had several of my batches go from delicious at first racking to absolutely vile 30 days later. One like cough syrup, one like vomit, etc. then a few months later you would never guess it was the same batch, fantastic

 

[VCTFernandes]

Thanks, guys! You just eased my mind... a lot!
No matter how many times we newbies listen that "meads take time", we will always freak out when it sucks at the beginning...
saramc, I kinda didn't understand the test you mentioned... Does anyone happen to have any pictures of that?

 

[saramc]

Try this visual, see the clear/no color part of the wine, as it fades from inner aspect of the glass to the color of the wine..I call it a halo? If the halo is oxidized it has a brown tint to it. Does that help?

 

[VCTFernandes]

Awesome! Thanks a lot
Will make the test and let you guys know what's going on.