Blueberry Melomel Help

[allhailRITTER]

Hi everyone,

I am currently 5 months into bulk aging my blueberry melomel (my first attempt at making mead) in a glass carboy. Today I decided to give it a little taste and it is very dry, very tart, and has almost a rubbery taste to it. Now I heated my honey and used d-47 and from what I understand, that combination requires the mead to be aged for a while (about a year) until it starts tasting right.

Assuming aging does not round out the taste and and it is still really dry and tart, what suggestions might everyone have for fixing this? I know I can back sweeten but I have also heard about fixing the acidity? But I am not too familiar with this process.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

 

[avidhomebrewer]

Let's see what aging has for it first before we give any suggestions. Let it go and forget about it for a few months.

 

[TheBrewingMedic]

Today I decided to give it a little taste and it is very dry, very tart, and has almost a rubbery taste to it. Now I heated my honey and used d-47 and from what I understand, that combination requires the mead to be aged for a while (about a year) until it starts tasting right

First...unless using a warm water bath just to make the honey flow better, don't heat it anymore

Second... what were the ambient temps when it was in primary? Anything over 69*F and you get fusels which may be that rubbery flavor, mist if that will eventually age out

Not sure what you mean by correcting the acid, other than by backsweetening there isn't a lot if ways to battle a dry ferment

 

[allhailRITTER]

First...unless using a warm water bath just to make the honey flow better, don't heat it anymore

Second... what were the ambient temps when it was in primary? Anything over 69*F and you get fusels which may be that rubbery flavor, mist if that will eventually age out

Not sure what you mean by correcting the acid, other than by backsweetening there isn't a lot if ways to battle a dry ferment

Okay so no more heating. I know that has been a subject of debate and the argument for not heating makes sense because it can burn off good flavors in the honey. I have based most of my mead making off of "The Compleat Meadmaker" which uses the heating process but it seems most of the people on this board don't do it. Next batch will not be heated.

I don't remember what the primary temp was but I think it was around high 60's but as it got warmer over the months it has been around 75. So hopefully time will get rid of this flavor. If I go to bottle it will de-gassing help with this at all?

As far as the acid goes the book I read says that dryness and tart can be caused by the acidity in fruit and that certain acid or acid blends can be added to help balance the overall acidity? Or maybe I just read that wrong...

Thanks for your help. I'll let it bulk age longer and give it another taste when it hits 8 months and I'll let you know my findings.

 

[TheBrewingMedic]

I have based most of my mead making off of "The Compleat Meadmaker" which uses the heating process but it seems most of the people on this board don't do it.

Nothing wrong with this, the book is an incredible source of information, however a lot fo the techniques are outdated, the author himself doesn't use a lot of them anymore but has no inclination to release a sequel. Ken is actually in the process of starting his own commercial meadery so as you can imagine he is a bit busy.


The whole heating thing came from ancient recipes and it is being found that the reason a lot was boiled was not due to the honey or other ingredients but the water sources. A lot of Europes water was wicked nasty so to be able to cponsume it in any way it had to be boiled, hence why all wine, mead, and beer got boiled.

As far as the acid goes the book I read says that dryness and tart can be caused by the acidity in fruit and that certain acid or acid blends can be added to help balance the overall acidity? Or maybe I just read that wrong...

Thanks for your help. I'll let it bulk age longer and give it another taste when it hits 8 months and I'll let you know my findings.

I'm not sure about adding acid to take the edge off of acid/dry/tartness, unless I misunderstood something myself...Usually it's recommended to help if you have a cloyingly sweet batch that needs some balance or even something that just needs to be brightened up some to bring out the other flavors, acid blend or a source of tannins is reccomended. Age will often help soften a highly acidic mix, so try it every couple month so you can see how it progresses.