Re-fermenting JAOM

[lpsumo]

I made a JAOM variant with lemons instead of oranges and dates instead of raisins

I used 10.5 pounds of honey for a 3 gallon recipe. OG=1.130 FG=1.040

I used bread yeast.

I'm thinking it tastes too sweet and want to get the gravity lower. What are my options for doing this?

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

I've read amylase enzyme will drop your gravity. Also read that it will usually drop all the way out leaving you a severely dry beverage. I haven't used it myself so I can't give factual advice. But from what I've read most who used it couldn't get it to stop where they wanted it leaving them an overly dry drink.

Edit: just saw you used bread yeast so you could have reached max attenuation of the yeast so not sure enzymes would get you any lower without adding an alcohol tolerant yeast.

 

[hehawbrew]

Yeah- I'm not an expert, but from what I've read, that's why joe tells us to use bread yeast. It craps out at 10 to 12% and we are left with some sweetness.

 

[Arpolis]

If it is too sweet for your taste, for fear of a stronger yeast running this too dry which makes for terrible JAOM I would make a 1 gallon traditional mead and use a good lalvin wine yeast to run it dry and then blend it with the JAOM till you are at the desired gravity.

So might just do something like:

3# honey
Hand full of raisins for body
1tsp yeast nutrient
1/2 tsp yeast energizer
Water to 1 gallon
Yeast (lalvin 71b-1122 or K1v-1116)

 

[Bluespark]

Why not add some lemon juice? That would cut the sweet and enhance the lemon without risk of drying it out and making it bitter.

 

[lpsumo]

If it is too sweet for your taste, for fear of a stronger yeast running this too dry which makes for terrible JAOM I would make a 1 gallon traditional mead and use a good lalvin wine yeast to run it dry and then blend it with the JAOM till you are at the desired gravity.

So might just do something like:

3# honey
Hand full of raisins for body
1tsp yeast nutrient
1/2 tsp yeast energizer
Water to 1 gallon
Yeast (lalvin 71b-1122 or K1v-1116)

I like this idea.

I'm thinking though that if I mix 3gal @ 1.040 with 1gal @ 0.995, I will get something around 1.030. Is that right?

 

[Arpolis]

I like this idea.

I'm thinking though that if I mix 3gal @ 1.040 with 1gal @ 0.995, I will get something around 1.030. Is that right?

Using the blending calculator here:

gotmead.com calculator

It comes out to about 1.03

 

[Meadiator]

Definitely don't run it dry. I've already lived through that myself ;D

 

[lpsumo]

Would it also be an option to dry it out, then backsweeten a little?

My concern is that if I blend it with a traditional, I will end up with 4 or 5 gallons of sub-par mead...

 

[Arpolis]

Who says JAOM is sub par? Even a lemon JAOM. My last JAOM true was not the best at 3 months but at about month 7 and on with aging it was darn great. Made you feel all good and bubbly inside with a big grin. I was sad that I only made a gallon that time lol. You could ferment dry and back sweeten I guess. Just getting a second fermentation started stresses out the new yeast strain you introduce which may cause fusel alcohols or other off flavors. The blending method will allow for you to adjust the gravity with as little issue as possible with stressed yeast.

 

[lpsumo]

Took your advice and started this up today.

Made 3 gallons. Used a handful of raisins and a handful of currants cause that's all I had, hope that works out.

 

[Arpolis]

Ok cool. Yea once that batch clears and you blend the two to the gravity you want. It should only be another month or two of aging before it starts tasting real good I bet. But as with any mead the more aging the better and you should have plenty to see this through it's life style of changes.

 

[lpsumo]

Well, it's been about 4 months and I'm debating what to do

I mixed in 2 gallons of traditional dry so now I have 5 gallons of lemon date mead that I find WAY too sweet. SG is about 1.025

I want my carboy for other projects so I was thinking of just bottling a half dozen and dumping the rest.

Anyone have any last minute ideas on how to salvage this? I'm thinking before I dump it I may as well try to add some EC-1118 to see if it can eat any more of the sugar.

 

[skadalajara]

If you want to be a bit bold, use the unbottled portion in a mead "geuze". Or a lambic.
This is something I'd like to try at some point, as I love funky/sour beers.
I've got a ceyser going now that started out as a wild cider, them when active fermentation stopped, I added 1.5# mesquite honey. It didn't take off again, so I had to add some Nottingham. I'm hoping some of the wild yeast character will make it through. When I bottle it, I'm going to use a portion of that and a portion of another wild cider to start another batch.

 

[lpsumo]

I don't quite follow you...

So I would just add some more honey and hope to attract a wild yeast?

Or i would start a wild mead and combine the two?

 

[skadalajara]

Either/or.
I plan to use the second method.
First method may not work if your current ABV is higher than the tolerance of your local wild yeasts.

 

[skadalajara]

Although, you could also try to make a mead vinegar.