Strong alc smell from my baby, and still carbonation...

[songe]

Well... so its been roughly 6 months now since i started my first mead... and well... the two melomels has still Co2 present, and one of them has a slight "vodka" taste to it. My 3 gla batch of plain mead im going to oak has a strong "vodka" smell to it... and just tastes like bad alcohol... what to to?

i might add that my raspberry mead is crystal clear and my blueberry still a little bit hazy, whiles my plain mead is cluster****ed with haze

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

Sounds liek you fermented on the warmer side (over 70) and made some fussel alcohols. They are known as "hot alcohols" and make it taste boozy. They will age out in time. The oak should also cut some of that edge off.

 

[songe]

yeah... but 6 months.... that is quite some time in the fermenters..... and what about the co2.... just shake them now and then to get rid of the excess co2?

 

[fatbloke]

yeah... but 6 months.... that is quite some time in the fermenters..... and what about the co2.... just shake them now and then to get rid of the excess co2?

Why would 6 months be excessive ?

Using honey and water, instead of grape juice in a wine wouldn't make it any quicker.

The fusel comment is possible, as are many other suggestions.

I would suggest that if you test to double check that fermentation is indeed complete, use your natural conditions. Your profile says Norway, so its likely cold ? If so, get it outside, but if its in glass fermenters keep an eye on it to make sure it doesnt freeze.

A week or two of cold crashing will often cause the sediment to drop out.

As for CO2, you could use a lees/sediment stirrer either before or after a cold crash. Though given that cold liquid temps will hold most dissolved CO2, its likely easier to wait until its been cold crashed and racked........

Then you can just stopper a carboy fermenter and roll it, you can use a lees stirrer of some sort, you can use a vacuum pump (powered or manually operated), etc etc.....

 

[songe]

its been cold crashing for about 3 months.. i racked off sediments two days ago

 

[fatbloke]

Well meads can indeed be strange beasts.........

If you are finding it tiresome waiting for haze to drop naturally, then maybe its time to try some finings.

As for the CO2 ? Depends what containers you've got it in. If buckets then just giving it a spin with a lees stirrer type device, if you've got it in glass then some sort of vacuum pump - powered would likely be better but you can get away with one of those hand held ones used for bleeding car brakes (seen the ones called Mityvac). Just connect via tube and a stopper with hole. Vacuum up as gas is drawn out it drops pump again etc.......