Ehele is the cacao mead batch that I stashed with my neighbour. I figured it was time to see how that was going and collected it. Easy to remember why I decided not to use more 10l bottles - they're bloody heavy and a pain to clean, because they don't fit in the sink.
Ehle
Alc 12.5%
SG 1000
Doesn't smell bad, though surprisingly faint for something that's a ton of honey and a fair amount of cacao. Taste is similarly light, which was good (I guess) because it's sour and ergh.
It's murkey but considering how brown it started out it's cleared significantly. The fat was drifting on top (looked gross) but is mostly out after racking.
Added 500gr honey, which is not stirred in and sitting as a layer on the bottom now. Not sure if that was a good idea. I intended to backsweeten but it might restart the fermentation instead.
Was feeling a little hopeless about it until I remembered that the recipe says to let it age for at least a year after the fermentation stopped, so maybe I'm just being impatient.
Impatience and discouragement is a bit of a theme at the moment with my brewing activities. I'm not getting the results I want and I'm not sure if the current batches might improve with age or if I should just chuck them already. With the meads I know to expect them not to taste now and that they might improve dramatically with time, but the fruit wines I was expecting to be palatable by now.
If I had the space I would just wait it out, bottle it and see what it's like in a year or so. As it is I'm not much inclined to bottle stuff that's likely just going down the drain in a year's time.
Anyone have any uplifting tales about stuff that started out as dreck and turned great? I'm not expecting instant miracles here, but it'd be nice to have some optimism that all this stuff actually pays off by becoming drinkable.
Retcon updates
I did this in the weekend of 10/11 April, just haven't posted it here... to be honest things are kind of depressing on the brewing front, that's why I put it off.
Imre
Alc 15%
SG 1014
Still murkey though maybe starting to clear a little. Smells and tastes ciderish. I'm really sad I lost the sweet apple scent and taste I was after.
Racked and added a sugar syrup of 50gr white sugar with 100ml water.
Halle
Alc 12%
SG 1014
Racked. Doesn't smell 'gone bad' just not good. May need time? Doesn't taste outright bad either, but.. I don't know, hard to believe this could get drinkable, it's nothing like mead. Sourish aftertaste.
I am really starting to regret using the quince juice right off the bat, it smelled SO good and the fermentation has just killed that. Then again I don't think I could have frozen it, not enough space...
Gwyllion
Alc 18%
SG 1010
Racked. Smells good - sweet wine. Tastes drinkable (not spit-out stuff) but not nice. Oh I don't know. If I had the space I would just wait it out, bottle it and see what it's like in a year or so. As it is I'm not much inclined to bottle stuff that's likely just going down the drain in a year's time.
Imre
Alc 15%
SG 1014
Still murkey though maybe starting to clear a little. Smells and tastes ciderish. I'm really sad I lost the sweet apple scent and taste I was after.
Racked and added a sugar syrup of 50gr white sugar with 100ml water.
Halle
Alc 12%
SG 1014
Racked. Doesn't smell 'gone bad' just not good. May need time? Doesn't taste outright bad either, but.. I don't know, hard to believe this could get drinkable, it's nothing like mead. Sourish aftertaste.
I am really starting to regret using the quince juice right off the bat, it smelled SO good and the fermentation has just killed that. Then again I don't think I could have frozen it, not enough space...
Gwyllion
Alc 18%
SG 1010
Racked. Smells good - sweet wine. Tastes drinkable (not spit-out stuff) but not nice. Oh I don't know. If I had the space I would just wait it out, bottle it and see what it's like in a year or so. As it is I'm not much inclined to bottle stuff that's likely just going down the drain in a year's time.
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