I’m making a mead. I kinda forgot about it for a week. I’m usually pretty good about monitoring pH and adding nutrients, but this one got away from me. It has kind of a phenolic, medicinal, band-aid flavor. This is the first time I’ve used POF+ yeast, so, maybe that wasn’t the best idea.
It’s not awful, but I’m wondering what I can do to mitigate the damage. Gelatin finings? Cold crash? Shouldn’t polyphenols fall out of suspension eventually?
7lbs blackberries, fermented with WY3522 ~ 1/2 gallon
+4 gallons water, clover honey to hit OG = 1.072
+1 pack of T-58
It’s down to 1.000 now. The medicinal flavor isn’t quite as pronounced as it was. It’s still there, but more of a background flavor. So I guess it’s aging out? I might blend it with a basic wheat beer or something. I’m not sure I’d like to drink a few pints of it, but it might end up being pretty good if I blend it.
My wife drank some, and thought it tasted more like overripe fruit than medicinal/band-aid. So maybe I’m not describing the flavor correctly.
Hey Nateo, I’ve only made one mead, a carrot blossom mead which I am about to keg. So, with my limited experience in mind. When I tasted mine after a few weeks, I also had a medicinally/band-aid flavor. After 2-3 months, I couldn’t taste it at all, or at least it is to the point where I don’t notice it. My girlfriend also tasted it initially, and now says it is gone.
I also used Kris England’s nutrient addition/fermentation schedule for what it is worth.
That pH on August 27 is pretty low at 3.0. That’s into the range where yeasts start to throw some off character. It may soften with age, but it may not go away altogether. I don’t know of a retroactive fix. Sorry.
I just had the same problem! I’ve used plenty of nutrients, though I admit I haven’t really checked ph levels. I’ve notice the flavor aging out of my braggot, though my two meads, which have been bottled, are not coming along so well. They remain kind of medicinal, almost minty. I’ve kept the braggot in the secondary since June and I think it’s finally starting to come around. Patience is my only advice.
The medicinal flavor has mellowed some. The over-ripe fruit aroma is still there, now more like rotten fruit, and now it’s got some funky sausage/meaty flavors. It must be autolysis, and maybe wild yeast from the blackberries.
I think it’ll end up being a dumper, but I’ll let it ride a bit longer. I don’t think I’ve run into autolysis this pronounced before.