Hi everyone!
I was very curious to sample my mead, which as you may already know has been sitting around in a carboy for goodness knows how long (read: months). I have had to put the wines on the back burner for now, as my life is just insane (good insane!) right now and something needed to go by the wayside for a short period of time.
I realized I hadn’t made a batch of sterilizing solution for my winemaking equipment in a while, so I dumped out the old stuff, then made some new stuff using a teaspoon of sodium bisulfite and a gallon of water. Now that tickles the nose just a bit when dissolved, so I know it must be working!
I just stole a little sample of the mead from the carboy with my make shift wine thief (it’s just a turkey baster- ha!) and gave it a little taste. Now, I’m still not a huge fan of the nose, as it smells kind of yeasty to me, but I’m thinking that’ll change after it goes through a wine filter. I hope…
Tasting the mead, I actually don’t think it’s too terrible. Again, I have no experience with mead during the winemaking process (only the finished product!), so for all I know, it could be disgusting crap. To me and my fiancé though, it’s actually not that bad and once I add a little sugar back I’m sure it’ll be just fine for the two of us. (Now 10 minutes later, I don’t have any nasty after taste in my mouth, so that’s a good sign, right?).
I checked the specific gravity again, and it does look like it dropped a teeny weeny little bit to 1.000. It’s still not exactly where I was hoping it would be, but at this point I might say “screw it” and continue on with the process. You might recall, I had tested the acid at one point, but the results were somewhat inconclusive since learning after the fact that you can’t really test the acid this way for mead—oops. Maybe what would be better is testing the pH, but I foolishly did not buy any of those pH testing strips this time. That would be an excellent investment for sure, particularly since they are so cheap and easy to use!
Anyway, after sampling my mead I’m not too disappointed, so I think I’m going to rack the mead at least one more time, and then order some clarifying agents to speed that puppy up a little faster. After it’s clear (or clear enough), I’ll run it through my new wine filter and bottle!
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My name is Leigh Erwin, and I am a brand-spankin’ new home winemaker! E. C. Kraus has asked me to share with you my journey from a first-time dabbler to an accomplished home winemaker. From time to time I’ll be checking in with this blog and reporting my experience with you: the good, bad — and the ugly.