I thought I'd wrap up this thread after some more research I've done and actions taken off the back of it.
I was quite concerned that I had fusel alcohols in this melomel so started to research if there was anything I could do about it. I came across this thread which suggested an idea from the wine making world for testing whether you have flavours that will age out or not. Essentially you shake a small sample in a jar and if it tastes 'better' than the original then age will help. Presumably this simulates the oxidative effect of aging. I and my wife both thought there as a difference. Source: original post in this thread:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=320593
I also found a thread which got very scientific very quickly but was basically saying that in beer, higher alcohols break down into esters over time as a result of chemical reactions with other compounds in the beer. Source: a few posts down in this thread.
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=268689
Obviously I don't have esters available to break down the alcohols but I decided to see if adding any chemical compound, namely honey, would do anything.
And of course there is the thing that everyone says about higher alcohols: leave it and wait.
So, actions:
1. Draw off 10ml of melomel from each bottle with a syringe
2. Shake the heck out of the bottle for a minute, open, reseal and shake again. (I'm using swing tops by the way)
3. Backsweeten to my planned level
4. Put them away and forget about them for a minimum 6 months. I have two smaller bottles from which I'll take occasional samples.
Lessons learned for next time:
- I don't think I cared enough for my yeast health during fermentation. Temperature wasn't an issue but with blueberries floating on top in the DJ it's possible that CO2 couldn't escape well enough even though I agitated the DJ frequently. Next time I will use a bucket until fermentation is largely complete then rack to DJ to condition.
- next time I won't add my fruit immediately, I think I will try to ferment out the mead somewhat then add the fruit. I don't know that this is necessarily a cause of my bad fermentation but it does strike me that letting the yeast do the easy work (fruit sugar) first and leave the hard work (honey) until later probably isn't optimal.
- next time I'll try bulk aging in DJ after racking off the fruit
A long post for which I apologise but I thought it was useful to go through my thought processes and see what others think. All in all a somewhat disappointing outcome but I still may have a drinkable melomel by Christmas and if not then I'll do better next time.
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