Gravity Reading Updates

I've decided to take weekly gravity readings to check on the progress of my meads. Some of them I fully suspect won't change much week to week since they've finished their ferment so I'll prepare to bottle them for long term storage.

Below I provide not only the gravity readings, but notes of aroma, taste, and color, as well as temperature as well as I can figure. Most of the musts were at 80F-84F, which I'm not sure is a problem, but then again I was using an inexact thermometer and will invest in a digital one for greater accuracy.

Mead No. 1
82F
FG 0.992

This is the mead that I attempted to replicate the taste of the Melovino Meadery's Midnight Jack mead, adding in blackberries, black currants, and black cherries. Although it had a somewhat fruity smell in the container and a beep burgundy color, there wasn't much sweetness to the taste -- more like a dry wine -- and it was clearly still a young mead as there was an alcohol taste present.

I had no original gravity reading so I have nothing to compare it too. I can probably back-calculate it based on the honey used and water volume, and may determine that later on, but I also never took gravity readings after adding the fruit in the secondary so it would probably be an exercise in futility. I'll just have to accept this one as is.

After the fruit has been in the secondary for a month (next week), I'll rack again to a tertiary container and try to back sweeten it.

Mead No. 2
82F
FG 1.011

There was a strong alcohol smell in the pail, but it's taste was actually sweet with little of the same hot taste. I had attempted to make this a basic mead, and I'm surprised at how sweet it remains. MY notes were shady at the beginning, and I only think I used Lalvin D-47 but considering its sweetness compared to the others I may have to check into this further. It had a light gold color (seemed darker in the bucket) and was very clear.

This is another mead I didn't have an OG reading on, but I did take a reading apparently when I racked it to the secondary on July 26. My notes say it was 1.03 at the time, though I'm not sure how accurate that is so it will be another mead I'll just be accepting as is. I'll be racking it to a glass carboy for long term storage in about 2 weeks.

Mead No. 3
84F
FG 0.992

There was a mild alcohol smell in the bucket, but its taste was not like that at all. It was dry, but not sweet, really like a good white wine. It also had a light gold color and was very clear.

Mead No. 4
FG 0.992

There were no real smells to speak of, though its taste was dry and not fruity. This was the one that I had used dehydrated orange slices with. My earlier notes indicate there was an orange taste to it, but that has apparently dissipated, though it had a weird flavor. Not bad, as if the mead was no good, just odd. Its color was a deeper, reddish gold. The gravity reading has remained unchanged since I took it last time on July 17. In a couple of weeks I'll rack to a glass carboy for long term storage.

Mead No. 6
FG 0.992

Not much of a fruity smell but the taste was surprisingly pleasing with a definite raspberry flavor. It was somewhat dry however. It had a bright pinkish reddish color.

It was racked to a secondary on July 9 so next week I'll rerack it off the fruit for long-term storage.

Mead No. 7
83F
FG 1.110
OG 1.150
% ABV 5.98

There were no real aromas to speak of, and it seems that trying to discern smells while in a carboy is more difficult than when it's in a bucket. The mead had an amber color, but seemed carbonated with lots of bubbles.

The taste was very sweet with only a hint of alcohol coming through. This is the one I was trying to make a sweet mead with, but I was still surprised at the ABV reading above. However, that OG reading may not have been correct so it will be watched over time.

Meads No. 5, 8, 9

I did not take readings of these meads. No. 5 is still fermenting in the original plastic water jug and the balloon has yet to deflate. It was created a month ago so it should be ready soon to go into a secondary.

Mead No. 8 was the cyser that I made a week and a half ago and I took a reading on it earlier this week while Mead No. 9 I just made the other day, so I will wait for a full week before taking the first reading.