Brett/Lambic Sour Mead Need Input!

[bearclaw215]

If you can get it free from the 1118 another brett strain might be the way to go since it'll munch on the larger sugers

 

[seth8530]

Or the UV-43. Honestly, not too many brett strains are good past 12%.... But, that is a good thought.

 

[seth8530]

So, knowing that thier is some intense sour component I went ahead and purchased 1 gallon of tart cherry concentrate ( from real cherries).

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001CFMGGI/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I will add this to top off the head space in 1 of the carboys. If this causes re fermentation in this carboy then we know that the whole batch should be viable for bottle carbing... So, we should take care of 3 birds with one stone.

 

[bearclaw215]

What about wlp099? It's good to 25% and I've heard good things about it if you can take the time to care for it

 

[seth8530]

I went ahead and added the gallon of cherry concentrate. Brought the gravity up from 1.038 all the way up to 1.060.

I have done some listening and from I have heard is that if you take fermentatable sugars and carmalyze them ( actually convert them into caramel) they do not ferment very well. Right now I am entertaining the thought that perhaps the crystal syrup was nearly completely unfermentable due to its combination of complex sugars and the carmalyzation process I brought it through. I guess we will see if this theory holds truth if after the sulfite I added to the wine dissipates and fermentatoin kicks off again.

Something to keep in mind is that this addition of cherry juice also brought the abv down.. I will come through and calculate it out when I get a chance.

 

[seth8530]

Holy moley of changes! I went into the fermentation room and noticed one of the funk meads necks had a ring of bubbels in it. I gave it a taste and the flavor profile is significantly different than it was yesterday. Instead of being a really hardcore barnyard flavor it is more cherry and tart with a more modest honey characteristic that taste like honey ( ie not horse poop). I sampled the other 2 carboys and they seem to be heading in the same direction, but to different degrees.. So, I am flabergasted about what is going on and how it could have happend so quickly, but I am very pleased all the same.

Perhaps, the brett woke back up and is converting percursors over into different things?

Any ideas or thoughts?

 

[bearclaw215]

I suppose it's possible the 1118 never took hold with all the unfermentables but released enough of its killer chemical to slow the brett. But at this point i imagine it could anyone's guess to what is doing the work

 

[seth8530]

Well, time has made the picture a bit more clear... Bubbles are coming up like crazy from all the carboys. Looks like fermentation has restarted once again!

 

[seth8530]

So, these guys look like they are fermenting full speed ahead right now... I wonder what the gravity will hit before it decides to crap out once and for all.

 

[seth8530]

Its a bit messy, but honestly much better than when it was simply sitting still.

 

[seth8530]

So, racked these guys today, FG looks to be 1.040.. However, I think that sugar is mostly unfermentatble. Or infact, not sugar at all but perhaps caramel. I did some reading, apperently, if you take simple sugars and heat them long enough they can turn to caramel which is not very fermentable. If you combine this with the fact that the sugar extract that I made from malt was made from malts with high levels of unfermentable sugar, I think it is possible I created a mostly unfermentable syrup for the mead.

It smells kind of atrocious, but I think I might have asked for that with brett and buckwheat. On the flavor, it taste like a very good kriek ( sour cherry beer) with some interesting funky honey notes going. It taste amazingly well balanced for having a SG of 1.040. I think I will let this guy sit for a year and taste again. As far as competitions go, I am not sure if this guy sits better in braggot land, or some exotic other category all by itself.

 

[seth8530]

Did not taste or smell, but decided I would add 50 ppm SO2 since my SO2 study of my other wines revealed that I had been slacking on my SO2 maintenance.

 

[seth8530]

I have 15 gallons of this mead. I went ahead and bottled 5 gallons of it. The FG appears to be 1.032. I am shooting for three volumes of CO2. If this one carbonates well, I will go ahead and bottle the other 10 gallons and get them carbonating too.

The taste starts off both sweet and sour taste reminiscent of chocolaty sweetened dark tart cherries. It has a very thick mouthfeel, but it does not taste too sweet surprisingly. It also has a strong floral funky kind of smell from buckwheat.. Surprise Surprise. A little ode de barnyard. It taste like this could be dangerously easy to drink. The abv, is god knows what. I plan on having it lab tested.

 

[Jcp]

Any tasting notes on how this finished?