Plain Mead: Tasting

Before I moved, I made my first batch of mead ever.  It was surprisingly simple, just mixing up honey and water.  I kept it basic on purpose, I wanted to see what it would taste like without any chemical additions or fruit.  I've read that the quality and flavor of the mead is directly relate to the quality and flavor of the honey.  Basically, if you like the taste of the honey, you'll like the taste of the mead.  I've never really thought about the way honey tastes, other than "it tastes like honey".  That is definitely going to change now.

My 1 gallon batch netted me 8 bottles.  I bottled 4 bottles as still mead (no carbonation, like a wine) and dosed 4 bottles with 10 grams of honey.  I opened one of each bottle, hoping to compare.  Despite using twice as much honey as I would normally use, shooting for something close to champagne, the carbonated bottle was almost completely flat. I'm thinking most of the yeast died of the alcoholic conditions of the mead.  I would re-dose the bottles, but I waxed them.

Appearance
As you can see in the picture, it a pale straw/yellow color.  The top of the bottle was amazingly clear (until it made the glass fog).  I didn't rack the mead (I went straight from primary to bottle, no bottling bucket) so there was some sediment in the bottom of the bottle. 

Smell
I'm surprised how much the smell of the honey comes through.  Really excited for experimenting with other honeys (like a peach blossom honey I bought).  Unfortunately this was grocery store brand wild flower honey, so the overall smell is underwhelming and muddled.

Taste
Zero alcohol taste, surprising for being 13% ABV.  The honey flavor is much less apparent in the taste than in the smell.  Overall taste is most similar to water with a little honey added.  I'm very surprised with how uninteresting it is.

Mouthfeel
Much less body than a normal wine.  Not much is going on here, fairly boring.

Overall + Thoughts
Not bad for a first shot.  Interested to see how it ages.  I didn't add any chemicals to the initial blend. I tested in the glass with some acid blend.  Next batch with this honey will get some acid blend and/or fruit to mask the uninteresting taste of the honey.

First Mead Ever

I thought it would be a while before I got around to making a mead.  For the last year, I've heard about how it takes a year to ferment and even longer to taste good.  Since then, I came across the idea of a "Staggered Nutrient Addition" which is a newer concept in home mead making.  I believe I came by this on Basic Brewing Radio.  I found Fermax yeast nutrient at my LHBS, Homebrew HQ.  One of the guys there said it's "specially formulated" for mead.

For my staggered nutrient addition, I decided to cut my additions into quarters.  The recipe I have calls for 2 tsp per gallon, so that means 4 additions of 1/2 tsp each.  I've opted for an addition at pitching (day 1), day 2, day 3, and day 7 to give the yeast a little finishing kick.  There are just as many suggestions about when and how much nutrient to add as there are mead makers.  I may change my additions for my next batch but so far it seems to be doing well.

After several recent clogged airlocks and crazy blow-offs, I cautiously backed my recipe down to around 3/4 of a gallon.  So far, the fermentation has produced very little krausen so I probably could have pulled off a full gallon.  My target was 1.100, but after adding 3 containers of honey I was at 1.095, so I decided to not open another.

First Mead

Ingredients
2.25 lbs "Organic Grade A" Honey, Kroger brand
2/3 gallon purified bottled water

Additions
1/2 tsp Fermax 9/4/12
1/2 tsp Fermax 9/5/12
1/2 tsp Fermax 9/6/12
1/2 tsp Fermax 9/9/12

Ferment
1 packet Lalvin 71b-1122
OG 1.095

Notes
Started 9/4/12
Honey via Texas Aggieland Brew Club from Kroger
Local water has a musty taste - algae bloom?
Aerated day 1 and 2 after nutrient additions (heavy shaking)
Added fourth nutrient addition early since yeast was starting to flocculate already

Bottled 10/26/12
Bottled directly from primary
4 bottles dosed with 10g of honey each
4 bottles kept still, no honey added