# Did i screw up somewhere making my mead



## Fivej (Apr 4, 2016)

Yeast was bad or temp was too cold for fermentation to start. Another possibility is the wild yeast in the cider edged out your added yeast. Too bad you didn't check before a year has gone by. By now the cider has turned to vinegar and that will be difficult to fix. If you want to try, taste it first and see if it's worth fixing. If so, add a high alcohol tolerant yeast like Red Star Premier Blanc or Lalvin EC 1118 and place in a room at least 70F. I would also add a yeast nutrient like Fermado. 
If you get it to ferment out, taste again and consider a secondary fermentation with some strong tasting fruit to mask any bad taste. When this is done, experiment with back sweetening. Sweetness will bring out the honey and fruit flavors. Also consider balancing the taste with tannins and acids. Bad brews can be fixed by balancing the flavor profiles. Doin The Most on YouTube has a good tutorial on this. J


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## bushpilot (May 14, 2017)

A final SG of 1.0 would indicate about 13-14% abv. Did you taste it?


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## Fivej (Apr 4, 2016)

Im confused. Isn't OP saying the final gravity was essentially the same as original? I took "0% about" to mean 0 abv, but it is unclear.


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## bushpilot (May 14, 2017)

I read that it started at 1.1-1.11, then he added "another 1/2# honey for good measure," and it ended at 1.0. 

Recalculating, and not knowing what the actual final SG was, I see 15% ish abv.

The 0% is the reading the "potential abv" scale, not the SG scale.


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## Fivej (Apr 4, 2016)

Ok, I see what he meant now. It didn't gain after the added honey. Guess is yeast was beyond it's alcohol tolerance. Like you said, how does it taste OP? J


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## limberwulf (1 mo ago)

If you ended at 1.0, nothing went wrong, you made a dry mead. How is it? I tend to prefer dry meads, and I typically aim for that 15% abv that you achieved.


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