Tannin, acid, and sugars in wine and mead - how to achieve balance?

[@dhudach]

This is unbelievably helpful. I just did this little exercise on a bottle of my banana strawberry wine with a couple friends. My expectations did not match the actual tasting experience. I only had acid blend available but it definitely made a difference. I actually made a glass with tea and another with wine tannin. I don't think anyone tried the tea mix, the tannin seemed to work just fine. Final gravity was .994, no back sweeten. It turns out adding sugar wasn't helpful. Adding tannin and acid really bolstered the flavors even though adding them made the wine taste drier. But the dryness really added depth and dimension. This is going to help me when I move my brews into conditioning stages. Thank you so much for this simple but useful and effective exercise.

[@cellartothestudiowithyoshi9318]

This was excellent! I was afraid to add acidic balancing with tannins after fermentation. This cleared a lot of my hesitations and it made my mead taste less sharp.

[@Teppishc]

I definitely read the thumbnail as Balancing Meds and Wine

[@benderlabs2540]

"On this episode of Doin' the Most, we're tackling the topic of how not to deal with mental health problems!"

[@DointheMost]

🤣

[@GreenWitch1]

B A 😂 I’m doing that right now 😂

[@antonimosvonswaghoven5961]

benderlabs I handle them perfectly fine with meads and wines 🤭

[@SatanEatsJesus]

"Now remember, your daily consumption should not exceed one half of a Xanax per one bottle of wine." S C I E N C E

[@mishanthropy]

This is the exact video I was needing to expand my understanding of brewing good mead. Thank you!!!

[@Skr4x]

My eyes popped out of my head when you suggested using different honeys to back-sweeten for imparting different flavors. You most definitely have the makings of a culinary artist.

[@andrewburchill5212]

Did... did I DO this?? 😧😮 I feel like a KZbin god right now: I asked for a very specific video.... AND THEN IT HAPPENED!!! 🤯🤯🙏🙇🙏🙇🤩🤩

[@DointheMost]

Here for ya man!

[@treyb387]

This is actually really interesting, because right before I brewed my first mead, my father-in-law gave me a small amount of lemon wine that his friend had made. I took a sip and instantly wanted to spit it out, but I swallowed it just to be polite. It was ACIDIC like enough to reduce the PH levels in my stomach, and I could tell that whomever brewed it didn't bother to balance out the flavors. I think they just added too much lemon juice or lemons into it, and it tasted a little sweet, but needed something else in it to not ruin my taste buds. I personally find that lemon citrus is pretty harsh, whereas citrus from oranges give a nice touch of sweetness into it without the acidity being too overpowering. I do like the concept of using powders, but I kind of want to see if I can create good batches without them. I don't think there's anything wrong with adding tannin powers or acid powders, but I definitely feel as a beginner I wouldn't trust my senses enough to be able to judge how much to add without ruining a brew; but I have some of those powders in my Amazon 'Brewing' shopping list for whenever I feel I'm ready to explore that route. I like how you easily broke down the balance profiles and understanding how sweetness, tannin, and acidity need to balance each other out when making a good brew; otherwise it just taste like acidic lemon ass like that wine I tried did. Even when my father-in-law tried some he said it was WAY too acidic, but at least this is a good learning experience to understand balance of flavors, no different from cooking really. I mean I could drink a bottle of maple syrup if I wanted to, but I know there's better uses for it that won't overwhelm my taste buds with sweetness; aside from the fact that would be weeks worth of sugar intake in one sitting, lol.

[@treyb387]

I'm a nerd, and I took notes on my Word Document about Mead Making. I also was trying to get the fly off my screen not realizing it was on your backdrop. Lol

[@drbell26]

A must-watch for new meaders.

[@Peapodmaster]

What a coincidence, an hour ago i just ordered some Precipitated Chalk and Citric Acid to try and see about balancing out my future meads. interesting video!

[@DointheMost]

Nice! Let me know how it goes!

[@traceyedler8202]

16:11

[@cheekysaver]

Thank you. I just bought 1/2 lb of dap and a pound of malic. I already have some tannin... and shocker... I have sugar! I have been putting off bottling some batches because they need to be balanced out. It is pretty hard to fix once bottled. :D

[@TheGoodCrusader]

I am working on a huge batch of sweet concord grape wine. 6 gallons of concord grape juice 6 lb of concord grapes 2 lb of red table grapes 4 lb of sugar Og gravity 1.100 I've made a small batch before and I liked it. I'm buying acid blend and tannin to see what I can do to improve it.

[@xander9460]

Oke this is amazing and I'm going to get started, whilst having the mead wiki open next to me. I'd love a detailed follow up were you balance a mead with all the measurements and such

[@NeonRazor7]

Brilliant video and something very hard to learn like you said. I would like to see more content about balancing and maybe blending, food pairing?

[@DointheMost]

David who does tasting videos with me has been wanting to collab on some food pairings. So it’s definitely in the works!

[@jefferyformosa1448]

Hi ,I normally just use tea for tannin and lemon juice for acid , recently bought wine tannins from chestnut origin malic acid and citric acid . In the past I just add to the brew at the start can I do the same with theses store bought products ? Thanks for the videos, I find them very informative. Cheers Jeff

[@Brandon-jw5cv]

I like to think of sweetness and alcohol giving body, acid giving lift and tannin giving it the structure. Everything working together gives it balance.

[@e10hssanamai]

Balancing is the way

[@stephenhegarty6032]

Great video….how would you balance out a very acidic mead like cranberry?

[@colinbrown4008]

Such an interesting and informative video.

[@jsaucee1]

Thanks, I needed to learn more about this and you gave me a very valuable lesson on how to teach my palate! Using inexpensive wines and this keeps me from over-cooking my own creations!!

[@DointheMost]

Thanks for watching!

[@vincentlabruzzo5368]

I'm in the process of making a kit wine. I probably through it off balance by ignorantly topping off with 3 litres of water; first brew ever. Its a cabernet sou. Id assume acid level is now less and probably diluted the tannin. What are your recommendations? I havent tasted it yet. May rack it this weekend.

[@sandon763]

I’ve got a couple of wines made from grocery store juice that I have been trying to figure out how to make taste better and I may just use them as practice for balancing since they are small batches with that didn’t cost me all that much, making me not have to bottle something I’m not a huge fan of as it is.

[@kb2vca]

Great video. Very helpful in building the skill of a wine /mead maker.

[@DointheMost]

Thanks for watching!

[@TheBioReef]

Thanks so much for the info. When would you balance the wine... soon after primary, or do you let it sit in secondary for a while to age and have the mead’s true characteristics to come through before balancing ? Thanks!

[@jaystrickland4151]

This is very useful. Just started drinking my first batch of beer. I think I will do one more batch of beer and start a Mead after that.

[@DointheMost]

Mead can be such a blast, it’s a great place to experiment with flavors.

[@jaystrickland4151]

@@DointheMost Yes, I I love the homemade meads at ren fair. I just wanted to start with beer because of the much faster turn around times.

[@DointheMost]

Jay Strickland You might look into starting with a lower ABV bottle-conditioned hydromel. Can use your beer knowledge and still have a relatively fast turnaround!

[@marybois-byrne6729]

New to mead making. I've got a half dozen 1 gallon batches that I started in midMarch. They all were started with wildflower honey, raisins, and a cup of strong black tea. A couple of batches have a strong, sharp flavor. I know that time will help. All SGs are at 1.000 or slightly less. Thoughts? Should I add malic acid or something else? If so, how much per gallon?

[@Th1rt3en_]

did you ever think about to use some "fermented water" from water kefir (AKA tibicos) as citric acid source? i've used to fix my first mead, they dont left any off-flavors. i'm thinking about to use some kveik to make my next mead and add water kefir grains to brew with it, providing acids and nutrients to the kveik . In the worst schenario i'll have some honey vinnager. LOL

[@jamesthomas8481]

so you say tannins take like 2wks to be effective, but what of the tannins you get from black tea?

[@Pfaall1]

yay! thanks for the all informations, this is exactly what i was looking for!

[@doghugger5445]

This was SO helpful. Thank you so, so much for this video.

[@matthewdanko4064]

What kind of scale are you using when you brew? Are the ones from the head shop accurate enough?

[@bybeezguepe6557]

Very interesting, thanks !

[@goodyones]

I made some mead but is to high in alcohol,probably the enhancer that i add.I am new in this ,how can i decrease the alcohol?i racked after 6 weeks

[@user-qjvqfjv]

Water is the counteragent to ethanol. Just dilute it a bit.

[@iraph]

Tannin extraction via oak is fairly complex especially as barrels are re-used. But yeah agree with you, if you are talking about fresh barrels.

[@DointheMost]

Agreed, I could’ve been more clear. Mostly I was referring to home oaking methods.

[@iraph]

@@DointheMost yeah of course. I think it would take a couple of videos to do a talk on tannins and even then that would be covering basics

[@DointheMost]

You’re a little bit inspiring me to do a head-to-head taste test on every home tannin amendment method I can find on the internet. 🤣

[@iraph]

@@DointheMost Nice, a lot of guys in the Modern MM group use FT blanc or the soft variant. It would be cool to see someone experiment with the big-expensive tannins like royal, onyx, or radiance - Which are the tannins behind really driving some of those secondary and tertiary flavours in wines and meads.

[@DointheMost]

iRaf I have a head to head of FT Blanc vs cheap red wine tannin going right now with two hydromel batches. I had seen it mentioned on Reddit and picked up a small packet to try out. I need to dip into that Fb group more, I’m just not really a Fb guy.

[@GreenWitch1]

Quick question for ya. I brewed 4 gallons of mango wine recently. I added fruit in both primary & secondary. It’s been racked off the fruit, but it smells sour. I can’t imagine it’s ever going to taste good. I was wondering if adding an acid blend would help or maybe using an Amoretti mango flavoring might combat the sourness. Any suggestions? I’ve never had one smell sour 🤔

[@DointheMost]

Does it smell bad-sour? Or just sour? Like, does it smell like soured milk, or sour candy? If that makes sense. There's a small chance you got one of our lactobacillus friends in there. I guess the biggest question is, how does it taste?

[@GreenWitch1]

Doin the Most It smells bad-rotten, but it doesn’t taste that way. It doesn’t taste like mango at all. I can’t really describe it. More citrusy maybe? I did add the juice of 3 limes into the 4 gallon batch. I’m not sure what to do with it. It’s not particularly pleasant. I’m thinking either adding the acid blend (which I’ve never tried) or adding mango flavor or ginger. I stated it July 24th, so its still very young. Any suggestions?

[@DointheMost]

Michele Borland If it were me, I’d let it ride a while and see if it mellows out. If nothing changes in a few months, it might be a dumper. I don’t know what acid blend would do much for a rancid smell? Have you degassed?

[@GreenWitch1]

Doin the Most No I haven’t. Seemed to have done it on its own, but I can definitely do that & see what happens. Thanks

[@Skarrald]

Thanks a lot for this video. I learned A LOT :D

[@NomadeDigital]

Great video ! My first batch of mead was pretty bad so I think I'll use it mostly to experiment with, just to see where I can get it. Are powdered tannins better than wood chips in your opinion ? I feel like it could affect clarity quite a bit.

[@DointheMost]

Powdered wine tannins can actually aid in clarity, surprisingly. My palate detects the flavors of oak and tannin powder differently and I use them in different ways. Typically my higher-ABV meads will spend a little time on oak.

[@danielwilson3981]

@@DointheMost hi I’m just starting out just a quick question if I may please and thank you. what types of oak would you use ? When would you add them? And how much would you use?

[@DointheMost]

@@danielwilson3981 For first timers I recommend oak cubes, maybe medium toast. Add a couple per gallon and taste every few weeks.

[@camerongeorge4246]

Where do you get those airlocks?

[@craigclement]

This is great info! I've got my first fermentation project going now(loquat wine) and am getting close to racking into carboys. Rather than using tannin powder, could small 7mm and 18mm oak chunks be used to get to the same place?

[@DointheMost]

Definitely! I’d just recommend tasting it here and there so you can remove the oak when it’s ready.

[@jamesleehunter]

4:54 - 4:52 you say tannin adds body, fullness and roundness. Then 5:08-5:10 it's bitterness, astringency and sharpness, these are opposed. The only way this is possible is that the perception of tannin completely flips at a certain amount. If true...great subject for a video!

[@royalecrafts6252]

I realize he has no fucking clue whats hes talking about

[@Onager-xv3gz]

BC, please, please, PLEASE make a similar video using the "stock solutions" method found in the r/mead wiki!!!

[@jkuhl2492]

I find this video literally 10 minutes after finishing a plum wine must, pitching yeast and sealing the fermenter . . .

[@abwesend182]

why dont you buy lactic acid directly?

[@squatchy69]

Why would you add more than one item at a time and not taste it before you add something else? I'd be adding more sugar without adding more acid when it's already too dry and acidic doesn't make sense, And why wouldn't you also have tartaric acid to us as well. Tartaric works way more often than does malic. Even if malic is what is the natural acid found in your drink you are tweaking

[@magacop5180]

I just don’t understand Acidity in Mead.

[@ozoneswiftak]

The word Malic is derived from the word Malicious. Not a great acid.

[@user-qjvqfjv]

No, it's derived from the Latin "malum" meaning "apple".

[@Adamjckay]

Smelling a cork accomplishes nothing.

[@GreenWitch1]

I appreciate this information very much, but I cringe hard when you gurgle the wine in your mouth 🥴

[@DointheMost]

Me too, but I have to assert dominance over the wine. Joking aside, a sommelier taught me that trick and I can’t stop now.

[@GreenWitch1]

Doin the Most Question for you. I’ve seen you add nutrient & wait 24 hours b4 adding yeast. Curious why the wait. I’m making my first tradition mead today. I added the nutrient & covered it. Would you add pectic enzyme to a traditional with no fruit? If so, why? Still tryin to learn. Thanks

[@DointheMost]

Michele Borland If I did that it might have been while also adding campden tablets to sterilize the must - which I sometimes do when there’s fruit in the mix that might have other buggies or yeasts in it. You can definitely add nutrient at yeast pitch. I would not advise adding pectic enzyme in a must with no fruit. No fruit generally means no pectins in the mix. Hope this helps!

[@GreenWitch1]

Doin the Most Yep! Thanks 😊 I’m not adding anything else, so I’ll just pitch the yeast & wait, and wait, and wait 😂

[@DointheMost]

Michele Borland Let me know how it goes!

[@AdamFranklin500]

Hmmm... 🤔 A popular brewing channel posts a video on this then all of a sudden you bring out a video on the same topic and content. Seems like you’re slipstreaming and riding off of what they’re doing. I may be wrong and it might be a coincidence, we’ll see with future videos 🤔🤔🤨

[@DointheMost]

Can you link me to what you’re talking about? As stated in the video this is a commonly requested video topic from our viewers. I’m not surprised that the same content might be covered by channels covering the same content.

[@andrewvelasquez79]

You've validated my decision to stop watching womandalorian