Scenarios

Question 1

You are presented a standard-strength, semi-sweet, still traditional mead. It is moderately cloudy and has a taste of raw honey. It seems semi-sweet, although the body and finish are quite heavy. The acidity and alcohol level seem appropriate. There are no other noticeable flaws.

Answer 1

The cloudiness and raw honey taste are not acceptable. With the heavy body I am suspecting that you back-sweetened the mead and overdid it. Presumably the mead was too acidic, or possibly too tannic. Next time back-sweeten in smaller doses, but first adjust your recipe for better balance (i.e. lessen the acid/tannin component if this was the reason for post- fermentation adjustment).I suspect this was not a stuck fermentation due to the raw honey taste.

Question 2

You are presented a standard-strength, semi-sweet, still traditional mead. It is moderately cloudy, and has a taste of raw honey. It seems sweet and has a low alcohol level for style. There are no other noticeable flaws.

Answer 2

The cloudiness and raw honey taste are not acceptable. It also doesn’t come across as a standard-strength mead. All of this with the sweetness points to the fermentation not being complete. Ensure a healthy, vigorous fermentation by hydrating your yeast before pitching (if you used a dry strain and didn’t re-hydrate) and using GO-FERM or other micronutrient blend with the yeast prior to pitching. Staggered nutrient additions are the way to go, so blend 1tsp.yeast energizer and 2 tsp. yeast nutrient, and add 3⁄4 tsp. of this blend at pitching, then a day later, and a day later, then when about 30% of the sugar has been depleted.
This mead will probably work very well as a back-sweetener for a mead that you think is too dry, lacking sweetness, or too acidic, or too tannic. Possibly the pH was too low and this didn’t ferment properly. This should be about pH 4; if not adjust up, even if it is noticed late (it could re-start fermentation).Re-pitching nutrients is another option.

Question 3

You are presented a standard-strength, semi-sweet, still traditional mead. It is quite dry, has a thin body and the alcohol level seems high. It has a sharp, solventy taste but no other noticeable flaws.

Answer 3

The thinness and high level of alcohol (solventy sharp taste) are flaws and point to too much fermentation (it seems beyond standard-strength).Lower the fermentation temperature next time and ensure a proper amount of yeast is pitched, as well as a proper amount of yeast nutrients (could be a stressed fermentation). A different yeast strain might be better also. Or
4.
less honey next time if using the same yeast. Backsweetening is a good option to improve this mead.