First time making mead — could honey type + final ABV be causing all three of my batches to taste undrinkable? (linden, orange blossom, honeydew ~14% ABV, 71B)
Hey everyone. This is my first time making mead and I'm hoping to get some insight because I'm honestly stumped. I made three separate 5L batches starting on 23 February, each with a different honey: linden, orange blossom, and honeydew. After racking today they all taste pretty rough and I'm wondering if the honey types are the main culprit, the ABV, or a combination of both.
All three batches used Lalvin 71B, targeting around 14% ABV. Fermentation started in a bucket at 20°C until about 2/3 of the sugars were consumed, then I transferred everything to a demijohn with airlock to finish. Once fermentation was done, I left them to rest for about a month in the same demijohn at around 14°C, then clarified with Super Kleer and bottled today.
The result across all three is pretty undrinkable: harsh, strong, genuinely unpleasant. I know 71B is generally recommended for softer, fruit-forward meads and is supposed to help with de-acidification, but I'm starting to wonder if it handles the more intense profiles of linden and honeydew well when pushed close to its alcohol tolerance. Orange blossom is usually considered easier to work with, yet it came out just as rough.
A few things I'm trying to figure out: do linden, orange blossom, or honeydew honeys have characteristics that make them particularly harsh at ~14% ABV? Is 71B a bad choice for these varietals, especially near its limit? Could the 14°C rest temperature have affected anything negatively? And is this just a "give it more time to age" situation, or is something more fundamentally off with the process?
Being a first timer I'm aware I might have missed something obvious, so any experience with these honey types or similar setups would be really appreciated. Thanks!
The picture is from a month ago
Edit OG 1.115 finished between 1.010-1.012
Degassed every day until sugar break