ThorGodOfThunder

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I have a batch of mead I started the first week of June. Five months later it still tastes antiseptic, like medicine. I know mead takes a long time, but when can I expect it to be drinkable, and is there anything I can do to speed the process up?

corkybstewart

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I hate to say it but your mead may never get any better. I have a friend who brews meads more often than me but sometimes his mead never quits tasting like cough syrup. Sometimes they are amazing in 6 months, I don't know what he does different between batches. When he brings me bottles of his bad mead I stick them in the closet to let them sit for years(literally)
I've now made 3 batches of mead, 1996, 2002 and 2006 I think, but none of them ever tasted like medicine.

gratus fermentatio

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1st mead I made I used D-47 yeast & fermented it in the upper end of the temp range, I didn't know any better. As a result, it was FULL of fusels & tasted like fuel & rubber stopper for about 2 years; then it started getting better. Every 4 months or so I'd taste it & it just kept getting better.

After 4 years of aging (and learning) it was incredibly tasty! It even looked pretty in the glass. My point is: If I hadn't waited for the mead to work its magic, I would've lost all that time, effort & money, been very discouraged & very unhappy. But I waited, I waited a long time; but it was well worth it.

Most mead doesn't even start to get good until it's about a year old, the higher the ABV, the longer it takes. Oftentimes the only thing you need do for a mead is just give it time & it will fix itself. You need to think about mead in terms of years, not months.

There are some recipes out there that claim to be good in just a few months, you can try one of those (JOAM comes to mind), many have tried it & liked it. I'd set that "cough medicine mead" in the basement or closet, make sure to check the liquid level in the airlock from time to time & taste it every few months. Might take a while, but you might just have a very tasty drink as your reward. In the meantime, you can make things that don't take quite as long like cider, beer & wine.
Regards, GF.

707

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Hey Thor. There is no hope for your cough syurp. It's as good as it will ever be. Tell ya what, I'll come up to Lancaster and take that ol nasty stuff off your hands an dispose of it proper for you.

__________________
"May your next beer taste even better than your last."
~The Black Gate Brewery, 2012~

AsianMead

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It will be fine after 1 year.
My mead was bottled about 8 months ago but its age was 1 year already (from fermentation begin)
It's getting better and would be better in two more years I beleive that.
That because the time that I bottled it the taste was really like medicine but the last week I was opened one bottle and tasted it's surprise me It's very improve so I plan to keep it age for long. Mead is very time consuming so you need to be patient with it.

dummkauf

Recipes 

give it atleast a year. I made a very sweet metheglin a little over a year ago and the cough syrup tasted has all faded and it's very tasty. It just needs time, just put it in the closet and forget about it for a while.