How long is primary fermentation?

Rivenin · 01-23-2012, 03:21 PM

Howdy! just a quick question.
my girlfriend wants to start making mead. I've been doing some reading and all seems easy enough.
Only question i have is about primary fermentation.
With myself brewing beer, i have a fermentation fridge. However, it only holds one carboy/bucket at a time. And i like to brew

.

So, is Mead more or less like beer brewing with the main active fermentation?
as in, the main fermentation of beer usually lasts a few days when the yeast does the main work, bucket/carboy gets very warm, where temperature is very important. then after said few days, you can place in a corner of a 60-65* room until it ages properly?

Also, does it matter for aging if it's corks vs. pry top bottles? i dont know if she wants to fork out the cash for the corker.

GinKings · 01-23-2012, 05:50 PM

Pretty much everything with mead making takes longer than beer. I usually figure about two weeks for a mead fermentation, but I've had some take a month. That being said, a corner of that 60-65 degree room you mentioned would probably be fine if you don't want to tie up your fridge.

There is nothing wrong with putting mead in beer bottles.

Rivenin · 01-23-2012, 08:11 PM

thanks for the reply!

does the temperature go up like beer does? i've seen 10-15* spikes over ambient in some fermentations Over the first 2-3 days.
Or does it just stay pretty steady with ambient?

GinKings · 01-23-2012, 08:34 PM

Mead isn't typically as active a ferment as beer. I would think that warmer ferments would be more active, so temp would increase more. I try to ferment cooler, so I usually only get a few degree rise. Wrapping the fermenter with a t-shirt, blanket, or whatever would probably raise the temp further.