When aging mead??????

Right now i have a mead fermenting at 68/69 for around two week i know it still has more time to go but my question is when its done fermenting and i start aging it do i keep it in my fermention chamber at a set temp or can i more it to a closet where the temp is around 60/63 till i bottle. Would like to make more room in my fermention chamber.

You'll want to get the mead off the lees for bulk aging. I always use a carbouy for secondary as well as bulk aging, alway top up & always use an airlock. 60-63 degrees F is just fine for aging mead.
Regards, GF.

gratus fermentatio said:

You'll want to get the mead off the lees for bulk aging. I always use a carbouy for secondary as well as bulk aging, alway top up & always use an airlock. 60-63 degrees F is just fine for aging mead.
Regards, GF.

Click to expand...

Just top off with water?

I usually use boiled & cooled water to top up. Years ago I topped up with additional juice, but that was before I learned to start my primary off a little larger to offset racking loss; problem with that is that the more juice you add, the more it prolongs the fermentation & the more lees is makes. Now I lose very little when racking, so I only have a small amount of headspace to fill, so water works well for me.
Regards, GF.

Thanks for the info i got it in a glass carboy and going to rack to to a other glass one when its done fermenting . I didnt know to top off to bring it back to 5 gallons if its less after racking

I never understood the practice of topping up. Aren't you just diluting and messing up the FG of your final product?

I just bought a cheap air sprayer at the electronics store that takes the small co2 cartridges, then I just slowly flush out the new carboy before I rack into it so it will push out the oxygen.

Depends how much you care about an exact ABV, I've taken to aiming for an OG higher than I actually want so that it will be about right once topped up. No exact measurments or calculations just a bit more honey at the start. Having a primary bigger than your secondary and making more then you will end up is basically the same thing but allows for more accuracy and is less likely to stress the yeast though.

I get confused when I think about topping off as well.

When I racked two JAOMs recently (these are coming to my wedding for favors btw, so they are kind of important to me) I lost an inch or two of liquid in the carboy.

Can they hang out until June and age? I dont want them going bad, but I also dont want to add water and ruin them...

I would taste it, my JAOM ended up too cloying and I end up adding water in the glass in order to drink it. If I had known this before I would have topped it up as the dilution would have made for a nicer mead. If you like it how it is however then topping up will indeed dilute it and you will either want to top up with something other than water (water honey mix (if want it sweeter...), commersial mead) or, get the air out of the carboy. I currently have one mead like that which I have had under vaccuum for a while as I don't want to top up untill I know if I need to back sweeten it.

thanks as always Niac.