Found some old mead

was digging through some crap in the back of the shed and what do you know......i found some old mead my parents put down some 20-30 years ago.

sadly it had eaten the rubber bungs. they all had bits floating around the top of the mead and one smelt like vinegar. none of them smelt any good so they will be going down the drain soon.

Awwww, that sucks.

tweake said:

was digging through some crap in the back of the shed and what do you know......i found some old mead my parents put down some 20-30 years ago.

sadly it had eaten the rubber bungs. they all had bits floating around the top of the mead and one smelt like vinegar. none of them smelt any good so they will be going down the drain soon.

Click to expand...

might still be worth taking a little sip to make sure that they're completely screwed.

if vinegary, then fine, but if they just don't taste good, then distil it... once the alcohol has been recovered, it can become "honey brandy" or vodka or used to fortify something else or hell, just cleaning liquid or for using in airlocks etc....

not sure it would be a wise idea to even try it. its got decomposed rubber floating around the top of it. the bungs have just dissolved into it
to top it all off the bungs are a size i havn't seen before so not sure if i can reuse the carboys, the bungs are about 3" wide.

Wait- you have multiple carboys full of mead? As in many gallons of mead? I was expecting a couple bottles.

I'd definitely try them- even a little sip, ready to spit it out. Strain out the rubber, and try it out.

i'm not sure on size, probably 15-20 gallons. they look to be about 4-5 gallon carboys, i shall see if i can get a photo.

ok, i tried. it was foul ! one might have been drinkable if you where drunk enough but thats about it. anyway some pics......

Don't bin the glassware tweake.

If they're all the same size, then clean one up and measure it.

It can take a bit of finding but I've managed to get stoppers for 54 litre carboys from Brouwland in Belgium.

Yes, it's a PITA having to pay shipping, but they've got stuff I've never seen anywhere else. They keep rubber, cork and silicone bungs in various sizes (silicone with a base diameter of 47mm and upper diameter or 55mm is the size I got for my 54 litre carboy).

Silicone might be the way to go as it's probably got a long life......

regards

fatbloke

Cool pictures!!!

Might be just me but, Looks like those jugs are threaded..?

good spotting, they are.

if you cant find exact bungs just get bigger ones and cut them to size, and definitely dont throw all that good mead out just distill it like fatbloke suggested,honey alcohol is yummy

I would run some of the liquid through a screen and then through a water filter. Then see how it tastes. It may make a great vinager or stock for curing sweet pickling or something. A good general rule of thumb, never toss mead. It can always be used for something, even reduced make a great sause starter. What do you think that soy sauce is. Fermented soybean juice. May not taste good on it's own but add it to steak and other meats and yum. Also boiling it should be a priority too to purify it if it has any nasties in it. Cooking with mead is great. Especially on pork. I had an undrinkable orange rosehip mead that was just too potent and hot in the fusel alcohols but it made a great pork roast marinade.

Would these work, or are they too small?

those stoppers......look gross...... hahahaha

As Mr. Matrix suggests - many a horrible batch has been rescued with the application of the water filter.... You can strain out all sorts of horrible through one of those things.... Save the Vinegary ones for last....

As a few here have mentioned - varietal vinegars can be a lot of fun.... They can work well in cooking and salads...

Thanks

What a shame it wasn't found in better condition. I'm not sure if concentrating it would be a good idea. I would think you'd just end up with all the tastes, including the bad tastes concentrated. I hope you figure something out... I'd hate to hear that it ALL goes to waste!

Good luck!

Oh that's very old.
As I saw a second photo, I won't sip it.