What vessel do you age in??

I'm sure this has been discussed somewhere, but if not...

What do you age your mead in? currently my first mead is in a glass carboy, but as it is ready to be racked for the second time I plan on puttin it into a corny keg since i have an extra.

What do you use to age your mead?

I either use 750ml wine bottles or plain 'ol beer bottles. This allows me to open one up every now and then to taste the progress.

at what point do you put the mead into the bottle?

I use good ol' glass carboys. It's amazing what 8-10 months does for the clarity of a wine or mead.

+ 1 on bulk aging in glass carbouys. I let 'em age a year (or two) in the carbouy, depending on what it is, and then bottle. Regards, GF.

Ceedubya said:

at what point do you put the mead into the bottle?

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I bottle once gravity is reached, but that's just me cause I'm silly.

So the consensus is in the carboy. I can see the benefit of being able to see your mead.

I do mine in mini brew conicals.. age for 2 months in them, then rack off in carboys so i have room to make more mead.. I then bottle from the carboys depending on clarity. I wait till it's crystal clear .. usually only takes 4 months till bottle.. i got 34 gallons going at the moment..

issack said:

I do mine in mini brew conicals.. age for 2 months in them, then rack off in carboys so i have room to make more mead.. I then bottle from the carboys depending on clarity. I wait till it's crystal clear .. usually only takes 4 months till bottle.. i got 34 gallons going at the moment..

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So, is that six months total from when you start the mead until you bottle?

I'll be doing a small, three gallon, batch of mead just for fun and was going to secondary in several one gallon glass cider jugs that I recently emptied. I tend to use my plastic bucket to ferment, but am going to go with glass for the mead since it's going to be a long term project.

I only make gallon batches, so it stays in glass.

I usually primary in plastic (so I can stir it and punch down the cap if I'm using fruit) but then secondary and age in carboys. I have tons of one gallon jugs, many three gallon carboys, many five gallon carboys, and a couple of six gallon carboys. I like using the three gallon carboys, as they are just so much lighter to carry! I often do a six gallon batch in two 3-gallon carboys, just to make it easier to lift for racking. But I'm a real weenie weakling. You he-men might be different. I've only broken one three gallon carboy, because it's so much easier for me to carry.

For meads I use a plastic pale for primary, after I hit my target SG > 1.020 I rack to secondary in a glass carboy and add my secondary flavours, (IE: vanilla beans, garlic, cinnamon sticks, fruit, rinds, etc.)
Then once I think it is ready, and very clear I rack to a third vessel, usually a 5 gal keg topped off with C02, I really don't think it's needed but I don't need to check the airlock, not worried about light, etc. Peace of mind is worth a lot when you have to spend a lot of money on honey. Then I bottle when either its a year old or I need the keg. My general rule of thumb is longer in bulk ageing, the better.

+1 for plastic bucket for primary and glass carboy for anything else.

I use 2 liter bottles stuffed into my old garage fridge. Cooling them dramatically hastens the clearing. I wait till they drop bright then bottle.

Shooter said:

So, is that six months total from when you start the mead until you bottle?

I'll be doing a small, three gallon, batch of mead just for fun and was going to secondary in several one gallon glass cider jugs that I recently emptied. I tend to use my plastic bucket to ferment, but am going to go with glass for the mead since it's going to be a long term project.

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no 4 months total from the day i make the mead.

This is a mead after only 2 months in the conical and 1 month in carboy.

issack said:

no 4 months total from the day i make the mead.

This is a mead after only 2 months in the conical and 1 month in carboy.

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Cool, thanks for the clarification!

Shooter said:

Cool, thanks for the clarification!

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Pun intended?

wow, my mead looks nothing like that and we ar going into month three

It has been sitting around 65-70 the entire time.

For those of you who age in a glass carboy do use an airlock throughout the aging process? If so is it filled with vodka or something that won't grow nasties?

I use a mobile home.

jmorriso said:

For those of you who age in a glass carboy do use an airlock throughout the aging process? If so is it filled with vodka or something that won't grow nasties?

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yes vadka is what i use..

I just use an airlock with starsan.