First mead in the bottle!

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jpuf

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Wahoo!! My first batch is in bottles, Thanks to all for the helping hands, especially the Yoop. The sample I took back in March scared me a little, but patience pays, it has improved tremendously. Should be a great holiday gift, well worth the year and a half wait. :ban:

Hell, I'm gonna set some aside for a couple more years.... who knows
 
gratz!

i have a few bottles sitting around the house labeled 1998. that was a damn fine year!
 
I know how you are feeling jpuf. I just bottled my first mead a few weeks ago. The hard part is not drinking it. Im giving some to my family for christmas. I would like to save a few bottles and open them over the next few years.
 
I have the same issues! I just know now that I have to make more as soon as one batch is finished. I only have about 8 bottles left of the Traditional I bottled from the first of the year. I just stopped bottling for the aging process on some of it. My blueberry Melomel keeps calling me as it is aging in the carboy, Just a small taste, you know you want to! It has gotten so bad I have been buying it by the goblet at the Ren Fest. Not as good but it has been keeping me out of the aging stuff.
 
Exactly! Mead calls you over and over, but if you ignore it and wait at least a year, it'll be heavenly and worth the wait. Hide them and forget them- you'll be glad you did!
 
Yooper Chick said:
Exactly! Mead calls you over and over, but if you ignore it and wait at least a year, it'll be heavenly and worth the wait. Hide them and forget them- you'll be glad you did!

I still have 1 bottle left from 1996 and a few from 2001 but the ones from this year were so good with the cranberry honey they just are not going to make it through the end of the year! Oh well, I will try to put 1 back from the 5 gallons!

How does the saying go? I can resist anything but temptation!!;)
 
I thought I posted this already, but then again I had gotten into the apfelwein and the Wit I have on tap. Everyone that has these gloriously aged bottles of mead, do you all put stabilizers in your meads?I know if I want to store some of my wine I'm going to have to have to sulfite it but should this be done with mead as well? I made some of the joe's grape pyment (modified) that was initially good, then turned a little harsh and is kind of coming around again. WEIRD. I think maybe its bottle shock or something. I needed my 2 2-gallon pails (hopefully the harsh flavor isn't from these!) so I transferred the mead into four one gallon jugs and squirt some co2 from my 20lber by depressing the plunger on my keg gas connector over the bottles and then capped it with a plastic screw cap (yeah not the best way but wtf). I poured a bit of this mead into a glass to sample the other day and ugh! wow was that a lot more harsh than I remember. Almost chem like. Oxidizing it for a moment or two helped. I'm going to hopefully bottle these up soon and let them hide away for a while. I'm betting/hoping this stuff will mellow a bit.
 
I stabilize mine. If you don't and there is any yeast still alive you can get exactly what your describing. That chem like flavor is due to alch production usually. When I make the higher ABV Meads I get this for the first few months but it starts mellowing more and more as it ages. The lower ABV Meads don't have the intensity of the chem or mouthwash flavor and with a bit of residual sweetness it can mask this.

The aging will have rise and fall in the flavor but once a certain age is reached it no longer changes. I like to use Potassium Sorbate and Campden then keg it or just let it age in a carboy in a dark cool place. The $35.00 for a pepsi keg is great as they seal well and no light gets in. I have had some bad luck with the screw on lids but I would just let it age a bit and I think that bite will go away.
 
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