Bulk aging mead

I have several meads in different stages of fermentation and the aging process. Most of them are dark meads and you can't really tell how much the aging process helps to clarify them, other than look at the sediment that is deposited at the bottom of the carboy.

Last summer I made a traditional mead with raspberry blossom honey. It's been bulk aging since early July and it's cleared very nicely. I placed a Winemaker magazine behind the carboy so you can see the clarity.

I'll probably bulk age this one for at least a couple more months.

Pretty mead mmmmm

Wow, aged that long, Looks very good. At this point I would bottle it and then enjoy at any time. Looks yummy.

Matrix4b said:

. At this point I would bottle it and then enjoy at any time.

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If Summersolstice says age it.....I'd age it. But that's just me.

True, I don't have much experience on making mead. I like bottling and then aging for a few months even if I bulk aged it for several months. But you gotta admit that is pretty. Ofcourse I usually take 6-8 months to clear the mead first, then age it 6-8 months depending on the mead.

Matrix4b said:

But you gotta admit that is pretty.

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I was hoping to get SWMBO a little carboy necklace for Christmas....filled with mead of course....Decided she might kill me if I did.

Definitely worth the risk Kahuna, because if you succeed, I will follow. SWMBO becomes a mobile brewing closet/possible keg.

summersolstice - That looks *very* nice, (I keep my meads in a store room that I only go into to check the airlocks). Is that still the primary? There seems to be a good amount of sediment there. Being boarderline anal I would rack to another carboy or keg and keep on bulk ageing.

To all the other posts, just keep her away from me, I'll be pulling a vampire move on her, but I would not be tasting blood.

Kauai_Kahuna said:

summersolstice - Is that still the primary? There seems to be a good amount of sediment there. Being boarderline anal I would rack to another carboy or keg and keep on bulk ageing.

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This is a traditional mead with nothing but honey and water (aside from the nutrients) and the only time it was racked was when I transferred from the primary. I'm not worried about the lees that have been dropped after the primary fermentation since the gross lees in the primary are what tend to cause off flavors. I tend to keep racking to a minimum because any time you rack you risk oxidation or contamination.

Here's another photo taken 2-3 months earlier. Some would get in a hurry and bottle then but the point of this post was to show how much a little patience pays off. There's a big difference between "clarity" and "crystal clarity".

More often than not, I also bulk age my mead. However, back in 2005 I was asked about methods to fine a mead. To that end, my product of choice is "hot-mix" Sparkolloid, and to illustrate its effectiveness I took the following photos 3 days apart...

Its amazing the difference those two months to the mead Solstice, I completely understand you desire for patience, it pays off!

hightest said:

More often than not, I also bulk age my mead. However, back in 2005 I was asked about methods to fine a mead. To that end, my product of choice is "hot-mix" Sparkolloid, and to illustrate its effectiveness I took the following photos 3 days apart...

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That is an amazing difference in three days. I still have some sparkolloid from years back, but I also tend to do the bulk ageing in carboys or kegs. Fewer things I add to my mead the better, mostly because I tend to be lazy. Thanks for posting that.

Kauai_Kahuna said:

That is an amazing difference in three days. I still have some sparkolloid from years back, but I also tend to do the bulk ageing in carboys or kegs. Fewer things I add to my mead the better, mostly because I tend to be lazy. Thanks for posting that.

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You're welcome.

I've found that most people do not know that Sparkolloid comes in two forms: hot-mix & cold mix. Hot-mix is used for wine claification, whereas cold mix is used to clarify juices.

Even though I've seen both types at LHBs, I've also seen only cold-mix on the shelf and wondered why. Even the store owner didn't know he was stocking the wrong type...

hightest said:

More often than not, I also bulk age my mead. However, back in 2005 I was asked about methods to fine a mead. To that end, my product of choice is "hot-mix" Sparkolloid, and to illustrate its effectiveness I took the following photos 3 days apart...

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It's amazing how the spakalloid can also dramatically increase the amount of mead in the carboy

Cugel, that's some good looking mead! Finers do work very well. While I tend to not use them for my meads, I do use them in wines. I've had similar success with white wines though I use Super Kleer.

Matrix4b said:

Wow, aged that long, Looks very good. At this point I would bottle it and then enjoy at any time. Looks yummy.

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"That long" ?? Schnork. Mead really does benefit (flavor, not just clarity) from years of aging. Lose at least a few bottles for 2-5 years and you might notice the worth of considerably more aging than a few months.

Cugel said:

It's amazing how the spakalloid can also dramatically increase the amount of mead in the carboy

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Look more closely (gallon markers) and you'll see that the mead was initially in a 6-gallon carboy, and then racked to a 5-gallon carboy in which the Sparkolloid was then added...

summersolstice said:

Cugel, that's some good looking mead! Finers do work very well. While I tend to not use them for my meads, I do use them in wines. I've had similar success with white wines though I use Super Kleer.

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I'm with you on this - the mead looks spectacular. I may have to use fining agents when I come up against a deadline and a hard-to-clear mead.

hightest said:

Look more closely (gallon markers) and you'll see that the mead was initially in a 6-gallon carboy, and then racked to a 5-gallon carboy in which the Sparkolloid was then added...

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I was just hoping that the sparkalloid could overcome the law of conservation of matter and increase my mead yields!

The mead looks great, I'm sure it will taste as good.

Cugel said:

I was just hoping that the sparkalloid could overcome the law of conservation of matter and increase my mead yields!

The mead looks great, I'm sure it will taste as good.

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It does, and still is.

That looks really good.
I'm going to go buy some Sparkolloid right now.

DB and I had been using Super-Kleer in all of our meads then bottle aged. We accidentally bulk aged four cysers when our Meadery became a storage room for what was supposed to be a month. (which turned into 8) Once we got all of the junk out of there and tasted the cysers, we were amazed. We're going to try bulk aging going forward.

Summersolstice, your mead is gorgeous!

Trying to decide whether to bulk age or bottle my melomel which was made with blueberries, wisteria petals and a blend of lavender and lavender-wildflower honeys. Also wondering how long to age it. The wisteria is still evident in the finished melomel and has survived being completely blown out despite having been added to the primary (just !). It's about 11.5-12% alcohol (estimated) and If it was a wine I'd likely plan to drink it young after 6-12 months.

Is longer ageing likely to bring forward the honey notes but send the wisteria to the background ? This is the first gallon batch of "proper" mead/melomel I've made using controlled yeasting.

I did 4 feral floral meads in April off raw honey (just a bottle of each as an experiment fermenting with honey) in loose-capped Kilner jars as an experiment. Surprisingly they all turned out drinkable straight up. "hooch" I racked them into bottles with a balloon over the top after a few weeks, not sure how they'll hold up like that longer term !! The lilac & orimrose/wildflower honey is crystal clear, dandelion / lavender honey is also clearish but a slightly bitter back-note right now. Primrose, violet and beech leaf / acacia honey is gorgeous but won't clear and cherry blossom with woodruff / acacia honey is cloudy and unlike anything I've ever tasted before - a definite novelty. Go easy on the woodruff if you ever use it - 5 x 3 inch dried stems dunked for 2 days during fermentation upside down at the end of a piece of string is near overpowering in the finished product lol.

I just discovered six bombers of peach Mead I made back in 2016 or 2017. Last I had any of it was Halloween 2019.

No matter what else you put into it TIME is the key ingredient to truly great mead.

My first mead, a 5 gallon batch of 15% traditional mead, is still bulk aging after 1 1/2 years. I am planning on bottling it this week, but it took about a year before the toothpaste flavor dropped off and the honey and flower flavors came to the front. Part of me wants to bottle half still and force carbonate the other half.

In keeping with the theme of this thread: how does sparkling mead age compared to still?