Two week mead?

So as you know I am new to the whole home brewing. I only started a few months ago and was talking to a friend about making mead. He decided to give it a go as well and set off looking for a recipe. He got back to me saying he had found a recipe for a butter scotch mead and off he went. This was to weeks ago, he phoned me today saying he had bottled the mead and it was ready. I asked him if he was sure and he said the recipe says that after two weeks he was to add a campden tablet and bottle. Ready to drink when ever.

I was just wondering if anyone else had tried a recipe like this and dose this sound right to everyone.

I'm also new to mead but I have read in a few books that primary fermentation lasts 2+ weeks (varies greatly) then you re-rack into secondary fermentation for months (again varies) then possibly re-rack multiple times to help clear it and bulk age. Most meads don't get bottled until at least 5-6 months. Some may be drinkable at 6-8 months but most will still be extremely hot and need more aging to mellow them out.

If he bottled straight out of primary you are going to be drinking rocket fuel and consuming large amounts of suspended yeast and yeast hulls.

I've also made a few batches and the above process is what I stick to and it works.

I've seen Bray's one month mead here but never anything in just 2 weeks. Heck I spend at least 3 weeks fermenting beer.

He says it tastes nice and very sweet. I was worried of bottle bombs to be honest. I have three gallons on the go at the moment two that are four weeks old and one that is about three months old. I have not bottled any and was not even going to think of bottling until September.

Mead is all customizable. As long as you think it tastes good then you made good mead. That's all that matters

fatmalky said:

He says it tastes nice and very sweet. I was worried of bottle bombs to be honest. I have three gallons on the go at the moment two that are four weeks old and one that is about three months old. I have not bottled any and was not even going to think of bottling until September.

Click to expand...

I think there is a very good chance he is going to have bottle bombs (or blown corks...) if he bottled after only 2 weeks.

That said, he may still really enjoy a cloudy, extremely sweet mead.

There are a lot of variables. Has the yeast hit its alcohol tolerance? If it's sweet the yeast may have gone dormant. Camden alone won't stop an active ferment, so bottle bombs could be an issue. Sweet meads can hide the rocket fuel taste.

On-target said:

...Sweet meads can hide the rocket fuel taste.

Click to expand...

But not the headache afterwards...

Turns out he had to chuck them as they were still fermenting

fatmalky said:

Turns out he had to chuck them as they were still fermenting

Click to expand...

No surprise there. I actually would have been surprised if that didn't happen.

fatmalky said:

Turns out he had to chuck them as they were still fermenting

Click to expand...

Well, he *could* have drank them...

Or placed foil loosely on top of each one and then capped again after the fermentation was more complete.