Conditions for aging mead?

So - it gets COLD in Indy... and a controllable thermostat to save on Energy bills means that my house will vary every day temperature wise which means that the yeast will not be happy. Now, I am thinking that if I get primary and secondary done before it becomes BITTER cold (January), then I could just age it while the temperature drops.

My question is whether or not this seems wise? The aging process means that the yeast are going dormant, and I could add some more yeast with the primer at the end of aging, right? But that would produce some off tastes?

Help would be appreciated.

Maybe it would help if you post your recipe and your intended result. You might also post the temperatures you expect as well. Am I right in assuming your trying to make a sparkling mead? This isn't the first thing I think of when formulating a recipe but it would help to know in order to offer suggestions.

If you want to try to keep your mead warm try placing it next to the water heater or on top of the fridge (I know it's heavy)...

Well, I'm not an expert on cold any more, but:
You can also wrap it up in a blanket, get a brewers belt is another option if you can spare the cost.

I'm brewing in Illinois and get the same temp fluctuations as you. In my basement the normal temp during the winter is 56F. To ferment, I place the carboys next to my furnace (gas fired, radiant heat) which keeps the carboys between 65 and 70. Then, to age my mead, I rack and put it elsewhere in the basement to bulk age at the normal cellar temps.

I am up in Wisconsin and have the same temps as you pretty much. My basement (rec room) stays about 65-67 in the winter..this is where I've aged all my meads and it seems just fine. I just keep them under my basement stairs in the dark, and just let it set.

I live in Indy as well. I have been making mead at my normal household temperatures. This batch I'm getting ready to bottle has actually been sitting on the breakfast island in between my kitchen and living room. Fermentation took a couple months, I didn't step feed. During Ferment I racked once. Then I let it bulk age for a month. I used quite a bit of honey, around 20lbs, and it hadn't even started to clear so I added sparkaloid to the batch. A day and a half after adding the sparkaloid this stuff is clear as a bell and has the color of the original honey I used. I'm gonna let it sit for a week or two more then I'll bottle it up and let it bottle age for a while.

I think as long as you have your batch in a fairly regulated area temperature wise, like one usually lives in you'll be fine.

By the way MarcJ, if you're interested there is a local beekeeper in our area that has some excellent honey! Let me know.

Another way you can keep a batch warm is to put the carboy into a plastic tub such as the plastic storage boxes sold at Walmart. Simply fill about 3/4 full with water and then use an aquarium heater to keep it warm. Total cost for this set-up is less than $30.00. It will also help to put an old blanket over the top to hold the heat in.

the OP seemed, to me, to be alluding to temperatures for bulk ageing, not fermenting.

So once it's finished fermenting and you've got it clear (by whatever method you prefer) I'd guess that just to keep it from freezing would be fine.

Though it's fair to point out that the best wine cellars tend to be dark, dry but cool places.

As a guess, I'd suggest anything above, something like 40F should be fine. If you can keep it somewhere that has a consistent temp, then at least it's mirroring the techniques used by commercial wine producers........