I have a great looking semi-sweet mead kit from Northern Brewer ready for tomorrow.... that is if we get that big snowstorm they are calling for in New England.
This will be my first venture away from beer brewing, but I have been drinking heavily from the HBT information jug for the last week about meads.
Here come the questions.
My kit instructions say -2 weeks in primary
-2 months in secondary
-2 weeks bottle conditioning (minimum, of course)
1) Is there any benefit to leaving the mead in primary for longer than instructed? I ask because I do this with my beer when instructions recommend a short time in primary.
2) I read that some folks rack into "tertiary" etc. vessels. As in, racking off the lees in the secondary into another vessel. Hoping for comments on personal results from this and if there is much benefit from the effort.
3) When stirring in the yeast nutrients at the nutrient adding intervals, am I stirring lightly just to mix the nutrients, or should this be a good hard long whipping? i.e Is there any other effect I'm trying to have other than mixing in the nutrients.
Thanks in advance.
I'm really looking forward to making this mead. I have beehives coming in the spring and would like to have some mead making skills developed before I toss my hard earned honey into a batch.
This will be my first venture away from beer brewing, but I have been drinking heavily from the HBT information jug for the last week about meads.
Here come the questions.
My kit instructions say -2 weeks in primary
-2 months in secondary
-2 weeks bottle conditioning (minimum, of course)
1) Is there any benefit to leaving the mead in primary for longer than instructed? I ask because I do this with my beer when instructions recommend a short time in primary.
2) I read that some folks rack into "tertiary" etc. vessels. As in, racking off the lees in the secondary into another vessel. Hoping for comments on personal results from this and if there is much benefit from the effort.
3) When stirring in the yeast nutrients at the nutrient adding intervals, am I stirring lightly just to mix the nutrients, or should this be a good hard long whipping? i.e Is there any other effect I'm trying to have other than mixing in the nutrients.
Thanks in advance.
I'm really looking forward to making this mead. I have beehives coming in the spring and would like to have some mead making skills developed before I toss my hard earned honey into a batch.