quickest mead possible

Hey guys I'm pretty clueless and impatient, I don't want to spend 6 months on waiting for a mead that I made wrong.
I wanted to know what the quickest way to make dry mead would be, like could I rack it after a month and add some glycerine to smooth it out?

here's where i'm at so far

5 pounds clove honey
1-2 teaspoons five spice
2 gallons spring water
1 pack red star cuvee
1.5 teaspoons yeast nutrient
1 teaspoon yeast energizer

SG 1.073

Day 3
SG 1.059

At the end I was going to add 1/2tsp gelatin and then some bentonite, once clear I was going to add some 1-2oz glycerine then bottle

You're only 3 days into fermentation on this, just leave it alone for a while & it'll do it's thing. Mead takes time, there's just no way around it; even the so-called "quick meads" take time. I have mead that's been bulk aging nearly 2 years, I might bottle it this coming winter. RDWHHB. Regards, GF.

My first mead EVER was just this past January -- using Papazian's Waialeale Chablis Mead (in The Homebrewer's Companion)

It fermented in 4 days, I primed and bottled and waited almost 10 days to try a bottle.
It was drinkable in 14 days, presentable to others at one month, and compliment worthy (and almost gone) at 4 months.

Fast enough for you?

--Matthew

Hydromels are the quickest imho

The lower the OG, the faster a mead will be drinkable. At a pound per gallon, it will ferment in a few days and be drinkable when it clears.

Once you get waist deep in brewing you will have the patience to wait for the best results. I know its hard to imagine waiting a long time now, but you need to keep making stuff so down the road your constantly having new batches ready to drink.

I made Malkores JOAM recipe and it was quick, took about a month to be drinkable and 2 to be proud of. However it just keeps getting better the longer it ages.

I started drinking my first batch as soon as it cleared. It was drinkable, but it impoved sooo much as the months passed. Now I'm coming close to a year since I made it and I wish I had more bottles left. I think it's good to pace yourself and see how much it improves. Now I have several batches that are going to be aged a year, without too much sampling.

Thanks guys, you gave me some ideas, when I was saying quick meads I meant about 2 weeks ferment 2 weeks secondary container and a couple weeks to a month aged. So everyone said it's possible and drinkable, just that the longer it ages the better no matter what. Msabin - Yeah that was quicker then I expected, I'll look that up

msabin said:

My first mead EVER was just this past January -- using Papazian's Waialeale Chablis Mead (in The Homebrewer's Companion)

It fermented in 4 days, I primed and bottled and waited almost 10 days to try a bottle.
It was drinkable in 14 days, presentable to others at one month, and compliment worthy (and almost gone) at 4 months.

Fast enough for you?

--Matthew

Click to expand...

Could you please post this recipe? I have not had the chance to purchase this fine book, and have scoured the internet for it.

It's always the same thing.........

Yes, lower alcohol recipes will probably be ready quicker, but as most wine yeasts will go to at least 12% ABV, they're usually as dry as a buzzards arse!

Dry meads aren't to a lot of peoples taste.

High alcohol meads often take a long time to mature, as the "alcohol hot" flavour isn't liked by many.

Etc etc etc.

Yes, there's ways of helping it along, like making a fruit based mead with 1/3 of the fruit in primary to get some colour/flavour, then either 2/3's of the fruit into secondary, or 1/3 in secondary and the last 1/3 in tertiary.

Or make it strong and dry, but then stabilise and back sweeten, because sugars often mask some (all ?) of the alcohol hot taste and/or the over acidic taste.

Or you can just be patient and let it mellow/mature over time.

there's other ways of helping it along as well, but you can research that.

Yes, there's also many recipes that "apparently" are quick, but there's no guarantee of that, because IMO most meads taste rubbish when young, even JAO and the like. Yet with 6 to 12 months ageing time, they taste wonderful.

Don't forget, the term "drinkable" is relative. One person might say "yum yum", yet another will say "blleeeaaaarrrrrgggggghhhhhhh". Or if you are an inexperienced drinker (young ?), but happen to have already got part smashed (student parties etc), then you're more likely to be tolerant of something that's not quite right/ready because the aim isn't to enjoy the taste/experience, it's about getting hammered.......

The only cure to my impatience has been a very large pipeline. Lot's of stuff ageing, and even I can't drink that fast.
It also helps to store a lot of bottled stuff in box's hidden away in closets I never look into.
Someday I will do some spring cleaning and feel like a rich man who has discovered gold.

Kauai_Kahuna said:

The only cure to my impatience has been a very large pipeline. Lot's of stuff ageing, and even I can't drink that fast.
It also helps to store a lot of bottled stuff in box's hidden away in closets I never look into.
Someday I will do some spring cleaning and feel like a rich man who has discovered gold.

Click to expand...

Hear hear!

Got me wondering whether you have to mess around though, as I have to presume that it gets quite warm in the Islands......

So do you have to mess with temperature control or rely on a cool basement or something like that, or just "mix and be damned" ???

regards

fatbloke