21-year mead

[Zabuza]

So I read (on this forum) about this guy making a batch of mead for each of his kids the day after they were born, and thought that sounded pretty badass. I've done several batches of mead, so I'm good on the basics, but I guess I have a couple questions. If I'm keeping the mead for 21 years for my niece, I must need to use campden tabs, right? I know honey (and therefore mead) is pretty naturally resistant to infections with good sanitization practices, but I figure that over 21 years of aging I might need to ensure nothing can grow in it. Any long-term agers have any advice here?

The second question I have is more of a recipe question. I put 1.5 pounds of raspberries in a three gallon recipe and fermented it pretty dry - FG is 1.000. I just tasted some, about a month after making it, and boy, that stuff is tart as all heck. I wanted to add some more to secondary (for more color, flavor, and aromatics) and now I'm a bit hesitant to do so. Did I add a lot, or is there more room for more raspberries (i.e. will it age out)? Another question I have is related - should I stabilize and back sweeten to make the raspberry flavor more sweet, or do tart dry raspberry meads even out after a while like I was asking above?

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

You're going to want to start with a recipe that will lend itself to aging well. Bochets have been known to age very nicely and work really well with oak, and spices like cinnamon, and vanilla.

You could also try some kind of red (wine) grape pyment as many red wines also do well when undergoing micro-oxidation. Your big concern with a long aged batch after the recipe will be storage. Both camden tabs and(use both) sorbate are used to stabilize the mead (kill off the yeast), to prepare the mead for bottling or back-sweetening. Many of the corks you buy at home-brew stores (especially the cheaper ones) are only going to be good for 1-2 years. You will want to get really high grade corks for aging that long.

---Raspberries---
I don't know if it will age out. You could try to counter with something sweeter, like more honey. If the gravity is at 1.000, you can afford to back-sweeten it some with more honey (after stabilizing of course). Raspberries are really powerful flavor imparters in my experience. Some if it will age out, but there's nothing wrong with a tart mead. However, adding more raspberries won't help that department in any way but make it more tart.

 

[fatbloke]

Dunno about MB's idea about a different recipe, but it does have some merit and IMO worthy of some thought.

As for the raspberries, we get hung up on on the original flavour of something. Think on the flavour of grapes/ juice before the fruit has been fermented and the flavour of resulting wine......

Raspberries are often sweet but possibly a little sharp. They're actually quite acidic. So once raspberry has been fermented and the sugars are gone, you get a reduced flavour and aromatics, but the acid remains as does a bit from the actual ferment. Hence why its often quite a powerful but acidic flavour that remains.

Sooooooooo....... what to do ? Well you could just age the hell out of it, only to find that the acid and alcohol mellow some but essentially remain unchanged. Equally, if the batch has been stabilised, you could gently back sweeten it, incrementally, so that it doesn't get overly sweet...... then bottle some in 750's and some in crown capped beer bottles (oxygen absorbing caps). The 750's would be corked and wax sealed, the beer bottles are for periodic testing i.e. say a 6 or 12 monthly taste testing to check on progress.

The downside is that it might work for a while but it might not keep for the target time........

Hence my first comment of thinking on MB's idea for maybe a bochet or even an oaked traditional.......

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

I think he had 2 different parts to his post FB.

A: about the 21 year mead
B: his current Raspberry mead dilemma.

I may be mistaken but Zab will correct us.

I also agree with FB that an oaked traditional would be a real solid bet as well. I recently just oaked a traditional with 3 honeys and I'm liking where its going.

 

[Zabuza]

It was a two part question, but it was indeed about the same mead. I used raspberries because, well, that's sorta what my niece is into at the moment (they're here favorite fruit).

Ok, so it definitely looks like I need to sorbate and campden this when appropriate so it's still good in 20 years. It's unfortunate to hear that the fruit won't age well - I definitely think I'm going to back sweeten a bit to take the acidic edge off (regardless of whether I age it or not).

Thinking about it a bit more, I'll make a bochet or oak aged mead of the same size and then just closely monitor both with the beer bottle method mentioned above. Then, when it gets close to her 21st, I'll just give her whichever's better.

 

[chickabeelane]

I might also say that you some be looking at a high test mead because the higher alcohol will help keep a lot of the spoilage critters away. Campden tablets help against oxygenation which is probably your biggest concern. Also use a good quality cork and store using proper "wine" techniques ie. cool, even temperatures.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

I'd go with a high ABV, at least 16%, like a sack mead, using a varietal honey like orange blossom. Use the sulfites for your initial sanitization & protecting the mead during racking. Unless you plan on backsweetening, I'd forget about using the sorbate, it tastes nasty & won't really serve a purpose. Bulk age for a couple years, bottle with the best corks, check for leaks & after 3 days, wax the corks & bottleneck. This will add an additional barrier & make it look good/rustic too.
Regards, GF.