I have a confession. I made a mead a long time back and it sat in the carboy for I don't know how long. Years, probably.
It started fine. Tasted a bit off after a bit, but I was lax in my degassing, racking, etc. Airlock went dry more than once. I never found time to borrow a corker and get some bottles and bottle it up.
At one point it was just off enough that I decided to add some fruit juice to see if it would add a small bit of sweetness, or at least a small bit of flavor. It seemed dry and just not right.
Well, I cleaned my room and decided to bottle the 1 gallon of banana wine and clear off my other concoctions. I took a whiff and it smelled ok, but I had had enough of seeing it sitting there.
Now I do like a good mead, in small amounts. My plan is to make a small batch with the small carboy I have and try and do a better job managing the fermentation. I'll still have the same problem with corker and bottles though.
Can, or should, I use small clear glass bottles with bottle caps? I'm going on the assumption that the mead will be laid down for 1-2 years. I like the small bottle size for serving. I like the ease of using equipment I already own. Just not sure how the caps would work with something like mead. I've heard of beer being put away for years (just opened a barleywine from 2009 that I think was my last extract batch. Tasted OK, and not really even oxidized, although I do not think I'm over sensitive to that flavor.)
What do you think? I'm imagining a oaked bourbon mead, or maybe a cherry mead since my wife likes that kind of thing
It started fine. Tasted a bit off after a bit, but I was lax in my degassing, racking, etc. Airlock went dry more than once. I never found time to borrow a corker and get some bottles and bottle it up.
At one point it was just off enough that I decided to add some fruit juice to see if it would add a small bit of sweetness, or at least a small bit of flavor. It seemed dry and just not right.
Well, I cleaned my room and decided to bottle the 1 gallon of banana wine and clear off my other concoctions. I took a whiff and it smelled ok, but I had had enough of seeing it sitting there.
Now I do like a good mead, in small amounts. My plan is to make a small batch with the small carboy I have and try and do a better job managing the fermentation. I'll still have the same problem with corker and bottles though.
Can, or should, I use small clear glass bottles with bottle caps? I'm going on the assumption that the mead will be laid down for 1-2 years. I like the small bottle size for serving. I like the ease of using equipment I already own. Just not sure how the caps would work with something like mead. I've heard of beer being put away for years (just opened a barleywine from 2009 that I think was my last extract batch. Tasted OK, and not really even oxidized, although I do not think I'm over sensitive to that flavor.)
What do you think? I'm imagining a oaked bourbon mead, or maybe a cherry mead since my wife likes that kind of thing