Long Term Mead Preparations

[Maxtro]

Hello everyone. I have a mead project coming up that I'm super excited about. I've been home brewing for about 2 years now, mainly mead, beer and soda so I'm by no means an expert and I'm open to any advise and tips before I get this going. Here it is.

My wife and I are expecting our first child, a boy, in December 2016. I'm working on putting together a mead recipe that I'll brew the day we bring our new son home from the hospital (or as soon as possible after). The plan is to age the mead for 21 years and open it to celebrate my son's 21st birthday.

Due to the fact that I'm in the military and have a high chance of moving across the country/world at least 2-3 more times in the next 7-8 years, I've pretty much ruled out doing a 5 gallon batch, therefore I've acquired five 750ml stoneware bottles (much thanks to Viking Blod for those) that I plan to use once the mead has reached the bottle aging phase as the mead will have to travel with us, which will be corked with nomacorc style corks and top sealed with wax. If we end up traveling somewhere that the mead cannot go with, it will likely be left at a family member's house in climate controlled storage.

Another consideration is that I have no idea what/if any fruit allergies my son might have or develope by the time he's 21 so I've decided this mead recipe will consist of only honey and herbs. Plus, I'm not sure if there are any negative effects to aging mead that contains fresh fruit juice for 21 years.

Anyway, on to the recipe. Here is what I'm thinking so far. I'm open to any suggestions for adjusting the recipe to make it the best it can possibly be. Since my son will be born in December I'm going with holiday type herbs.

RECIPE: (1 gallon batch)

- 3/4 gallon spring water
- 4 lbs killer bee honey (Killer Bee Honey is a wildflower honey produced by the Africanized Bees of Brazil. Therefore, the flavor varies a bit from year to year, but tends to be a nice natural caramel taste)
- 1/2 teaspoon crystallized ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon rosehips
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 cinnamon stick
- Lalvin ICV D-47 Wine Yeast
- 1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
- 1 teaspoon yeast energizer

The plan is to primary ferment for 30 days at 66°F. After racking to secondary I'm thinking I might add another helping of all the herbs to sit in secondary. I'm not sure if this will give the mead a nice bite or an unpleasant burn. Secondary ferment will be 90 days at 60°F. I'll likely rack several times after this over the year following to achieve clarity and remove all debris. I currently have no plan to use anything to stop the fermentation prior to bottling. Should I reconsider this since the mead will end up in corked bottles in a padded box that may get jostled around every 3 years or so while moving?

I still have about 3 months to adjust the plan and recipe. Again, I'm open to any input and constructive criticism. I'm here to learn how to be a better brewer and would love to hear everyone's opinion on the project. Thanks in advance all.

 

[viking1984]

Just saw yesterday a post in the "Show us your mead" thread about a 30+ year old blackberry mead. Most things I have seen say fruit meads can be past their prime after 5+ years, not sure about spices/herbs, but I'm still learning myself, only been at this a couple years as well. That post was on page 21, #210, but it was like four or five years ago. Just a thought, you could try sending that individual a quick note to see if he is still in contact with the guy who made that 30 year old mead since he obviously did something right with his. Congrats to you and your wife, good luck with your mead, and thank you for your service to our country.

 

[On-target]

There is a great thread over at the Got Mead forums about this subject. Look in the "processes of making mead" section. Congratulations and good luck!

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Avoid using powdered herbs/spices; use whole, cracked or sliced spices instead. The reason being that powdered spice can only be removed with filtration & if not filtered out, will continue to add spice flavor past your desired flavor profile.

Contain those herbs/spices in a hop sack & weigh it down with a couple of sanitized marbles; it'll be easy to remove if you tie a string to the hop sack & you can use the bung to hold the string in place so it doesn't fall into your fermenter.

I would save all those spices for secondary, as adding them to primary will likely result in a lot of flavor & aroma being blown out the airlock. Also, depending on the flavor profile you're shooting for, adjust your spice amounts; as is, the nutmeg flavor will likely dominate everything else. Nutmeg is rather intense compared to the other spices.

I'd suggest leaving those spices in secondary until you think the flavor is a bit too strong, you'll have to taste to be certain. The reason being that some of that spice flavor will fade over 21 years.

Don't bother trying to stop fermentation, just let the yeast work for you, they'll stop when they're done. The trick is deciding what you want: sweet, dry, off dry, etc...
Then calculating your OG so that your target FG is right where you want it to be when the yeast peters out. D-47 yeast has an average alcohol tolerance of 14%. Here's some info on D-47:
http://www.delteil-consultant.com/pdf/RD/D47_en.pdf

Good luck! Regards, GF.