Short Mead

[Deadrasputin]

I have been researching for a good short mead recipe. After much reading I have come to this conclusion.

Any Mead can be a short mead if consumed before six months. Most of the recipes call for a basic show mead with the addition of a cup of strong tea to a five gallon batch. Taste the mead every few days until it reaches a point of drinkability... Not to sweet not to much alcohol. When it reaches that point of personal tast, bottle and drink. The whole process can take as little as three weeks.

Another trick I have read is to use Ale yeast instead of Wine yeast. Something with a tolerance of 6-8%

Am I on the right track or is there something to this I missed?

 

[fatbloke]

You've missed something......

If you made a mead as you first suggested, you'd be making bottle bombs.....

Yes, show meads do ferment less and slower than traditionals but not only would a show one, most likely, continue to ferment in the bottle but you'd also have a lot of sediment in the bottle.

Because you'd have no way of knowing how much further it would ferment after your taste point, there'd likely be a hazard even in champagne bottles......

Then there's the point that a lot of meads are pretty bloody horrible tasting when young, which is why ageing is recommended.

You can indeed use an ale yeast but how is the published tolerance worked out ? They may be reported as bing 6 to 8 percent tolerant but if thats worked out with a beer wort, does it include the non-fermentable sugars ? Honey doesn't have those so its feasible that it will go higher and you're back at the points mentioned above.....

 

[loveofrose]

Look at my post "Bray's One Month Mead". There you will find how to make an awesome mead in one month. No off flavor and clear.

 

[Arpolis]

What FB is true. It is hard to make a quick mead. I attempted a 30 day mead giving all sorts of care to the mead and I was not thrilled with the results. Loveofrose seems to like their 30 day mead but I have yet to try it. Go ahead and keep researching and give it a shot to make a quick mead but make a larger batch and stash away many bottles in a dark place and check them in a year.

 

[Bosco1]

short mead brewers - hello

just to say - ive taken this commercial now - and its going down really well. Its technically a 'hydromel' because if you are using lager yeast you'll be using more water - you are brewing it to a lower ABV - (im about 5-6%).

it takes a little while - but you aren't going to get long balanced flavours. honey is basically sugar - and not a lot of phenolics come off it. its just a drier crisper drink though with lager yeast.

good stuff in 5 weeks.

W

 

[landsknechte]

I've gotten into session/short meads recently too. Everyone seems to suggest ale or even bread yeast. I've done three recent batches which are in secondary and primary. One each of wine yeast, bread yeast and ale yeast. I suppose we will see if they are good under 30-odd days.

 

[HB_in_Subic]

I have been making drinkable, clear meads/melomels in a month using the BOMM method. Everyone who has tried them has been amazed at the taste. Wyeast 1388 is our friend..