Sherman's Burner Account
New Member
Several years back, I used to homebrew beer, extract and all grain. I moved away from the friends I used to brew with, to an area with no homebrew supply stores within an hour and horrible water quality. Since then, I married and have a two year old. I figured that I could still have some fun making small batches of mead. I have no one to show me the ropes, so I figured I would experiment and ask this community for help along the way.
So, I started off with a one gallon recipe involving two pounds of local wildflower honey and three pounds of blueberries, which I froze and then mashed. I pitched the yeast and yeast nutrient and 30+ hours later, I can hear the fermentation kicking off quite nicely. So, I had a few questions:
-How long would you recommend keeping the blueberries in primary fermentation?
-With beer, after it's begun fermenting, you want to be gentle when racking to secondary fermentation as I was always told you don't want to oxidize the beer. Does mead work the same way? Is the racking process likewise a delicate process?
-Finally, I have seen many people here leave their mead in secondary fermentation anywhere from one month to one year. What flavor changes do you see in those time periods?
Side Note: I believe this mead will be quite dry. I was planning on it this way as my wife does NOT like semi-sweet wines and does not love most of the meads we've tried, which have probably been aimed at people who don't love beer and wine. I myself really enjoy a drier mead. I thought the tannins from the blueberries and the dryness would be interesting. Yes, I realize I've probably made several mistakes already, BUT you can't learn unless you make mistakes. If you've read this far, thank you for your patience in bearing with my bloated post.
So, I started off with a one gallon recipe involving two pounds of local wildflower honey and three pounds of blueberries, which I froze and then mashed. I pitched the yeast and yeast nutrient and 30+ hours later, I can hear the fermentation kicking off quite nicely. So, I had a few questions:
-How long would you recommend keeping the blueberries in primary fermentation?
-With beer, after it's begun fermenting, you want to be gentle when racking to secondary fermentation as I was always told you don't want to oxidize the beer. Does mead work the same way? Is the racking process likewise a delicate process?
-Finally, I have seen many people here leave their mead in secondary fermentation anywhere from one month to one year. What flavor changes do you see in those time periods?
Side Note: I believe this mead will be quite dry. I was planning on it this way as my wife does NOT like semi-sweet wines and does not love most of the meads we've tried, which have probably been aimed at people who don't love beer and wine. I myself really enjoy a drier mead. I thought the tannins from the blueberries and the dryness would be interesting. Yes, I realize I've probably made several mistakes already, BUT you can't learn unless you make mistakes. If you've read this far, thank you for your patience in bearing with my bloated post.