Beginner mead questions

[HappiBrew]

Hi, I've been doing beer about a year but just did my first couple of "meads" about a month ago. I had a couple of questions about the process. 1st I'll explain where I am at.
I did 3 1-gallon batches. A raspberry melomel, a pear melomel and an apple pie cyser. All were fermented with a single whole package of Lavin D47. I used some yeast nute and energizer at about half of the labled dosage in primary for 1 month. I used the other half of the dosage in secondary, where I plan to let it sit 2 months before bottle aging. My questions are...

-Where is the sweet spot on aging a mead? As in, where is the lengthy fermentation best served? Primary, secondary or in the bottle. Does 1 month primary, 2 months secondary and 7-10 months bottle aging sound right? Or should it sit in the fermenters for longer?

-How important is it to "wine whip" a mead? Should I skip this for concern of oxidation? Will I end up with a somewhat sparkling mead if I don't? Is that OK?

-Since I'm doing small batches, would it be appropriate to bottle in beer bottles with oxygen barrier caps instead of buying a corker and wine bottles? Would it not store even better this way?

Thanks so much!

 

[Halbrust]

Welcome to mazery (Is that a word? Is that the right word?)

-Where is the sweet spot on aging a mead? As in, where is the lengthy fermentation best served? Primary, secondary or in the bottle. Does 1 month primary, 2 months secondary and 7-10 months bottle aging sound right? Or should it sit in the fermenters for longer?

I would lengthen primary and secondary times, and reduce bottle aging. But your total seems pretty good.
I don't think there is a thing wrong with letting mead stay in the primary for six months.
You probably want to taste the pear after just a few monthe though. It will lose the pear flavor quickly, so you want to try and find that magic date to call over friends and share the gallon.

-How important is it to "wine whip" a mead? Should I skip this for concern of oxidation? Will I end up with a somewhat sparkling mead if I don't? Is that OK?

I had made mead for a long time before I had even heard of whipping, or degassing. I've made lots of mead, and some fruit wine. All with great success, and have never degassed.

I can't answer your question beyond giving my own experience

-Since I'm doing small batches, would it be appropriate to bottle in beer bottles with oxygen barrier caps instead of buying a corker and wine bottles? Would it not store even better this way?

I exclusivley do one gallon batches, and usually bottle in beer bottle.

 

[Matrix4b]

I do mostly 5-6 gal batches. I figure if I have to wait then I should have a good amount to wait on.

A good adage: Mead Takes Time, give it time.

Usually, My primaries last close to a month. Lavin D47 is the yeast that I use in the colder months. You don't want your temp to go much above 70F or you could get some off flavors. The secondaries last much longer for two reasons, 1: Fruit and spice additions I put in the secondary which neccessitates another racking. 2: Settling and clearing, Most mead should be clear enough to read through. That settling takes time. I figure about 4-6 months in secondary/tetriary for clearing, backsweetening, and oaking.

To answer your question on bulk aging, you can primarily bulk age in the carboy but be sure to get it off of the sediment. The sediment shouldn't get over 1/8 inch or so. But Mead is a lazy man's brewing and most resliant if you do leave it on the sediment or lees. Just make sure you get it off the lees from the primary around the month mark from start. The mead will tell you.

Using wine yeast is not the same as using bread yeast. A JAOM finishes quickly but with less ABV%. I wouldn't count it as bulk aging until it's clear. If you bottle age instead of bulk age, you wait til it's clear. But over all aging should be anywhere from 6 months to a year. As far as how long is the optimum time? Well mead gets better over time. I would expect the optimum time aging for taste is about 1 to 3 years aged. Some of my best mead is aged around 3 years, "Smooth as silk" is one friends description to a mead that I made a year and a half ago. And it will only get better.

As far as degassing: Entirely up to you. I don't normally degass. I do swirl it around a bit in the primary to agitate the yeast and this does degass it a bit. And if it does have some disolved CO2 in it you wont neccessarily have a carbonation going. For that you would need to either force carb or deal with less sweet mead and prime it properly and hope that you dont get a bottle bomb situation. Watch it closely if you prime it with more honey and a touch of yeast prior to bottling.

I also bottle in a 12 oz beer bottle with caps.

Matrix

 

[HappiBrew]

Thanks guys. That answers my questions perfectly.