Boy Am I Glad I Forgot About This

[Zbay]

So about 7 months ago I moved from the eastern shore of Maryland to the greater Baltimore area. I had a mead in my 5 gallon carboy that was just a little bit of everything (cherries, berries, 4 different types of honey) I called it my frankenmead. With the primary finished I racked it from my 5 gallon to 3 gallon carboy before the move. When I tasted it 7 months ago it was like taking a shot of rubbing alcohol. Well I shoved it in a closet of the new place and forgot about it until today! It can still use a bit of aging but I would say it's improved 100 percent! I think right now it's been bulk aging for a little over a year total (I was late racking it off the yeast).

 

[fuelish]

BEAUTIFUL color

 

[fatbloke]

BEAUTIFUL color

Ditto.....

 

[Zbay]

Thanks guys, I'm glad I decided not to toss it after the initial taste test a 7 months ago. The flavors have mellowed a good bit and it's almost drinkable. I think I'm going to bulk age it for 4 more months. After that I'm debating on trying to force carbonate it. What are your thoughts on force carbonating mead?

 

[Kin]

What are your thoughts on force carbonating mead?

I don't see anything wrong with this, but I'm a newb. Some people like their apfwelwein sparkling, that's pretty standard. Similar with mead some people like it sparkling. It can slightly change the PH.

 

[Matrix4b]

A good rule of thumb, age mead a year, 6 months if it is low ABV% and very sweet. Some meads will take over a year. Most meads benefit from a bit of light oaking.

Matrix

 

[Andi Dawson VO]

Sorry new here - what do you mean by light oaking please?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

He means soaking oak spirals/staves/chips in the mead to impart an oak flavor into the beverage as if it had been in an oak barrel for aging.


Sent from somewhere to someone

 

[Zbay]

I might rack it into three different gallon jugs keep one leave one as a standard and oak the other two. I will probably use chips in one and spires in the other to see which offers the better flavor. According to the oak spire instructions it said full flavor is achieved in 6 weeks, so I will probably only go half that to prevent the overbearing oak flavor. Now I just have to make it to the LHBS for supplies!

 

[fuelish]

Have not the equipment to force carb, but imagine it would be just fine....I bottle carb meads when I can, my Mrs prefers them sparkling, but I make my share of stiil meads, for sure (intentional and sometimes they just don't carb, no biggie either way, as it's still good stuff )

 

[Andi Dawson VO]

Thank you GillSwillBasementBrews - makes sense now lol