First Time Mead

[Sebastipole]

Hi all! I just started brewing and decided to try mead for my second brewing attempt. The starting gravity was 1.098. I let it sit for 7 weeks and moved it to secondary this evening and got a final reading of 1.000. My question is when I moved it over it foamed some and I was wondering if this was normal? I tried a sample and it had a pretty harsh taste but I have heard that 6 months is the time needed to let it age well. Thanks for the help!

 

[bernardsmith]

Hi Sebastipole - and welcome. If the starting gravity was 1.098 then you began with about 3 lbs of honey /gallon. Yeast does not just produce ethanol (the alcohol) but CO2 and unless you stir the mead during active fermentation in order to remove the CO2 about 1.5 lbs of CO2 is produced from 3 lbs of honey. That's the source of the foam..
The higher the temperature you ferment at, and the higher the starting gravity the more time a mead needs to age.. (this aging time is also a factor of the yeast you select, and the stresses you put on the yeast)...
Seven weeks is still very short. Taste it again in another 3 months.