Heyo!

[Hangy]

Super new to brewing but I decided to give it a twirl. I like to make my Christmas gifts instead of purchasing them and I am hoping that can be mead this year. I look forward to lurking and learning, and I welcome any and all information, recipes, equipment suggestions, and general guidance that I can get as I start to set up for my first batch!

 

[ncbrewer]

Welcome to HBT.
I can't offer any suggestions for mead since I don't make it.

 

[Sammy86]

Welcome to the community!

 

[pvtpublic]

Welcome, but don't anticipate gifting mead this year. It needs some serious aging to mellow out. Wine might work, beer definitely.

 

[Hangy]

I was under the impression it was something like 5-6 weeks for aging.

 

[pvtpublic]

Depends, if you made a sack mead, you could have it sweet enough to hide everything that aging will mellow out.

 

[Hangy]

I was going to make a mostly traditional (or what I believe to be traditional based on my limited research), just with some blueberries for a bit of flavor.

 

[pvtpublic]

Blueberries, from what I've experienced from my own batches and some other folks in my brew club, make aging tricky. Sometimes it just wants to stay as jet fuel. Traditional meads typically require quite a while to mellow out from being "hot". In my practice, I won't touch any of my bottles until at least their 3rd birthday. Cork 'em, wax 'em, store 'em on their side, and let 'em collect dust.
There's also nothing wrong with giving it a try and learning your mead aging time frame, it could be a little different for you.

 

[Hangy]

Does a birthday mean something else for mead, lol? 3 years you let them sit before drinking any of it? I mean, I am a relatively patient person, but I don't know if I am that patient.

 

[pvtpublic]

It's super frustrating when you're just beginning, but by regularly brewing it up, you'll wind up with a nice reserve. Also make short meads to get you by in the meantime.