Mead is fermenting. First one.

[Medic151]

I made a small batch of Mead for my first attempt. It is still pushing through the airlock, so i know it is still working.

I was wondering when I bottle it, are there any additives that need to be added for ageing?

Sorry for the newbie question.

 

[Golddiggie]

If you give it long enough, and you do things right, you won't need to add anything for aging/bottling. I age my meads in adapted sanke kegs so that they're fully sealed. I have some that were put into vessels as early as 2013 that are still good (added oak 11 months ago to them).

Depending on the ABV target is how long I give a batch bulk aging. Do NOT bottle a batch too early.

 

[bernardsmith]

No additives for the purposes OF aging BUT
1. You will want to allow the mead to drop bright and clear BEFORE you bottle and
2. Like most country wines, a brut dry wine often does not allow flavors to carry forward so you may want/need to back sweeten the wine. In my opinion, with mead, you want to sweeten it with honey and you have a choice. If you fermented basic clover or wildflower honey, you might sweeten the mead with a varietal which will have a far more pronounced flavor (orange blossom, Tupelo, raspberry honey etc) OR if you used a varietal as your base you may want to use the same varietal to sweeten the mead (or a different varietal that will complement the one you fermented).
All that said, before you add anything to sweeten the mead you will need to stabilize it to prevent any remaining yeast cells from glomming onto the added sugars and treating those sugars as theirs to ferment. Stabilizing can be done in several ways but the way that most wine and mead makers stabilize their wines is to add K-meta AND K-sorbate , wait a few days and then add the sugars. And that said, if your mead is crystal clear , once you add honey to sweeeten, the proteins in the honey will make your mead a little cloudy.

 

[Golddiggie]

I've made batches where I formulated the initial honey amount to leave a bit of sweetness at the end. It's actually worked out pretty well on the batches up to 18% ABV (using Lalvin wine yeasts).

My pending batch will be using the Wyeast sweet mead yeast (rated to 11%). I plan to make the OG for 11% ABV and see what it ends up at. If it works as the batches of cider I used the yeast in, it will have a little sweet left at the end. So no need to back sweeten and all that's involved there.

IME there are more than a couple of ways to get your desired end results. What I've done has worked well for me, so I continue to do it.

As for the honey used. I've used local/regional wildflower for my meads. Sourced from local apiaries, supporting the smaller outfits. Has worked out really well there too. IIRC, if you get the honey from a fall harvest, it will have more flavor/character to it.

 

[bernardsmith]

But Golddiggie, Here's the problem from my perspective. If wine and mead is all about balance and if balance with flavor, acidity, tannin, sweetness, viscosity (mouthfeel) and heat from alcohol tends to be around 12% ABV then using the yeast to control the final ABV and not the wine maker almost always means that the wine maker has no control over this balance. Sure, if what you want is a high proof wine then let the yeast's tolerance for alcohol be what controls the final ABV but if what you want is a nicely balanced wine or mead the fact that a yeast can survive to 17 or 18% ABV does not mean that that mead has the appropriate level of acidity and tannin and flavor etc to complement the heat coming from the alcohol.

 

[Golddiggie]

The batches I've made with 14%, 16% and 18% tolerant strains have all come out great, with a bit of sweet remaining. As I mentioned, the next batch I make will be with the WY sweet mead yeast, which leaves a little sweet present (even if you don't go to tolerance).

I've not made grape wine, and doubt I ever will. I did make a maple wine that was very well received after aging for several years (was really good early, changed, then changed again later).

While many use wine yeast in mead, it's not the same thing. Unless you're actually trying to make a mead that has the same characteristics as a grape wine. I don't. Which is why I also use the wildflower honey since it has a more complex flavor profile (at least IME/IMO).

 

[Medic151]

I guess I should say I used 3# of honey from a local apiary, one gallon of spring water, added strawberries, added raisins for yeast nutrient, and then added champagne yeast.

Being 1st time, I forgot the OG, so I will not really know its final.

It is still bubbling away and of course cloudy. Thanks for the info, I have a lot to learn.

 

[Dan O]

I would say, read the BOMM thread all the way through (@ the top of the mead forum page) & you'll learn a LOT. I know I did.

 

[Medic151]

So I read the BOMM thread and i just tried to take a reading. sterilized my equipment and dropped the hydrometer in the carboy. Went straight to the bottom. I am assuming I need a correct container for sampling? Filled up the head space and I am going to let it sit till clear. I will back sweeten it with honey. I used the calculator and it said it should be 14%. I have to get the above mentioned neutralizer first.

 

[Dan O]

So I read the BOMM thread and i just tried to take a reading. sterilized my equipment and dropped the hydrometer in the carboy. Went straight to the bottom. I am assuming I need a correct container for sampling? Filled up the head space and I am going to let it sit till clear. I will back sweeten it with honey. I used the calculator and it said it should be 14%. I have to get the above mentioned neutralizer first.

This is the one I use.
https://www.amazon.com/Brewers-Elit...=1&keywords=Hydrometers&qid=1632141283&sr=8-3

 

[dwhite60]

Biggest improvement I made in mead is giving it enough time in the bottle, like six months minimum.

Second improvement was degassing before bottling. Over the years I'd had a lot of mead, wine, and cider that just wouldn't clear. Upon advice from this forum I bought a small vacuum pump. Once degassed things settle and clear a lot faster.

You can degass by stirring alone with a spoon or a wire whisk. Vacuum pump is faster, neater, and more thorough.

 

[videojunkie1208]

First piece of advice, ditch the raisins. If I could figure out how to make that bit of mead making lore die, I would. You're better off buying a container of Fleischmann yeast and boiling it.

Learn how to use nutrients, they're not terribly expensive. Your yeast will love you, your palate will love you, and you won't be able to brew fast enough because your friends will love your booze. Read up on Staggered Nutrient Additions (any of the TOSNA protocols).

Second piece of advice, invest a couple of bucks in a hydrometer. Learn how to use it.

Drink your samples so you know what your mead tastes like when you first mix the must (holy crap sweet), after a week of fermentation (funky and yeasty), after the 1/2 sugar break (yeasty, but sweet) , when it's done fermentation (hot alcohol flavor), as you age it - how does it change over months...

Third, temperature control. The more stable and precise you can maintain your temperatures, the better your mead will be. It will also improve your repeatability.

Once you get the basics down, degassing and other techniques will make more sense.

You're using local honey which is awesome! So why not make the best mead you can.

 

[Miraculix]

First piece of advice, ditch the raisins. If I could figure out how to make that bit of mead making lore die, I would. You're better off buying a container of Fleischmann yeast and boiling it.

Learn how to use nutrients, they're not terribly expensive. Your yeast will love you, your palate will love you, and you won't be able to brew fast enough because your friends will love your booze. Read up on Staggered Nutrient Additions (any of the TOSNA protocols).

Second piece of advice, invest a couple of bucks in a hydrometer. Learn how to use it.

Drink your samples so you know what your mead tastes like when you first mix the must (holy crap sweet), after a week of fermentation (funky and yeasty), after the 1/2 sugar break (yeasty, but sweet) , when it's done fermentation (hot alcohol flavor), as you age it - how does it change over months...

Third, temperature control. The more stable and precise you can maintain your temperatures, the better your mead will be. It will also improve your repeatability.

Once you get the basics down, degassing and other techniques will make more sense.

You're using local honey which is awesome! So why not make the best mead you can.

Good Points!

Just one thing to add, the temperature part is yeast dependant. There are yeasts that do not care so much about temperature, like kveiks for example. I'm sure there are also some mead/wine yeasts that work well within room temperature range.

Of course, for repeatability's sake, temperature control might be a good thing to have. But, if using the right yeast, very good mead can be made without it

 

[videojunkie1208]

What the temperature is doesn't particularly matter (Kveik yeast seems to like temperatures in the mid 90s, an ale yeast in the mid 60s) not letting it just run away on you is the key. As a part of fermentation the yeast put out heat. If you control the temperatures you can (mostly) control the esters that the yeast put out. Groenfell (sp?) Does some of their meads deliberately 'breaking the rules' for their yeasts to get the ester profile that suits their meads.

 

[Medic151]

Love the info ya'll are sharing. I Used a champagne yeast for it. and I am letting it clear. I have yeast nutrient, should have used that instead of raisins. Just running a small batch since I don't know what I am doing, ha ha ha. As mentioned above, I forgot the OG. I know I will have to back sweeten it. Gotta order my neutralizer. Thanks again.