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Patience...

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djsxxx

NewBee
Registered Member
Jan 18, 2016
212
0
0
United kingdom
As a newbee mead maker I'd just like to really stress this point to other newbees

Mead gets better with time!

Now, my first few batches I made i drank within a couple months, just because I wanted to taste my creation. Yeah it was ok, and drinkable but I refused to tell myself it wasn't as good as it could be.

After more reading of the forums and hearing people say things like "cracking open a 1 year old bottle..." I finally decided to put a couple bottles away for "later".

Now I'm only 4 months later, but sweet Jesus! The difference is incredible! I shall always be putting bottles away for at least 4 months before even touching them. Hopefully leave them for 6 months+.

Patience patience patience!

P.S
Maybe enjoying this bottle a little too much
 

djsxxx

NewBee
Registered Member
Jan 18, 2016
212
0
0
United kingdom
The longest I let something age was 3 years and it was like drinking golden silk. Now the trick is hiding a case and getting temporary amnesia. Although, a BOMM is very good in a short amount of time... take a peak at Bray's website. https://denardbrewing.com/
3 years!? That's crazy! Would certainly need a bump on the head to leave it alone for that long.

Already got the 1388, just waiting for some demijohns to free up :)

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Stasis

Honey Master
Registered Member
Jan 10, 2014
1,123
13
38
Malta
The longest I let something age was 3 years and it was like drinking golden silk. Now the trick is hiding a case and getting temporary amnesia. Although, a BOMM is very good in a short amount of time... take a peak at Bray's website. https://denardbrewing.com/

Yep. At 1.5 years of age my sack metheglin became WAY better than it was before. The honey character came out so well. Now at 2.25 years the honey is so damn prominent. This is my idea of how a mead should be. The gravity is 1.007 and this stuff tastes SWEET (believe me the reading was taken with a precision hydrometer, it's 1.007). I posted in a much earlier thread that 1.007 is my limit but now I'm thinking I have to go drier if I'm aging so long at such an abv because I prefer less percieved sweetness. It's not just percieved sweetness, this stuff is smooth as silk which is pretty damn difficult to say about a vermouth-ish (martini rosso) metheglin.
Meanwhile, a prickly pear wine peaked at around a year of age and at 1.5 years I'm noticing a slight dip in quality. Luckily we only have a couple bottles left

So, yes, mead can improve drastically, unlike perhaps your average wine. I suspect I don't need so long now that I improved my method and ingredients since then, but still.. The trick is to buy more and larger carboys ;) Bigger rotation queue so you're not actually waiting for a mead at any time
 

zpeckler

NewBee
Registered Member
Mar 7, 2014
519
3
0
Newark, De
Amen. The oldest batch I've got on hand is my first traditional; just turned 2 years old in March!

I've kept a few bottles of just about every batch I've made so far. I love seeing how they've changed over time.
 

Stasis

Honey Master
Registered Member
Jan 10, 2014
1,123
13
38
Malta
Amen. The oldest batch I've got on hand is my first traditional; just turned 2 years old in March!

I've kept a few bottles of just about every batch I've made so far. I love seeing how they've changed over time.

Heheh. When the month you made the mead comes by do you say to yourself "happy birthday mead"? Or is it just me?
 

djsxxx

NewBee
Registered Member
Jan 18, 2016
212
0
0
United kingdom
Heheh. When the month you made the mead comes by do you say to yourself "happy birthday mead"? Or is it just me?
Haha! Think I'll be joining you on the happy birthday mead, great idea!

Question is, is it pitch date, or bottle date?



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Stasis

Honey Master
Registered Member
Jan 10, 2014
1,123
13
38
Malta
Well I kept it open by saying month the mead was made because of pitch date vs end of ferment date. I store in bulk for most of the time so definitely pitch date between pitch vs bottle date
 

Squatchy

Lifetime GotMead Patron
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Nov 3, 2014
5,542
261
83
Denver
I do the Budweiser thing and have a "born on date" for all my stuff.

Like Stasis I too have had some things seem to go past the best "tasting period".
I was just talking to a friend saying how I have had 2 batches that were "so very good" and put away only to find down the road they were not as good as they once were. But for the most part everything gets better. I feel fortunate to have come on board as a Mazer when I did. With the most recent protocol I have been using now for 9 months or so, I now have things totally drinkable in as short of a time as Bray's BOMM. With several of this past 6 months batches, I have been getting buzzed while they are still hazy and enjoying it big time. It will be interesting to see where we are a year or two from here!!
 

mihrcke

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 8, 2015
40
0
0
The first mead I made was a traditional, 3 lbs honey in a 1 gallon batch with D47 yeast and JD Carlson energize and nutrient. At 2 months it tasted like jet fuel...really hot tasting. It took 4+ months to clear...not really sure when it cleared cuz I left it cover, and I didn't sample it much cuz it seemed so bad...I was afraid of it.. I left it covered, under an airlock. At about 6 months it looked like liquid gold, almost polished looking, and there was a sweetness returning to it. In July in will be a year old. I think I'm going to bottle it this month (before we move) and drink it in July.
 

58limited

Premium Patron
Premium Patron
May 25, 2015
273
5
18
SE Texas
www.1958buickforum.net
Of the meads I tend to drink fast I try to set aside at least 4 bottles to age. I have many more bottles of other meads that were so-so when bottled but are more enjoyable now with a few years on them. I have several 3-4 year old meads that I'm going back to and sampling. Several, which won awards at one year of age, are even better now. A few have lost the floral aromatics but are still good. I have one 12oz. bottle left of an 18 year old blackberry dessert mead that I will open at 20 years. I drank the other bottle at 16 years and it was good with a pronounced sherry-like flavor from oxidation. It also had 1/2" of sediment.
 

fuelish

NewBee
Registered Member
I bottle in 12 oz beer bottles, and always stash some away for long term storage ...maybe a 12 pack if it's a low abv bottle carbed melomel (6 - 7% abv), and a minimum of 24 bottles or (usually) more if full strength mead of whatever type....right now looking at maybe 16 x 12-packs taped up for bulk bottle aging, along with 20 gallons bulk aging in carboys at the moment. Gotta bottle something so I can do another 6% pyment...my wife's favorite so far....am rather enjoying the lower abv bottle carbed meads lately :)
 

djsxxx

NewBee
Registered Member
Jan 18, 2016
212
0
0
United kingdom
I bottle in 12 oz beer bottles, and always stash some away for long term storage ...maybe a 12 pack if it's a low abv bottle carbed melomel (6 - 7% abv), and a minimum of 24 bottles or (usually) more if full strength mead of whatever type....right now looking at maybe 16 x 12-packs taped up for bulk bottle aging, along with 20 gallons bulk aging in carboys at the moment. Gotta bottle something so I can do another 6% pyment...my wife's favorite so far....am rather enjoying the lower abv bottle carbed meads lately :)
That's a whole lot of mead!

Need to upscale my production, but the misses says she needs a dining room. I say I need a mead brewing room!

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