I wanted to clarify some things here after I came back to this and saw some comments. For the longest time, no one managed temps. When people started having success from temp control, they then started thinking lower is better. Going to low can also stress out your yeast and cause flaws and fusells. I have a temp controlled fermenter, and I can run at 5o degrees if I want to. And I have. Sometimes certain strains went to sleep on me. Others did ok. Others did really nice. But if a strain is good up to 76 degrees. That is just as good as keeping it on the lower end of their spectrum. Granted. They will produce different esters, mouthfeel, aroma and such. But it's someone close-minded to think everything needs to be on the cold end of the spectrum. If you go to California and ask the wineries there many of them ferment in the mid-seventies because they want what that temp provides.
As you get more advanced, you might like to split some must at times and do an A/B comparison doing everything the same but the temps. One at on extreme and the other at the other end of the spectrum. This will arm you with more experience. And thus. You will learn when to use a certain strain to get a specific profile a certain temp will provide. You will never know these things if you never experiment.
I'm not blowing my own horn here. I have taught many people how to make good mead. But the person who does the most experimenting. I call it "playing" learns the most the fastest and has a much broader grasp of the craft/art of managing your flavor profiles.
If you listen to the podcast, you can learn to make "clean ferments" in very little time. It's pretty easy. The more I do this. The more I learn. The more I judge, and the more I drink meads from all over the country. And to a much smaller extent, the world. I have come to a very certain conclusion. ANd that is making great mead. Verses "ok" mead come down to a single issue.( Providing we can assume you have a proper protocol in hand to make clean ferments.) And that my friends, is getting the proper balance of all the fractions of your finished profile. Maed can be made all over the map. And in virtually as many different directions and styles as your imagination limits you. And yet can still be fabulous if done correctly. And the determining factor every time is the balance.
ANd I'm not even trying to say that balance is every piece equal to each other. We're not trying to solve math equations. But I'm talking about how each piece sits in relationship to the next. Think of it this way. In a movie, you usually have one or two people that the entire move surrounds itself with. And then you have "supporting actors" And then just cameo appearances and lastly walk-ons. In a band, you have a frontman or woman. You have an exceptional musician that adds colors and compliments the lead person with harmonies, fills, call and answer. And of course, you have other instruments in the band. One song might have a solid base/drum rhythm section laying down a driving grove with lots of stride. On other songs, they may sit so far back in the pocket supporting a different feel for a song you hardly notice them. Unless they we gone. And then you would notice a great deal.You might have a whaling/crying guitar solo in one song. And a fingerpicking banjo in another. Sometimes the drummer brushes his snare and rim taps with almost nothing more. Other times he might be slamming his double bass and pounding his entire kit as hard as he can hit the skins. All of these differences can be exactly what is needed to create "balance" for each particular song.
My friends. Mead is the same way. Some are very delicate with very subtle nuances. Others can be almost a single element type. A "one horse" rodeo. Showcasing a single component. Like a traditional. And others can be a four-piece rock band like a fruit and spice melomel or a 12 piece jazz ensemble. Such as a Metheglin. All the way up to a philharmonic orchestra. Such as what you might expect to find in the open category.
My point is this. You can go in so many directions and make great mead. But none of it is indeed "great" unless all the parts come together in a way that nothing is there by accident, and nothing takes away from the whole.
And then. The difference between a "great" mead. And a world-class, blow your mind/best of show mead is so minuscule. That not once iota of something is missing. Or, another iota of something in excess is involved.
So hopefully you can see that this doesn't "just happen" by accident. Except maybe one in a thousand. And to make great mead takes a good deal of experience. Most of which comes from hard work. And doing tons of side by side comparisons. Until you gain enough understanding of the whole picture that you can sit down and "build" a mead from scratch on a piece of paper. And select each component with intention. So that nothing is left to chance. ANd needless to say. You probably won't get all of the colors of the rainbow in perfect harmony the very first time. You might expect to make the same mead over several times to finally get all of the fractions harmonizing perfectly.
So now. Hopefully, you can realize what steps you need to do to sharpen your game. So eventually you consistently make delicious mead a great deal of the time. And in doing so. You should then expect to totally "nail it" more and more as time goes by.
So I want to encourage all of us. To do the hard stuff. Make every batch you make with the purpose of expanding your working understanding of this beautiful thing we all strive to become better at. Make mead. Make lots of mead. Drink lots of mead. Do all of this with awareness and intention. And don't forget to have fun doing this. If you genuinely have been bitten. This is something we will do the rest of our lives. Or until there are no more bees to make honey. Or no more plants that blossom.