I agree with Devin.
Just getting finished with the fermentation is only getting less than half the way to the finish line. You have a ton of more work to do. Even with a traditional, you have more work. I have rarely ever tasted a mead that wasn't improved by making acid adjustments. And I am also talking about all the professional meads I have tasted as well as home brewers. And I would guess I taste at least 250-300 a year. I can almost say the same thing about oak additions. So you need to let the mead clear and age for a while. Or more. Depending on how clean your ferment and how high of an ABV you finished up with. Even the cleanest mead in the world will still go through changes for 6-8 months before it settles down some. And if you have faults, you will need even more time. And if you make high ABV's you need time for the ethanol to smooth out.
Once it's fairly stable (flavor wise) then you can add your adjuncts to taste. Don't forget your sulfites too. Once those are all where you want them. You can finish fining. And filter after that if you have one. And now you can bottle. I make stuff every day that taste great right out of my fermenters. But I usually age and tweak for a year or so before I feel I can feel relatively safe to be able to bottle. And not have it change much in the bottle.
Nothing sucks worse than bottling before it's clear, and then end up with dust in the bottle. Or often it even looks clear to the eye and you still and up with dust in the bottle. Many things will drop out over time that you can't even see in a clear must. There is a lot to understand if you want to learn the how to's of finning, so you can know what and how much to use to capture the stuff in your mead.
So in some ways, it depends on how deep you want to go. And how nice do you want your mead to present in a bottle? I take lots of pride in my mead and wouldn't consider giving someone a bottle that will have dust in it later. Never could I pass a bottle to someone if you can't easily read through it. And I even will only rarely hand out my stuff unless it's been polished and sparkles like diamonds in a jewelry store.
But you may feel much different than I and that's fine. But the closer you get it to finished before you lock it up. The closer to finished it will taste when you open it.
]
Just getting finished with the fermentation is only getting less than half the way to the finish line. You have a ton of more work to do. Even with a traditional, you have more work. I have rarely ever tasted a mead that wasn't improved by making acid adjustments. And I am also talking about all the professional meads I have tasted as well as home brewers. And I would guess I taste at least 250-300 a year. I can almost say the same thing about oak additions. So you need to let the mead clear and age for a while. Or more. Depending on how clean your ferment and how high of an ABV you finished up with. Even the cleanest mead in the world will still go through changes for 6-8 months before it settles down some. And if you have faults, you will need even more time. And if you make high ABV's you need time for the ethanol to smooth out.
Once it's fairly stable (flavor wise) then you can add your adjuncts to taste. Don't forget your sulfites too. Once those are all where you want them. You can finish fining. And filter after that if you have one. And now you can bottle. I make stuff every day that taste great right out of my fermenters. But I usually age and tweak for a year or so before I feel I can feel relatively safe to be able to bottle. And not have it change much in the bottle.
Nothing sucks worse than bottling before it's clear, and then end up with dust in the bottle. Or often it even looks clear to the eye and you still and up with dust in the bottle. Many things will drop out over time that you can't even see in a clear must. There is a lot to understand if you want to learn the how to's of finning, so you can know what and how much to use to capture the stuff in your mead.
So in some ways, it depends on how deep you want to go. And how nice do you want your mead to present in a bottle? I take lots of pride in my mead and wouldn't consider giving someone a bottle that will have dust in it later. Never could I pass a bottle to someone if you can't easily read through it. And I even will only rarely hand out my stuff unless it's been polished and sparkles like diamonds in a jewelry store.
But you may feel much different than I and that's fine. But the closer you get it to finished before you lock it up. The closer to finished it will taste when you open it.
]
