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I have advanced aging questions without stabilizers. Will adding yeast nutrients hurt

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Oksu112

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Feb 7, 2019
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I want my mead to last decades! I've always used a yeast nutrient with food grade urea and dap(diamonium phosphate). Raw honey, yeast, and water are the only other ingredients. Will this bring any negative aging issues? My corks are Flor quality with good temperature and humidity.
I've heard melomels are past their prime after a few years, however is it possible to preserve fruit mead for longer without chemicals? My batch of blueberry orange has fresh juice in primary with dap, and 2.5 as the original gravity, and the yeast will go to about 15%. Would you drink this after 10 or 20 years assuming I rack it clear and add nothing else? Is primary better to add fruit than secondary when you're after longevity?
Seperately my original batch of plain mead is a year old with janky corks and I was considering rebottling possibly onto fresh juice. How much faster will it spoil this way than if I just replaced the corks?
Your opinions are greatly appreciated!
 

Squatchy

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In my opinion, all of it will taste like crap in just a handful of years. Some in much less time than that.

If you don't stabilize it starts deteriorating as soon as the ferment is over.
 

Stasis

Honey Master
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Jan 10, 2014
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Mead created with bad practices will seem to benefit more from aging. But I suspect this is only because the aging out of flaws outweighs the aging out of delicate aromatics etc. In reality a bad mead will go from a 4/10 to maybe a 6/10 after let's say 4 years. Yet a good mead might start off as an 8/10 and improve to a 9/10 in 6 months and some time later it will start deteriorating to finally go down to a 7/10. All these numbers are plucked out of thin air simply to illustrate my point. The point is that you might be tricked to thinking that you need a lot of aging but you would be much better off creating better mead right off the bad because mead done the wrong way might never end up tasting as good as a well created mead no matter in what stage you compare them.
There are probably instances where meads created with good practices and which use very particular fruit might require extensive aging to reach their prime but I'm not sure it is something you aim for from the start. Perhaps a pyment with red grapes which usually produce a red wine which benefits from extensive aging
 

Cobrac

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Every beverage that is not stabilized will have the clock against itself. However if you wish to have a beverage that is “chemical free” (sulphites origin from the shell of fruits and sorbate is found in high threshold within rowan-berries) you simply rack off your mead into champagne bottles when you have about 1.003-1.005 sugar left and add EC-1118 or similar to it and let the mead ferment the last sugar within the bottles. This will give you an extremely dry mead but “chemical free”. When 8 months or more has passed you can practice in degorging and push out your yeast with the pressure and cap it right away with a cork. The over pressure will continuously push out all oxygen and will preserve the beverage. This is an old art and can be practiced even today.
 

Squatchy

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I need to speak here. Anytime fermentation takes place. Sulfites are made naturally. So if one wants a sulfite-free mead, it is not possible. I'm always amazed when people say they are allergic to sulfites. And therefore cannot drink red wines. Most white wines have more sulfites than reds. Some as many as 1200% more. ANd yet that doesn't bother the person when they drink white wine. There are so many Sulfites in everyday food that if someone were allergic to sulfites, they would have reactions many times a week just from everyday foods.

I'm curious how if you take sorbates and sulfites from a different source. And yet they are still sulfites and sorbate. How is one "chem-free" and the other is not?
 

Cobrac

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I agree! Beer-people is always claim that it is a natural preservation when using a lot of hops. In fact beer in small production is often VERY oxidized! The only beer that I have tasted which is great enough to claim the t is beer is German LoDO helles.
 

Cobrac

Got Mead? Patron
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I need to speak here. Anytime fermentation takes place. Sulfites are made naturally. So if one wants a sulfite-free mead, it is not possible. I'm always amazed when people say they are allergic to sulfites. And therefore cannot drink red wines. Most white wines have more sulfites than reds. Some as many as 1200% more. ANd yet that doesn't bother the person when they drink white wine. There are so many Sulfites in everyday food that if someone were allergic to sulfites, they would have reactions many times a week just from everyday foods.

I'm curious how if you take sorbates and sulfites from a different source. And yet they are still sulfites and sorbate. How is one "chem-free" and the other is not?

True! Why even bother if using a proper YAN? And also use dual, triple or quadruple inoculation?


Skickat från min iPhone med Tapatalk
 

Squatchy

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True! Why even bother if using a proper YAN? And also use dual, triple or quadruple inoculation?


Skickat från min iPhone med Tapatalk

Sorry, brother. Not sure of your comment. Please come again
 

Cobrac

Got Mead? Patron
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I’ll do. What I actually mean is that you are right. My last comment came out bad.

If you are afraid of sulphites you should not drink alcoholic beverages at all. You should not eat any fruit at all. It will kill you. My dear lord! You all should consider to not travel beyond stupidity.
 

Squatchy

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With that being said, if you stabilize, how long can you expect any mead to remain drinkable.

Good question. One that I don't know for sure.

I believe I know enough that I make meads differently if I plan to age them a lot longer than others that will get finished off much sooner. I found a few cases of a batch I made just four years ago. I forgot to stabilize it. It tasted like shit, and I poured it out. And it was excellent when I bottled it but did not stay that way. I had terrible oxidative issues, had browned, and the fresh and jammy fruit in your face tasted decomposed and overall was not enjoyable.

I make some mead that I plan to drink within the year, such as sessions and carbed stuff. I suspect they could last 2-3 years easy enough. I have others that are now 4.5 years old and taste amazing. At some point, some of them will naturally start going downhill.

I had a good friend who was a wine merchant and had tons of expensive wine in his collection that he had purchased to lay down and age for many years — even knowing which wines were made to do this. He said over half of what they open is terrible and has gone past the "best date of service" and many were just undrinkable. So it's a gamble even when you are an expert in this type of thing.

If I were to make something I hope will age well for many years, I would make it higher in alcohol. Lower in pH. I would add more tannins that what would seem drinkable at bottling time. I would use finning agents and also try to heat and cold stabilize it. I would for sure maximize my sorbate and sulfite additions and would buy the best corks I could buy. And would try to store them in a stable environment with little temp fluctuations. And hopefully at proper cellaring temps
 

Robert Scogins

NewBee
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Dec 29, 2018
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Thanks for that input Squatchy. Very helpful. I bottle my beer and mead with oxygen absorbing caps. I am still drinking 2 different Belgian Quads I made 2 yrs ago, with no degradation in flavor. I will need to pay careful attention to stabilizing my mead though, on the next batch I make.
 

Squatchy

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Nov 3, 2014
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Thanks for that input Squatchy. Very helpful. I bottle my beer and mead with oxygen absorbing caps. I am still drinking 2 different Belgian Quads I made 2 yrs ago, with no degradation in flavor. I will need to pay careful attention to stabilizing my mead though, on the next batch I make.

Let me know if I can help ;)
 
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