How Long Should You Age Your Mead?
Вставка
- Опубліковано 9 лип 2024
- Today I'm talking about aging mead.. how long should you be aging your mead? Well... there are lots of factors and I'm hopefully going to help you understand them! Let me know what you think below and be sure to subscribe for more!
Join this channel to get access to perks:
/ @manmademead
Check it out on my Amazon store of my website!
www.ManMadeMead.com
Want to support the channel?
Check out the Patreon! www.Patreon.com/ManMadeMead
Discord Link: discord.io/ManMadeMead
www.Facebook.com/ManMadeMeadery - Навчання та стиль
I think one super helpful thing to do is, if you're making a higher-abv mead, try to make sure you don't have too much headspace in your carboy. That way you can bulk age for as long as you need to and use a wine thief to take samples occasionally. Once it tastes good and you can tell it's on the upswing of that bell curve, go ahead and bottle. That way, you can be confident that whenever you open one of those bottles, it'll be good enough to drink and enjoy.
Great tip!
I made a Concord grape mead on labor day weekend. We picked the grapes. We juiced them. So much pulp. Maybe more of a Cyser? Or wine??? 6lbs honey 2 gallons grape juice and water. Our 6 gal carboy was 50% full. Headspace created paranoia and sleepless nights. With the airlock and one way exit for CO2 headspace is not an issue. Less could = less risk, but my experience is 2 gallons of wine in a 6 gal carboy works as well as in a smaller vessel. Comes down to airlock.
My take on ageing meads is: RELAX.
I’ve heard from a lot of beginner mead makers stress about how long they should age their meads, how to store their meads, when to serve their meads, how to serve them.
My advice is usually as follows:
Storing: temperature stability is more important than temperature. I got that from master vintners and master sommeliers. If you have a cellar and it’s cool in winter but warm-ish in summer, it’ll potentially do more damage to your mead long term than the back of a closet where the temperature never shifts more than a degree or two.
Bottling: if you plan on storing long term, go for large bottles and the highest quality cork you can afford (natural or synthetic). A lot of home brewing stores can advise you on this. Go for longer, slightly wider corks that make a better seal.
When is my mead at its best? That’s a question even master vintners constantly battle with. A trick to monitor your meads is to have at least part of your product in smaller bottles. Open one every once in a while. Depending on ABV and ingredients, you can open one at 3 months, 6 months, a year, 18 months, 2 years… and still have your main stash remain mostly intact. Every time you open a bottle, jot down your tasting notes where you jotted down your recipe.
More tannins = can/needs to age longer
More alcohol = can/needs to age longer
Adding stabilisers = can age longer
More sugar = can age longer
Healthy fermentation = can age longer.
More acidity = can/needs to age longer
BUT: most important of all is how YOU like it. A younger brew might he harsher, but usually has more brightness to it. That means if you have something that doesn’t have overly tannic notes, is in the mid-range for ABV and is bright and crisp, you might prefer it when it’s a year old rather than when it’s 18-24 months old… or older. If you made a mooreish, dark, more tannic mead with a similar ABV you might prefer it a little older. You might want to give a very bright lower ABV mead 3-6 months more time because the acidity is a bit harsh and needs to mellow. You might want to drink that darker mead a little earlier because it does have some brightness to it that it might lose later and you like those bright notes.
It also depends A LOT on the moment itself. A warm Summer evening with just a glass of chilled mead might not suit the bottle you want to open. That very same mead at that very same age might he perfect with a rich dinner or with some chocolate cake. Or with a platter of strong cheeses, dried and fresh fruit, nuts and cured meats. That younger, brighter mead might go better with fish or served chilled solo. A year later that very same lighter mead might be better at room temperature with a dessert containing cream and fresh fruit.
It frustrates them. There is no right answer. There are loose guidelines. Those, in combination with personal preference and checking your tasting notes at bottling and over time, will help you guesstimate when your own meads MIGHT reach their peak.
The good news is that even when a mead starts down that bell curve, it’ll still be nice to drink. You can enjoy it yourself, give it away, share it… and most people who drink it won’t know it seemed better to you a while before. Tell them to drink it soon or it’ll be less enjoyable. And when you make the same recipe again, you’ll know when it’s more or less at its best. Because we all need to remember that we’re using natural products and live organisms in an ever-changing environment when home brewing. There’ll always be some variations. And THAT’S OKAY. Part of the fun is never completely knowing. We’re always playing hide-and-seek with perfection.
EDIT: Thank you so much for openly saying there are no cut and dried answers. It irritates me when content creators blab about a recipe being absolute perfection in XYZ days, months or years, and their recipe turning out perfect within that time range every time. It might be perfect TO THEM, in THEIR brewing conditions and in THEIR storage conditions. And either they can’t taste batch-to-batch differences, or they’re lying through their teeth. Different batches will be very similar, but never identical. From season to season, year to year, batch to batch, their honey, fruit, herbs, spices, fermentation conditions and storage conditions will vary. At best they should say “for me this recipe will be at its best at X age.”
This is a very helpful comment, thankyou
@@friedsugar2701 - Thank you!
I was worried it would be too long-winded.
Happy brewing and all the best for 2024!
The quality of this comment was as solid as the best mead making videos, if not better 🔥 awesome info thank you
New to brewing mead - I made a simple one gallon batch around 10 abv- tasted fantastic in two months. How would it have been at the 12 month mark…..we will never know. Too good to wait.
mine never passed 3 months of age; they're too delicious to leave to age. I don't have access to commercial yeast. I use instant bread yeast which always yields 10-11 percent which is fine for me
My one tip: Use smaller bottles or make bigger batches. That way you can sample your brew more often to see how it is aging. Tasting a brew as it ages and seeing it develop is one of the things I enjoy about the hobby!
Thank you for making all of this content! The main things that I've learned, as an amateur home-brewer, from you and a few other channels I follow is that there are some best practices when it comes to mead making but, overall, it's about making something that you, your friends, and family enjoy. Who cares about everyone else!
I appreciate whoever is suggesting your videos are incorrect, gives you great content to create and aswer more questions! :D Well done!
i like your videos man, what you're doing for people like me, who haven't brewed much is outstanding. a lot of us are very grateful. i know i am. best channel for mead-making out there.
Thank you so much!
Ive been listening to you since the beginning, youve really helped me with my mead making. been doing it a few years now, Its felt like I kinda went on the journey with you.
I'm happy I could help and I'm glad you've been on this journey with me!
Great video. While this hobby is a science, it is also an art. As such, we have to realize that things like "good" can't be quantified. You just know through experience
Good stuff. It's always fun to hear someone else's thoughts are the same as your own. You could follow up with suggestions on bulk aging and what might be a best time to bottle. Cheerz.
Man, thank you so much. Wonderful summary.
I love topics like this
I apreciate you and your channel, im sure the comment was just because of a disconect like how when people drive they dont think about the people in the car vs the car itself. Great advice thank you.
Really Enjoyed Your Video , I like Educational , Informational Stuff & Graphics 📉📈 , keep Em Coming , Thanks 😊 ! 🐯🤠
Love this!! Wine and spirits are the same way. We just made a kit Syrah. I kicked the Abv up to about 19.5%, knowing it would lengthen the time for it to age and hit prime. I was shocked. It is delicious right at going into secondary to bulk age and stabilizing, though I believe we maxed the yeast, without stressing them. We knocked back a gallon the other night. I cannot wait to see what some time will do for this magical brew!
And as always, thanks for what you do!
Very helpful and a great convo to have in terms of low vs high abv brews and time needed. I've gotten into using a few 375ml wine bottles to be able to taste the overall progress after different month time frames without having to open and potentially waste larger bottles.
Thank you for the information and video, I don't make mead but do make wine in small batches. I find your videos helpful
Hello. I’m new to the hobby of homebrewing; still in the preparation phase of my first brew. This topic generally seems like one of those things where if you’re really considering how long you might age a complete fermentation then you may have to potentially sample it a couple of times and document what you’re experiencing before you get to a state where you feel it’s palatable enough to declare it as a finished product
I know for beer there is also a point where the beer starts going up and down in it's quality, usually once it starts mostly tasting of sherry.
I haven't made mead in years. I am going to re-start this summer. However, the last two batches I made had a number of bottles left over (i.e., my bandmates didn't drink it on me). The mead was in brown glass (self-capping) bottles that were also stored in boxes and left in my garage. Years later (7 or 8), my wife and I were cleaning out the garage and I found about a dozen bottles (some from each batch/flavor). I thought it would have gone bad. So, I started to just pour out the bottles. I decided to try one (and risk puking). Turns out, it was fine. In fact, all of them were fine.
First batch was about a 16% traditional mead. Bottled about 2 months after pitching yeast (racked once in the middle of that) and the extra that didn't fill a full bottle was excellent, we thought. Still letting the bottles age to see how they improve over time, but very pleased so far.
Hey MMM I have been consuming your content and I appreciate all the work it takes for you to make, I have a question what’s your take on digital Hydrometers?
I like them but don’t really use them… I only really use them if I’m running some sort of test!
Thank you again
10 months has been the best average for my meads. Been brewing for 5 years now. 10 months is the sweet spot. Have some longer, but not much difference in taste, etc.
I can’t wait that long, I always end up drinking most of it after it’s been bottled for a month, but Iv been making fruity meads with high alcohol content, this last batch was cranberry and cranberry juice mead, it hit 17.5% at 1.010 gravity, just a hint of sweetness , and I cannot wait lol
I bottled mead a few days ago, I wanted a drink, so I'm having some! It's something like 8% ABV and it tastes just fine.
U R An Artist 2Me Your Medium is Mead Thank you for sharing👍✌🙏
can you recommend a yeast nutrient that is easily and readily accessible and can be purchased from a local supermarket? I cannot have access to a brewing store in the country I live in.
I’ve got some mead I made 23 years ago and forgot about, it’s been stored at about 70 degrees Fahrenheit, is it still good
This is a great video! Regarding the bell curve, I think storage conditions are an important factor. Most of us don't have the optimal conditions (temperature, humidity, etc) for storing mead at home, which is why I think a lot of homemade mead tends to drop in quality after a couple of years. If you are lucky enough to have optimal storage conditions then that peak will potentially last years.
I'd also add that high gravity Polish meads are meant to age for ridiculous amounts of time. Some commercial varieties aren't sold until a decade has passed. The micro-oxidation simply can't be rushed. That's not to say these meads might not taste great far sooner, but if there's a certain style you're trying to emulate then long aging might be necessary for that rather than just for overall drinkability.
I agree!
I agree that optimal storage conditions are a "plus", but not a "must". I only say that because I once (inadvertently) stored mead in my garage (brown, 750ml, self-cap bottles stored in cardboard boxes) for years, like 7 or 8. I decided to try it before throwing it out. Turns out, the mead was fine. No one was more surprised than me. My wife couldn't believe I even tasted it. LOL! FYI, I live in an area of Canada where the raw temperature (not including humidity or wind chill) in any given year can be -20 to +30 degrees Celsius.
Who's the youtube channel that your making a rebuttal to? Would love to hear the other side
I brewed 5x 1gallon batches about two years ago and ended up letting them sit. Depression sucks. I just recently racked and bottled and, boy, what a difference.
So much smoother and cleaner tasting. I cant say why aging works, but it works.
I also think it has to do with how well it fermented. One of my go to recipes is a light mead at around 7% . lots of orange zest and spices and back sweetened with orange blossom honey and it's usually good to go at 2 months
As a hobby mead and fruit wine maker. It's good after a few month of aging but I have also kept bottles for years, the current oldest bottle is 10 years. My stuff is 8% and usually they get better after a year but I have not seen a decrease in flavour yet the oldest I tried was 8 years. TLDR Make so much mead that keeping the bottles for years is not a problem.
I only add honey fruit and regular bread yeast and ferment until done which is about 8% with the bread yeast. Rack from carboy to carboy until clear and no settlement and then bottle, usually takes about 6-12 months. I use no sulfites or other fermentation stoppers or preservatives. Cork with natural cork and seal with beeswax. Bottles stay on their side in a wine cellar that has almost no temperature fluctuation.
Peak is when you first open the bottle imho, the older it gets the more pungent it may be, but that could also be perceived as a richer quality,
even if it isn't sweet anymore, and maybe a bit astringent likelier increased complexity.
I think the best way to speed up ageing is to implement temperature control for fermentation and hold it at lower end of the yeast temperature range, keeping the temperature stable too. This will lower amount of fusel alcohols created so yeast focuses more on ethanol production not byproducts.
I just moved a mead to secondary and was contemplating the aging step. I used a very tolerant yeast so I'll probably start tasting it at 3 months and go from there.
Can you comment on lifespan of a grolsch botttled mead? Can they stay sealed without leaking, etc?
I made a plum wine and even as I was bottling, it tasted pretty good! But on forums and things people were saying wait at least a year for plum. Im still waiting for plums to come in to season again before I open a bottle, but still, I was surprised given what I had read
If it was good when bottling then it's only gonna get better. The trick is to make so much that you can drink it but still have plenty to age for a long time.
@@modarkthemaulerLol, exactly
These videos are fire. Why do you have so little love 😢
I've drank mead after 1 week of aging and its been yummy, though mine is only 8-10% vol based on the amount of honey and the fact that I use bread yeast to brew
It should depend and vary on the kind of yeast you use too
Just opened one of my blood cherry meads aged 2 years. Tried one few months ago and was nice ok but bit week in something. Now, omg delicious and thicker. The honey in it has matured and flavoured more even the colour has lightend with honey colour abit. Can taste the thickness. Definitely motivated me to age naturally in bottles. No back sweetening involved. Note, I had to hide these bottles from myself in order to age them 🤣.
I usually put some in beer bottles so i can sample the progress ever 3 months.
When I syphoned my first batch after 6 weeks in the bottle, tasted great. “Not helpful” to drink it earlier …… I’ll drink it when I damn well want to! Remind me not to watch the other guys channel.
allegedly the type of bottle and bottle closure maters. I've got some stuff in twist caps, natural cork, and synthetic cork to compare against each other eventually to see if it really matters for me. lol
Have you made a determination on results you prefer?
@@Greg-sd4lj so far I'm looking synthetic cork. Seems to work the best for me. The quality of the corks doesn't seem to vary as much as natural cork and they work well. The twist caps are ok, and work, but they generally aren't reusable anyway so it kind of defeats the purpose for me.
How do to figure out how much abv your brew is
You need to use a hydrometer to record the specific gravity of the brew (how much sugar is there) before it ferments and then record it again after fermentation. There is a calculator you can use to figure it out: www.brewersfriend.com/abv-calculator/
My first batch was gone in two weeks. I can't make it fast t enough to age it .
After aging, will the alchohol more or less separate from the rest of the brew? Maybe the top half of the bottle / carboy have more alchohol than the bottom half?
No, alcohol is fully miscible in water and it'll never separate.
Lols, trolls act as if we all arent learning and experimenting here. Ive actually been having some good results with pressure fermentation, in terms of producing nice meads that preserve their honey character and it isnt as harsh before aging.
Do we count the time spent racked as time aged? Say I want a total aging time of 8 months and the "primary" fermentation has ended. I rack and the mead spends 3 months racked in total. Will it only have to age in the bottle for 5 months or the full 8?
Do sulphites decrease or increase the aging time? Or do they have no effect. Do I need to add sulphites if I plan to age less than a year?
I normally go by the date that I started the brew. Sulphites normally increase aging time
Does pasteurization impact the process or shorten the aging time?
I'm actually not sure to be honest!
Pasteurized honey would impact the natural flavors. Also it kills the good stuff. If it is fruit, that is added secondary from what I seen in other videos.
I'm cold crashing right now waiting for it to clear up it's super foggy right now
I more think like you. There is no standard time for aging.
Even in the fermentation are so many variations. What is the temperature we have, how the temperature change, what yeast do we use, what kind of honey or fruits we use, how long does the fermentation need. Just to name a few variations.
I had also young brews with 14%, that already taste really good when they finished to become clear.
I am currently in final stages of 17% Raspberry Mead your latest video comfiremed I need to age for awhile. What can you suggest to bottle age a carbonated mead at an ABV of 17% . Crown caps on champagne bottle?
Definitely crown caps on champagne bottles or actual champagne corks with the cages on champagnes bottles!
That mead sounds very tasty!
So how long do I have to age my 10% abv mead? Did you say I can't drink my mead after a certain period?! wtf
I have temp of 75f in my home and I'd like to start brewing mead, is this temperature ok?
That should be okay! As long as you're using a yeast that can ferment in that range!
@@ManMadeMead it's D47
how can you have clear mead in just 10 days?
With a fast fermentation, fast flocculating yeast and some clear agents!
I drink mine when i can't wait any longer As in months. I have kept a few bottles aside, that i'm not touching for 12 months. It's a drink. Do you like it young? good drink it
what's ABV?
Alcohol.content
I often bottle 2 smaller beer bottles of my wines and meads and the rest in wine bottles I sample these to determine how far along the conditioning is.
But also, if this wine is going to be at it's best in 2 more months, how bad is it now? Can you tell the difference between those 2 months especially when you think about how subjective our taste is? Did you sample the first one with a taco and the second one with a lamb chop? What I am saying is drink your meads and wines when you think they are ready and if they do not taste as good as you expect let them age longer. If they are good after 2 months and are still getting better it means you can experience the results of the aging first hand.
We’ve got 7 year that’s about 14% we haven’t tried. It’s probably not very good now based on what your saying here cuz that’s way past
Mine is tasting good after 1 year
So, long aged aged meads are not good? I have some mead I am waiting to open when I retire and my friend has been aging mead he made for his daughters' future wedding (at least a decade away). Have we made a grave mistake?
It really just depends on all the factors I talked about in the video!
There are many recipes not meant to be aged. This seems to me a queastion about sausage, a sausage queastion. What meat, what spices, what ingredients, what type of skin, thick sausages, girthy, long stumpy, smoked? Dried? What curves, straight? Bent?
Simple answer... whatever fits your tastes. Usually people who says something has to be a certain way are mostly clueless, and very, very unimaginative. Where its more empty snobbery than anything meaningful.
🦝
This made me really not want to make mead.. haha I kinda confused.
I drink it as soon as it is done in secondary. As long as it tase good, who cares.
I can't age my mead more than a month after pasterisation 😂
Temperature
First 🥇
Second
🥳🙋
1 month and ready to sell, I want cashflow
Should you refrigerate your mead after you bottle it? Let’s say 11%ADV
Not necessary, but I would not keep it in the heat if you can avoid. A cool, dark place (like for wine) is best.
I never last 6 months to a year.. I always drink my meads way before that... Whatever...
There's one solution, you have to make more!
Just a note of clarification. Fusels, as you misstated, are not stressed yeast but are alcohols with more than two carbons. They can be produced by "stressed yeast" but are really produced by the catabolism of amino acids by yeast. Yeast will catabolize their own amino acids to provide a nitrogen source when they are provided an insufficient supply of yeast assimilable nitrogen. Not all fusel alcohols are bad, either. Ethanol, our usual alcoholic product, is great at carrying with it other volatiles and contributes heavily to the olfactory sensation of mead. Higher alcohols, like butanol, propanol and others can, and often do, impart their own flavors and sometimes those flavors can be complimentary as many are precursors to esterification.
Mead is only ready when it gets you dunk. they was the only thing they were looking for back back in the day. if anyone say anyting els there talking out there butt
Did kings drink mead like that, or did they appreciate better quality, older mead?
@theastronomer5800 the idea of appreciating higher quality alcohol goes all the way back to the Mesopotamians, don't let anyone simplify history for you
Look into the value of aged wines during antiquity and how it was perceived by people in the Roman Empire
today i racked & back sweetened my first mead after stabilizing & cold crashing for the past week. it's quite clear and much better tasting than last saturday. i'm gonna bulk age it for the next month. the only think i'm wondering... aging is always done at room temperature, right?
Actually, just like with good wine, it's best to age it in a cool, dark place like a basement if you have one.