Equipment?

I really hope this is a dumb question, but better safe than sorry.

I’ve been home brewing for a couple of years, and am thinking of trying my hand at mead. I have a bunch of plastic fermenters, and one glass big mouth.

So onto the stupid question. Is there any problem starting a 5-gallon kit in a bucket, then racking to the glass for aging once the time comes?

It just seems odd that every thing I see on mead shows it in glass carboys. I’m hoping it’s just because mead is so damn photogenic…

Nothing wrong with starting it in a bucket. Once it gets past the initial fermentation, you do want to bulk age it in something that has very little head space and will protect it from oxygen. I use PET jugs.

You should know that mead produces very little krausen when fermenting, so you don’t need as much head space as you would for beer.

I can’t answer your question but I may have a stupid question to add.

Does it matter if you ferment a 3 gallon batch in a 6.5 gal fermenter?

I don’t always want to brew 5 gallon batches. #newbie :cheers:

[quote=“Furious brew styles”]I can’t answer your question but I may have a stupid question to add.

Does it matter if you ferment a 3 gallon batch in a 6.5 gal fermenter?

I don’t always want to brew 5 gallon batches. #newbie :cheers: [/quote]
Same answer. Not a problem to use an over sized primary, but if you are going to bulk age it for more than a few weeks you should move it to a smaller tank that minimizes the head space after the fermentation is done.

Awesome! Thanks for the advice. I was planning on bottling after secondary fermentation of 1 or 2 weeks. :cheers:

If that is your plan, you would be better off just leaving it in primary the whole time.

Ordered my first kit today. Can’t wait. Because of crazy PA laws, all wine and booze is sold by the state-run liquor store system and they choose to not stock meads. I’ve enjoyed every one of the few commercial examples I’ve been able to get my hands on when traveling out of state.

Rebuilt, you told furious he’s be better leaving it in primary the whole time. Is the need for secondary in mead, um, debated, like it is in brewing?

I was assuming he was talking about beer, not mead. The mead making process and terminology has much more in common with wine making than it does with brewing. Thus, there is no such thing as “secondary fermentation”, so there is no debate about it.

There is debate about the best way to prepare the must (what brewers would call wort), and what should be the proper racking schedule and bulk aging time, but everyone in those debates are arguing over periods of months, not weeks. It takes a long time for mead to clear and age properly. No mead gets bottled two weeks after fermentation is done.