I do not know if I have tried a dry mead, so I may just let it do its thing. How long does it need? 6 months?
In my experience, just until it clears. Some people age it for a year or more to take care of the āhotā alcohol flavors, i.e., fusels. Keep temperature around 70F, add yeast nutrient (like you already did), and pitch enough yeast, and youāll be fine. But bottle it when you like the flavor.
Dry mead to me tastes a lot like dry sake. A bit of an acquired taste, but well worth acquiring.
It is bubbling like crazy for days! Will report back when it clears!
Doesnāt look like anyone has hit this post in years, but hereās hoping someone is still out there paying attention. Iād really like to nail down the process of mead making, but Iām getting information overload from all the posts to the point I donāt even know where to start and I donāt want to lose interest before I even get started.
Donāt laugh, but I ended up here because I bought the Elder Scrolls Cookbook and it covers making three different styles of mead so I thought Iād give it a go. I followed the process and theyāve been sitting for a couple weeks now, but after I started reading up on it I realize there is SO much more to this than the book talked about that Iām guessing itāll be a total stroke of luck if any of them turn out.
The instructions where super high level and didnāt go into any real details about the how and when to do a lot of the things Iāve read about. I have no idea what next steps should be with what Iāve done so far. The books states the version with berries is best after two weeks, but they could all sit for three months. Seems like thereās a lot of things I should be monitoring and processes I should be doing to ensure a good result.
HALP!
Making mead is relatively simple. One thing ive learned is the longer you let it sit. And the person that told you 2 weeks is steering you wrong. I only make 1 gallon batches and experiment with flavors. That will give yo 5 wine bottles. I sometimes have 2 or 3 going at once. I leave them in the fermenter until they clear, racking with nutrient whenever the sediments build up which takes a couple months. Then bottle and age. I always save at least 1 bottle for long term aging. If you want a fast turnaround beer would be the way to go. Im not saying you canāt drink young mead but it is one thing that i can say for certain gets better as it ages
I suspected that there was more to it than the book let on. It was a little confusing to read āup to three monthsā of fermentation, then read in the next paragraph that one of the three types was best sample while young at two weeks. I was likeā¦so which is it? I ran with the directions and got the three different types working away. Itās been two weeks as of yesterday and Iāve not touched them. Iām in no rush, just want to make sure I treat them properly so they at least turn out average for the first time.
There is how youāll find out which will be yer preferred Meadā¦ Learning from X-beermenting is a very fun side show to these hobbies!
Do keep us in the loopā¦ Perhaps some of us may give mead a tryā¦
Sneezles61
I had a mead period in my brewing and was very dissatisfied initially. Then I sat one some bottles for a couple years and those bottles were amazing.
Check out BOMM on the NB forum. I followed that program and had good mead at a couple months. Had some of that batch that was a couple years old and ohhhhh mmmmmaaannnnnā¦,
@JohnSpartan117 welcome to the forum. Donāt be afraid to ask any question, no matter if you think itās āstupid.ā We all got a start at this hobby one way or another. I fell into it after my wife sat on a wine kit for a couple years.