What temperature should I keep the mead at for the two weeks after it has been bottled?
This is a Artisanal Mead un-carbonated if that matters.
:cheers:
You may find a better audience for this question in the mead sub-forum, since that’s where the mead-minded tend to gather.
If you’re not trying to carbonate it, you don’t need to wait 2 weeks. If you’re wanting to age them, cellar temperatures (50s) are best, but a couple weeks isn’t going to do much. My best aged meads are 4 some years old. I also recommend 6 months to a year of bulk aging BEFORE you bottle, but I guess you’ve already done that.
Also, if you age them for a really long time, be sure to crack one open every once in a while. They have a nasty habit of continuing to very slowly ferment in the bottle. I’ve had more than a few still meads eventually become sparkling. Never had a mead bottle bomb, but it could happen.
Thanks for the in site Nate42
[quote=“Nate42”]If you’re not trying to carbonate it, you don’t need to wait 2 weeks. If you’re wanting to age them, cellar temperatures (50s) are best, but a couple weeks isn’t going to do much. My best aged meads are 4 some years old. I also recommend 6 months to a year of bulk aging BEFORE you bottle, but I guess you’ve already done that.
Also, if you age them for a really long time, be sure to crack one open every once in a while. They have a nasty habit of continuing to very slowly ferment in the bottle. I’ve had more than a few still meads eventually become sparkling. Never had a mead bottle bomb, but it could happen.[/quote]
why do people recommend aging meads. That with out a doubt isn’t needed. Meads are reading to drink within 10 days. They do not need to be aged.
The top mead makers do not age their meads. The south carolina mead maker of the year is in my homebrew club and we actually talked about this last night.
Well, maybe I’m doing something wrong, but mine continue to gradually attenuate for a long time, and they taste like honey flavored rocket fuel when they’re fresh. 6 months is the minimum I’ve felt like they taste ready. I do tend to make strong, sweet meads, if that matters.
We drank a 10 day old 13% sweet mead last night, that was absolutely fantastic. The same recipe and age that he has won award after award with.
I was shocked too that you didn’t have to age them. He told me that he sat in on a mead master meeting at hbnc, before he started making meads which had the top ten mead makers in the usa or maybe world can’t remember which. And I believe he said that they all agreed that you do not need to age mead if made correctly.
Well, I’d like to know what his tricks are. My methods have never produced anything fit to drink in anywhere near that timeframe.
Telling people not to age their mead, then raking in the trophies? 
[quote=“muddywater_grant”][quote=“Nate42”]If you’re not trying to carbonate it, you don’t need to wait 2 weeks. If you’re wanting to age them, cellar temperatures (50s) are best, but a couple weeks isn’t going to do much. My best aged meads are 4 some years old. I also recommend 6 months to a year of bulk aging BEFORE you bottle, but I guess you’ve already done that.
Also, if you age them for a really long time, be sure to crack one open every once in a while. They have a nasty habit of continuing to very slowly ferment in the bottle. I’ve had more than a few still meads eventually become sparkling. Never had a mead bottle bomb, but it could happen.[/quote]
why do people recommend aging meads. That with out a doubt isn’t needed. Meads are reading to drink within 10 days. They do not need to be aged.
The top mead makers do not age their meads. The south carolina mead maker of the year is in my homebrew club and we actually talked about this last night.[/quote]
You may not have to age to make it drinkable, but with any stronger flavored honey it will continue to develop for years. I have many meads that have been aged for 12 months before entering into competition that have won BOS in national and international mead cups. I do not feel that they were ready for comp until after some aging.
