Mead Questions

[purple_chicken]

I started my mead mid oct, kept fermenting for ages until finally stopped and fruit sank mid dec. I strained it and racked it off into anothe dj to clear.
I bottled it tonight, wouuuuwwwwzaaa - thats strong, I forgot to take the og so ive no idea how strong however,
It tastes kind of medicinal, almost got that tcp taste to it.
Has it gone off, has i just made methelated spirit or does it just need more time to mature?
rgds
iain

[Benson_JV]

The TCP taste is usually attributed to a high chlorine content in water...did you use a campden tablet?

[Laripu]

Mead is notorious for taking a long time to mature, especially if it's strong. Keep it, wait, be patient. Mead rewards you.

The first mead I made was in Dec 1990, from buckwheat honey. That's right, it's 18 years old. I have one bottle left in my fridge right now. The last one I drank, over a year ago, was incredible. I will drink this one within the next year... patience, my pretty.

When my wife first me me, I convinced her to try brewing mead. She made her first mead in 1994, and a few more batches after that. There's one bottle of the first 1994 mead left, in a Grolsch bottle. Probably a dozen bottles of others made in 1994 and 1995. All will be consumed before we die.... not for a long time I hope!

Jiminy christmas, I just realized I have meads older than you are!

[purple_chicken]

yeh i used a camden tablet,
I suppose i just have to be patient.
I got 8 grolsch bottles out of it,
i think i'll just put it away and forget about it for a bit.

iain

[Petrovitch]

As Laripu says mead can take a veeeeewry long time to mature sometimes, it can be a bit obstinant. That medicinal/TCP smell sounds familiar, I encountered something similar with a couple of batches of dry mead and cyser I made - if you stick your nose right into a jar of honey (not too far mind ) and take a big whiff you should actually be able to smell it in there somewhere, raw honey does have a plethora of unusual scents to it. It'll all smooth out in time.

[mrbenbod]

purple_chicken,
just out of interest did you use Australian honey?

Laripu,
storing something for so long is very impressive.
I don't think I have the will power to do that.
Is it ok to store it in bulk to mature, or should it be bottled?

[Benson_JV]

Is it ok to store it in bulk to mature, or should it be bottled?

Isn't it always better to store/mature in bulk?

[DREADSKIN]

THE PROBLEM WITH BULK AGEING (IN DJ) IS THAT YOU CANT START SOME OTHER MAD BREW IN YOU STORAGE DEMI JOHN.

[mrbenbod]

Good point.
I only use those cheap 5litre water bottles from Asda but I could indeed be using it for brewing rather then storage.
Thanks.

[Laripu]

purple_chicken,
just out of interest did you use Australian honey?

Laripu,
storing something for so long is very impressive.
I don't think I have the will power to do that.
Is it ok to store it in bulk to mature, or should it be bottled?

I'm not sure what's better - maybe it depends on the batch? I age wines and strong meads in bulk about for about a year, then bottle. Strong beers: about 3 months and I have some that have been in bottle for 2 years, and are very good.

That particular bottle of buckwheat mead (and many of its sisters ) went through a very hard time: it was moved from Montreal where it had been stored in a nice 10°C basement, and was put on a moving van to Tampa in 35°C weather (in 1997). It took a week to get here. The hot weather aged everything (many bottles of wine and raspberry mead) past their prime, except the buckwheat mead, which has somehow maintained its delicate qualities. The only drawback is that it has thrown quite a bit of sediment, but I can live with that.

[mrbenbod]

Thats a fair old journey!
I hate having to move my homebrew from the cupboard to the kitchen table, never mind several thousand miles in the back of a van.
How much did you make of the buckwheat mead back in 1990?

[Laripu]

Thats a fair old journey!
I hate having to move my homebrew from the cupboard to the kitchen table, never mind several thousand miles in the back of a van.
How much did you make of the buckwheat mead back in 1990?

I suppose you could always drink it in the cupboard! To answer your question, 23 litres, or thereabouts.

[purple_chicken]

purple_chicken,
just out of interest did you use Australian honey?

Laripu,
storing something for so long is very impressive.
I don't think I have the will power to do that.
Is it ok to store it in bulk to mature, or should it be bottled?

Sorry don't see the point in paying more for Austrailian honey when scotland has perfectly good bees, carbon footprint and all,
to answer the question though, It was clear scottish heather honey, found it on offer somewhere because it had started crystalising at the bottom. Is that maybe part of my problem?

rgds
iain

[Laripu]

It was clear scottish heather honey, found it on offer somewhere because it had started crystalising at the bottom. Is that maybe part of my problem?

Nope. There's nothing wrong with crystalized honey; it just has less water in it. Perhaps your mead is a little stronger than you intended.

By the way, I would love to get Scottish heather honey in Florida at a reasonable price. It's not available at all.

Florida does have excellent honey, though: orange blossom, tupelo, gallberry, agave, lots more.

[mrbenbod]

The reason I asked if you had used Australian honey was because i've read somewhere that it often has a
eucalyptus flavour, which I thought might have been responsible for the medicinal/tcp taste.
But obviously if you used Scottish honey it can't be that, last time I was in Scotland I didn't see many eucalyptus trees

Laripu, do you add tannin, yeast nutrient and citric acid to your meads?