Mead: How Long Does It Really Take For Fermentation?

[Golani51]

I come across meads taking 6 weeks to ferment, and some taking a year.
I understand that the more honey, the longer it should take but what with the discrepancy?
How can I shorten the time before drinkable?

Thanks,

Reuven

 

[Airgead]

I come across meads taking 6 weeks to ferment, and some taking a year.
I understand that the more honey, the longer it should take but what with the discrepancy?
How can I shorten the time before drinkable?

Thanks,

Reuven

Patience grasshopper.. you must learn patience...

With mead the answer really is - It depends. Combination of different honeys, nutrient levels and acid will greatly affect the fermentation time. Generally though, with good oxygenation and enough nutrients you are looking at 4-8 weeks. Longer than that and there is usually a problem. Usually the problem is lack of nutrients.

Speeding up fermentation won't necessarily speed up drinkability. Meads really benefit from long aging. 6 months minimum to several years. To aim for the lower end of the scale, use a lighter flavoured honey (Stronger honeys often make a more complex mead but take longer to age). Use fruit to make it into a melomel. Add acid at the end of fermentation not the beginning. Add fruit in the secondary.

You will usually have something drinkable after 3-6 months. Better if you age them longer though.

Cheers
Dave

 

[Golani51]

Thanks.
I have patience but never had any really good mead. Given a sip once but it tasted like it was dosed up with 50% honey.
Is there anywhere I can buy a nice bottle (reasonably priced?) to try?

R

Patience grasshopper.. you must learn patience...

With mead the answer really is - It depends. Combination of different honeys, nutrient levels and acid will greatly affect the fermentation time. Generally though, with good oxygenation and enough nutrients you are looking at 4-8 weeks. Longer than that and there is usually a problem. Usually the problem is lack of nutrients.

Speeding up fermentation won't necessarily speed up drinkability. Meads really benefit from long aging. 6 months minimum to several years. To aim for the lower end of the scale, use a lighter flavoured honey (Stronger honeys often make a more complex mead but take longer to age). Use fruit to make it into a melomel. Add acid at the end of fermentation not the beginning. Add fruit in the secondary.

You will usually have something drinkable after 3-6 months. Better if you age them longer though.

Cheers
Dave

 

[Wolfy]

I understand that the more honey, the longer it should take but what with the discrepancy?
How can I shorten the time before drinkable?

Honey (unlike malt) has virtually none of the essential nutrients that yeast need to do their thing.
Traditionally (before that was well understood) mead would take an extended time to condition and ferment.
More modern techniques, including nutrient additions, oxygenation/degassing, and various other methods, can be used to fereemnt and condition the mead much more quickly, these are generally more important than the amount of honey used.

If you don't wish to buy Ken Schram's book, check out some of the USA-based Mead (and beer, with mead subforum) forums and you'll find lots more information about the more 'modern techniques' that you can use to speed up your mead making time-table.

 

[Airgead]

Thanks.
I have patience but never had any really good mead. Given a sip once but it tasted like it was dosed up with 50% honey.
Is there anywhere I can buy a nice bottle (reasonably priced?) to try?

R

That's a hard question. There's not much good mead made here and sold commercially. Maxwell make sweet, sickly stuff. I think its rubbish. If you like a sweet mead though it might be worth a go. There used to be a meadery in Mudgee but it closed down years ago. I thing there is some mead being made in Victoria and Tazzie but I've never seen it.

What sort of thing do you like? Sweet? Dry? With fruit? Without?

Cheers
Dave

 

[barls]

ok theres the winery in the middle of the track in bathurst, it sells some and the honey spot in mudgee as well

 

[DUANNE]

there is a few meaderies in aus according to this link. yet to try any besides bartholomews myself but could be a starting point to find some thing . http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/inde...?showtopic=3303

 

[The_Duck]

I come across meads taking 6 weeks to ferment, and some taking a year.
I understand that the more honey, the longer it should take but what with the discrepancy?
How can I shorten the time before drinkable?

Thanks,

Reuven

I have my first batch still in the demijohn I started it in sometime in May last year. It was still belching the odd bubble up until the end of April this year and has now finally clarified without any mechanical processing or additives. It is JUST getting to a good drinking point.

Mead, unlike beer, is a patient person's game.

On the other hand I did a Champagne style mead that fermented and cleared in about 8 weeks. Lower honey to water ratio seemed to be the kicker to get the duration down. Still waiting for the bottles to go thru secondary ... but they should be good in Summer for SWMBO to try.

Duck

 

[Lecterfan]

Thanks the-duck, that puts my mind at ease a bit as well cos mine is 3 months old in the primary and is still faithfully plugging away.

 

[Golani51]

That's a hard question. There's not much good mead made here and sold commercially. Maxwell make sweet, sickly stuff. I think its rubbish. If you like a sweet mead though it might be worth a go. There used to be a meadery in Mudgee but it closed down years ago. I thing there is some mead being made in Victoria and Tazzie but I've never seen it.

What sort of thing do you like? Sweet? Dry? With fruit? Without?

Cheers
Dave

I tend to like strong flavours, but not overly sweet- my wife likes Drambui (spelling?) so want to keep her happy too. Beerwise for example I enjoy good strong IPAs(and Imperials), ESBs (Hargraeves Hill) and the likes. Wines- merlot and dry whites. High in terms of alchohol. Fruitiness is always nice. I am definitely not into subtle flavours.

R

 

[pk.sax]

I tend to like strong flavours, but not overly sweet- my wife likes Drambui (spelling?) so want to keep her happy too. Beerwise for example I enjoy good strong IPAs(and Imperials), ESBs (Hargraeves Hill) and the likes. Wines- merlot and dry whites. High in terms of alchohol. Fruitiness is always nice. I am definitely not into subtle flavours.

R

Yes, he definitely 'likes' to think he's got a change with a hot, fast loud one
Don't worry R, all ol round things get that way eventually. Unsubtle, i.e. B) EXCEPT BEER

 

[moovet]

I come across meads taking 6 weeks to ferment, and some taking a year.
I understand that the more honey, the longer it should take but what with the discrepancy?
How can I shorten the time before drinkable?

Thanks,

Reuven

I put down 35L of mead a couple of months ago with an OG of 1.120 and FG of 1.015 using Lalvin 71B. I followed BrewerPetes Nutrient addition recommendations but accidentily gave an extra dose 24 hours after pitching the yeast so 6 additions total. I put it in the brewfridge at 19 degrees and it was stable at 1.015 in less than 2 weeks. I was amazed!!

Was wanting to experiment so I have racked it off into 5L demijohns after 2 weeks trying out 2 different melomels, a metheglin, 2 x oak combinations and a sparkling. Just waiting for things to clear before I bottle.

Anyway, those nutrient additions really make a big difference as far as moving things along. Don't know if it affects the quality but everything seemed very drinkable at this stage except the metheglin but will probably improve with age.

Cheers

 

[BjornJ]

This is by far my favourite article about yeast propogation, yeast starters, yeast nutrients, etc.
It also discusses why mead will ferment out so much faster when adding yeast nutrient and/or chalk CaCO3 (like for dark coloured beers).
It seems the increased nitrogen really helps the mead ferment out quickly.

http://www.maltosefalcons.com/tech/yeast-p...s-and-practices


(not speaking from experience here, having done only one mead ever, the JAOD or whatever it was called, but I have read that yeast article several times to really understand the need for stir plates, yeast growth phases and nutrients and it also does briefly mention mead that may be useful in this context)

thanks
Bjorn