Bloodeagle
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It's been 1 month since I started my brewing, and I'm itching to taste it! How early is too early to sample? Will it spoil if I remove the airlock?
1 month
- Thread starter Bloodeagle
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HB_in_Subic
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It depends on which yeast you use. An Ale yeast can finish a batch of mead in 30 days. Read up on the BOMM method https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=429241 and Bray's site https://www.homebrewtalk.com/current-mead-making-techniques.html
If the yeast cake is at 1/4" - 1/2", rack off to secondary and take a gravity reading. Taste the sample for reference. Wait another month or until the same on the yeast dropping out of solution. You can have a really good mead using Ale yeast quickly.
Keep the airlock on until you bottle at this point.
Most of my meads are sweet, sack meads (>16%) and finish out in 8 days with degassing and staggered nutrient additions. I leave them up to 1-2 months to clear before bottling, but have had 3 month old meads be delicious and take home medals in large comps. Many I know do the same.
Your Mead will not spoil if you open the airlock and use good sanitation practices. There is some risk of introducing some bacteria or foreign matter. Just be careful with your sanitation and be sure to not let too much head-space develop. Oxidation as with wine is a concern for Mead.
Agree with all of the above. I have had Meads at 60 days be perfectly drinkable. Also have one currently that has been bulk aging since November last year and is nowhere near drinkable.
With that said every Mead I have ever made gets better with age. A "drinkable" Mead at 60 or 120 days is Good to Very Good at 6 - 9 months, great at a year to 18 months and excellent at 2+ years. We all have differing pallets, tastes and experience and what holds true for me is my personal preference and may or may not hold true for for you.
If you can control yourself, open a bottle each 60 days and note the differences as it ages. I have done that with a few Meads, currently have four Meads that I only have 5 or 6 bottles left. The plan is to open them one per year for the next five years just to see how / if they improve over time. (Not sure i can as they are very good now.)
Agree with all of the above. I have had Meads at 60 days be perfectly drinkable. Also have one currently that has been bulk aging since November last year and is nowhere near drinkable.
With that said every Mead I have ever made gets better with age. A "drinkable" Mead at 60 or 120 days is Good to Very Good at 6 - 9 months, great at a year to 18 months and excellent at 2+ years. We all have differing pallets, tastes and experience and what holds true for me is my personal preference and may or may not hold true for for you.
If you can control yourself, open a bottle each 60 days and note the differences as it ages. I have done that with a few Meads, currently have four Meads that I only have 5 or 6 bottles left. The plan is to open them one per year for the next five years just to see how / if they improve over time. (Not sure i can as they are very good now.)
Dr_Floyd
Well-Known Member
It depends on style, SG, Yeast and conditions. My Bochets always taste like Medicine prior to at least 3 months from pitching, it's so consistent that I know it'll be good when it has that Medicinal Taste! But my Rambutan and Lychee Mead tasted delicious towards the end of Primary (Probably because it was a Sweet Mead).
