Elevated temp aging

[IJesusChrist]

So, foot-in-mouth, I will attempt it myself, but I've been strongly interested in optimizing mead making for some time. LoR has done an amazing work of science with the bomm, and I'd like to follow a bit in his/her foot steps.

A lot of my meads are quite hot when young, after 2 months they aren't worth drinking, yet, after aging, we all can agree mead gets better.

The aging process is of course complex though, but the one major event that would be changing the flavor profile from "hot" or "fusel" to "good" is simple enough: esterification, the reaction between alcohols and acids to produce esters.

Alcohols taste less than great, rubbing alcohol and vodka aren't very enjoyable alone (don't give me that look).
Acids can be bitter, sour, tart, and sometimes enjoyable, and many of us mead drinkers enjoy a bit of acid blend in our traditional meads.

My idea is, is that if a traditional mead or a melomel is hot due to fast fermentation or hot fermentation, aging in a sealed container at elevated temperatures is going to age the mead quicker - facilitating a quicker esterification reaction overall.

HAS ANYONE DONE THIS?

 

[IJesusChrist]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storage_of_wine#Temperature

On average, the rate of chemical reactions in wine doubles with each 18 °F (8 °C) increase in temperature. Wine expert Karen MacNeil recommends keeping wine intended for aging in a cool area with a constant temperature around 55 °F (13 °C). Wine can be stored at temperatures as high as 69 °F (21 °C) without long-term negative effect. Professor Cornelius Ough of the University of California, Davis believes that wine can be exposed to temperatures as high as 120 °F (49 °C) for a few hours and not be damaged.[6]

 

[loveofrose]

I don't think anyone has tested this on purpose. What I mean is people generally don't have a lot of choice on storage temperature and certainly don't have two reliable temperatures to test. If you do, try it and see with the same batch side by side. At least 3 bottle per condition to test different time points.

I am assuming a few things:

1. Good fermentation practices (SNAs, K2CO3) with wine yeast to avoid as much fusel as possible to start with. Your idea is simply a technique to quickly rid oneself of the leftover, unavoidable wine yeast fusels.

2. Yeast choice better be one that is not already fussy about temperature. This will not work with D47, so don't try it with that yeast.

3. Fast ferments always have less fusels. It indicates the yeast are very happy. Nutrient poor musts, low pH or high temperature ferments cause fusels. Low pitch rate can also cause fusels.

A warning. It's a possibility is that the high temperatures will cause the yeast to make MORE fusels at high temperature during bottle conditioning. The mead needs to be crystal clear or filtered before you try this.

By the way, I'm Bray. I'm a man. Now you know.


Better brewing through science!

 

[IJesusChrist]

your three points are spot on and have been more or less well established. The wikipedia article I linked seems very indicative of high temperature storage leading to off-flavors, however I'm still not convinced.

At the moment I am not quite sure how to control things at high(er) temperature without unloading quite a bit of $. My only possibilities at this point would be to put a small portion in a light-sealed container outside. I live in southern california, so this would certainly reach high temperatures, but consistency would be thrown out the window.

I think #3 definitely depends on #2. "Turbo yeasts" for distillers are quite good at making some pretty harsh flavors, and they are some of the fastest yeasts. I'm not sure if I've ever heard of anyone using them on anything not meant to be distilled...

Anyway, thanks man.

P.S. once again I am going to attempt the BOMM stir plate versus not-stirred (agitated) within the next few weeks. I am excited to finally have a conclusion since I have a temperature controlled fermenter now.