Heat and Sunlight

[Franky]

I've been trying to find a few answers before brewing my first mead.

I have come to understand that if I have a way to control temp (which I do) it can be important during fermentation.

Some things I am wondering post-fermentation...like beer does heat and light break down mead? The reason I ask is that I see a lot of mead being sold in clear glass bottles.

I also live in Arizona where it can get quite hot. I'm trying to figure out the space I have available for my summer brewing/ageing. I'm wanting to know do I need to have mead at 50-60 degrees or is it ok in the upper 70s-80s.

Any answers/explanation I could get on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[fuelish]

I try to stay in high '60's when in furious primary ferment, as temp can be several degrees higher in the actual fermenting must due to the active ferment.....a swamp cooler is a pretty effective way to do this if you have a bit of room.....and go with a yeast that tolerates temps a bit better than some. I typically use 1116 as my go to, in that regard. When fermentation is over, I don't there's any harm allowing the fermentor to warm up a bit, but not hot. As far as the clear glass, it won't skunk the mead the way beer skunks (unless you hopped i, but I keep mine out of direct sunlight, out of most light, really.

 

[Yooper]

While the mead won't "skunk" the way beers with hops will, it can get light struck very easily. Keep it in a cool dark place, or cover the fermenter with a towel if it is in a bright room.

 

[fossilcat]

While the mead won't "skunk" the way beers with hops will, it can get light struck very easily. Keep it in a cool dark place, or cover the fermenter with a towel if it is in a bright room.

Yooper - how detrimental to mead is incandescent light. In your opinion, would bright incandescent light on a typical white primary bucket effect the mead?

 

[Yooper]

Yooper - how detrimental to mead is incandescent light. In your opinion, would bright incandescent light on a typical white primary bucket effect the mead?

Not in a bucket, no. But once the mead is moved to secondary in a carboy, yes.

 

[Franky]

Hey all, thanks so much for the replies. Sorry I guess I didn't quite communicate clearly on my two questions. I have a fermenting fridge, so temp control under fermentation is not a problem. However, once it ferments out and I move it to secondary can I just leave it in a dark closet even if that closet gets into the mid 70s during the day?

Thanks again for shedding the light on the mead/light issue. I have plenty of dark space to keep it in. So I won't worry about that...its just the heat I'm worried about post-fermentation. I guess I could swam cool secondary like fuelish suggested. However, I'll be gone quite a bit with travel so trying to keep it cool etc isn't really going to work as I'll be gone so much.