Best way to bulk store mead

[oc eric]

This is really directed at Oskaar, but heck maybe others know as well. Shite, I forgot Lars was a mead dude too. Sorry Lars and anyone else.

I find myself wanting to make more mead. My Joe's ancient orange mead from Gotmead.com is pretty damn good, but (after 3 months) is still HOT. SO I want to make more mead and want to know what is the best way to bulk age it. Is it:

1. Glass carboy
2. Stainless Steel Keg
3. Better Bottle
4. HDPE 2 PLastic carboy
5. Wooden barrell
6. An old shoe

I want to make some mead and let it hang around for 10+ years.

Addendum question. What's this I hear aabout "topping up" your mead. Please explain.

Hugs and kisses,
oc eric (forgive me, I just drank a bottle of Aventinus Weizen Icebach on an empty stoamch - so while I sound perfectly fine I KNOW that this post is weird, but still I want the info)

Thank you and good night.

[lars]

Dude, that's a freaking ufo...

Um, in other words I prefer to store mine in a keg. Speaking of... I need to keg my Catclaw mead this weekend.

[BrewMasterBrad]

Pete has been MIA for a while, I know he is very busy with work. From what I know about his process, he bulk ages in carboys. I'm new to the mead thing to, so I appreciate you asking the question Eric.

My melomel also needs to be racked off the fruit into a carboy one of these days.

[dhempy]

I have also stored mead (at Pete's direction) in corny kegs. I simply purged the deadspace with CO2. This was after sulfating etc.

Dan

[yl_ryan]

Not to hijack the tread, but can you buy mead bottled at bevmo? I have read about people brewing mead here and there, but I have never tried the stuff. Am I missing out?

[ScottK]

Sorry to continue the hijack...Bevmo has junk. You will usually find Chaucer's Mead and Bunratty Mead. I'm nearly 100% certain that the Chaucer's is wine fortified with honey, while Bunratty says as much on the bottle. These aren't true meads. Again, I'm going out on a limb here, but if it says it contains sulfites, I'm guessing it's really wine. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. I search every beer store I'm in for mead, and never seem to find it. I found some in a beer/wine/spirits store in Ojai after the SCHF from Redstone Meadery in Colorado. Total Wine just opened up in Brea, perhaps they may carry some. The Wine Exchange in Orange did not have any the last time I was there. Someone here must know where to get store bought mead.

[dhempy]

We'd have to have Pete and or Lars chime in here ... but in every mead I've made .. (all using Pete's methods) we've always added some sort of sulfate / sulfite to prevent secondary fermentation. So the simple presence of them doesn't necessarily mean that it is a wine fortified with honey. One place to get educated about commercial mead might be commercial mead competition results. These are from 2007 (simply what I quickly found) but I'll bet the meaderies are still around. If you can find anything on a results list, chances are it is a pretty good mead.

Dan

[lars]

Mead is honey wine. So if you are going by a description that calls it a wine, that is prob what they are referring to. But Chaucers is crap either way. A nice varietal mead is a thing of beauty, and a nearly religious experience. If I'm able to make the meeting on tues, I'll bring a few meads.

[oc eric]

Mead is honey wine. So if you are going by a description that calls it a wine, that is prob what they are referring to. But Chaucers is crap either way. A nice varietal mead is a thing of beauty, and a nearly religious experience. If I'm able to make the meeting on tues, I'll bring a few meads.

I was fortunate enough to have a "sample" (read that 10 oz cup) of Lar's mead. It was AWESOME! so smooth and it was 4-6 years old so it was SMOOVE... Thanks Lars