Any tips on making a mead to age a long time?

[AToE]

I've heard that vibrations and disturbance cause issues with aging, and some people mention that after shipping/travelling with their mead/wine it tastes off for a week or two until it "settles down". I'm curious as to why that is.

 

[Arcanum]

I've heard that vibrations and disturbance cause issues with aging, and some people mention that after shipping/travelling with their mead/wine it tastes off for a week or two until it "settles down". I'm curious as to why that is.

I'd be curious to see a controlled double-blind test to see if it actually tastes off or if people just think it tastes off.

 

[TheTooth]

I wouldn't up alcohol for aging reasons, at least not much. Though some ports will age a long time, many if not most lower alcohol wines age better than their higher alcohol counterparts. For instance French Bordeaux will almost always have a lower alcohol content than its California counterpart. However, the California wine will peak and subsequently decline much sooner than the Bordeaux.

Some things to consider with aging wines (in no particular order):

1) Quality of the grapes.
2) Ripeness of the grapes when harvested.
3) Level of tannins.
4) Acidity/pH.
5) Level of sulphites (must be enough to protect the wine for extended periods of time).
6) Temperature of storage location.
7) Cork quality.

With mead, I would start with the best raw, unfiltered, honey I could find. For tannins, you might go with Tannin Galalacool. Typically used with white wines, but should help your aging potential. You also might want to oak. Not only will oak add tannins, but you have plenty of time for the oak flavor and the tannins to mellow. I would also recommend adjusting pH down pretty low. Probably less than 3.20. With wine, acidity tends to decrease and pH tends to increase over time. I assume the same is true in meads. You should also go a little overboard on sulphites. Sulphites will disipate over time but going a little strong and having a low pH should keep you protected. Temperature of the area you are keeping this in will likely have a large effect. If you have a way of keeping at proper cellaring temperatures (52 - 57 deg F), that would help tremendously. You might even want to store cooler than that if possible. Finally, you should probably start with the most expensive, highest quality cork you can find. You should probably re-cork every 6 or 7 years.

Wow... that's a ton of helpful information. Thanks a bunch!

I'll be good for cellaring as I built a dedicated cellar with temp/humidity controlled cooling unit in our garage. That's where we store big wines/meads/wines as they age, as long as commercial wines.

 

[TheTooth]

And many congratulations on the forthcoming bundle of joy--here's to hoping s/he brings you nothing but joy as s/he grows up!

*clink!

Thanks Wildoates. I'm a bit nervous about the whole thing. Let's just hope I don't screw the kid up too badly. LOL

 

[TheTooth]

If you're thinking of a barleywine, you should hop the living hell out of it. The bitterness, aroma and flavor of hops fade over the time and you could end up with something resembling an old ale. Also, you may not want to drink it in a few years if it's too hoppy.

A homebrew club I belong too will be doing this in a few weeks with a 75 gallon imperial stout. The recipe calls for 120+ IBUs, much more than is called for the style. We call this, protecting it from ourselves.


Phil

That's funny. I've never overhopped anything in order to keep it from myself, but it's a good idea in this type of instance.

I plan to hope the living hell our of this barley wine in hopes that it makes it to duration. I'm actually leaning towards doing an oaked imperial stout with mad levels of hops, figuring that the oak and hops will work together to make it last the duration.