Old mead

[icebluiis]

Seems I left some fermenting mead in a 6 gal. carboy with airlock for about 1.5 years. All I remember of the recipe was that I used liquid yeast and 5 pounds of store bought honey. The fermentaion did not take off and I thought I would fix it later and of course did not. It's amber in color, very clear and smells good enough to drink (albeit slightly alcoholic).

Is it fixable or a waste of time?

 

[skunkboy]

Only five pounds of honey? What volume of mead is there? If 5 gallons you have mead a really light mead.
Probably worth a taste. It has probably oxidized some if has just been sitting there....

 

[JamesP]

Agreed. Go by taste.

It would probably be brown and taste like wet cardboard if it has badly oxidized.

 

[icebluiis]

Thanks for the input. I'll give it a taste this weekend and report back. If it tastes alright should I go ahead and bottle it or would you recommend trying to fermention again? I'm guessing this will depend on the taste?!

Maybe it was 15 pounds of honey. I'm pretty fuzzy on the recipe. It was whatever the standard amount of honey is for making 5 gallons of mead. I'm still searching for the recipe. I did find the yeast tube, so there's hope. Have a great weekend!!!

 

[skunkboy]

15 lbs of honey would be more in the normal range for 5 gallons, rather than 5. If it tastes good, drink it and bottle it... :drunken_smilie:

 

[Tyred]

Check the specific gravity of the brew if you have a hydrometer.If it has fermented, then you should probably get a reading of less than 1..20 (unknown type of yeast and I don't know original SG). One thing to consider is that if it has been left on the yeast cake for some time then it may gain some off-flavours.

If it was in a glass container and not moved then it may be alright, as long as some fermentation has taken place. It would have had a protective layer of CO2 over the top and that should protect it.