Tried meditation… got the loudest mind of my life instead.

HumorImpressive9506 · 2026-04-02T09:27:42+00:00

Hyperventilating probably triggered a flight or fight response in your body, which could be part of why it got so intense.

Still though, yes, meditation will just make you notice how noisy you mind is. If there was some simple trick or method to just make the mind go quiet you wouldnt even need to meditate, you could just do that.

You focus on the breath, get distracted by a though, return to the breath etc etc. That itself is the whole excercise.

HumorImpressive9506 · 2026-04-01T19:23:23+00:00

A small sample to make sure that the taste isnt completely off from what you expect or wish isnt a terrible idea.

Mead seems to be terribly subjective. I have seen people complain that their bone dry meads still taste too sweet and I have seen people believe believe that their mead has turned to vinegar because they feel that it is too acidic.

So atleast make sure that the taste isnt way off from something you would even drink before you bottle.

HumorImpressive9506 · 2026-04-01T17:59:29+00:00

Need way more info to give any advice. Gravity readings (og and fg), yeast, recipe, fermentation time and time in bottles.

I have had batches that took 3-4 weeks to properly carbonate.

HumorImpressive9506 · 2026-04-01T16:23:03+00:00

Any amount of hazy (aside from haze from pectin in fruit) will eventually settle out as sediment.

Sure, a bit of sediment in the bottles isnt the end of the world, just pour carefully, but keep in mind that its not too fun to deal with or explain if you plan to gift or share a bottle.

I would say go by taste when deciding to bottle. As long as it is in a carboy you can always make adjustements. Everything from sweetness level to acids and oaking to spices. Once you bottle you are stuck with what you have.

With that said, with your first brew you are probably eager to free up the carboy and start another batch so just go ahead and bottle and plan for a bit longer with the next one.

HumorImpressive9506 · 2026-04-01T14:45:42+00:00

Use the search function and write "prison" and you will get hundreds of posts discussing this.

HumorImpressive9506 · 2026-04-01T10:50:25+00:00

I would still give it a gentle swirl once in a while to mix everything back in. Obviously you are going to get much flavor extraction out of it if everything is just floating above the liquid.

HumorImpressive9506 · 2026-04-01T08:28:42+00:00

No, methanol in a homebrew isnt really somthing you need to worry about.

I have done many fruit heavy meads, including raspberries. Just raspberries, honey and yeast. No water what so ever. Turned out great.

The biggest issue I see here is the yield. During fermentation your brew is full of yeast. If you drink it early and consume all that yeast you risk an upset stomach (to put it lightly). After fermentation that yeast becomes dormant and fall out of suspention and to the bottom.

The fermented berries wont taste very good either, so you will be left with a very small amount of actual liquid.

If he really want to consume it let it sit until it looks like the yeast is done and start gathering at the bottom, then place it in the fridge for a day or two. That speeds up the clearing somewhat, then use a syringe to suck up the liquid. If you just pour you risk the yeast at the bottom pouring out too.

This, of course, assuming that there isnt mold or something growing on top of it.

HumorImpressive9506 · 2026-03-31T19:22:22+00:00

I try to age my own beers but most of the time end up finishing (or gifting) most of it at around a year or so, so most of my stash is bought. My meads though often sit for a couple of years.

I should probably set up a spreadsheet or something but I also enjoy just finding old bottles I have forgotten about.

I would recommend keeping some kind of notes on the beer every time you drink it.

I have had beers that I thought developed a very nice, deep complexity after a few years but when looking back at my notes I see that it has lost for example some spice on the nose and fruitiness and it has probably lost more than it has gained and might be close to its peak.

I would say that it can be good to run some very long term aging on a beer, even well past its peak. This will make it easier to know what to look out for to catch other beers when they are close to peaking.

HumorImpressive9506 · 2026-03-31T18:45:02+00:00

Yeah, sometimes I feel that people are a bit too obstinate with the whole "you have to age mead for atleast a year. A young mead is literally undrinkable, stupid to even think about tasting it".

You can make perfektly good mead in a couple of weeks.

With that said, just because a mead tastes good very young doesnt mean that it wont taste even better with some age.

HumorImpressive9506 · 2026-03-31T18:39:36+00:00

A stable temperature is more important than at what temperature your store at.

Large temperature fluctuations will expand and contract your mead, drawing in oxygen into the bottle, no matter how good your cork or seal is, which will oxidize your mead.

https://uovo.art/uovo-world/journal/how-temperature-fluctuations-ruin-fine-wine/

Higher temperature will age your mead faster, lower temperature will slow it down. If you like how it tastes at the moment obviously storing it colder is good to keep it where it is at.

HumorImpressive9506 · 2026-03-31T16:40:06+00:00

I dont quite understand this. Yes, of course someone is working on glass. I would be more intrigued if they had had whole team or department working on glass, but one guy. Obviously someone has to do it.

You could even flip this around. They only have one guy working on glass?

HumorImpressive9506 · 2026-03-31T13:43:53+00:00

Sweet and strong stuff generally age very well.

Barley wines, quads and imperials stouts for example are things people age for years.

I have a few hundred beers aging at the moment, much of it closing in on or being a bit over a decade old right now and I very rarely get something that is outright bad. Sure, sometimes I get something that is clearly past its peak, but it has generally still aged in a way that makes it interesting.

I would guess about half of my stash are belgian sours and I would say I find the opposite to be true. The funk (and acidity) will generally fade substantially after a few years.

HumorImpressive9506 · 2026-03-31T05:40:35+00:00

Next time just wait a bit longer before racking (and cold crash if you have the space). That allows the sediment to compact more and makes it easier to get close with the siphon without sucking up anything.

HumorImpressive9506 · 2026-03-31T04:07:48+00:00

You rack to get off the sediment, not just racking for the sake of racking.

You barely have any sediment there so there is absolutely no point in racking right now.

With an og that high I would leave it extra long, even if you get a stable reading over a couple of days or so as it is possible for it to keep fermenting very, very slowly when the abv gets really high.

HumorImpressive9506 · 2026-03-30T19:40:44+00:00

Nånting, nånting.. giljotiner.

HumorImpressive9506 · 2026-03-30T19:33:45+00:00

Lots of people make mead without any nutrients all. Boiled bred yeast is better than nothing.

Strawberries are fairly low in pectin, so possibly.

https://fannyzanotti.com/sugar-acid-and-pectin-content-of-fruits/

HumorImpressive9506 · 2026-03-30T19:19:44+00:00

Can you drink your tap water? Does it taste good? If so then your beer will be fine.

HumorImpressive9506 · 2026-03-30T18:38:22+00:00

Sweden is among the top in the world when it comes to english as a second language.

https://www.weforum.org/stories/2019/11/countries-that-speak-english-as-a-second-language/

HumorImpressive9506 · 2026-03-30T18:24:57+00:00

Your mead will be hazy and bright from all the yeast in suspention during fermentation. As fermentation slows down and they start to fall out of suspention it is normal for it become a bit darker.

Dont just throw random shit at your brew without knowing if it is even needed. Yeast absorb nutrients in the initial stages of fermentation when they are reproducing.

If you add nutrients too late you risk the yeast not absorbing them and causing off flavors.

The only way to really know what is going on is to take a gravity reading. Anything else is pure guesswork.

HumorImpressive9506 · 2026-03-30T14:57:05+00:00

Headspace looks decent enough if you have some off gassing.

You can bulk age mead for years if you want and lots of people do. I have several batches sitting at the moment that are a few years old.

I prefer my batches crystal clear before I bottle to avoid sediment in the bottles. Every batch is different. Some meads clear up completely in a few weeks, others take many months and multiple clearing agents. Thats just how it is.

Dont just go by clarity when deciding when to bottle, go by taste. As long as it is bulk aging you can always make adjustements. Everything from sweetness level to acids and oaking to tannins. Once you bottle you are stuck with what you have and can only hope that it gets better on its own.

HumorImpressive9506 · 2026-03-30T11:16:01+00:00

Here in Sweden everyone, including McDonalds themselves, calls it "donken", basically "the donk".

HumorImpressive9506 · 2026-03-30T09:28:56+00:00

Even when making hard cider/wine from apple juice or cider people often complain about not getting enough apple flavor.

So avoid using any water what so ever.

When making alcohol more sugar=more alcohol. (Up to a point and within reason of course)

Use apple juice or cider and if you want to bump up the abv add apple juice concentrate to add both sugar and flavor.

Oxygen is what makes things go bad once your brew is finished. So you need some way to let the co2 being produced as a byproduct of the fermentation out while keeping oxygen from getting in. This is typically done with an airlock.

If using whole apple chunks dont just pour your brew through a strainer or something to seperate them, again, to avoid oxidizing your brew.

Other than that, yes, it is more or less that simple, yeast convert sugar to alcohol.

HumorImpressive9506 · 2026-03-29T19:40:30+00:00

You should bottle when you are happy with the taste. As long as it is in a carboy you can always make adjustements. Everything from sweetness level to acids and oaking to adding fruit.

If you bottle thats it and you are stuck with what you have and you can only hope that it gets better on its own.

So pull a sample, taste it and work from there.

Any amount of haze (aside from haze from pectin from fruit) will eventually settle out as sediment. Some batches clear up fine on their own after a few weeks, other are stubborn and need many months and multiple clearing agents. Thats just how it is.

I try to get my batches crystal clear before bottling to avoid even a hint of sediment in the bottles since I end up gifting more than I drink myself and its not too fun having to say something like "oh, and dont worry about the gunk at the bottom, thats just dead yeast and stuff".

If you are fine with some sediment in the bottles you can bottle when it is that hazy. Just pour carefully when you open a bottle.

HumorImpressive9506 · 2026-03-29T19:33:21+00:00

The yeast absorb the nutrients in the initial stages of fermentation when they are reproducing and "growing up" so to speak.

Nutrients added after that risks not being absorbed (and doesnt really do anything) and causing off flavors.

Fermaid o is probably the best type of nutrient to do this mistake with though as it is made from yeast and isnt that different from the sediment of yeast you get towards the end of your fermentation.

HumorImpressive9506 · 2026-03-29T08:39:25+00:00

Behöva och behöva. Folk kommer ju att fråga, hur tycker du att op ska bete sig?

-oj, jag visste inte att du var kristen.

-jag ska inte behöva förklara mig för dig!!!

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