• PATRONS: Did you know we've a chat function for you now? Look to the bottom of the screen, you can chat, set up rooms, talk to each other individually or in groups! Click 'Chat' at the right side of the chat window to open the chat up.
  • Love Gotmead and want to see it grow? Then consider supporting the site and becoming a Patron! If you're logged in, click on your username to the right of the menu to see how as little as $30/year can get you access to the patron areas and the patron Facebook group and to support Gotmead!
  • We now have a Patron-exclusive Facebook group! Patrons my join at The Gotmead Patron Group. You MUST answer the questions, providing your Patron membership, when you request to join so I can verify your Patron membership. If the questions aren't answered, the request will be turned down.

Meadcicle's anyone?

Toggle sidebar
Barrel Char Wood Products
steve8479

steve8479

NewBee
Registered Member
Nov 16, 2006
16
0
0
44
I decided to cold crash my mead sarting last week 10-4-07(I've posted other questions for my mead see http://www.gotmead.com/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=412&topic=5408.0 ) Well, last night I was putting grocery's in the fridge last night and I discovered that about the top 1/4 of the carboy is frozen, but the neck was not frozen. I turn up the temp in the fridge last night when I saw the frozen portion in an effort to do a slow thaw. What will this do to the mead? Has anybody have had this happen to them? Any help is greatly apprciated.

Thanks to all
Steve :icon_scratch:
 
W

wayneb

Lifetime Patron
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Feb 7, 2007
5,794
11
38
Evergreen, CO (west of and above the Denver smog!)
Well, if you pull the ice out of the top of it, you'll have the mead version of Applejack!! :laughing4:

Actually, if you let the ice slowly turn back to liquid, you may or may not notice any changes in the mead. The freezing probably caused a little more differential precipitation of other compounds out of solution, but I doubt that it will make much of a difference. You would have more significant issues if this were a red melomel, since that freezing probably would have dropped some of the available tannins, and if you'd used grape juice, perhaps a bit of tartaric acid would have been dropped as bitartarate. But in a traditional clover mead, I suspect you won't notice anything significantly different in the flavor profile.

So tell us, did the cold crashing have any of the desired effect yet?
 
steve8479

steve8479

NewBee
Registered Member
Nov 16, 2006
16
0
0
44
Well, I took the mead out of the fridge on Sat (10-20-07) and placed it back in the fermenting area of the house (basement). As of this morning (10-22-07) I saw no activity in the bubbler, but I haven't been paying to much attention to it. I did notice what seems like two streams of tiny bubbles in the fermenter. Man those yeasties are tough. I am planning on racking again tonight or tomorrow. I just want this stuff to clear so I can bottle it.

Thanks for all the help
Steve :icon_scratch:
 
Teufelhund

Teufelhund

Banned
Oct 17, 2007
304
0
0
60
POX 181 Covington, OH 45318
steve8479

Question: if the mead is still fermenting, it's obviously not done so why try to freeze it? Only the water froze as the alcohol remained liquid. It would seem that the freezing would kill the yeast and any yeast left in a bottled state would either a) blow up any bottle you have it bottled in or b) turn out bad due to yeast & sediment not being properly racked.
Clearing the mead takes time and only the yeast will tell you when it's ready. If after 2 weeks of no fermentation should you rack again. Wait another 2 weeks and THEN if there's no activity, bottle it up. If it's too cloudy, try fish bladder.

DD
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Barrel Char Wood Products

Viking Brew Vessels - Authentic Drinking Horns

Top Bottom