I've been working on a program that calculates the approximate amount of booze to add to a mead to fortify the ABV to a desired level. Basically, if you start at 14.4% natural ABV but want 17%, the program works out how much booze to add for your batch size, right down to 1/4 tsps. I made an overly-sweet batch of 14.4% orange blossom a few months back; the ferment stalled for some reason near the end and it stopped at 1.030 instead of being a high-gravity mead like I wanted. I racked it into secondary, added some oak, and set it aside because life happened and I got busy.
Last week I added 1/2 cup of 190-proof grain alcohol to raise it to slightly over 17% (I ended up with about 0.9 gallons). This mead had been cloudy and had refused to clear much since I racked it about two months ago, but I noticed that it somehow went water clear a few days after I fortified it. Anybody else ever had this happen? Does raising the ABV promote clarification (due to liquid density changes) or is something else at work here?
Last week I added 1/2 cup of 190-proof grain alcohol to raise it to slightly over 17% (I ended up with about 0.9 gallons). This mead had been cloudy and had refused to clear much since I racked it about two months ago, but I noticed that it somehow went water clear a few days after I fortified it. Anybody else ever had this happen? Does raising the ABV promote clarification (due to liquid density changes) or is something else at work here?
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