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Cold crash & age on lees?

Barrel Char Wood Products

Sammy

Got Mead? Patron
GotMead Patron
Jul 8, 2016
12
0
0
Reno, NV
Hey all- I didn't think this through so well - I started with a must ten sg points over my target ABV (of 10%) with the intention of cold crashing and adding sorbate and SO2 to arrest the fermentation and retain 10 points of residual sugar. I was thinking I'd also rack off the gross lees before adding the SO2 and sorbate. BUT (the part I forgot) also I want to age on the lees!

So my question is do you think sorbate and SO2 and racking off the gross lees after the cold crash (and maybe aging at a cool temp) will be sufficient to keep the fermentation stopped while leaving the batch to age on the rest of the lees for a few months?!

I have two 1.75 gal batches made with OB honey, og 1.087, one with D47 one with CY3079, GoFerm at rehydration and followed Travis Blount-Elliott's SNA protocol. Temp 64F. Each have 1 lb of pears added at 1.052sg. The CY3079 is now at 1.012 and is ready to cold-crash. The D47 is fermenting very slowly... (which I might ask about in another post).

Thanks!
 

Squatchy

Lifetime GotMead Patron
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Nov 3, 2014
5,542
261
83
Denver
I seriously doubt you can stop them. I guess time will tell. Make sure not to age with the rough/course lees on board. Stir everything back into suspension and let it sit overnight and then rack off the stuff that has settled.
 

Sammy

Got Mead? Patron
GotMead Patron
Jul 8, 2016
12
0
0
Reno, NV
Thank you Medsen and Squatchy for your help- I decided to let the pear batches ferment to dry to age on the lees with less complications (I'll still rack off the gross lees to age though), but I'm cold-crashing a third batch at 1.050 to use for blending some sugar back in later. I'll filter the sweet batch best I can then stabilize.

Will a 1 micron filter filter out the yeasts?!

Thanks again!
 

Squatchy

Lifetime GotMead Patron
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Nov 3, 2014
5,542
261
83
Denver
Thank you Medsen and Squatchy for your help- I decided to let the pear batches ferment to dry to age on the lees with less complications (I'll still rack off the gross lees to age though), but I'm cold-crashing a third batch at 1.050 to use for blending some sugar back in later. I'll filter the sweet batch best I can then stabilize.

Will a 1 micron filter filter out the yeasts?!

Thanks again!

No. YOu need to go to .45 micron absolute to get them
 

rb2112br

Honey Master
Registered Member
Mar 27, 2018
156
34
28
No. YOu need to go to .45 micron absolute to get them

Where can you find .45 micron filters? THe smallest I have found is .5 microns. Several home brew sites offer fine mesh filter bags, but they don't specify how many microns they are.
 
Barrel Char Wood Products

Viking Brew Vessels - Authentic Drinking Horns