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Odd question

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Aurer

NewBee
Registered Member
May 1, 2009
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I think this may be an odd question, but I just bottled my first batch and had a kind of oh-crap moment. I was wondering if there is anything that could potentially be dangerous brewing in there that didn't have a bad taste/smell?
 
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Oskaar

Got Mead Partner
Administrator
Dec 26, 2004
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Exact recipe, process, treatments and timeline please. That will help us help you.

cheers, Oskaar
 

Aurer

NewBee
Registered Member
May 1, 2009
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3 gallon batch, 2 gallons spring water, 15 lbs of honey, 3 oranges, 2 oz or so cardamom(it was half a spice jar), 12 or so cloves, lalvin ec-1118 yeast.

not boiled, but cleaned and bleached all equipment properly as I have in the past for beers. fermented in primary for a month, transfered to another bucket w/airlock for 2 months. sparkaloid treatment for 3 gallons got it crystal clear.

it tastes fine to me, but its my first batch so i cant be completely sure of how it is supposed to taste.
if any other details are needed, let me know
 
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Medsen Fey

Fuselier since 2007
Premium Patron
Welcome to the forums Aurer!!!

If you can give us the gravity reading that would also be helpful, as well as the temperature.

I suspect the alcohol level produced by EC-1118 and the massive amount of sugar you must have left will effectively prevent any spoilage organisms from affecting your mead. In terms of dangerous things, essentially the answer is no. See This Thread.

What could be dangerous is renewed fermentation in the bottle. This can actually cause bottle bombs with flying shards of glass. If you have not stabilized this mead using sulfite/sorbate, you could be at risk for this, especially after it warms up. Refermentation in sack strength meads has been documented as much as 2 years later.

Medsen
 

Aurer

NewBee
Registered Member
May 1, 2009
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thanks for the welcome and the link, i must not have been searching back far enough.

my hydrometer broke a few days before making this batch, so no actual orginal gravity, but the mead calculator puts it around 1.162 and the final gravity was 1.082, adjusted for temp at 64%. i spiked it by 1% abv, to hopefully keep yeast from refermenting as it was already still.
 
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Medsen Fey

Fuselier since 2007
Premium Patron
I would not bottle this mead yet. EC-1118 can carry on with some very slow fermentations especially in a batch without nutrients. It has an alcohol tolerance of about 18% and you have alcohol of about 10.5% (11.5% if you added another 1%). It could continue to ferment slowly for many months, and I would say the chances of it fermenting further are quite high.

If you are opposed to stabilizing with chemicals, consider some other form of stabilization such as sterile filtration or even pasteurization. If you don't want to stabilize it, keep it in a carboy under airlock for the next year and wait (and let it warm up to about 75F). You do not want this to take off again inside bottles.

Medsen

EDIT
As I re-read your post, I see you've already bottled it. I would either pasteurize those bottles or unbottle it and pour it back into a carboy under airlock. If you don't want to do this, you may be at risk and should be very cautious in handling these bottles - and keep'em cold (like 40F refrigerator cold).
 
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Aurer

NewBee
Registered Member
May 1, 2009
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filtering is an option, i have activated charcoal system and a 5 micron filter.

I only planned about 3.5L staying to age in the cellar, the rest is going to a week long party in the mountains in 2 weeks

Edit - Saw your edit, yes its already bottled, but i have plenty of airlock caps for my 1.75L bottles, just got to break them out
 
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Medsen Fey

Fuselier since 2007
Premium Patron
To filter it you will need an absolute filter at 0.65 micron or smaller to get all the yeast out - no easy task.

I would strongly reconsider my plan, and I think I would pour these back into a carboy and stabilize them or I'd pasteurize the bottles. You'll be lucky if these bottles only become pettilant over time.

Medsen
 

Medsen Fey

Fuselier since 2007
Premium Patron
Good. If you can keep them under airlock, there is no risk of explosion. This risk is definitely not trivial. As I mentioned before, even 2 years later meads can restart especially as the weather warms up. And don't think for a minute that bottles can be strong enough.

I tried seeing if pressure would stop K1V (another strong yeast) by fermenting it in a keg without an airlock. The pressure built up to more than 8 atmospheres; more than enough to exploded even Champagne bottles and enough cause the pressure release valve on the keg to release some of the CO2. This was at cellar temperatures. You do not want to underestimate EC-1118.

With 1.75 Liter bottles you could sulfite/sorbate them in the bottle and then keep them under airlock for a month or two to be sure, and then you'd be good to go.

Medsen
 

Oskaar

Got Mead Partner
Administrator
Dec 26, 2004
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Sorbate along with potassium metabisulfite. You don't want to use sorbate by itself as it will be less effective, and it can be metabolized by lactic acid bacteria that will make a geranium smell that will irreversibly ruin your mead.

You can remediate the metabolism of the sorbate (if added without K-meta) by keeping your pH at 3.0 or lower, and by blanketing with Argon or CO2. Not a recommended method unless you have plenty of experience working with sliding pH and managing your headspace with gases.

Cheers,

Oskaar
 

afdoty

NewBee
Staff member
Registered Member
Feb 19, 2009
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Monroe, CT
filtering is an option, i have activated charcoal system and a 5 micron filter.

The 5-micron filter would be great for taking out a lot of the courser particles, but won't do anything for the yeasties. You'd need to get down to at least .5 microns and even then you may not get all of them. Some yeast cells have a minimum "diameter" of .45 microns. So even at .5 you risk not getting them all.
 
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