Some questions on 2nd mead

mhorlick said:

Hello,

I have made Joes's Ancient Orange and Spice Mead a couple of times before with much success.

This time, I decided to do a mead with just honey, water and yeast.

Started it on June 13. 3 lbs of honey, Lalvin EC-1118 yeast in a 1 gallon jug. Last week it stopped bubbling. I sampled a bit of it

Observations: Very cloudy and pretty potent. I measured the SG to be 1.06.

How do I fix the cloudiness?

Also, I was thinking of flavouring it with some bing cherries (and possibly a couple of cinnamon sticks and some raisins).

The opening to the jug is pretty small. When racking to a new jug how do I go about adding cherries to this jug? Should I freeze the cherries first, put them in a muslin bag and when they defrost somehow push the bag through the opening?

Would 1 lb of cherries have much affect on the taste or should I be using more?

Thanks,

Mike

Click to expand...

As it is, it's what'd be termed "Show Mead" Mike. If you posted the exact ingredients and technique/method, then one of those familiar with show meads would be able to assist.

IMO, at 1.060, it's very likely still fermenting, though the absence of any nutrient/energiser type ingredients will make for a long, slow fermentation. EC-1118 is capable of 18% ABV, hence I'm presuming it's got a way to go yet.

The cloudiness is likely to be the yeast still in suspension, which wouldn't be a surprise if it does still have some room to ferment. It might depend on what the starting gravity was, as to the likely % ABV. Either way if that's what you were intending i.e. a show mead, then I believe you're not supposed to do anything else with it and leave it to gravity/time for it to clear.

Obviously, if you're thinking of adding further ingredients, then it ceases to be a show mead and adding fruit/spices not only changes the flavour, but has the potential to bring in a few other issues i.e. the other ingredients will provide some nutrient value as well as more fermentable sugars, some aeration (from adding the further ingredients etc) could easily encourage the ferment to start/change/restart/etc etc.

It's worth thinking about what it is that you're trying to achieve, before you start "moving the goal posts".....

regards

fatbloke

Well if is still fermenting very slowly and your not going to re-pitch or add any nutrients then its probably best just to sit it out mate, let it ferment all the way it can and see what you have then.

Then if you still want to flavour it or backsweeten it you can do , but most people would advise sulphite & sorbate to stop the fermentation from kicking back up again, but then it would not be a show mead would it

To fix cloudyness the best solution is time and racking it off the sediment every time a fair amount has fallen (I usually rack right when fermentation is over, then a month or two later, then once or twice more over the next year or more).

Clearing is the first important improvment a mead makes while aging, it really fixes the aroma and flavour. Then slow chemical reactions will turn it into liquid gold.

I find traditionals or show meads/etc to be the slowest to clear, some of mine have taken close to a year.

Before you rack, check the SG again, this yeast has the ability to take this one all the way to dry (well below 1.000) so it's probably not done fermenting yet. Don't rely on the bubbles, they lie!