Racking the Mead

Honey · Apr 3, 2012

In one of the boxes of toys that was delivered today there is a racking kit. I had thought it would be "u" shaped to hang over the top of the bucket or carby, but it is "L" shapped which is confusing me and I'm "racking" my brain (lol - sorry)... could someone please post a few pics of racking so I can get a visual of how this thing is used??

Thanks, Honey

Deacon Aegis · Apr 3, 2012

Honey said:
In one of the boxes of toys that was delivered today there is a racking kit. I had thought it would be "u" shaped to hang over the top of the bucket or carby, but it is "L" shapped which is confusing me and I'm "racking" my brain (lol - sorry)... could someone please post a few pics of racking so I can get a visual of how this thing is used??

Thanks, Honey

Here's a video of a guy using a racking cane that is "L" shaped. This is a self priming racking cane, but the principle is the same. Hope this helps http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBIYzWoQOp8

TAKeyser · Apr 3, 2012

Honey said:
In one of the boxes of toys that was delivered today there is a racking kit. I had thought it would be "u" shaped to hang over the top of the bucket or carby, but it is "L" shapped which is confusing me and I'm "racking" my brain (lol - sorry)... could someone please post a few pics of racking so I can get a visual of how this thing is used??

Thanks, Honey

Here you go http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUoM7Tj7MeA just substitute mead for the beer

TAKeyser · Apr 3, 2012

Damn people who type faster than I do.

Deacon Aegis · Apr 3, 2012

TAKeyser said:
Damn people who type faster than I do.

Sorry, My bad ;D

Honey · Apr 3, 2012

Ahhhh - excellent thanks! I didn't know about the fill-with-water thing to get it started, I was going to suck on it. It will be a while yet before I rack, but I'm forever hopeful and want to get some idea of what I will be doing prior to trying to do it.

Honey

TAKeyser · Apr 3, 2012

Honey said:
Ahhhh - excellent thanks! I didn't know about the fill-with-water thing to get it started, I was going to suck on it.

Mead, mouth, siphon, germs, bad

Honey · Apr 3, 2012

TAKeyser said:
Mead, mouth, siphon, germs, bad

I'm still working on how to fill 6 feet of narrow tube with sterile water... it will be hard enough trying to spray sanitizer into the hose prior to use...

Honey

TAKeyser · Apr 3, 2012

Honey said:
I'm still working on how to fill 6 feet of narrow tube with sterile water... it will be hard enough trying to spray sanitizer into the hose prior to use...

Honey

Fill the sink with sanitizer and immerse the hose in the sink. It will fill with water and than put your thumbs over both ends to keep the solution in the tube as seen in the video and attach it to your racking cane and use the sanitized solution to start the siphon

skunkboy · Apr 3, 2012

TAKeyser said:
Fill the sink with sanitizer and immerse the hose in the sink. It will fill with water and than put your thumbs over both ends to keep the solution in the tube as seen in the video and attach it to your racking cane and use the sanitized solution to start the siphon

This will feel a bit awkward, so you may want to fill a jug with water, and try doing this to siphon it out before proceeding with your mead.

Honey · Apr 3, 2012

Yes - I know it says "no rinse" but as it won't get a chance to dry I'm not thrilled about the idea of running the mead through a sanitizer-wet hose.

Honey

Demolitron · Apr 3, 2012

I must be strange because I've never had a problem with not rinsing "no-rinse" sanitizer. A lot of people get hung up on it but Star San is super safe. It only kills microbes when at a high enough concentration. The residue/foam left behind is a negligible amount, in even a one gallon batch. I drank about an ounce of it once with no ill effect. In fact I've seen a guy drink a whole glass of it before.

Mostly Star San is phosphoric acid so it even helps to feed the yeast. Plus that residue will kill off any microbes that happen to land on it so for me it serves as a great peace of mind.

-Demolitron

TAKeyser · Apr 3, 2012

I have no problem not rinsing the stuff, it is engineered so you don't have to rinse the residue off so why worry about it. But we all do things our own way.

Honey · Apr 3, 2012

Demolitron said:
... I drank about an ounce of it once with no ill effect. In fact I've seen a guy drink a whole glass of it before. ..
-Demolitron

Lol - I wonder if that would be worth a try next time it's "cold and 'flu season" at the office???

Honey

Chevette Girl · Apr 3, 2012

A bottle rinser works well for filling the hose with sanitizer if you don't want to waste a whole sinkful (although personally I keep mine in a jar and just suck it up into the hose and then sanitize my end again), but I fill mine with water at the tap. If the water I drink isn't sanitary enough for my mead, well, tough for the mead.

TAKeyser · Apr 3, 2012

Chevette Girl said:
A bottle rinser works well for filling the hose with sanitizer if you don't want to waste a whole sinkful (although personally I keep mine in a jar and just suck it up into the hose and then sanitize my end again), but I fill mine with water at the tap. If the water I drink isn't sanitary enough for my mead, well, tough for the mead.

Well I'm not wasting the whole sinkful as it usually started sanitizing the carboy I'll be racking into and there's other supplies sitting in the sanitizer waiting for when I need it in the process.

hepcat · Apr 4, 2012

Yes I use clean tap water to prime my siphon when using a racking cane but you might consider getting an autosiphon, they are the bomb and make it so much easier.

And here's another good video on racking and this guy also has a great web site with tons of info and a whole bunch of good video tutorials that show almost every step of the mead making process.

his racking video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnGoTs6Wn98&list=PL9E2B31D6B53DA1B1&index=20&feature=plpp_video

All of his youtube video tutorials, really worth a look:

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=9E2B31D6B53DA1B1

his web site: http://www.stormthecastle.com/mead/index.htm

Good luck!

mmclean · Apr 4, 2012

+1 on the autosiphon. I would never try the "fill the tube" technique. Why bother?

Legitapotimous · Apr 4, 2012

auto-syphon oh yea, got one before my hydrometer... heh

hepcat · Apr 6, 2012

mmclean said:
+1 on the autosiphon. I would never try the "fill the tube" technique. Why bother?

I just have the short auto-siphon for racking with my small fermenting (two gallon) bucket and my one gallon and 3 liter carboys.

I haven't gotten the long one yet so use a normal racking cane when racking out of my 6.5 gallon fermenting bucket and I didn't find priming the siphon hose with water too difficult and that long auto-siphon looks like it would be a pain to clean/sanitize.

Racking the Mead

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