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endless co2

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Eytan

NewBee
Registered Member
Oct 30, 2012
27
0
0
London, UK
Hey fellow mead makers!

A quick one for you....

Im trying to degass two 1 gallon batches of mead so I can bottle them before friday (I'm moving house and would be much easier to transport in bottles). They are both at about the point where I bottled my first two batches (in terms of time), but no matter how much I stir and shake them, there seems to be no end to the amount of bubbles coming out!

They both taste still, with not even a hint of carbonisation... but no sign of the bubbles ending (when shaken or mixed).

How do you know when its okay to bottle?

Additional info: Ferment has definitely totally stopped. SG has been steady for 2 weeks now. Its been about 5 weeks in secondary and 5 weeks in primary before that.

thanks in advance!

Peace and Mead
Eytan
 

Eytan

NewBee
Registered Member
Oct 30, 2012
27
0
0
London, UK
Thanks for the reply, but its not the clarity I'm worried about... its already really clear.

Its really only the fact that when stirred or shaken its still producing endess co2 bubbles, and I'm always slightly concerned about the possibility of bottle bombs...

Im guessing that the bubbles never completely stop.... but 7 days of stirring for 3 minutes, 3 times a day.... plus countless periods of shaking over that time... and its still there... how much co2 is it possible to have in there!?
 

Marshmallow Blue

NewBee
Registered Member
what's the gravity been resting at? Also you may be getting bubbles from the stirring action as your folding air back into the must. So it may be air you've mixed back in (or shaken in) that's coming up.

If your feel your mead isn't quite ready to bottle, you could bottle it temporarily and move it back into the carboys when you get to your new house.

But I'm thinking it might be the air that you just incorporated into the must thats coming back up.
 

fatbloke

good egg/snappy dresser.....
GotMead Patron
Clear it with finings, kwikclear (I think that's spelled correctly) takes 24 to 48 hours normally, rack onto stabilising chems (sulphite and sorbate).

Then for speed, it's about the £'s. Dearest is a powered vacuum pump (as much as you want to spend), then there's the mityvac type car brake bleeding pumps which can be found on ebay for about the £20 mark or thereabouts, you can rig it to a piece of tube and bung with hole or the cheapest (apart from the endless shaking etc) is to get a vacuvin hand pump. Where you can bottle the cleared mead, and either get a few extra of the one way vacuvin stoppers or just use the two that come with the pump but then use the plastic reusable caps to stopper the bottle. The vacuvin is £6 -£7 with 2 stoppers/1 way pumping valves but I don't know how much extra the extra valves would be probably something like a quid or two for 2. The plastic stoppers are about a quid or so for 10 or 12.

The vacuvin would be the most effort having to do each bottle individually, but if the batch is cleared and stable you could just bottle it up and then de-gas it before you want to drink it a bottle at a time. Whereas a mityvac hand pump or powered vacuum pump can do a gallon at a time.

Your choice......

Or of course just put solid bungs in the DJ's and carefully box and pack round them for safety. It's not like you're gonna be changing country is it. No mega distances or international borders.....
 

Chevette Girl

All around BAD EXAMPLE
Moderator
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Apr 27, 2010
8,447
59
48
Ottawa, ON
I've had batches like that, took me a couple weeks, pumping several timea day with a vacuvin pump to degas one batch.

Is there any residual sugar? It could still be very slowly fermenting even if the SG doesn't look like it's going anywhere, my show meads took almost a year to drop the last .030...
 
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