Go figure. For the first time in weeks, I didn't check on my mead each morning and night.
So this morning I went down to find that my finished and bulk aging pyment had popped the rubber stopper I had in the carboy.
I know it had quit fermenting - it's fermented dry - and the rubber stopper is MIA.
I think that what happened is that having stoppered it, the mead was unable to degass, and we had two sudden low pressure systems sweep through with some spectacular thunderstorms. I suspect that the stopper while tight was no match for the significant pressure differences when the storms came through.
Anyway, I am now worried about the integrity of this batch. It's at about 16% ABV, and I did not use any sulphites to stabilize it.
Should I now add sulphites to prevent any long term surprises? There had to have been some oxidation, but the carboy was filled to the neck, so there was little surface area exposed.
Lesson learned: forget the stopper, and leave it airlocked.
David
So this morning I went down to find that my finished and bulk aging pyment had popped the rubber stopper I had in the carboy.
I know it had quit fermenting - it's fermented dry - and the rubber stopper is MIA.
I think that what happened is that having stoppered it, the mead was unable to degass, and we had two sudden low pressure systems sweep through with some spectacular thunderstorms. I suspect that the stopper while tight was no match for the significant pressure differences when the storms came through.
Anyway, I am now worried about the integrity of this batch. It's at about 16% ABV, and I did not use any sulphites to stabilize it.
Should I now add sulphites to prevent any long term surprises? There had to have been some oxidation, but the carboy was filled to the neck, so there was little surface area exposed.
Lesson learned: forget the stopper, and leave it airlocked.
David