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Headspace/Degassing/Airlock Question

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jrigal

Worker Bee
Registered Member
Sep 27, 2005
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I have a one gallon 4 week cyser finishing. I've already cold stabilized it and racked onto the stabilizers. Its been sitting for about 2-3 weeks since then and is clear. I was a little anxious to get it in bottles, because after checking gravity numerous times and racking, I had a lot of headspace.

So I bottled and came up just short of 4 bottles. The just short part, I drank half of and bottled the rest, which I refrigerated. When I drank part of it, I realized it was carbonated and still degassing.

My answer to this, though maybe wrong, was to put it back into a sterilized one gallon jug slowly - as not to oxygenate too much, and then de-gas by stirring every 15 minutes. Now it has to rest.

Here's the question. Do I leave it there with all that headspace (it's a little over half full) with an airlock, or do I bottle it and put airlocks on the bottles?
 

Pewter_of_Deodar

NewBee
Registered Member
Sep 23, 2004
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Cedar Rapids, IA
A few words to the wise...

Measure SG and taste, then bottle... it allows you to decide if you want to backsweeten or do something else before you have split the batch into bottles.

My opinion would be that you risk the batch now that you have bottled it by putting it back together. If it originally had a lot of carbonation, you could assume that moving it cautiously would release the CO2 into whatever new container and form a blanket over the must to protect it. Some of that was lost bottling. More would be lost unbottling...

I'll leave it to the experts to recommend what you should do next. I always wait LONG periods of time (6 months or so) before bottling so I haven't encountered this particular problem.

Good luck!
 

Dan McFeeley

Lifetime Patron
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Oct 10, 2003
1,899
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Illinois
hart1a.jpg[img]


It's a little difficult to say exactly what the best course is without knowing the finishing gravity of the cyser, or how much headspace you're looking at. If you can dump a whole bunch of sanitized marbles into the one gallon carboy, all the better. Just make sure they're from the pet store -- hobby marbles are likely to have chemicals that will leach into the cyser. If the glass is safe enough for fish, it's safe enough for meadmaking.

The finishing gravity will tell you whether the problem is dissolved CO2 that is degassing, or a low level fermentation that is slowly finishing out. If the latter is the case, you don't want to bottle -- exploding bottles can be extremely dangerous.

Using airlocks on the bottles would work, but you'd be missing the benefits of bulk aging.

Hope this is helpful, or at least, aiming in the right direction.
 

jrigal

Worker Bee
Registered Member
Sep 27, 2005
40
0
6
47
The OG was 1.125. I used Norskersword 's version of this. When it reached the desired SG of 1.020, I stopped fermentation by cold stabilizing. I checked the SG a couple of weeks later and it was the same. So, no more fermentation. I'm pretty sure its carbonation.

I know I risked it by putting it back together, but I didn't know what else to do to get rid of the carbonation.
 

Dan McFeeley

Lifetime Patron
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Oct 10, 2003
1,899
7
38
68
Illinois
hart1a.jpg[img]


jrigal said:
The OG was 1.125. I used Norskersword 's version of this. When it reached the desired SG of 1.020, I stopped fermentation by cold stabilizing. I checked the SG a couple of weeks later and it was the same. So, no more fermentation. I'm pretty sure its carbonation.

I know I risked it by putting it back together, but I didn't know what else to do to get rid of the carbonation.

Missed it the first time -- the one gallon carboy is a little over half full? With a FG of 1.020 the carbonation may very well have been from a slow fermentation, especially if the yeast strain was a vigorous fermenter with a high alcohol tolerance.

Any possiblity you could blend this with another mead or cyser? That would bring your headspace up.
 

jrigal

Worker Bee
Registered Member
Sep 27, 2005
40
0
6
47
Yeah, a little over half. It's about equivalent of 3 750 ml bottles plus maybe 6 ounces. This is kind of an weird situation.

I don't have anything anywhere close to this stage in finishing to add to it. It tastes pretty good and has a great color. It's just a little harsh and it's mildly carbonated. I may just have to bottle it this way and let it breathe when I open the bottles.

Now that I think about it, I have a half gallon jug. I could bottle one and transfer the rest. Then, I'd have one carbonated and two non-carbonated.
 

jrigal

Worker Bee
Registered Member
Sep 27, 2005
40
0
6
47
All should be well with this one. I bottled one carbonated and racked the remainder into a half gallon jug. The jug isn't as full as I'd like but it's filled to the point where the glass begins to curve. At least there's less surface area than in the gallon jug.

Both will be put up to age. Should be enough in the jug to full two more bottles in a few months. It's definitely drinkable now, but we'll see what happens down the road.

Thanks for your help and advice!

Jay
 

jfet

NewBee
Registered Member
Mar 10, 2005
13
0
0
When I made cyder it went to .995 or something. I just remember that at 1.00 it was flat. Then when I opened the first bottle about a week later it was fizzing like crazy. So I openend the 2 cases I bottled. Poured down the side of the carboy and let It go for a couple months (like 8 I got lazy and had other mead to spill). Then I racked on some more sorbate. Its now like a year later clearing in the bottles.
 
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