Recently made a blueberry melomel and have a questions about bentonite and oaking.
Recipe as follows.
17.4lb pounds of Orange Blossom Honey
Enough spring water to fill remaining of 6 gallon bucket
3 pounds of blueberries primary
20g fermaid O
12.5g GoFerm
5 Camden Tablets
7g Potassium BiCarbonate
1/2 tsp Pectin Enzyme
10g of Lavin 71B
I had to do a lot of traveling for work and had to make a lot of unwanted adjustments in the meadmaking process to try and compensate. Hopefully I didn't mess anything up too bad.
Let the above recipe ferment for a month before I racked into a 5 gallon carboy due to traveling (SG was around 1.009 for 3 days). Came back a little over a month later to find SG had dropped to 1. Racked the into 5 one gallon carboys with varying amount of vintners blueberry fruit puree (left one with no fruit) just to add some variability. Added 1/3 oak spiral to 2 of the one gallon batches 6 days ago. I was an idiot and didn't tie the oak thinking I could get it out- wrong. I don't want to leave the oak in any longer than two weeks(anyone have experience with oak spirals and one gallon batches?). Was wondering if it is feasible to knock two birds out with one stone and add the bentonite now so I can rack in a week to get it off this oak (as well as fruit since it will be two weeks since addition).
Will bentonite affect the fruit that is still extracting?
I was trying to avoid racking it again and then adding bentonite, with all of this trouble might just skip the bentonite altogether even though I would like to be less opaque.
Recipe as follows.
17.4lb pounds of Orange Blossom Honey
Enough spring water to fill remaining of 6 gallon bucket
3 pounds of blueberries primary
20g fermaid O
12.5g GoFerm
5 Camden Tablets
7g Potassium BiCarbonate
1/2 tsp Pectin Enzyme
10g of Lavin 71B
I had to do a lot of traveling for work and had to make a lot of unwanted adjustments in the meadmaking process to try and compensate. Hopefully I didn't mess anything up too bad.
Let the above recipe ferment for a month before I racked into a 5 gallon carboy due to traveling (SG was around 1.009 for 3 days). Came back a little over a month later to find SG had dropped to 1. Racked the into 5 one gallon carboys with varying amount of vintners blueberry fruit puree (left one with no fruit) just to add some variability. Added 1/3 oak spiral to 2 of the one gallon batches 6 days ago. I was an idiot and didn't tie the oak thinking I could get it out- wrong. I don't want to leave the oak in any longer than two weeks(anyone have experience with oak spirals and one gallon batches?). Was wondering if it is feasible to knock two birds out with one stone and add the bentonite now so I can rack in a week to get it off this oak (as well as fruit since it will be two weeks since addition).
Will bentonite affect the fruit that is still extracting?
I was trying to avoid racking it again and then adding bentonite, with all of this trouble might just skip the bentonite altogether even though I would like to be less opaque.
If it doesn't take that long for a reaction to occur, I'm not willing to risk putting just any metal wire in there. Obviously, many tools used in making mead are made from stainless steal, so for me, that's the safe bet - or racking it again.
