Hey Guys!
I'm new here, and working on my first mead (traditional) and I have a question about my headspace.
I have just racked my mead from the primary fermenter over to the Secondary Fermenter, 5 gallon Carboy, and I have WAAAY too much head space. Either the gallon increments on the primary fermenter are off, or the carboy holds 5 1/2 gallons. I don't want my mead to oxidize, but I don't have any more to top off with. The airlock is still bubbling at the, approximate, rate of once every 40 - 45 seconds which leads me to believe that the continued fermentation is still active enough to replace all the oxygen in the headspace with C02, therefore saving the meads integrity until the next racking. Is this safe to assume? And if not, I can buy some argon in a can from my LHBS, but they are closed until the 4th, will the mead be fine for 3 days? (I can't imagine it going bad in three days, but you never know)
The mead is currently at 14.9% ABV and the yeast manufacturer states, (Lalvin, 71B-1122) that the ABV tolerance is only 14% so my guess is any remaining active yeast will be dead or dormant within the next few days.
What do you guys think? Am I ok? Use the Argon?
Thanks,
Jonas
I'm new here, and working on my first mead (traditional) and I have a question about my headspace.
I have just racked my mead from the primary fermenter over to the Secondary Fermenter, 5 gallon Carboy, and I have WAAAY too much head space. Either the gallon increments on the primary fermenter are off, or the carboy holds 5 1/2 gallons. I don't want my mead to oxidize, but I don't have any more to top off with. The airlock is still bubbling at the, approximate, rate of once every 40 - 45 seconds which leads me to believe that the continued fermentation is still active enough to replace all the oxygen in the headspace with C02, therefore saving the meads integrity until the next racking. Is this safe to assume? And if not, I can buy some argon in a can from my LHBS, but they are closed until the 4th, will the mead be fine for 3 days? (I can't imagine it going bad in three days, but you never know)
The mead is currently at 14.9% ABV and the yeast manufacturer states, (Lalvin, 71B-1122) that the ABV tolerance is only 14% so my guess is any remaining active yeast will be dead or dormant within the next few days.
What do you guys think? Am I ok? Use the Argon?
Thanks,
Jonas