Headspace when racking to secondary (oxidation) - Page 2

damdaman · 02-17-2010, 10:10 PM

Ok, so I racked to secondaries today and I'm wondering what you guys all consider a safe amount of headspace. I filled up 5 64oz. growlers, but these growlers already have a little headspace above the 64oz. mark, plus with the must lost due to racking and hydrometer samples, I ended up with about 2" of headspace in each growler (mostly neck, but coming out a little bit to the flared part of the bottle). Is this too much?

MedsenFey · 02-17-2010, 11:02 PM

I'd fill them into the neck - these are small containers.

rnrchemnerd · 02-18-2010, 06:43 PM

Can't you just dose it with some potassium metabisulfite? Metabisulfites are used to prevent oxidation and spoilage in wine. Why not mead?

MedsenFey · 02-18-2010, 06:53 PM

Sulfites are good for mead and I use them regularly, however, they will not protect a mead from acetic acid bacteria that has a supply of oxygen. Even 100 ppm free SO2 is not enough to stop them, especially if the pH is near 4.0 - the surest way to keep them suppressed is to allow them to have no oxygen.