mead clearing
 

I'm making a 6 gallon batch of traditional mead. A portion of this batch will be put up for a charity auction to benefit a local non profit. I'd like to make it as "professional" as I can, which for me means putting it in nice bottles, doing a nice label, and having it look nice in the bottle.

this means it shouldn't have a bunch of yeast at the bottom.

I was planning on letting it do it's full ferment, then doing a secondary and even terciary racking, in order to let the most yeast fall out.

Is there anything else I can do? I'm mostly a beer maker, not a wine maker, and don't know what wine makers do to get the yeast out.

edit: I use irish moss with my mead, so when the fermentation stops, the yeast drops and it's clear, but more yeast drops out still in the bottle. I'm thinking that I'll get most of the yeast with the secondary / terciary fermentations. Probably it'll be fine.

let it sit for a LONG time. Cold crashing helps a lot. If you are set up or funded properly, you can always run it through a wine filter. That is the sure fire way, although it's pretty expensive if you'r not already set up to filter.

gelatin finings or something like isinglass work well for mead clearing if time doesn't work fast enough.

A traditional (nothing added) mead should clear in under 2 months. I know mine do.

A tertiary racking is not necessary. Just don't get greedy and try to suck up all the mead.

SuperKleer KC works awesome for clearing wine and Meads. You can also get a gravity filter if you plan on making more Meads or wine, they are pretty cheap.

So what could cause it to NOT clear? When I make little batches, Clear in a month...3 gallon or larger, LONG TIME to clear. Is this why some people pitch like 4 or 5 packs of yeast?

I've got a batch in secondary right now that's not clearing. Went into primary in Dec '08, secondary in Apr. It's still cloudy, but I have a feeling it's because I am testing the limits of Lalvin D-47...

Bentonite should work pretty fast.

I've been using Lalvin ec1118 for my mead. I only have done one batch so far. I liked the speed at which it fermented (3 weeks w/the addition of yeast nutrient), and it cleared well. Also did form very compact lees - the yeast doesn't stir up by simply moving the bottle.

I'm not sure about it's alcohol tolerance however. My mead came out sweeter than I'd have expected, and didn't carbonate (even though I'd added priming sugar - trying for a carbonated mead). I wonder if the yeast had cra**ed out, as I was shooting for about 10% ABV. I didn't check gravity, my bad.

I'm using it again for this batch, so we'll see what the result is.

I am wondering the same thing. I have a mead that has been in secondary for about 5 months now and is still pretty cloudy. It is a simple wildflower mead of about 5 gallons. Should I rack to tertiary and add sparkloids or bentonite? Or do I just need to wait longer for this this to settle out. I would really like to bottle in the next month if possible. Any help is appreciated :).