gyrfalcon

Recipes 

I'm not sure if this is foam or an infection... Any ideas? It's been fermenting it since 9-29-07 and took two samples with a Fermtech AutoSiphon which was sprayed with Clorox Cleanup and then washed before use.



HighRes: http://picasaweb.google.com/gyrfalcon16/15GallonsOfMead/photo#5125427909859724418

Ps: The brown spots are whole cloves.... You can zoom on the picture with the zoom tool.

__________________
On Deck:
Primary A: Fuggles I.P.A. Primary B: Jonathan & Heidi Mead
Primary C: Pina Melomel Primary D: EdWort's Apfelwein Mod.
Primary E: Effel 07 (Blue Wine) Bottling: BrewFrick Panty Dropper Mod. (Clover Hoof)
Drinking: Schells Beer
Planning: Octane I.P.A.

Shakz

Recipes 

I think its fine. Mine has white foam at the top too....every batch I have made so far. They have all turned out fine.

gyrfalcon

Recipes 

Thanks! I thought it was okay but I can get a bit paranoid.

__________________
On Deck:
Primary A: Fuggles I.P.A. Primary B: Jonathan & Heidi Mead
Primary C: Pina Melomel Primary D: EdWort's Apfelwein Mod.
Primary E: Effel 07 (Blue Wine) Bottling: BrewFrick Panty Dropper Mod. (Clover Hoof)
Drinking: Schells Beer
Planning: Octane I.P.A.

RangerG

Recipes 

I had a batch of raspberry mead go south not long ago due to an unsanitary secondary fermenter. The surface looked just like a culture in a petrie dish from highschool. When I opened it up it had a vinegar aroma - heartbreaking.

Anyway, that foam DOES NOT look like a petrie dish culture, it just looks like foam to me. I would have been happy to see that foam instead of what I had. Everything looks well in the garden.

malkore

Recipes 

that's normal. that's as close to a 'krausen' as mead gets.

is that cinnamon sticks floating in there?

__________________
Malkore
Primary: English Mild
On tap: Pale Ale, Lancelot's Wheat, English Brown Ale, Steam Beer, HoovNuts IPA
Bottled: MOAM, Braggot, Raspberry Melomel, Merlot, Apfelwein, Pyment, Sweet mead, Cabernet
Gal in 2009: 27, Gal in 2010: 34, Gal in 2011: 13, Gal in 2012: 10

gyrfalcon

Recipes 

I took the cinnamon sticks out after 2 days. The stuff floating in there are clovers I wasn't able to pull out.


Do you know how long should I leave mead in the primary?

__________________
On Deck:
Primary A: Fuggles I.P.A. Primary B: Jonathan & Heidi Mead
Primary C: Pina Melomel Primary D: EdWort's Apfelwein Mod.
Primary E: Effel 07 (Blue Wine) Bottling: BrewFrick Panty Dropper Mod. (Clover Hoof)
Drinking: Schells Beer
Planning: Octane I.P.A.

malkore

Recipes 

give it a month, then take a gravity reading. mead starts off fermenting nicely, but will slow down as nutrients are used up and the alcohol starts stunting things.

little additions of yeast nutrient can be helpful along the way.

usually after a month its done with primary. i'd secondary for a while to get yeast to fall out, then bottle or even consider a tertiary.

__________________
Malkore
Primary: English Mild
On tap: Pale Ale, Lancelot's Wheat, English Brown Ale, Steam Beer, HoovNuts IPA
Bottled: MOAM, Braggot, Raspberry Melomel, Merlot, Apfelwein, Pyment, Sweet mead, Cabernet
Gal in 2009: 27, Gal in 2010: 34, Gal in 2011: 13, Gal in 2012: 10

gyrfalcon

Recipes 

Well now I definitely have an infection... I racked it to a 5 gallon container and backpressure apparently pulled in mold along with the vodka I had in the airlock.

Any ideas what I should do now...



Highres Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/gyrfalcon16/Mold

__________________
On Deck:
Primary A: Fuggles I.P.A. Primary B: Jonathan & Heidi Mead
Primary C: Pina Melomel Primary D: EdWort's Apfelwein Mod.
Primary E: Effel 07 (Blue Wine) Bottling: BrewFrick Panty Dropper Mod. (Clover Hoof)
Drinking: Schells Beer
Planning: Octane I.P.A.

sirsloop

Recipes 

rack to another carboy and leave some behind... see if it goes away.

__________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~___//_ ____________________________~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~_/ [][]| | /```\/```\/```\/```\/```\ |~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~_/_______| |____NOW TRIPLE HOPPED______|~~~~~~~~~~
~~~___/[_]| 00 /| | \,,,/\,,,/\,,,/\,,,/\,,,/ |~~~~~~~~~~
~~|___|___|___/_| |___________________________|~~~~~~~~~~
~~|=(*)[________]==(*)(*)=| \________/=(*)(*)=|~~~~~~~~~~

Deofol

Recipes 

How does it taste? Did you give it a swill?