nsrooen

Recipes 

I recently bottled my first sweet mead.

I aged it for 10 months in car boys - Primary, Secondary, Tertiary. Before I bottled it I added Potassium Sorbate (even though I probably did not need to) and let it sit for a week longer. Before it went in bottles I back-sweetened it with honey.

Two months later I have started to drink it. While it smells and tastes great I have a great deal of sediment at the bottom of it. Which if you bump it makes an unsightly mess in your glass when you pour it.

Is this normal? Is there any way to avoid this next time?

Any advice would be appreciated.

MedsenFey

Recipes 

There are several things you can do to reduce sediment:

1. After adding more honey let it clear again before bottling (could take a few months). The honey will have proteins and whatnot that will settle in the bottle otherwise.
2. Fining to remove proteins and residual yeast cell with Bentonite (or perhaps other fining agents)
3. Keep it in fridge for a few weeks to eliminate more sediment before bottling.
4. Filtration. This may clear things immediately but sediment can still form in bottles after filtration.

Medsen

nsrooen

Recipes 

Thanks for the advice Medsen. I will try all of the above or combination to avoid this problem on my current batch.

bubbachunk

Recipes 

Personally I only bottle when crystal clear, and even then if you give it enough time you will get some sediment. When you added more honey it was most likely not very clear.

Easy fix though, just could crash the bottles standing up and decant the wine into a decanter then serve.