mkut

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I made my first batches of mead in late feb, early march this year. The recipie was as follows:

3.5 lbs of honey
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1 pkt of of yeast (high strength dessert wine)
this was to make a 1 gallon batch

I've racked it about 6 times now, and finally it is clear, with no sediment at the bottom of the demijohn. But their are still bubbles coming, as before its now been about 4 months. i would really like to bottle it, so I can start making some more.

But as its still bubbling i am frightened it might go bang. When i give the demijohn a swirl, the bubbles go really rapid of about 5 secs, then back to very slow.

How long do i have to wait?

Yooper

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If it's clear, it's probably done fermenting. The co2 is just coming out of solution, through the airlock. Bubbling can happen for a variety of reasons- change in temperature, change in barometric pressure, etc.

I'd check the SG with a hydrometer today and in a few days. If they are the same, it's safe to bottle.

If the mead is gassy, you may need to help it along by degassing (expelling some of the gas out of it).

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IrregularPulse

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The bubbles will stop when there is no longer an excess of CO2 within the fermenter.
You wait until it's done. Which has nothing to do with bubbles. Take a hydrometer reading. Take another one a day or two later, and another a day or 2 after that. When you get a consistent reading 2-3 days straight, you are done fermenting and can proceed to bottle.


*Damn, beat by Yoop*

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mkut

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Thanks for the advice, much appreciated.

Insomniac

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I'm at a similar stage with a number of mine, and have bottles one of them already. Whats a good way to degass? I've heard a drill and a degassing want thingy, but I dont have a drill and don't plan on going out and buying one!

fatbloke

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You can de-gas in a number of way, it just depends on whether and how much......

Whether you want to throw some £'s at it and how much......

Plus how much there is to actually de-gas.

Cheapest, would be bottle and get a "vacu-vin" so every time you open a bottle, you put the VV stopper on the bottle and then pump the hand pump a couple of times, until there's no more bubbles coming out, a vacu-vin and 2 stoppers is about a tenner or so.

You can get a whizz stick and drill, seen whiz sticks for about £15. Then drill ??????

You could also get a vacuum pump of some sort and use that. I have an enolmatic, which can be used as a vacuum bottler, or for de-gassing under vacuum, or vacuum racking or as I also have the matching filter housing, for vacuum filtration. But its not cheap...

As varies on quantity of product. A vacu-vin and extra stoppers for gallon or so batches, whizz stick drill combo for about 1 to 5 gallons and if you regularly make more then you'd probably want to automate.

Of course, if you're the inventive type, you could probably achieve good results with a stirrup pump, if you can find one, or you can even use a car brake bleeding kit - seen those for about £25 on eBay. You just need to connect it and pump till the bubbles stop......

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janivar123

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seems degassing has evolved sinse i used to do it
i used to shake violently 4-5 times a day for 2-3 days(room temp helps)
As far as i know my wine did just fine

oh yeah a glass carboy might not be fun to shake

tweake

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to me i suspect its still fermenting.

all of mine have degassed within a few weeks. especially after being racked.
whats probably happened is that its been racked before it finished. what yeast is left will still ferment, just very slowly.
just because its clear is not an indicator thats its finished. i've got a few here that have settled all the yeast but is still fermenting. going clear just means theres not enough fermenting to keep the yeast suspended ie going slow. doesn't mean it finished or close to finished.

this is why you need to use a hydrometer. bubbles/clearing etc are poor indicators in whats happing.

Insomniac

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Cheers for the tips fb! Have ordered a vacuvin, seems like a cool thing to have to keep my mead a bit longer anyway! I guess I can use it at bottling time before corking properly and then use it after opening to keep the mead a bit longer?

fatbloke

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It doesn't really affect longevity. It's more to do with storage and taste. When the CO2 is in solution its in the form of carbonic acid and can be tasted by many. I understand that its easily removed because of the weak chemical connection, hence some are happy with the older more precarious shaking/rolling. Whizz sticks are an upgrade but momentum of the liquid can cause potential oxidation if carried out wrongly.

A vacuvin should do the job by just de-gassing before sealing the bottle. It's only problem is size and lack of capacity for more than a bottle or two.

The brake bleeding kit works well as the level of vacuum is very controllable. And cheap (what ? £30 or so......)

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