stopping fermentation

Hey!

I did a Pineapple/Habanero Capsicumel.
For 2.5gal batch, 6.5 lb buckwheat honey, 1 pineapple, 1 habanero.
I first pitched a Wyeast Sweet Mead, but after 2 days, nothing was happening so I pitched half a pack of Lalvin K1, then it started.
It's almost 2 weeks now and I took a sample for tasting. We wanted a sweet/hot finish, and right now, that's where it is. The pinapple is present, the habanero flavor is there, the hotness is perfect, so is the sugar amount. I know it's really soon, but we wanted a sweet finish, So i thought I could stop the fermentation right now, instead of backsweeten.

I will eventually trasnfer to 2 one-gallon jugs for aging, so I thought I could rack on sorbate+sulfite then cold crash for months of aging (8-10°C in the cold room or 4°C in the fridge), or either take the gallon jugs and pasteurize them on the stove to kill the yeast. And maybe re-rack to get rid of dead yeast, or simply bottle-age it.

What do you think?
For now, I just put it at 9°C to slow down the fermentation.

check on this but I think you can add the sulfite to stop fermentation

removed

Hey Tiroux,

You've got it right! Sorbate and SO2 would get the job done when combined with cold crashing. This is usually how wineries produce dessert wines, or other wines where they wish to have a little residual sugar left over. It is possible that fermentation starts back up if aged for a long time at a warm temperature (if a wild yeast/bacterium gets in), so often times wineries put their wines through a sterile filtration prior to bottling. I've never put beer/mead through a sterile filter, but don't think you'd want to do that...might strip it too much. I'd probably just go with the sorbate+50ppm SO2, cold crash it for a little while, and should be good!

Cheers.

PS - This might also depend on the yeast strain you use. I know that you can't just use SO2 with most wine yeasts, simply because they're tolerant up to Xppm of SO2. I would assume that Mead yeast is also tolerant, so the Sorbate would be necessary...

Jipper said:

Hey Tiroux,

You've got it right! Sorbate and SO2 would get the job done when combined with cold crashing. This is usually how wineries produce dessert wines, or other wines where they wish to have a little residual sugar left over. It is possible that fermentation starts back up if aged for a long time at a warm temperature (if a wild yeast/bacterium gets in), so often times wineries put their wines through a sterile filtration prior to bottling. I've never put beer/mead through a sterile filter, but don't think you'd want to do that...might strip it too much. I'd probably just go with the sorbate+50ppm SO2, cold crash it for a little while, and should be good!

Cheers.

PS - This might also depend on the yeast strain you use. I know that you can't just use SO2 with most wine yeasts, simply because they're tolerant up to Xppm of SO2. I would assume that Mead yeast is also tolerant, so the Sorbate would be necessary...

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply!

But I read that this only prevent reproduction of the yeast, so it's used when fermentation is done, after the yeast is decanted, so when you bottle it, there are not enough yeast left to referment, and since they can reproduce, you can backsweet. But in my case, the fermentation is active, and the yeast is numberous and in suspension in the liquid...

Tiroux said:

Thanks for the reply!

But I read that this only prevent reproduction of the yeast, so it's used when fermentation is done, after the yeast is decanted, so when you bottle it, there are not enough yeast left to referment, and since they can reproduce, you can backsweet. But in my case, the fermentation is active, and the yeast is numberous and in suspension in the liquid...

Click to expand...

Yes, that's correct. But you can cold crash the mead now, and hopefully the yeast will fall out (mostly). Then when it's clear, you can try racking onto the sorbate and sulfite(campden). That might work. It might not, though. Stopping an active fermentation is like stopping a freight train.

Yooper said:

Yes, that's correct. But you can cold crash the mead now, and hopefully the yeast will fall out (mostly). Then when it's clear, you can try racking onto the sorbate and sulfite(campden). That might work. It might not, though. Stopping an active fermentation is like stopping a freight train.

Click to expand...

Well, that's might be why I will probably let it ferment dry and backsweet.

But i'm curious on pasteurization. Let say I transfer it in a 1-gallon jug, then I pasteurize it on the stove, obviously, the yeast will die. So I could cold crash after that to make the yeast fall, then transfer again to age. Would it work, would it affect some thing in some way?

Tiroux said:

Well, that's might be why I will probably let it ferment dry and backsweet.

But i'm curious on pasteurization. Let say I transfer it in a 1-gallon jug, then I pasteurize it on the stove, obviously, the yeast will die. So I could cold crash after that to make the yeast fall, then transfer again to age. Would it work, would it affect some thing in some way?

Click to expand...

I have no idea. I wouldn't want to heat my mead, so I've never tried that!

Tiroux said:

Well, that's might be why I will probably let it ferment dry and backsweet.

But i'm curious on pasteurization. Let say I transfer it in a 1-gallon jug, then I pasteurize it on the stove, obviously, the yeast will die. So I could cold crash after that to make the yeast fall, then transfer again to age. Would it work, would it affect some thing in some way?

Click to expand...

Cooking it to even do a slow pasteurization (140F is the starting point there) will blow a lot of the flavors right into the air. Probably make your place smell nice, but the mead will be left lacking/wanting. I would say you're going to need to do something to stop the yeast before you backsweeten it. Since you used an 18% tolerant yeast, and you formulated a mead that could go to about 13%, there will be plenty of life left in the yeast. You can try the camden/sorbate (or is it sulfate? I forget) cocktail, but you'll need to wait before you go to bottles (or cap the jugs).

There are threads over on the Got Mead forums about stabilizing meads. Generally speaking you use 1 camden tablet per gallon and then I forget about how much of the other chemical you use. It's over on the forums.

Thanks to all

Finally, I will play the patience game.
I placed it at 48F°C, and it will stay there for 3 more weeks. My guess is that fermentation will continue but slowly, and some of the yeast will fall at he bottem, then I'll rack it into jugs and let them age before I stabilize and backsweet.