Black mead

I recently racked 5 gallons of mead onto flavoring in the secondary and put the rest into a one gallon jug to be used as top off in the tertiary.

When I first racked it there was a lite black tint that sat in the top one inch. As time has gone by the color has been become more intense and taken over the entire jug.

The color in the jug is completely black opaque. There is no off odor and it tastes' OK.

I've considered racking onto gelatin fining but prefer to let nature do most of my clearing.

Anyone got an idea?

D

Black flavoring?

...sounds like something from a Steven King book...

Is this a honey and water mead? ...any other ingredients?

dinich said:

I recently racked 5 gallons of mead onto flavoring.......
D

Click to expand...

To embarrassed to say what you racked it on to?

Mr. Nice Guy said:

...sounds like something from a Steven King book...

Is this a honey and water mead? ...any other ingredients?

Click to expand...

It's honey, water and "flavoring". Mwah ha ha!

I've made a lot of mead, but never had any black layer...

I haven't a clue as to what it may be. Never read anything about this type of a problem before.

I'll bet the "flavoring" is pie filling and corn syrup(https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f30/different-type-fruit-81870/)...which could open up a whole can of nasties

Thanks for the responses???

I'll attempt to answer questions and address comments in order

Basic recipe:

10lbs +/- honey
Yeast nutrient
Lavin 1118 yeast
water to 5 gallons

OG 1.082
FG 1.002 ABV ~9.2

Took three reading over three days with out change


Racked onto Flavoring.......Dried Cranberry / Spiced Apple mix
has produced wonderful flavor in test batches

4 gallons went into the secondary on the Dried Cranberry/ Spiced Apple
The rest went into the one gallon jug.

The mead on the Dried Cranberry/ Spiced Apple has taken on a very nice shade of orange and is clearing nicely.

Only the one gallon jug is black.

I've not seen this in 35+ test batches of mead

I have used "Pie Filling" in meads before and will do so again.
Flavors used hane been Apple pie, cherry pie, blackberry pie, blueberry pie and pumpkin pie. Only the cherry didn't turn out to be most enjoyable.

I prefer my wines and meads to be on the sweet side.

I be home from a busin ess trip tonight and will attempt some pictures


D

Probably bacteria in the jug...

homebrewer_99 said:

Probably bacteria in the jug...

Click to expand...

That's what I was leaning towards

Perhaps my attention to sanitation wasn't as anal as previous times


If it is bacteria, can I save it....or should it be tossed ?

D

I'd rack it into a clean and sanitized container on top of a crushed campden tablet or two and give it a month to see if it improves. Otherwise send it my way and I'll dispose of it properly for you.

If it's good to drink.... maybee you should save the strain. Black wine is quite a novelty. I would offer to isolate the strain, but alas, I do not currently have access to a bio lab.

Sorry if they're posted (anonymous HBT doesn't show a lot of pictures) but have you posted any pictures?