When to rack mead?

This is my first mead. I made it about three weeks ago and was planning on racking in a few weeks, but I keep reading threads that say to rack it sooner. Unfortunately I didn't have a hydrometer at the time so I don't have an OG.

Today I decided to siphon some out now that I have a hydrometer and it read 1.000. Does that seem right? It kind of tasted like a really dry flat champagne, is that normal? I was hoping it would be a little sweeter and I know I'm kind of jumping the gun. I plan to let it sit in secondary a few months and maybe I'll add some more honey if that's a good idea.

Ingredients:
5 gallons water
12 lbs of wild flower honey
1/2 lb peaches
1 lb raisins
1 pkt organic yeast from whole foods

Any help would be great!

Walshy87 said:

This is my first mead. I made it about three weeks ago and was planning on racking in a few weeks, but I keep reading threads that say to rack it sooner. Unfortunately I didn't have a hydrometer at the time so I don't have an OG.

Today I decided to siphon some out now that I have a hydrometer and it read 1.000. Does that seem right? It kind of tasted like a really dry flat champagne, is that normal? I was hoping it would be a little sweeter and I know I'm kind of jumping the gun. I plan to let it sit in secondary a few months and maybe I'll add some more honey if that's a good idea.

Ingredients:
5 gallons water
12 lbs of wild flower honey
1/2 lb peaches
1 lb raisins
1 pkt organic yeast from whole foods

Any help would be great!

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if it's reading 1.000, it's pretty much finished. So if it's dropped a sediment then it's probably fine to rack it.

At 2.4lb per gallon, it's gonna be pretty dry - the average seems to be about 3lb to 3.5lb made up to a gallon with water.

Equally if you don't have a starting gravity, there's no real way of working out the strength.

So all you can really do is to rack it and clear it, or if you're not sure about a dry mead, you can get stabilising chemicals (potassium sorbate and potassium/sodium metabisulphite), and add the dose for the amount you've made/got, then back sweeten it to taste (add a bit of honey after you've stabilised, mix it in slowly/carefully so as not to go adding much, if any air/oxygen - then taste it too see if you like it and also take a gravity reading. it's easy to add more, a little at a time, but if you add to much at once, it's hard to remove or mask a mega sweet taste).

To add to what fat bloke said, I might wait until it drops some sediment and then rack it, then wait until it ages some before you taste it again. Mead takes a long time to age up, an you might find it to be quite good in a few months. It will still be dry, but it will also be smoother, and you can back sweeten at any time before you bottle it. Just be patient with it. Good luck!

Thanks! I'll let you know how it turns out.

Thanks! I'll let you know how it turns out.

My Mead was a little cloudy after a month in the secondary, so I racked it and after a week gave it a try. Looks good and tastes good at 15.5% albv took 15 lbs honey

I'm new to brewing so I mad two batches of mead one peach one apple cinnamon than I realized mead takes patience so I had to brew an ESB and caramel apple cider. I'm going to have so much beer by time this mead is ready at this rate.

I racked my mead when it had stopped bubbling in the primary airlock. I mean completely stopped bubbling, for at least 3 days. It's a waiting game - it took mine about 6 weeks in the primary before I racked. However, I found that once you rack the first time, the clearing process happens quickly. After another month I racked again and now it's clear. It's been setting in the 5 .5 gallon carboy for a few months now and no sediment has fallen out.

From what I have read, you're supposed to stir it daily when in primary fermentation stage or use an aquarium pump with a sanitized air stone for an hour every other day to provide the yeast with enough oxygen for the work involved in converting sugars into alcohol. In turn this will speed up the fermentation stage.

KBentley57 said:

I racked my mead when it had stopped bubbling in the primary airlock. I mean completely stopped bubbling, for at least 3 days. It's a waiting game - it took mine about 6 weeks in the primary before I racked. However, I found that once you rack the first time, the clearing process happens quickly. After another month I racked again and now it's clear. It's been setting in the 5 .5 gallon carboy for a few months now and no sediment has fallen out.

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Was it super dry?

Yes, it was. I used a little ginger in my recipe though to help smooth it over. It's going to age for some time before i break into it.