i'd like this train to stop soon...

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DashCooper

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my 5-6 gallon batch of mead is about where I'd like it to stop. it's at 11% abv with an S.G. of 1.043. I'm shooting for 12-13%.

what do I do to stop this thing? I've heard/read about different methods, but I don't know what the best way to act is..
do I add sulfates? cold crash it? I need your expert advise
 
I had a pumpkin melomel that I wanted stopped at 9%. It fermented super fast and being only 2 gallons I threw it in the fridge & cranked it to it's coldest temp when I noticed it at 9% ABV. After 48 hours I added 1.5 crushed camden tablet per gallon and 1/2 tsp per gallon potassium metabisulfate and after a week I took it out of the fridge and it had settled at 9.5% ABV. Fermntation did not pick back up after warming to room temp so all went well for me with that method.
 
I may try that with a smaller batch.. how long ago was that? and how did/had it kept in the bottles? the reason I ask is that I've read, campden doesn't kill wine yeast. It kills wild yeast. so while it will seemingly stop fermentation for a while, the yeast (over time) will regenerate and begin to ferment the remaining sugars. (usually after bottled)
Can anyone's experience support this?

The safe way to go (based on everything I've read) is to let the fermentation finish. Add potassium sulfate and wait a few days. (sulfate rendering the yeast unable to reproduce)
rack off the remaining yeast and back-sweeten to desired gravity.

the only other way I could think to do this is to know what alcohol tolerance would kill off the yeast and start with a gravity that would leave a desired amount of sweetness after yeast depletion.. but who can guess that?
from the sounds of it, there are usually some resistant strains that will carry on much longer than their "cousins."
 
I may try that with a smaller batch.. how long ago was that? and how did/had it kept in the bottles? the reason I ask is that I've read, campden doesn't kill wine yeast. It kills wild yeast. so while it will seemingly stop fermentation for a while, the yeast (over time) will regenerate and begin to ferment the remaining sugars. (usually after bottled)
Can anyone's experience support this?.

Oh yea that batch was a year ago in April if I remember right. So it has been just over 9 months and it is still bulk aging with no real sweetness drop as I can tell. Now I have not busted out the hydrometer but I give a shot sized taste test at least once a month and I notice no further fermentation even though I know the yeast used has an ABV tolerance above the what the sugar level should provide.

If you really want it to stop I'd hit it with sulphite and sorbate.

Haha my suggestion exactly. Just if you have an active fermentation it is good to stun the yeast with cold to give your chemicals the best chance at stopping fermentation.
 
what yeast did you pitch in this ?

It's going to be quite sweet if you stop fermentation at 1.030 or higher. This would be too sweet for my tastes but if you think you'll like it go for it.
 
Pasteurize it. Cold shocking and dosing with campden plus sorbate just delays the refermentation, given enough time it is likely the yeast will eat that residual sugar. Now if you plan to consume it quickly you may be successful, but campden and sorbate do not stop an active ferment in its track. Very lucky if you have been able to stall and stop an active ferment by cold shocking and stabilizing. Some use sterile filtration on top of all that and still have continued fermentation.
 
Saramc,

Have you pasteurized? Before or after corking? What temp did you have the water at and how long did you leave the bottles in it?

Edit - I probably should have searched before asking, but I will see what you say.
 
Illuveatar said:
what yeast did you pitch in this ?
White Labs WLP720 sweet mead/wine yeast
Illuvetar said:
It's going to be quite sweet if you stop fermentation at 1.030 or higher. This would be too sweet for my tastes but if you think you'll like it go for it.

I think I'm actually going to stop it around 1.020 if I can.

I'm not sure what pasteurization entails.. doesn't that affect the flavor?
 
from the sound of it, I'd have to bottle my wine in order to pasteurize. It's nowhere ready to bottle as I haven't had any time to clarify it.. I've only just racked it into the secondary last week and the stuff is still opaque orange.

I'm thinking another two weeks to rack again, unless I can stop it somehow..

I don't have a way to heat a 6 gallon carboy to 140° for 30 min..
 
the only other way I could think to do this is to know what alcohol tolerance would kill off the yeast and start with a gravity that would leave a desired amount of sweetness after yeast depletion.. but who can guess that?

you're right it is tough to guage exactly since the yeast don't have an on/off switch at their published tolerance level, but this will assist you in other ways.

If the yeast are at the edge of their tolerance and fading out, then slowing/stopping them where you want to becomes more plausible. like if you start with an OG of 1.12 and wanna keep it a sweet mead with around 14% abv, using lalvin D47 at an SG somewhere around 1.02 it's gonna be lagging out and easier to cold crash/stabilize into submission (may just stop on it's own and really just need racking/time to clear and bottle) but if you use something like EC-1118 which can take an OG of 1.14 down to sub 1.00, then it is still going to be going strong where you wanna try to slow/stop things and less receptive to your attempts to kill it.


Personally not a fan of the pasteurization idea, seems to defeat the purpose of starting with the no heat/boil method if at the end you are going to heat it up at the end
 
Saramc,

Have you pasteurized? Before or after corking? What temp did you have the water at and how long did you leave the bottles in it?

Edit - I probably should have searched before asking, but I will see what you say.

I followed the info in sticky and have actually bottle pasteurized for a few sparkling batches and another time pasteurized the bulk juice and then bottled. No issues with either method.
But I prefer to ferment dry and backsweeten and I am playing with alc tolerance and starting with a higher OG and hope the yeast dies off where I want it to.
 
WLP720 has a 15% tolerance.. IF this is accurate I should be left at 1.020

based on the reviews this yeast strain is a bit more ambitious...

what's another 5lbs of honey... (eye roll)
 
quick update*

the big batch's airlock stopped bubbling. Gravity is currently 1.026 which to my taste is sweet, but pretty frickin' delicious. I'm letting it sit for 2 weeks before I rack to clear. I'll be sure to check gravity again at that time to make sure it's done fermenting.

definitely a learning process in these first batches. love it!
 
I would like to take back what I have said earlier. I said that I have periodically tasted my spiced pumpkin mead after the cold crash and stabilize and tasted no drop in sugar content. My wife had me cleaning things up and packing things away and to make some room I bottled all my pumpkin wine. Had about 3 glasses plus 6 750ml bottles. For fun I gave it a gravity reading and it was sitting pretty at 0.994!!! I have come to think I hate really dry wines/meads but I LOVE this stuff. So smooth and still tastes kind of sweet to me. So I am sure for many months the fermentation was halted but over time fermentation picked up again.
 
that's good that it's still sweet for being so dry. I didn't cold crash this big batch (about 6 gallons) for fear it would just pick up again later. I just let the yeast do it's thing till it killed itself.

I have a gallon of dry ginger mead that is clearing now.. kinda excited to try that now that you mention how sweet your "dry" mead is. maybe I'll like it after all. :)
 
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