To stir, or not to stir?

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Aelfwyn

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Hmm, I'm confused now. I've just started off my first (well, it's the first if you don;t count the failed one) batch of mead, and I've been reading up on different tips and advice. But I've found two conflicting pieces of advice, and was wondering if you guys could help me straighten my brain out from the knots it's worked into....

These tips are both for quick or short mead.

One set of tips say that once the must and the yeast is in the fermenting tub, that's it - leave it until it's stopped fermenting and ready for bottling, to avoid getting any more oxygen into the mix.

Another tip says to regularly stir the mix, in order TO get oxygen into the mix.....which is correct??

:confused:
 
I've heard both as well. One explaination I heard said to aerate (shake it) during the first week or so of fermentation, because at that stage the yeast need oxygen to bond with the sugar (aerobic fermentation) and thus produce alcohol. After that week, the yeast do their own thing (anaerobic fermentation) and introducing oxygen at that point will cause bad tasting fusal alcohols to be produced. I'm not sure of my chemistry on this, but it's somewhere close.

Personally I don't shake my wines or meads unless it's the first few hours or so of fermenting, when the little guys clump together and form a "cap" on the top. They seem to do just fine without me getting in there and stirring up trouble.

mike
 
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