Keithww
Well-Known Member
I made a show mead with 11 pounds of orange blossom honey topped with RO water to 3 gallons on 1/21. I used White Labs Sweet Mead/Wine (WLP720) that I build up to a two liter starter over 3 days on a stir plate and had active fermentation in less than 4 hours. I used yeast nutrient and energizer in staggered additions. I had steady fermentation for four weeks and a slow fermentation the fifth week. I degassed by shaking the carboy by shaking it till it didn't bubble every day or two for the first three weeks, then once a week. I started to get a little bit of yeast on the bottom, less than 1/16 of an inch after not being shaken for 5 days.
My SG at 4 weeks was 1.020 and I haven't tested it since because I will test again when I stabilize and back sweeten to about 1.010 to 1.015 and so I'm happy with the fermentation to this point.
I would have let this sit in the primary a bit longer but wanted to use the yeast for a six gallon batch of Dragonsblood. So I used my vacuum sealer to do a vacuum racking of the mead on to 1 tsp of grape tannin mixed with a cup of water and now 8 hours later I'm looking at 3/8 to 1/2 an inch of lees. This is my first mead after making a dozen batches of beer and to this point I was amazed at the lack of lees/trub at the bottom of my fermentor.
So my question is should I rack again tomorrow, or wait and let the lees compact a little? I was also thinking of using a dose of sparkaloid once the tannin settled, should I do that next time I rack or wait a little longer? Once it gets a little clearer I was going to rack it on to a couple of ounces of medium toast American oak cubes for a few weeks and give it some oak as it did the final clearing.
My SG at 4 weeks was 1.020 and I haven't tested it since because I will test again when I stabilize and back sweeten to about 1.010 to 1.015 and so I'm happy with the fermentation to this point.
I would have let this sit in the primary a bit longer but wanted to use the yeast for a six gallon batch of Dragonsblood. So I used my vacuum sealer to do a vacuum racking of the mead on to 1 tsp of grape tannin mixed with a cup of water and now 8 hours later I'm looking at 3/8 to 1/2 an inch of lees. This is my first mead after making a dozen batches of beer and to this point I was amazed at the lack of lees/trub at the bottom of my fermentor.
So my question is should I rack again tomorrow, or wait and let the lees compact a little? I was also thinking of using a dose of sparkaloid once the tannin settled, should I do that next time I rack or wait a little longer? Once it gets a little clearer I was going to rack it on to a couple of ounces of medium toast American oak cubes for a few weeks and give it some oak as it did the final clearing.