Clarifying effects of chipotle peppers on mead

Decided to convert the remaining 3 gallons of my sweet mead (still not clear after 6 months), into my new favorite sipper, chipotle mead.

Here is an example of the clarification effects chipotles have on mead.
This same result happened in only 8 hours with my initial 1-gallon experimental batch.

At time of dropping in chipotles


24 hours later


48 hours later

Well I'd say that clearing effect is less of an issue than the oxidation damage that can occur with that amount of head space, unless its been flooded with CO2. ....

But yes I've had similar drop out of sediment when a recipe has been changed at the same stage......

fatbloke said:

Well I'd say that clearing effect is less of an issue than the oxidation damage that can occur with that amount of head space, unless its been flooded with CO2. ....

But yes I've had similar drop out of sediment when a recipe has been changed at the same stage......

Click to expand...

Yes, carboy was flooded with CO2 after pulling my two one-gallon samples.

What kind of additions have you made to your meads that awarded the same results? And what kind of timeframe would you say it took to completely clear?

Oh, I've had this 3 times, with black currant and elderberry post ferment addition but also when I was a bit over eager with back sweetening, and then hit the batch with acid, tannin and brandy fortification. That last one cleared in about 36 hours and it dropped a lot of sediment (about 2 inches deep in a 1 gallon jug).

smoutela...what amount of chipotle are you adding per gallon, and how long do you tend to leave the chilis intact?

saramc said:

smoutela...what amount of chipotle are you adding per gallon, and how long do you tend to leave the chilis intact?

Click to expand...

I added 3 dried chipotle peppers into the one gallon experimental batch, left for two weeks before removing.

10 into the remaining 3-gallons.