Topping off JAOM with a dry wine?

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Brewbear

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I made my first batch of mead, a gallon batch of JAOM and after two months racked it into a secondary (which the recipe says not to do, but i did anyway). After taking a few taste tests and racking there is barely 3/4 a gallon left.I am worried about the headspace and I know that JAOM tends to be very sweet, so I was wondering if topping it off with some dry white wine would help prevent oxidation while taking away some of the sweetness?
I'm very new to brewing in general and have never added anything to my beer or cider this late in the process so I appreciate any help.
 
CvilleDill said:
I made my first batch of mead, a gallon batch of JAOM and after two months racked it into a secondary (which the recipe says not to do, but i did anyway). After taking a few taste tests and racking there is barely 3/4 a gallon left.I am worried about the headspace and I know that JAOM tends to be very sweet, so I was wondering if topping it off with some dry white wine would help prevent oxidation while taking away some of the sweetness?
I'm very new to brewing in general and have never added anything to my beer or cider this late in the process so I appreciate any help.
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You can top it off with whatever you like, but it just won't be a benchmark JAO will it.

The temptation to meddle is very high, especially if you're used to brewing that needs a fair amount of attention.

Just make a second batch and follow the instructions religiously, then you can always blend the 2 later on if need be......

regards

fatbloke

p.s. Oh and meads don't, as a rule, suffer from oxidation like "normal" wines do..... but, if it's like 3/4's in a gallon jug, then it might be for the best.
 
Thanks for the quick reply! I'm not too worried about this one being a "classic" JAOM. I have already racked it when it says not to, so I'm going to add the wine. I think i will take your advice and enjoy this one for what it is and make another batch following the instructions so i have a benchmark JAOM.
 
You could top off a portion of the carboy with water. It will dilute the sweetness, and you will have to divide your ABV by 1.33 to find your new ABV.

If you're concerned about losing alcohol content, mix three ounces of grain alcohol into the extra quart of water.

Another possibility is finding a half gallon container and a one quart container and rigging them as fermentation vessels.

If you are trying to make true JAOM, just bottle what you have and ignore everything I just wrote. JOAM is simplicity.
 
The reason you aren't supposed to rack it early is because the Fleischmann's lees eventually settles more compactly and you get your 1/4 gallon back when you bottle.
 
Good to know fletch, I'll keep that in mind with my next batch. I'll post in a couple weeks/months when i taste and let you all know how it turned out.
 
The other really easy thing to do would be to rack it into a sterilized 3 liter wine bottle... available at every county recycling center in America.... and out behind most restaurants....

That's what I would do.....

I have a pile of 4 Liter, 1 gallon, and 3 liter bottles for just this sort of thing.....

When I have a wine recipe that calls for such -- I Start in the 4L, Rack into the 1 gallon, and then later on into the 3L bottle.... with Mead -- I would just run it in the 4L, then a couple months later -- rack into the 1 gallon and bulk age....

Thanks
 
"The other really easy thing to do would be to rack it into a sterilized 3 liter wine bottle"



I never thought of doing that, its too late now but thanks for the tip I will keep that in mind for future brews!:mug:
 
Would a 3L plastic coke bottle be a suitable racking receptacle for a quick-brew like JOAM (not that the JOAM recipe allows racking)? If I were to drill a hole in the lid and put a gromit in for the airlock, or just seal around the hole with petroleum jelly or something I can't think why it wouldn't be OK unless the PET material used for coke bottles is different to that of the wine bottles. The reason I ask is that we really don't see 3L plastic wine bottles in the UK.
 
For a quick brew, you can use a PET bottle. You don't even need to put an airlock on it. Since it is plastic you don't have to worry about it being a bottle bomb. As it pressurizes (and the bottle gets firm), you can simply crack open the top to relieve the pressure.

Medsen
 
Thanks for all of the advice, alot of good ideas, this mead ended up way too sweet, so i will update this thread when i crack the first bottle in at least a year.
 

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