Second Batch...

fatbloke said:

not entirely sure why you've added bentonite and acid blend ?

After all, bentonite is for clearing stuff, and at this stage, you wouldn't want anything that will drag the yeast out of solution.....

Plus adding acid blend up front, is likely to make the batch even more acidic. If you just blended the honey and water (no heat), let it stand for an hour or so to settle, then measured the pH, you'd find that honey is actually already quite acidic, but we don't usually notice that because any acidic notes are masked by the sugars/sweetness of the honey.

It's currently recommended practice to only add the acid after the ferment is complete i.e. add it a little at a time, to taste, after the batch has been cleared.

At least you've got the bit about aeration in the early stages (which as you've already sussed out, has the benefit of helping shift some of the built up carbonic acid/CO2 - which also helps reduce pH swings that are commonly experienced with mead batches).......

If your first batch is still cloudy, then that's fine if you just want it too clear naturally. As it will probably drop clear over time. So keep it in bulk, rather than bottle, because we don't, as home brewers, have climate/temperature controlled storage, so the bulk storage thing is actually a convenient compromise. Plus it's easier to bottle off a cleared product etc etc......

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