JAMO- That's a lot of lees (not that I'm worrying or anything...)

At the risk of being that overly worried beginner... Does anyone think this looks like a normal amount of lees for a JAOM that's less than a month old? I guess the curved-style base exaggerates it a bit, but still seems like quite a lot.



I guess adding some extra nutrient, aerating well and using a whole sachet of bread-yeast kind of resulted in a monster yeast cake...
I know JAOMs are not meant for racking, but for a young yeast cake this is a little disconcerting!
I'll probably resist the urge to rack it though, not least because I have no spare demijohns!


Cheers!

I will quote an excerpt from the great JAOM recipe from the mouth of the master:

(Don't shake it! Don't mess with them yeastees! Let them alone except its okay to open your cabinet to smell every once in a while.

Racking --- Don't you dare
additional feeding --- NO NO
More stirring or shaking -- Your not listening, don't touch

After 2 months and maybe a few days it will slow down to a stop and clear all by itself. (How about that, you are not so important after all) Then you can put a hose in with a small cloth filter on the end into the clear part and siphon off the golden nectar. If you wait long enough even the oranges will sink to the bottom but I never waited that long. If it is clear it is ready.

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However that amount of lees is fine. Dont worry about it sitting on the lees ether. I know it is hard and against other methods of brewing but this is a stepping stone to really great mead. Leave it alone for a minimum 3 months. Maybe even a little longer to make sure all lees is dropped out of suspension and just go strait to bottles.

Arpolis said:

Dont worry about it sitting on the lees ether. I know it is hard and against other methods of brewing but this is a stepping stone to really great mead. Leave it alone for a minimum 3 months. Maybe even a little longer to make sure all lees is dropped out of suspension and just go strait to bottles.

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You are of course absolutely right. Obeying Joe's instructions are harder than I thought though
I'm fairly sure I'll disobey the 'siphon straight to bottles' rule though, simply because I don't trust myself to bottle without kicking up quite a bit of sediment. I always seem to end up cocking-up on bottling (although hopefully the new auto-syphon will make life easier).

Any time you use bread yeast you have to resigne yourself to either year+ long racking and carefull consideration steps to keep the yeast out. Our like I did with my JAOM, just let clear a bit over 3 months and siphon off just the top of the mead. You will leave 1.5 inches of liquid or so at the bottom and a bunch is wasted but your bottles should be clean. Because of that and the large amount of lees is why up upscaled to two gallons rather than the simple one gallon recipe.

Peppers16 said:

At the risk of being that overly worried beginner... Does anyone think this looks like a normal amount of lees for a JAOM that's less than a month old? I guess the curved-style base exaggerates it a bit, but still seems like quite a lot.


Cheers!

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I did a JAOM i nspired mead and it had a ton of lees as well. I agree with Arpolis and "carefull consideration" must be taken when trying to bottle.

I had to rack mine because I dropped the end of the cane right into the sediment as I bottled, quickly switching it over to another jug.

I went from a crystal clear mead at FG check to a yeast sediment riot inducing haze.
Needless to say my sample glass was beautiful looking and tasted like a white wine ( SG: 1.108 FG 1.000) ~14% alcohol. Bread yeast besides the loose cake has a nice alcohol tolerance.

I have the absolute DUMBEST question in the history of mead...how in the world, do you get all that debris out of your carboy?

MzAnnie said:

I have the absolute DUMBEST question in the history of mead...how in the world, do you get all that debris out of your carboy?

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Make sure you cut your fruits into small enough pieces so you can get them out again. JAOM recipe specifically tell you to slice them a certain size for this very reason. Additionally, after the yeast has finished eating the fruit they will soften significantly and it will be easier to get it all back out.

But your question is a good one - it's a pain in the ass to remove large chunks of anything from a carboy. If I were to make a JAOM I'd use a plastic container that I can chuck into the trash afterwards. Were I to make a melomel in a real carboy, I'd process the fruit in such a way that removal was a minimal (if any) pain in the ass.

MzAnnie said:

I have the absolute DUMBEST question in the history of mead...how in the world, do you get all that debris out of your carboy?

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As mentioned, it gets softer, so if you managed to get the fruit in first place it should be possible to get it out (I resisted the urge to make that sentence sound a lot dirtier).

My preferred technique is to partially fill the demijohn with some water, then quickly tip it out. Any fruit that blocks the neck tends to get forced out by the weight of the water, and it just takes a few attempts to get it all out.

I've also heard of people using chopsticks.

Thank you, especially for not laughing. I have been thinking about that question since I first started looking at the pics posted. I have a 5 gallon glass container that I bought, specifically for wine making, and haven't used because I had no clue how to clean it, just lifting it was a pain. I am now thinking about using it as a secondary for the Carmel Apple Mead, so I can watch it do it's thing! It will be in the primary (swollen to twice it's size because I put the lid on to tight) for another 10 days, then off to the never used 5 gallon container so I can watch it turn to liquid gold. Ooohh, I am so excited.

In case anyone searches with similar concerns:
Now that the mead's clearing I can now see that the 'cake' is actually a lot shallower than it looks. The yeast is settling up the sides of the demijohn to give the impression of a super-thick lees.
Thanks for the replies, guys.