Potential Carbonation Problem?

Hey Guys,
I made my first mead late last year....It was a dry mead that I back sweetened a bit. It ended up at 1.006 after adding 1 cup of honey for a little bit sweet. I also added Sorbistat K to prevent further fermentation. Here is my problem....I couldn't decide whether to make it still or sparkling so I bottled half still and half with carbonation drops. Then I realized I added the Sorbistat K.... So will I get any carbonation?? I kinda of doubt it but what do you think? Thanks. Al

You would need to add sodium metabisulfite plus the sorbate to stabilize, so no, it will definitely carbonate. In fact, you may have over-carbonated it and have potential bottle bombs with that high of a SG.

mccann51 said:

You would need to add sodium metabisulfite plus the sorbate to stabilize, so no, it will definitely carbonate. In fact, you may have over-carbonated it and have potential bottle bombs with that high of a SG.

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I don't agree. It's true that sorbate works better in the presence of sulfites, but it certainly can work on its own. If you used an adequate amount of sorbate, and racked clear mead off of the lees (that's important to this!) then you will not get carbonation.

If you bottled a cloudy mead with some lees in it, you'll probably get bottle bombs.

That sounds contradictory, but it's not when you think about it. Sorbate doesn't kill yeast, it simply inhibits reproduction. If there is very little yeast in an aged mead, sorbate will stop the potention refermentation. If there is still plenty of yeast in suspension, then sorbate won't do anything because there are plenty of yeast in there, and the yeast will continue to ferment.

Wait...now I am really confused. Like I said this is my first mead but I have bottled/kegged dozens of batches of beer. I know in homebrewing beer that 1.006 is very low and I would have no concerns with bottle bombs. It sounds like mead is a different story?? For what it's worth the mead was very clear and I was able to leave most of the lees in the carboy. Thanks for all the info!!

Phunhog said:

Wait...now I am really confused. Like I said this is my first mead but I have bottled/kegged dozens of batches of beer. I know in homebrewing beer that 1.006 is very low and I would have no concerns with bottle bombs. It sounds like mead is a different story?? For what it's worth the mead was very clear and I was able to leave most of the lees in the carboy. Thanks for all the info!!

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Mead will easily go to .990, depending on OG and the yeast strain used.

Since all the sugar in mead is fermentable by the yeast, all of it will be fermented (unlike beer, where the residual sugar is stuff that's too big for the yeast). As Yooper stated, mead can get down to 0.990.

I would personally not be confident in the bottles. Yes, it could be okay, but is it worth the risk of either A) losing a bunch of mead, or B) losing a bunch of mead and getting cut up by glass? All you have to do is refrigerate the mead (to bring down the pressure in the bottle), and then pop the caps (to release some pressure); if you want to be really secure, you could drop in an adequate amount of sodium metabisulfite.

If you plan on aging the mead for 6 months to a year, then even what "few" cells are in suspension can ferment the honey in your bottles to potentially dangerous levels.

I think that will be my plan. I bottled yesterday and the bottles are sitting in my 55 degree garage. I will give it a few weeks and pop a cap and see where the carbonation is. I figure at 55 degrees I would think they would carb very slowly.

What yeast were you using and what was the starting gravity?

I used Lalvin D-47 and my SG was 1.100 with only honey. I secondaried with approx. 2 lbs of pureed persimmons for a 5 gal. batch. It finished at 1.006 after 3 months. That puts me at 12.8 ABV.

At 55 degrees it should be slow with D47, but I've learned the hard way to never trust a yeast. I would be very concerned about these bottles if they warm up.

Medsen

Just an update....I opened up one of the bottles tonight. No carbonation at all. That was after two months sitting in the bottle in my 60 degree garage. I guess I will be having a still mead and no worries of bottle bombs. Cheers! Al

I hope you are right, but you won't know for sure until these bottle have sat around at 75 F for six months or a year.