Meadrook
Member
Good afternoon all,
I'm working on my first mead and have come upon a rather pleasant predicament. I sampled some of my mead today after taking a gravity reading and found it tasting much, much better than I thought it would. Now, originally I had planned to leave it in the secondary fermenter at least 6 months to mellow (per all the advice I could find on the web). After the tasting today (and the gravity reading, which yielded about a right-on-the-money 12% reading), I'm considering bottling early. If I do, I'll have mead to share for Christmas.
However, there is one problem: it hasn't cleared fully yet. I can see through the carboy fairly easily, but it's definitely still a bit cloudy. This all leads to the question: Will mead clear in the bottle? Even if it doesn't clear in time for Christmas (which is most likely the case), will it eventually clear?
Also, I have a fermentation question. My OG was 1116. I took a gravity reading on 09/20 and it was 1055. Today's gravity reading was 1027. I have not witnessed bubbles in the airlock in over 2 months, but it still did a fair amount of fermentation in those two months. Is it possible that it's still fermenting? I used Cotes Des Blanc yeast, which I know is a long, slow fermenter, but shouldn't it be wrapped up after 3 months? Would this possibility keep any of you from bottling?
I listed my recipe below for S&Gs. Thanks in advance to anyone who replies to this.
15 pounds Wildflower Honey
4 Gallons Distilled Water
2 tsp. Yeast Nutrient
1 tsp. Yeast Energizer
2 packets Red Star Cote Des Blancs Wine Yeast
Pasturized the must.
OG 08/19 - 1116
FG 11/16 - 1027 = 12.13%
I'm working on my first mead and have come upon a rather pleasant predicament. I sampled some of my mead today after taking a gravity reading and found it tasting much, much better than I thought it would. Now, originally I had planned to leave it in the secondary fermenter at least 6 months to mellow (per all the advice I could find on the web). After the tasting today (and the gravity reading, which yielded about a right-on-the-money 12% reading), I'm considering bottling early. If I do, I'll have mead to share for Christmas.
However, there is one problem: it hasn't cleared fully yet. I can see through the carboy fairly easily, but it's definitely still a bit cloudy. This all leads to the question: Will mead clear in the bottle? Even if it doesn't clear in time for Christmas (which is most likely the case), will it eventually clear?
Also, I have a fermentation question. My OG was 1116. I took a gravity reading on 09/20 and it was 1055. Today's gravity reading was 1027. I have not witnessed bubbles in the airlock in over 2 months, but it still did a fair amount of fermentation in those two months. Is it possible that it's still fermenting? I used Cotes Des Blanc yeast, which I know is a long, slow fermenter, but shouldn't it be wrapped up after 3 months? Would this possibility keep any of you from bottling?
I listed my recipe below for S&Gs. Thanks in advance to anyone who replies to this.
15 pounds Wildflower Honey
4 Gallons Distilled Water
2 tsp. Yeast Nutrient
1 tsp. Yeast Energizer
2 packets Red Star Cote Des Blancs Wine Yeast
Pasturized the must.
OG 08/19 - 1116
FG 11/16 - 1027 = 12.13%