aliu630
Well-Known Member
How do you do this?
drink it
Campden tablet?
drink it
filter to 1 micron...
+1 I think that would work too.
Not to mention strip out some flavor compounds
It's almost impossible to stop a fermentation once it's going. It's like trying to stop a freight train.
What most mead and wine makers do is to let it finish. When it's completely done, completely clear, and ready to bottle, then a campden tablet (one per gallon and crushed) and potassium sorbate is added by racking the mead into it. Wait a few days, then sweeten to taste with sugar, honey, brown sugar, etc. It's easiest to do it if you pull out a sample with a wine thief or turkey baster, and then dissolve the sweetener into that. Add it to the carboy, wait a few days to ensure that fermentation will not restart, and then bottle.
Some have stabilized (added sorbate and sulfite) before allowing it to finish, with mixed results. It's always best to let it finish, so you know that you won't have it restart in the bottle, and then sweeten it.
Pasteurize to 160* for 15 minutes in a low O2 environment. Even one living cell can kick off fermentation again. This temp is just below alcohols boil point so it wont drive off alcohol but it is hot enough to kill the yeast.
Edit: not sure how I missed Yoop or Evans post, unless it was that second bottle of pasteurized mead.
Campden tablets are also used towards the end of the fermentation process to halt the ferment before all the available sugars are converted by the yeast, hence controlling the amount of residual sweetness in the final product. This balancing between sweet, dry and tart flavors is part of the artistry of wine and cider making.
So I wiki'd campden tablets and it says
Campden tablets - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
There's no source to this so I don't how reliable the information is. Can anyone confirm this or point me in the right direction?
Seriously though, cold crashing is usually how I do it.
I take gravity readings until I get to the point where I want the beer. Then I immediately keg and put in the fridge. Stops the yeast.... cold
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