dummkauf
Well-Known Member
I have 5 gallons of JAOM in a glass carboy, it was made on 12/16/2010, and has been aging in the carboy ever since(racked a couple times to get it off the sediment that settled out). It is still not cleared completely, and I'm not getting much sediment on the bottom of the carboy since the last time I racked it. I stuck it in the kegerator about 3 weeks ago and it still isn't clearing. The last batch of JAOM I made was a 1 gallon batch which got crystal clear in about 4 months. I have been considering fining it, but I am wondering if there is something with meads that are made with fruit?(in this case oranges).
The reason for my concern, is that the very first mead I ever made, a peach melomel, I aged 1 year, and it never cleared in the carboy. At one point the peach melomel was racked onto some bentonite to help clear it, but that didn't do anything either. Since that was my first mead, I figured after 12 months that it was as clear as it was ever going to get, so I bottled. a few more months in the bottles and they got crystal clear, but the stuff that settled on the bottom wasn't really sediment, it looks thicker, almost like a lava lamp when it gets stirred up. Since I made that mistake with my first batch, I really want to try and avoid it again this time around, so I definitely won't be bottling until it's cleared.
All of the other meads I've made in the mean time have cleared naturally on their own, but it seems like my 5 gallon batches that involve fruit seem to be very stubborn and I'm wondering if the fruit has something to do with it? I have bentonite and sparkloid, and could fin it, but I am wondering if I would get the same results with this JAOM as I did with my peach melomel.
Is there something special that needs to be done with meads that were made with fruit, or is this normal? I would think 11 months would be more than enough to drop crystal clear I've seen some posts about using pectic enzyme in fruit meads, but it sounds like that's done before, or during, fermentation, so I'm not sure if that might help here.
Thoughts?
The reason for my concern, is that the very first mead I ever made, a peach melomel, I aged 1 year, and it never cleared in the carboy. At one point the peach melomel was racked onto some bentonite to help clear it, but that didn't do anything either. Since that was my first mead, I figured after 12 months that it was as clear as it was ever going to get, so I bottled. a few more months in the bottles and they got crystal clear, but the stuff that settled on the bottom wasn't really sediment, it looks thicker, almost like a lava lamp when it gets stirred up. Since I made that mistake with my first batch, I really want to try and avoid it again this time around, so I definitely won't be bottling until it's cleared.
All of the other meads I've made in the mean time have cleared naturally on their own, but it seems like my 5 gallon batches that involve fruit seem to be very stubborn and I'm wondering if the fruit has something to do with it? I have bentonite and sparkloid, and could fin it, but I am wondering if I would get the same results with this JAOM as I did with my peach melomel.
Is there something special that needs to be done with meads that were made with fruit, or is this normal? I would think 11 months would be more than enough to drop crystal clear I've seen some posts about using pectic enzyme in fruit meads, but it sounds like that's done before, or during, fermentation, so I'm not sure if that might help here.
Thoughts?