are my secondary fermentation steps correct

[KKtheMeader]

Hello all again.
First of all thanks a million for all the quick and accurate expert replies to my queries in the last thread.
My primary fermentation finally went well.
In fact after 2 weeks I at last opened the fermenting vert and lo behold, The aroma of the mead promptly told me that things went to perfection.
There was a sweet aroma with some yeasty fruity smell.
When I tasted a few ML, it was perfect, (I have tasted commertially made mead before so I know for sure this worked ).
No acidic tone although there was a wine like sweet sour after taste.
Now my question is what next?
I transfered it to another jar, washed the first vert clean and then transferred the mead back to the original jar.
Basically I don't have 2 jars with air stopper etc. So I had to resort to the first one.
Is this a good way to aerate the mead.
I have herd that allowing the mead to take a few breath by transfering and re-transfering is good.
I also got rid of the yeast sediment in the process through filteration.
Next I added a bit of cinnamon and cardamon .
I can already see the aroma developing further 24 hours down the line.
Should I expect a healthy secondary fermentation now?

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

Unless you added more fermentables there shouldn’t be a second fermentation.

 

[KKtheMeader]

Thank you GilSwillBasementBrews.
So should I now expect that there will be no more fermentation?>
Should I just transfer to the bottles and be done with it??
As I said it has been just 2 weeks.

 

[KING OF SCORPIONS]

Two weeks of fermentation is not enough IMO. Mine take about around a month before fermentation settles down. using goferm, fermaid-o, and the tosna calc. If it's in a clear glass container look the surface of your mead for gas bubbles. You may still have little bits of yeast working. If you're still seeing gas I would let it age out in a secondary container while it finishes and clarifies a bit.

But I'm also making meads around 1.130 ~ 1.150 OG fwiw

 

[KKtheMeader]

Thank you for the details.
Thanks a lot for the tip.
I had transferred the mead after 14 days as I said before.
Now after 48 hours of doing it, I see extremely partial sedimentation at the botton. There are no bubbles and the meed is slowly getting clear and transparent.
I mean it's just 25% clear so is the fermentation still going on?
Note that when I filtered the mead I saw to it that 99% sedimented yeast is removed.
So what do I expect now?
Was I a bit hasty in transfering the mead in just 14 days?
Have I prematurely stopped the fermentation?

 

[CKuhns]

Were you a bit hasty? It depends...
How did you filter it?
If you used a coffee filter then you left some yeast. If you used a 0.5 micron filter then you probably removed all of the yeast.

Have you stopped the ferment?
Under the right conditions If sugars are still present with yeast, the ferment should / could continue. It just might be a bit slower.

Do you own and use a hydrometer? That is really the best way to determine how your ferment is progressing and or if its complete.
-

 

[KKtheMeader]

Hi CKuhns,
I used a filter with very small less than .5 mm filter. That's why as I mentioned before I guess 99% of the yeast is gone.
No I haven't stopped fermentation.
But I still see a slight sedimentation 48 hours after I did this activity of removing yeast sediment and re transferring the mead to a jar.
I did the activity on 15th day.
So how much ABV do you think it may have reached?
I had given incremental yeast nutrient feeding for 4 days from the first day.
I don't have a hydrometer as yet but plan to get one soon.

 

[CKuhns]

Without knowing how much honey you added and the total volume along with any fruit or juice when you pitched the yeast there is no way to determine the ABV without a starting and ending gravity.

We may be able to estimate the starting gravity...
Typically 1 pound of honey added to enough water to get a volume of 1 gallon will give you 0.032 to 0.038 gravity points (Use 0.035 as an estimate) from the fermentable sugars in the honey.

Water is always 1.000 Gravity at 67 Deg F.

The potential Alcohol constant is 131.25.

So... 3 pounds of honey to 1 gallon total volume. (Water plus honey) gives you roughly a starting specific gravity of 1.105.

But if you still have sugars and no way to detect them then there is no way to estimate the ABV.

To estimate ABV you must either measure or estimate the starting gravity. Then subtract the starting gravity from the finished gravity.

Here is the Calc
SG - FG*131.25=ABV

This example assumes complete fermentation back to 1.000
1.105-1.000=0.105 and 0.105 * 131.25= 13.8 ABV

The Calc is a rough estimate also is not completely linear the higher the ABV is so best it can do is get you to within 2 or 3 tenths.

Why did we go through all of this?
Because when you get a hydrometer you can detect the remaining sugars and using the estimate and Calc can get a reasonable assessment of the ABV.

 

[KING OF SCORPIONS]

Without knowing how much honey you added and the total volume along with any fruit or juice when you pitched the yeast there is no way to determine the ABV without a starting and ending gravity.

We may be able to estimate the starting gravity...
Typically 1 pound of honey added to enough water to get a volume of 1 gallon will give you 0.032 to 0.038 gravity points (Use 0.035 as an estimate) from the fermentable sugars in the honey.

Water is always 1.000 Gravity at 67 Deg F.

The potential Alcohol constant is 131.25.

So... 3 pounds of honey to 1 gallon total volume. (Water plus honey) gives you roughly a starting specific gravity of 1.105.

But if you still have sugars and no way to detect them then there is no way to estimate the ABV.

To estimate ABV you must either measure or estimate the starting gravity. Then subtract the starting gravity from the finished gravity.

Here is the Calc
SG - FG*131.25=ABV

This example assumes complete fermentation back to 1.000
1.105-1.000=0.105 and 0.105 * 131.25= 13.8 ABV

The Calc is a rough estimate also is not completely linear the higher the ABV is so best it can do is get you to within 2 or 3 tenths.

Why did we go through all of this?
Because when you get a hydrometer you can detect the remaining sugars and using the estimate and Calc can get a reasonable assessment of the ABV.

Seconding this post. Getting and using a hydrometer is your next step to knowing what you're doing. It will help you gauge where you are in your fermentation. I would get another batch going with a hydrometer in hand and leave your current one going. Then you can compare the taste of your alcohol and remaining sugar content after taking it off at 2 weeks versus when you've taken it off after reaching your desired gravity and alcohol content.

 

[KKtheMeader]

CKuhns thank you for the forlula.
I added half kg honey for 1 liter water.
No fruit juice but half gm yeast nutrient.