Cloudy mead.. whats so bad about it?

[BobSeibel]

I keep reading about "waiting for the mead to clear" or people needing "clearing agents".... what is the down side to ones mead being cloudy?

 

[Yooper]

Well, if you don't mind the aesthetics of it, then there is no problem at all (assuming fermentation is finished).

I just can't stand the thought of pouring a glass of expensively made mead out of the bottle to serve to friends and have yeast and other solids come out of the finished bottle. I suppose it could be chilled, and carefully decanted off of the sediment, and served a bit cloudy, but it's just so unappealing to me that I wouldn't. If I'm spending $60-80 (or more!) on honey I want it to be nice.

 

[BobSeibel]

Cool, so it is only an ascetics thing... I am using a "Fast Rack FastFerment" carboy system for primary and secondary fermentation so there is no good way of looking at the mead with out taking off the top.

Instead of clarity I will be using time and bubbles to determine the proper time to rack... does anyone see any problems with that?

 

[Yooper]

Instead of clarity I will be using time and bubbles to determine the proper time to rack... does anyone see any problems with that?

Well, yes. It may slow down, but not be finished and be stuck and you wouldn't know without checking the SG.

I think it's very important to stir (degas) the mead and add nutrients during the first 1/2 of fermentation, so that fermenter might make that difficult to do and to make sure oxygen can be introduced for a healthy fermentation. If you can unscrew the top for the degassing and stirring, you can at least see then what the mead looks like and is doing, but after primary when fermentation slows and headspace should be minimized and you don't want oxygen update, I suppose you could use the bottom valve to check the mead's clarity.

 

[BobSeibel]

Cool thanks

 

[revjester]

The cloudy stuff will eventually settle. If you have an inch of stuff in the bottom of your bottle when you pour, then some will get in the glass and will affect the taste.

 

[noblesquirrel]

A contrary opinion from me. I think that clarity plays a couple of different roles. The obvious one is aesthetics. a clear mead (or beer for that matter, most of the time) looks better.

The second one is something very different. Even clear meads will still have enough stuff in solution to mess with the flavor profile. Clarity offers a cleaner tasting and truer tasting product and lets the honey really be the focus. When you have yeast in solution, lots of off flavors can come out that don't seem good. The mouth feel will be off. It will be more bitter. It will often have a metallic twang to it. Particularly with a traditional mead, where you want the varietal character to come out and through, you really do need it to be clear. Mead and cider are both in the same boat, IMO.

 

[Yooper]

A contrary opinion from me. I think that clarity plays a couple of different roles. The obvious one is aesthetics. a clear mead (or beer for that matter, most of the time) looks better.

The second one is something very different. Even clear meads will still have enough stuff in solution to mess with the flavor profile. Clarity offers a cleaner tasting and truer tasting product and lets the honey really be the focus. When you have yeast in solution, lots of off flavors can come out that don't seem good. The mouth feel will be off. It will be more bitter. It will often have a metallic twang to it. Particularly with a traditional mead, where you want the varietal character to come out and through, you really do need it to be clear. Mead and cider are both in the same boat, IMO.

Oh, I agree! I'm not disagreeing with you. I just made an assumption that if the OP couldn't wait for the mead to clear before bottling it, then it wouldn't be stored long term.

I totally agree that more than a few months in the bottle with an inch of sediment would ruin the mead- maybe even worse than you describe with "fecal" odor and flavor if stored warm.