HELP!!! Did I destroy my 1-year aged mead?

[NHowell16]

Hi all,

I'm just about to bottle my mead - it's been aging in the carboy for 1 year now.

Here is the general recipe I followed, with slight variations in berries, etc.. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f80/ra...10-great-arizona-homebrew-competition-183027/

The problem is, there is this thin ring around the top of the mead.. it looks like its made up of small white granules. I'm not sure what it is, but I want to make sure it wont kill me before bottling it.

I'm worried the airlock may have dried out too much at one point (it got very low), so it could possible be contaminated by the air?

has anyone else seen this? Any help is appreciated.. It would be SUCH a shame to throw out a 1-year aged product.

Thanks!

Nicole

 

[loveofrose]

Looks normal to mead. Yeast are fungi so they do that after a year. Taste it to be sure it's ready to bottle. Post how it tastes!

 

[fatbloke]

Nah, looks fine to me....

It's easy to get tide marks like that or other yeast based weirdness.

If it smells ok, take a small taste. If it tastes ok then get it in the bottles...

 

[desert_druid]

Looks fairly normal. As has been said, smell first... then taste. Mostly, those are perfectly reliable on telling you if the mead is good, and if it's ready

 

[wefdog]

Looks like bubbles to me...

 

[WVMJ]

If that is the surface of your mead that low in they carboy you need to top up a little higher. What in the world do you think could be in there that would hurt you? WVMJ

 

[fatbloke]

If that is the surface of your mead that low in they carboy you need to top up a little higher. What in the world do you think could be in there that would hurt you? WVMJ

Probably one of those obsessive panics than newer makers can suffer Jack. I'm sure we all had such doubts early on....

Tiny amounts of yeast build up or small off-gassing due to atmospheric changes and so on.

Learning curve stuff.....

Of course, worth checking etc, but taste and smell are key, followed by gravity and pH checks, so the correct conclusions can be drawn.....