I made a prickly pear mead.

[GodsStepBrother]

I have 5 gallons of prickly pear mead that has been going now for 3 months, it looks like it has finally stopped fermenting and I am getting ready to rack into secondary for clearing. I have some clearing agents but do not know if I should us it or clarify on its own?

My real question is if I should top of with water? There is a bit of head space in the five gallon carboy? Also I bought a wine degasser should I hit it with that in the secondary?

This is the first time I make mead and wine, and “The joy of home brewing,” does not specify if these steps are necessary. I also have 2 gallons of pomegranate wine, from my tree out back, which will also go into secondary.

 

[wayneb]

I'm a proponent of patience when it comes to mead clearing, because most meads do so with little or no fining agents, and you run less risk of losing some aroma or flavor compounds along with the haze that gets pulled out by fining. I do have a couple of questions for you, though. First, did you use any pectic enzyme in the batch? Did you heat those prickly pears any along the way? If you did heat any of this must and you did not add pectic enzyme you may have a pectic haze, which can take a very long time to clear on its own, if ever. However you can generally add pectic enzyme to the finished mead and it will eventually clear the pectins, although the enzyme works far slower when there is ethanol in the solution - so next time add it first. I don't think you need to de-gas; extended aging under an airlock will allow the mead to do that naturally on its own. And that aging time will allow the flavors to fully develop and integrate.

What was the starting gravity of this must, and what is the finishing gravity and the alcohol content of the finished mead? If it is "strong" enough, a little water used to top off the carboy won't dilute it much. That is better than leaving a large headspace which could promote both oxidation and possible spoilage. If you don't want to lose any of the strength of flavors in the finished product, you could fill the headspace in that carboy with inert materials, such as glass beads or marbles, which will also reduce the mead's exposure to oxygen from the headspace as the mead ages.

 

[GodsStepBrother]

I added pectine enzyme per the instructions, I also boiled the fruit for about 2 hours if memory serves me right. The OG was right at 1.150. I havent taking a final gravity yet but i am going to do this today.

For the next time I believe I will ge some more prickly pear fruit and top of with the juice I get from those. I think this one will be quite alcholoic so maybe i will try to add some water and also a bit of marbles.

As for the pomegranite wine? That one is all cleared should i rack to secondary for another couple of months and then bottle to age? or just go strait to bottle?