Me mead...she's not clearing

[GLWIII]

Back last December I decided to try my hand at making a few meads. At that time I made four at once all using the same brand of honey and yeast - three of which had various concoctions of fruit and whatnot. Then there was the one that was a standard 1 gallon batch (honey, water, yeast...that's it). I have racked it once. To date it has not appeared to clear at all, while the other three are coming along nicely and clearly.

I plan on giving this one as much time as it needs, but I would have thought that it might have been somewhat clear by now. At this point it's really murky. As in no improvement at all.

Any ideas? Let me know what additional information is needed.

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

I had some really raw honey that I used to make a mead and it didn't clear. I ended up adding some bentonite, which cleared it up, but this was at the 8 month mark. I would give it some more time before you look into using finings.

 

[IJesusChrist]

I'd just use finings, some things may take a year to clear.

 

[Arpolis]

Some meads can take forever. I find that Pyments and many berry type meads clear quickly but plain meads take a bit. If you have room in your fridge then a couple weeks in the fridge will do wonders.

 

[fuelish]

I used to stress about clearing....anymore, meh ...if it clears before bottling, cool....if it doesn't, it usually does eventually clear in the bottles...am more into the flavor than the aesthetics these days

 

[IJesusChrist]

I used to stress about clearing....anymore, meh ...if it clears before bottling, cool....if it doesn't, it usually does eventually clear in the bottles...am more into the flavor than the aesthetics these days

Well, whatever is creating the haze could definitely contribute (+/-) to the flavor.

 

[fuelish]

Well, whatever is creating the haze could definitely contribute (+/-) to the flavor.

definitely possibly

 

[fatbloke]

Well, whatever is creating the haze could definitely contribute (+/-) to the flavor.

definitely possibly

See, I take the approach that if it's just gonna be you drinking it, then some residual sediment in a bottle is of little consequence, but if others are gonna drink it or you're gifting it, then its gotta be "gin clear".

Most of us "Western" types "eat with our eyes" far too much. Its a cultural/advertising thing. We see so many images of stuff how its supposed to look when its "right" that anything that mentally associates with wrong, makes us think we might not like it.

I've been self teaching to ignore this concept i.e. its more about what "it" tastes like and less about appearance. Yes I appreciate that with meads and other booze, whatever is causing a bit of cloudiness, is it gonna be changing the taste? etc etc.....

Others would just enjoy it because it looks pretty or fills their mental idea of sophisticated etc.

Whereas if its like a dark red wine, people dont moan about the pigment, tannins etc that might drop out with time, they can't see it, but they wouldn't buy a white like that.......

So you need to think on your target consumer more.......... IMO that is anyway.........

 

[IJesusChrist]

People won't eat apples that aren't shiny/large/round, even if they taste magnificent.

 

[DogStar]

That's right. I've got two apple trees. One produces big red shiney tasteless apples. The other produces small lumpy apples with a rough brown skin which are sweet and full of flavour.

It's often the same with homebrew. Most of my best tasting beers have been hazy.