Mead won't clear

[Zaffo]

Hi all,

I have a Carrot Blossom Honey Mead going, that I can't seem to get to clear, and I've run out of ideas.

It has finished fermentation, and has been stable for some time at an SG of 1.000. Starting gravity was 1.096. I used Lavlin KV1116 yeast and staggered nutrient additions with DAP and Fermaid-K. I have not backsweetened...nor used other additives (i.e. acid, tannin, oak, calcium bicarbonate (ph was rather stable)).

My first attempt was to use SuperKleer. Quite a bit of gook dropped out, but it was still hazy.

Next I tried filtering it. Again, quite a bit came out with the filter. Still hazy.

I added Pectic Enzyme (though I know it's less effective as the alcohol content increases...but since I didn't add any fruit, or anything with pectin in it, I figured it was a long shot anyway). Still hazy.

I'm cold crashing it now. It's been outside for over 24 hours at a temp of 17-32ºF (-8-0ºC). Still not clear as of this morning. (Probably should have tried this first)

Any ideas? Should I give it some more time outside (gonna be cold this week)?. I'm thinking to add another round of SuperKleer, and try filtering again.

It tastes great to me, if a bit hot.

Thanks!

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

How old is the mead?

 

[Zaffo]

It finished ferment in September.

 

[Bearmaul]

That's not very long. Let it sit and do its thing. It will clear. You're running on mead time; the mead isn't running on your time.

 

[ThorGodOfThunder]

I have a pineapple mead that I started almost 6 months ago. It is still a little hazy. You'll want to age it anyway, just let it clear on its own as much as it can, then start working with clearing products.

 

[neo71665]

Everything about good wines and cider takes time. If you need it in a rush I suggest just buying it. Nothing good comes from trying to rush anything in the brewing process.

 

[Bluespark]

I have a vanilla mead that is 14 months old and still hazy. I had a strawberry mead that cleared at 9 months.

Grab a glass of something delicious and forget about it.

 

[fatbloke]

Personally, I add superkleer, put the batch in the fridge, then shout at it "clear you f****r, clear" twice a day until its sorted

 

[Zaffo]

Haha! I am trying exactly that!

Thanks all. Hopefully time, cold and cursing will do the trick!

 

[sweetcell]

I'm cold crashing it now. It's been outside for over 24 hours at a temp of 17-32ºF (-8-0ºC). Still not clear as of this morning. (Probably should have tried this first)

Any ideas? Should I give it some more time outside (gonna be cold this week)?.

yes, more time. cold crashing takes more than 12 hours. hell, in 12 hours 5+ gallons mostly likely hasn't had time to reach the cold ambient temperature. give it 4 days or more... ideally more.

 

[WVMJ]

All of the above posts are good, but if you want to clear it after one fining agent fails probably not a good idea to use that one again. I have followed superkleer with Sparkaloid, whatever the superkleer failed to get the sparkaloid picked up. Not sure if it makes any chemical fining sense since they are both supposed to pick up proteins. Filter out the sparkaliod and its clear. Good luck, WVMJ

 

[K5MOW]

Give it more time.

Roger

 

[BierSnob]

sense fermintation finished in september, you still have live yeast suspended in the meade. It generally takes about 6 mounths for the yeast to completely die and finish dropping out. Cold crashing will help, but time would be better or you can use chemicals to kill the yeast. Personaly I don't like to use chemicals in my meade.

 

[Zaffo]

Ended up going to the home brew store for help. They suggested adding tannins, which, for some reason, they say, helps to clear white wines. I added tannin, sorbate and sulfite and let it sit overnight. Then, I rented a "Super Jet Filter" and filtered it three times at 6, 1 and 0.5 microns. That finally did the trick.

Whatever was suspended in solution was not yeast. The 6 micron filter would've taken care of it. Maybe proteins? Pectin? Though I did try pectin enzyme with no effect.

Strange. Maybe it's a property of Carrot Blossom Honey?

Anyway, it's clear and tastes great.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[WVMJ]

Put a bottle in the fridge for a couple days and take it out and let it warm and see if it reforms. So how does it taste now? WVMJ

 

[Zaffo]

I had it outside in below freezing cold for two weeks. Nothing dropped out of suspension.

Filtering did the trick.

Whatever it was that the filters snagged looked like...well..dirt. Not yeast, not pectin.

The worst part was that using such a large filter three times resulted in a loss of nearly a gallon of delicious mead. I shed many tears.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Home Brew mobile app