pale-looking mead dilemma

[reynardthefox]

hello all,
about two weeks ago i made six 3 liter batches of mead:
two batches of joe's ancient orange mead which is going strong and looking good
four batches of just honey and water, each with 400, 500, 600 and 700 gram natural honey (my own bees) topped off with water. (i didn't have a hydrometer, so i went crazy lol)
now, the 400g batch is looking very pale and white and the fermentation is very slow. i'm worried it's not gonna be tasting good. what is your suggestion? do i need to throw it into secondary with more honey or sugar or maybe spices? should i do the same with the other 3 batches of simple honey-water?
i would appreciate any suggestions u might have.
p.s. i do have a hydrometer right now.

 

[Gentle Jesus]

I have no experience with the Joe Ancient Orange Mead recipe, however if you are concerned with just one of the batches because it looks strange relative to the others, just give it a sniff and or thief out a small sample and test it. My guess it that it is fine, unless you see some weird floaters or something.

 

[probablynotnick]

I have no experience with the Joe Ancient Orange Mead recipe, however if you are concerned with just one of the batches because it looks strange relative to the others, just give it a sniff and or thief out a small sample and test it. My guess it that it is fine, unless you see some weird floaters or something.

Nothin like the ol' sniff-n-sip!
If it's not growing mold (super unlikely as honey is naturally antimicrobial), give it a sniff then give it a sip!

 

[bernardsmith]

Traditional meads (honey, water, yeast and nutrient) is usually the color of a white wine. I would be surprised if any mead made with honey and no fruit or spices or herbs is anything but very pale. Very surprised.

 

[reynardthefox]

Traditional meads (honey, water, yeast and nutrient) is usually the color of a white wine. I would be surprised if any mead made with honey and no fruit or spices or herbs is anything but very pale. Very surprised.

tnx for ur answer, i'm gonna test them today. it's been 16 days now and my batches are only 3 liters each, do u think it is time for secondary? do i need to do secondary with traditional mead at all?

 

[bernardsmith]

I cannot say. I normally transfer my meads when the gravity falls to 1.005 or thereabouts. Do you need to rack? If there is a large amount of headroom in the primary and you are at that gravity , perhaps you do. If there is no headroom then perhaps not. If the gravity is significantly higher then I would wait.