SO2 and Mead

[bribo179]

I have a batch of mead that I have fermented with D-47 and it is now getting close to it's final gravity. My plan is to rack this to a carboy and age it for a year before I bottle it. I have added no sulfates to this mead so far.

I have no SO2 or PH meters currently and wondered if I need to add sulfates to this mead to help protect it during the aging process. I have heard some people adding 1 campden tablet per gallon to up the sulfides in a long aging wine and didn't know if I should do the same for this mead. My plan is to age this for a year, cold condition it for a few weeks and then bottle. Question #2 ...would I need to add any sulfites to the mead at bottling?

Thank you for any help!

 

[Arpolis]

No real need to worry about that with mead as long as you are over 10% - 11% ABV. Just keep sanitary practices with hoses and bottles and you are just fine. If doing a low ABV mead then it is nice to add a Camden per gallon at racking but if you bottle after that wait at least 24-48 hours for excess SO2 to gas off. No need to add at bottling.

 

[bribo179]

It's a 14.5% meadso it sounds like I'm ok. I've brewed beer for years so I've got the sanitation part down.

 

[bernardsmith]

why would mead be more protected from oxidation than say wine from grapes or apricots or apple cider? I guess that during fermentation mead tends to be very acidic but if the acid levels then drop (or we raise the pH) then what makes a 12 -14 percent ABV wine (or mead) require no protection from oxidation assuming it was to be aged a year or more in the bottle? My understanding is that the higher the acidity level the less SO2 is needed but there is no wine (vs spirits) that needs no protection. Does honey itself express SO2 so that no additional free SO2 is needed?