Sweet mead bottled for 1 month, what happened? with pictures

[dennis_knightdog]

Hello,

I did a sweet mead in a fast fermenter ( my first shot at doing a mead in it). 2.5 months in the fast fermenter. I dumped the bottom canister 3 times ( simulating a racking ) and it looked clear when i bottled it. I stuck it in a box, put it in a corner of the man cave and ignored it for a month. Now it has this on the bottom. Did I need to transfer it to a glass carboy for the final month and then rack it? Can it be saved? Should I dump them all into a carboy and wait another month and rack it again?? any help would be greatly appreciated. I have not chilled and tasted it so I don't know if it went bad, I guess that is the next step if no one has any suggestions.



Thanks in advance.

Dennis

 

[DroneKeeper]

I'd say from the sediment and the fact the cork is pushed out your fermentation wasn't done. Exposure to O2 when bottling might have started up a stalled ferment and it finished on its own again in the bottle. It might also be you just had plenty of sediment still that hadn't dropped out yet wen you bottled it. I'd taste it and if all is acceptable, do as you suggested and put it in a carboy. I'm a novice so somebody else might chime in but that's what I'm guessing.

 

[Yooper]

Pouring it now into a carboy will oxidize (ruin) it. It just wasn't clear enough when it was bottled, so it continued to clear in the bottle, dropping sediment like that. Some wines and meads will throw lees for a few months, so it was simply just bottled too early.

You can drink it by decanting it off of the sediment into a decanter or other server, because trying to rack it out of the bottles and rebottle would likely cause more harm than give any benefit.

 

[Maylar]

I would devise some clever way of siphoning the mead out of the bottles into a bottling pot and bottle it again. Yes you risk oxidation, but mead is much less sensitive to oxidation than wine, as long as there's no fruit in it. Maybe add a small dose of sulfite for insurance if you hadn't done that at last bottling.

 

[dennis_knightdog]

DroneKeeper,
Thanks for your reply. The cork is part way out because I had to use a cheap corker and it did not push them in all the way.

 

[dennis_knightdog]

Update,
I chilled it and opened it carefully. It tasted good. No carbonation.
So I need to decide, do as Yopper suggests or as Dronekeepr/Maylor suggest. I think ill do both. I have 24 bottles and might just sacrifice 12 and re-rack and then bottle again.

 

[Dr_Floyd]

That's definitely a sign that it wasn't finished but it's worth nothing that I have never had a mead NOT drop sediment after bottling and aging in a closet but that amount is definitely avoidable in the future. My first batch of Mead dropped a lot of sediment after bottling simply because I didn't fully understand what "clear" really looked like until later batches. I've come to accept the little bit of fallout that comes with bottle aging because to get rid of it completely likely means filtering or aggressively fining which supposedly strips flavor. It's also worth noting here that certain ingredients like lavender are more susceptible to breaking down and may require special care on a case to case basis (depending on the ingredient) to avoid.

 

[nitack]

If there was no carbonation when you uncorked it then the ferment was done, but it had not fully cleared when you bottled. It could not have continued fermenting without building up carbonation, and it takes very little additional fermenting to cause it to be noticeable.

It is unsightly, but there is no harm leaving it on the lees. Just decant as best possible when you are ready to drink a bottle. Don't screw with it now, you'll regret it.

 

[Proflig8tor]

Even "professional" mead makers have this problem to some mild degree if they don't filter before bottling. As others have correctly stated, enjoy your mead