when to bottle

[sugarbass]

Brewed my first ever Mead (non sparkling sack mead .. no fruit or anything)... about 6 weeks ago, currently sitting in secondary fermenter. Visible airlock activity stopped after 4 weeks or so.
I'm planning on being patient and waiting a year or something but, I'm not really sure when to bottle it? Was thinking I would probably wait half year or more before bottling it but am wondering if will make any difference to conditioning,clearing? Do i want to bottle it as soon as i can or not? Thanks for any help.

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

You're on the right track; you really don't want to bottle any meads before you can read through them. Your mead will continue to drop sediment until there isnt any, and even after that! Here's what'll happen if you bottle too early. Your mead will clear beautifully, but once you move the bottle, the sediment will reincorporate into your mead.

 

[fatbloke]

Details, details.......

Has it been racked off the gross lees ?

What yeast was used ?

Current gravity reading ?

MB is spot on with the suggestion but a bit more info would get you additional advice/suggestions. ......

 

[sugarbass]

Details, schmetails, it will be apparent I don't know what I'm doing when I say What is gross lees? 2 disgusting guys named Lee? I'll presume some sort of sediment? Anyway with my bad eyesight and the refractometer my original Brix was 27 (ish) and now reads 10 (ish). Brewed(?) on 7/1 with 18 lbs wildflower honey, dry wine yeast DV10. Added 5G potassium chloride, after airlock activity began, added fermaid K and some DAP....I didn't really want to cuz I'm a wanna be purist. ...anyway. ...blah, blah...after 8 days brix 14, at two weeks racked to secondary, now brix is 10 (after 6 weeks). Again, thank you very kindly for any advice.

 

[Covert]

There really is no textbook answer to this and everyone will have their own opinion. I have one now that I've racked twice and I can see my hand through the carboy and there are no bubbles in the airlock so I'm probably close to time to bottle. As someone else stated one problem is that if there is sediment still you will get sediment in the bottle. Another problem would be that it could carbonate in the bottle and if you are using corked bottles you will get popped corks. At this point I SWAG it, but in your case I would rack a couple of times and make sure you get all of the sediment. With mead you have to learn patience.

 

[fatbloke]

Details, schmetails, it will be apparent I don't know what I'm doing when I say What is gross lees? 2 disgusting guys named Lee? I'll presume some sort of sediment? Anyway with my bad eyesight and the refractometer my original Brix was 27 (ish) and now reads 10 (ish). Brewed(?) on 7/1 with 18 lbs wildflower honey, dry wine yeast DV10. Added 5G potassium chloride, after airlock activity began, added fermaid K and some DAP....I didn't really want to cuz I'm a wanna be purist. ...anyway. ...blah, blah...after 8 days brix 14, at two weeks racked to secondary, now brix is 10 (after 6 weeks). Again, thank you very kindly for any advice.

27 brix is about 1.115 and 10 brix about 1.040 so its worth checking out the alcohol tolerance of the dv10 because theres still a **** load of unfermented sugars in there and from memory dv10 should have taken it dry......I'm thinking its stuck....

Leaving it like that will clear it fine but there'll still be some yeast cells present and all sorts of things could start it fermenting again and bingo, instant bottle bombs....

Potassium chloride ? Did you mean potassium carbonate ?

Cos im thinking it either needs further nutrition or the pH has swung too low (below 3.0pH)......

Oh and gross lees is the biggest main sediment....... and a flippant attitude isn't likely to get you advice and guidance.

I hate typing on this crap smartphone so the request for further details wasn't for my benefit......:rockin:

 

[sugarbass]

Thanks so much everyone, you've taught me a lot, you're all invited for a glass in a year! ..I knew I could count in this forum when it mattered. ....didn't think my attitude was flippant but, oh well.

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

I'll step back in a sec. If you we're worried that FB was being mean or aggressive to you, don't worry he's like that to everyone, especially those who don't publicly denounce pasteurization, but that's another day.

I think what he was really getting at, is that us mead-makers are willing to vomit information all over your thread. Just asking "what are gross lees" will get you more help than adding an extra paragraph about how you don't know what they are.

Personally I like to have my mead sit in primary until they are 90% clear, since I've found that even a several months on most yeasts will be just fine. Then I rack it off form there, and usually bottle form the secondary. This saves a lot of lost mead from racking too early multiple times.

 

[sugarbass]

Thank you for your time and advice MB.

 

[fatbloke]

I'll step back in a sec. If you we're worried that FB was being mean or aggressive to you, don't worry he's like that to everyone, especially those who don't publicly denounce pasteurization, but that's another day.

I think what he was really getting at, is that us mead-makers are willing to vomit information all over your thread. Just asking "what are gross lees" will get you more help than adding an extra paragraph about how you don't know what they are.

Personally I like to have my mead sit in primary until they are 90% clear, since I've found that even a several months on most yeasts will be just fine. Then I rack it off form there, and usually bottle form the secondary. This saves a lot of lost mead from racking too early multiple times.

I'll have you know that my answer(s) where the finest examples of properly constructed advice, correctly spelled, with perfect grammar and exemplary punctuation.............NOT (or would it be incorrect to try phonetically spelling it for comic/dramatic effect ?........ NAHT! )

We all think our answers are as clear to others, as they are too us. Bollocks they are !

Text like this is vvv helpful, but as some stupid amount of communication is non-verbal, it's difficult to convey attitude, but we still manage to decide that someone "must" have been trying to mean whatever, in a certain way. And usually get it wrong......

 

[billingsbrew]

Maybe it is more important to ask how long do I want to age my mead . When was the last time you drink out of a carboy of any size. I mean if you bottle it too soon you may want to open those bottles. By keeping it in a larger container it will age without the temptation to consume.

 

[huesmann]

Bottle after it's a) stabilized, and b) fully cleared.

 

[sugarbass]

Maybe it is more important to ask how long do I want to age my mead . When was the last time you drink out of a carboy of any size. I mean if you bottle it too soon you may want to open those bottles. By keeping it in a larger container it will age without the temptation to consume.

I appreciate it thanks. That's at least a part if why I asked my initial question, I'm inclined to think that I might as well just let it "condition" in the carboy. ...think I'll wait around a year or whatever and then bottle it and maybe wait another month or so for safe keeping. ?