Recent content by TheChadd

Yup, and the consensus on this forum was that this was normal when racking mead, particularly metheglin (that was from e-mail response). I also e-mailed some other folks and posted on twitter, and got the same response. I only posted because this was my (my wife's, actually) first mead, and I...

CO2 will only bubble out when the pressure is greater inside the chamber than outside. What is making the CO2 bubble out..more CO2 from the mead, of course (either from residual yeast fermentation and/or CO2 coming out of solution); most definitely not air/O2. The fermentation lock is designed...

Our discussion was already taking account for that by pre-purging with CO2 and final fermentation and residual CO2 coming form the mead in secondary. It looks like Ken will be talking at NHC this year. I'll try to hit him up while down there.

Yup! I read through many posts the forum...lot's of "do this to prevent oxidation", but no substantiation behind it. I suspect this is something grandfathered in from barrel aging/conditioning, where head space on a gas-permeable membrane is critical. (more head space equals more barrel...

Oh, just clarify, I'm speaking specifically of a non-permeable glass carboy with a fermentation lock; not a gas permeable vessel such as a plastic bucket or oak barrel. :)

I have not found any studies that correlate head space to oxidation. Though not a "study", Schramm mentions nothing about head space and oxidation in his book. On page 74, he actually recommends creating a blanket of CO2 on the mead to prevent oxidation. Some googling reveals that fermentation...

I guess I don't follow. First, the mead in the carboy is a positive pressure system, slowly generating CO2 while the yeast finished up whatever consumables are left for a few weeks or so after racking into secondary. Second, the lock only allows gas to leave, not enter (except under extreme...

I purged the carboy with CO2 before racking. That, along with the lock full of iodaphor should prevent mold from taking hold.

The yeast worked great! We did some researching on forums and sites, and people seemed to have good luck with WLP720. We didn't use a starter, but did a good job oxygenating it (O2 tank and carb stone). Actually, I did the "double oxygenation" process that I normally do with big beers (O2...

No, I'm not showing a body part here :p... I've been making beer for years now. My wife decided that she wanted to make some mead, and I let her own the process. When it came to sanitation, she did some things that made me cringe a little, but for the most part I think it was okay. We...

So, servomyces is just yeast that was grown in a nutrient rich environment according to White Labs' site. So, why not just buy a tub of pure brewer's yeast from the store (in the vitamins section) and use that?