Are stabilizers (campden) required for JOAM?

[Husher]

I made 2 bottles of JOAM. Aged it 6 months. I liked it. Shared it with some coworkers who liked it more.

One of my work friends has acquired 5 kilos of honey and asked if I could make JOAM for him. (Apparently his mother REALLY liked it).

Anyways. I don't mind experimenting and making mistakes on my own dime, but suddenly feel a responsibility to ensure this is done right. He'll get 15 bottles so if I mess up it'll be costly.

I should add that I make beer, not wide, so this was clearly an experiment for me (messed up the bottling procedure the first time, which is why I drank so quickly).

Following the usual recipe everyone references does not mention long term storage or aging or killing the yeast like most winemakers do with sulphates.

Is using sulphates or Campden (or whatever - not sure) required for ensuring bottled JOAM will keep? I'm assuming buddy needs the stuff to stick around for years to come.

My plan right now is to brew in a 5 gallon glass carboy until it clears (2 months?), then rack to three 1 gallon carboys for a bit of aging. I'll probably use a food saver vacuum to degass before racking. Then a few months later bottle in wine bottles. So, what should I change for long term stability sake or to avoid oxidation (or whatever else I may be doing wrong)?

Thanks

 

[rjbergen]

I'll preference this by saying I'm new to mead making, but here goes.

Potassium sorbate is used to stabilize and prevent future fermentation. It's not guaranteed, but pretty reliable if used correctly.

Potassium metabisulfate (Campden) is used to prevent oxidation and infection.

In my opinion, neither should be needed for JAOM. If you use proper sanitation methods, you shouldn't need to worry about infections. If you rack and bottle correctly, oxidation shouldn't be a concern. Therefore, you likely don't need potassium metabisulfate.

The basic JAOM recipe uses the alcohol tolerance of the bread yeast to kill it off, at least that's my current understanding. Therefore, you don't need potassium sorbate since the yeast won't be able to continue fermenting due to the high ABV.

Someone will be along to correct me if I'm wrong, but that's my basic understanding so far.

 

[Arpolis]

Rjbergen is pretty spot on. Sulphites are not needed in many high ABV meads. Honey by itself is a good anti bacterial/ anti fungel substance. JAOM actually ages really well over a year if followed correctly. So don't change a thing, keep sanitary and if bottled correctly they will keep for years.

 

[fatbloke]

Rjbergen is right but not quite.....

To stabilise, you need both. The sulphites and the sorbate.

The sulphite stuns the yeast, it doesn't kill it (well not in the concentration we use in wine, mead etc). Its volatile, so exposure to air will dissipate it.

The sorbate just stops the yeast reproduction.

Even both together won't stop an active ferment, which is why you have to cold crash a fermenting batch first, then rack it onto the chems while still cold.

Additionally, the sulph8te has a few other possible functions. Yes, it is an anti oxidant, but its volatility means that there's better ones......ascorbic acid for example.

Now if you just used sorbate, and the batch became contaminated with malolactic fermentation bacteria, it would munch through the sorbate and form geraniols and ruin the batch.

This can only happen if the sulphite level iis below 20ppm. A crushed campden tablet gives about 50ppm per US gallon (about 44 per imperial gallon, I understand). So the sulphites prevent that, unless you want to do MLF, which if so, youd do that first.......

 

[Fletch78]

Ive had some "poppy" JAO that I aged in flip-tops.

If I were you, I'd stabilize it with both campden and sorbate, just to be sure.