Clarity isn't everything, but...

[spafmagic]

I know that clarity isn't everything, but... I'm puzzled about something. I made Three meads out of the -same honey- relatively at the same time as the label in the picture. The bottle on the far left is a blush pyment, the bottle in the middle is a (metheglin) cyser, and the jug on the right is just a honey, water, yeast combination. Yet... both the pyment and cyser cleared out with the passage of time, but the base Mead did not. I even tried cold crashing it in the fridge for a couple weeks at least. In about half the time that's gone by in the same jug, you could see clearly through it for the other meads.

So I guess my question is, how the heck is this not clear yet?

 

[Dland]

I don't know much about mead, but wonder if the plastic container has anything to do with it. Many plastics are gas permeable, and also will flex w temp changes.

 

[spafmagic]

I know it's nothing to do with the jug. I got these particular jugs on purpose to watch the gradual flocculation. As above, the other two Meads cleared out in the same jugs.

 

[spafmagic]

Granted, I have a means to filter the Mead to get the clarity I want, but it's still a mystery as to why a simple honey water yeast mix didn't clear out, but the juice Meads did.

 

[bernardsmith]

This is a good question but you may have the answer yourself. Pyment and Cyser have some fruit so the yeast has some nutrients and the yeast may have been able to ferment all the sugars. The trad mead - if your description is accurate - has only honey, water and yeast and so no nutrient and if honey is a nutrient desert (and it is) then it is possible that the yeast have not been able to fully ferment the sugars so those sugars are still dissolved in solution and so are defracting the light and so make your trad mead look hazy. If you added nutrient (and forgot to say that you did) then please ignore my response BUT you also failed to provide us with any time line: when did you pitch the yeast? what yeast did you pitch? What was your water source? What was the starting gravity of the trad mead? What is the final gravity of this mead? And without having any access to the critical pieces of information all anyone can do is wildly guess... Sorry.

 

[spafmagic]

This is a good question but you may have the answer yourself. Pyment and Cyser have some fruit so the yeast has some nutrients and the yeast may have been able to ferment all the sugars. The trad mead - if your description is accurate - has only honey, water and yeast and so no nutrient and if honey is a nutrient desert (and it is) then it is possible that the yeast have not been able to fully ferment the sugars so those sugars are still dissolved in solution and so are defracting the light and so make your trad mead look hazy. If you added nutrient (and forgot to say that you did) then please ignore my response BUT you also failed to provide us with any time line: when did you pitch the yeast? what yeast did you pitch? What was your water source? What was the starting gravity of the trad mead? What is the final gravity of this mead? And without having any access to the critical pieces of information all anyone can do is wildly guess... Sorry.

The date I pitch the yeast is on the label in the picture, along with the starting gravity and final gravity. I pitched lalvin 71b. And I did add a teaspoon fermax nutrient in the must.

 

[spafmagic]

I figured after two or three weeks of waiting for it to clear up a bit without showing any progress, I crack out the Sawyer water filter. I tasted it both pre-filter and post filter, and the only difference was it tasted a bit less yeasty. lol. It took a good deal of squeezing the bottle I put the Mead in to push it through the filter, but as you can see my yeast nutrient container can be seen through the jug.

Still odd that it wouldn't clear on its own.

 

[Brett_Bellmore]

I've seen this myself, when I make the straight orange blossom mead my wife likes. I can get it as clear as I like, stabilize, backsweeten with more orange blossom honey, and it's hazy again. It's something in the honey itself.

I've found it does settle out after months in the bottle, though, leaving a white film on the bottom.

 

[Toxxyc]

Honey contains proteins that often will remain in suspension for months. I have meads that aren't clear 18 months after bottling, and I've had others drop absolutely crystal clear in only a few months after bottling - without any finings.

 

[Maylar]

I use Bentonite in primary with a traditional mead. Back sweetening afterward will leave a haze that needs either filtering or another fining (like Super Kleer).

 

[bernardsmith]

Also , a) if the yeast is a poor flocculator then the mead or wine will not clear easily AND
b) if there is any CO2 in solution that gas will keep any particles of protein or yeast in suspension...

 

[spafmagic]

....
b) if there is any CO2 in solution that gas will keep any particles of protein or yeast in suspension...

Believe B is the case. Since I filtered it, it's a bit too late for the Mead to test that, but... It is in fact holding true for some red wine I also have been waiting to clear. It wasn't until after I took it off the "bed" of lees and degassed did in another container, that I began to see the particulates slowly dropping.

 

[spafmagic]

And since it's related to this thread... as I am using the mead in question, two-thirds of it are being conditioned into mint and black tea vanilla chai variants.

 

[JimRausch]

Here's a thought- both the pyment and cyser will have tannins from the fruit. Tannins can coagulate proteins and act as a fining agent.

 

[Maylar]

Here's a thought- both the pyment and cyser will have tannins from the fruit. Tannins can coagulate proteins and act as a fining agent.

I noticed that a back sweetened traditional was much clearer after 3 months on oak cubes. I believe it was due to the oak tannins.