I brewed 2 batches in one day. Both were in 5 liter carboys. One had 5 liters of pasturized apple juice in it and the 2nd container had 4-4.5 liters of pasturized apple juice and 1800 grams of honey in it.
The first batch finished fermenting after 2-3 weeks. I waited another 2 weeks before bottling it and it came out beautiful. After adding 1-2 tablespoons of sugar per glass I had of it, it was the best cider I had ever tasted. Yes, my first ever fermented apple juice was the best cider I had tasted, ever.
My problem is this 2nd batch with honey, which is supposed to be mead. It's been over 2 and a half months since I started brewing and the airlock has been bubbling slowly for 2 weeks or so. One problem I noticed after removing the t-shirt covering it was its odd coloring. The top 5cm were a nice apple juice color (basically the same color as the honey). Then it gradually darkened to this redish or brownish yellow. To clarify, the top layer was a shade of yellow. It was just weird seeing it gradually changing color downwards until it was a uniform, darker yellow.
I saw a pretty big formation at the bottom, as I have with previous meads. It looked more like honey than dead yeast so I decided to lift up the carboy to have a better look. From underneath the carboy, right in the center of the honey, I could see this really dark formation of stuff. It moved as I moved the carboy so it wasn't stuck by any means.
I decided to chance it and swirl the carboy for a good 15 minutes. It all blended together within the first minute or so. What I noticed in this time was perhaps a few white floaters that would swirl with the "mead". I could see them when they were near the front of the carboy, but then they'd soon swirl to the back side and I couldn't see them. I don't know if they looked like pieces of fruit or yeast or what, but they looked a bit weird.
There was no sign of any dark floaters however. As for what color it had before I swirled the "mead" idk. It could have been black or it could have been green, but with my sight it just looked generally dark. This dark formation at the center of the honey made up roughly 1/2 of the bottom layer in the carboy.
Has anyone seen this before? Is it just pieces of fruit from the juice that have collected? Is it mold? Is it yeast? I have no idea, but the air coming from the airlock smells delicious.
edit 24h later:
The sediment has settled again after yesterday's swirl. It could even be 2 days ago since I remembred spending yesterday with a friend watching anime hmmm.
When looking at the mead from the side, it's got a yellow color very different from both the cider and from what the mead used to look like in the first month. The bottom looks like it has sediment. The sediment looks like the honey that was put in, except it's turned much whiter.
When I lift it up and look at it from the bottom, I see 95% of it as dark green. It's white-ish around the edges, consistent with the sediment I observed.
I swirled it slightly today, as to not mix it up, and I saw those white floaters again. To be honest they kinda look like drops of soap that aren't dissolving into the liquid. My guess is they're just dead yeast.
Other than this bottom weirdness everything seems fine. The smell is good, the bubbling is good, the color might be a bit darker than I'd expect, but that might be fine.
If this continues I guess I'll put it into secondary, age it for 3 months and have a taste. Then I'll judge wether or not I think it'll kill me or give me food poisoning. The money's not gonna get any more lost anyway.
The first batch finished fermenting after 2-3 weeks. I waited another 2 weeks before bottling it and it came out beautiful. After adding 1-2 tablespoons of sugar per glass I had of it, it was the best cider I had ever tasted. Yes, my first ever fermented apple juice was the best cider I had tasted, ever.
My problem is this 2nd batch with honey, which is supposed to be mead. It's been over 2 and a half months since I started brewing and the airlock has been bubbling slowly for 2 weeks or so. One problem I noticed after removing the t-shirt covering it was its odd coloring. The top 5cm were a nice apple juice color (basically the same color as the honey). Then it gradually darkened to this redish or brownish yellow. To clarify, the top layer was a shade of yellow. It was just weird seeing it gradually changing color downwards until it was a uniform, darker yellow.
I saw a pretty big formation at the bottom, as I have with previous meads. It looked more like honey than dead yeast so I decided to lift up the carboy to have a better look. From underneath the carboy, right in the center of the honey, I could see this really dark formation of stuff. It moved as I moved the carboy so it wasn't stuck by any means.
I decided to chance it and swirl the carboy for a good 15 minutes. It all blended together within the first minute or so. What I noticed in this time was perhaps a few white floaters that would swirl with the "mead". I could see them when they were near the front of the carboy, but then they'd soon swirl to the back side and I couldn't see them. I don't know if they looked like pieces of fruit or yeast or what, but they looked a bit weird.
There was no sign of any dark floaters however. As for what color it had before I swirled the "mead" idk. It could have been black or it could have been green, but with my sight it just looked generally dark. This dark formation at the center of the honey made up roughly 1/2 of the bottom layer in the carboy.
Has anyone seen this before? Is it just pieces of fruit from the juice that have collected? Is it mold? Is it yeast? I have no idea, but the air coming from the airlock smells delicious.
edit 24h later:
The sediment has settled again after yesterday's swirl. It could even be 2 days ago since I remembred spending yesterday with a friend watching anime hmmm.
When looking at the mead from the side, it's got a yellow color very different from both the cider and from what the mead used to look like in the first month. The bottom looks like it has sediment. The sediment looks like the honey that was put in, except it's turned much whiter.
When I lift it up and look at it from the bottom, I see 95% of it as dark green. It's white-ish around the edges, consistent with the sediment I observed.
I swirled it slightly today, as to not mix it up, and I saw those white floaters again. To be honest they kinda look like drops of soap that aren't dissolving into the liquid. My guess is they're just dead yeast.
Other than this bottom weirdness everything seems fine. The smell is good, the bubbling is good, the color might be a bit darker than I'd expect, but that might be fine.
If this continues I guess I'll put it into secondary, age it for 3 months and have a taste. Then I'll judge wether or not I think it'll kill me or give me food poisoning. The money's not gonna get any more lost anyway.
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