First mead, a few questions

[JTehFreakS]

Hello all, back in January I started my first batch of mead. I followed the first recipe in the Compleat Meadmaker, with some changes due to what I had available in my area. Currently, I have it in secondary, and I've noticed some very light foaming in the carboy and was wondering if this was the must degassing, or if it's a sign that the yeast is still doing it's thing. Here's some more info about the mead:

15lbs local raw honey
15L spring water
EC-1118 yeast
OG = 1.100
Gravity before transfer = 0.998

I'm currently unable to take another gravity reading as I'm out of town, but with it being as low as it is, I imagine things are about done? Another question, since I'm not adding anything else to this mead, is secondary essentially the bulk ageing phase? Thanks for any information, I'm sure I'll have more questions as I continue down this tasty path. The attached pic is what the mead looks like as of 18 January.



V/r,

Jon

 

[Arpolis]

With that much honey the gravity can go as low as .990 - .992 so there may be some fermentation. But on the other hand if you do not take measure to degass the mead yourself then it does take a long time to naturally degass under airlock. So could be either.

Secondary can be "bulk aging". Basically anything not in bottles once fermentation stops is bulk aging. Just watch it and any time sediment collects at the bottom then go ahead and rack off it. You don't want it to sit on a bed of lees for more than 6-8 weeks or less if there is a considerable amount.

 

[JTehFreakS]

I just racked the mead off of a bunch of lees, and it looks like it's still sitting at 0.998. I was wondering what fusel alcohols taste like; the mead tastes pretty good, but it has a decent alcohol taste in the front with the other flavors coming in afterwards. From what I've read, this sounds about normal for a mead that's about 2 months old (1 month if you count when I got it out of primary), but I wanted another opinion to be sure.

V/r,

Jon