damdaman
Well-Known Member
Hey everyone... I have my first mead that has been fermenting for 3 weeks now. It is progressing well, OG was 1.100 and SG today was 1.015. I made a 2.5 gallon batch and put it into a 3 gallon carboy, since this is my first mead I didn't want to invest in a 5gal batch in case I screwed it up. (I had a previous thread worrying unnecessarily about a slow start to fermentation here (recipe included): https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f30/apparent-slow-start-my-first-mead-159234/)
My plan was to wait until primary fermentation was complete and then rack it to a temporary vessel, clean out the 3gal carboy, sanitize it, and then rack it back into the carboy for secondary/clearing.
However now I'm concerned that since fermentation will be over and no more co2 is being produced, this will leave a lot of air in contact with the mead and thus possibly lead to oxidation.
Do you more experienced folks here think this is a threat, or am I being overly cautious? Is there a way to neutralize this threat, perhaps racking to secondary BEFORE fermentation is over (say at 1.010 SG) so that some co2 is created and pushes out the o2? Or do I need to find a smaller secondary vessel to eliminate the headspace?
My plan was to wait until primary fermentation was complete and then rack it to a temporary vessel, clean out the 3gal carboy, sanitize it, and then rack it back into the carboy for secondary/clearing.
However now I'm concerned that since fermentation will be over and no more co2 is being produced, this will leave a lot of air in contact with the mead and thus possibly lead to oxidation.
Do you more experienced folks here think this is a threat, or am I being overly cautious? Is there a way to neutralize this threat, perhaps racking to secondary BEFORE fermentation is over (say at 1.010 SG) so that some co2 is created and pushes out the o2? Or do I need to find a smaller secondary vessel to eliminate the headspace?