How long should it ferment?

[The Norseman]

So i made a 30 liters (7.92 US gallon) batch of mead about two weeks ago and the fermenting process has really slowed down now (it bubbles every 25 sec.)

Does that mean it is ready for racking or should it ferment longer? Im going to work on Wednesday and will be gone for 3 weeks, so i have to rack it on Tuesday or wait until i come home.

 

[bernardsmith]

What is the current gravity, The Norseman? That is the only thing that tells you when to rack. Watching gas leave your airlock tells you nothing. If you don't know the gravity then you need to measure it and if you can't measure the gravity because you don't have an hydrometer, then you need to get yourself one. An Hydrometer is the one essential tool every wine and mead maker needs. When the gravity falls to about 1.005 (could be a little higher - at 1.010) that is the best time to rack. Racking too soon can mean that you remove too many of the viable yeast cells still actively fermenting. Racking too late can mean that the blanket of CO2 protecting the mead is no longer being replenished and so your mead is being oxidized. There is no free lunch in wine making.

 

[The Norseman]

What is the current gravity, The Norseman? That is the only thing that tells you when to rack. Watching gas leave your airlock tells you nothing. If you don't know the gravity then you need to measure it and if you can't measure the gravity because you don't have an hydrometer, then you need to get yourself one. An Hydrometer is the one essential tool every wine and mead maker needs. When the gravity falls to about 1.005 (could be a little higher - at 1.010) that is the best time to rack. Racking too soon can mean that you remove too many of the viable yeast cells still actively fermenting. Racking too late can mean that the blanket of CO2 protecting the mead is no longer being replenished and so your mead is being oxidized. There is no free lunch in wine making.

Thanks for the reply. I actually do have an hydrometer but if i measure the gravity and it is to high, is it ok to just close the lid and let it ferment more or will there be a problem with the oxygen entering it?

 

[bernardsmith]

Mead ain't beer and any concern for oxygen getting in should be rather minor. The yeast will glom onto the oxygen and absorb it faster than you can count to 1 and in wine making any esters that that may assist in producing is typically never a problem. If your fear is of oxidation then mead rusts as quickly as your car rusts when the paint is scraped off. We are talking in months , if not years before the color and taste changes can be detected by your average human being. The two minutes it takes to obtain a sample , review the reading AND assuming your sanitation protocol is adequate - return the sample back into the carboy - Mead ain't beer and there should be no concern about "souring" a) LAB cannot handle typical ABVs found in mead and b) the pH of your mead is likely to be close to 3 or even lower, (so lower than most "so-called" sour beers) - There is really no opportunity for any significant problem to occur. Mead makers tend to be far more laid back and relaxed than brewers when it comes to fermenting their musts. Wine making (and I include mead and cider making here) is a far more natural process than brewing. Yeast can, without human intervention, ferment the simple sugars in fruits and honey and tree saps. They cannot do that with the more complex sugars in grains and the yeast have a whole host of competitors for those complex sugars - including LAB and ped and Brett - that wine makers really don't see unless we deliberately introduce them OR our sanitation protocol is less than adequate - but then we use K-meta (SO2) to remove microbes we don't want and SO2 is a powerful bactericide. Also, we don't apply heat. We don't "brew" anything but tea or coffee, and so the favored temperatures that LAB prefer are simply not routinely encountered in fermenting fruits or honey.

 

[The Norseman]

It is my first time making mead so i don't know much about the process . I just checked the gravity and it said 1.010 so i guess i should rack it now then?

Thanks again for the answer

 

[RPh_Guy]

@bernardsmith
FYI LAB are commonly tolerant of high alcohol and low temperature. It's mainly the pH or sulfite that's inhibitory.
Agree on all other points!

 

[Maylar]

Wait till you come back.