Mead and Bentonite Clay

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handlebarz

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So I had a batch of lemon ginger mead that I made using D47 that I wanted to clarify a bit quicker so I could bottle it and gift for the holidays. I have used bentonite clay in the past, but I honestly haven't been comparing taste all along, just sort of blindly doing stuff.

I added the clay yesterday and took off a mason jar's worth to set aside for early consumption. When I compared the taste today I could very clearly notice the lack of ginger from the batch as compared to what I set aside in the jar. As a result the alcohol is now too far on the forefront in the taste. I know it will age out to some extent but I'm bummed the ginger seems to be stripped out.

Does anyone else have any experience with clay doing this?
 
I have only done one recipe with "pretty much" the same ingredients but where I used bentonite in one and let it clear naturally in the other. There was one difference in that one used honey and the other sugar. Everything else exactly the same, the recipe was the skeeter pee recipe. The one with bentonite ended up having less color and that was the one with honey. I would have expected that one to have more yellow coloring.

In taste however I think the lemon/bentonite version was a little less sour but overall smoother in alcohol taste. So not sure if this helps you here but that was my experience.
 
That's interesting that it evened out the flavor. Did you taste before and after bottling?
 
YOu can easily boost the ginger flavor back up by freezing some root and then nuking it a minute and squeezing out the juice, we use one of those lemon juicers with 2 handles that presses out the juice, it should be clear and not cloud up your wine. Unless you used to much bentonite it shouldnt have had much of an effect, we have fined ginger wines before, but we like to use a pound/gallon as a cooking wine or punch mixer. WVMJ

So I had a batch of lemon ginger mead that I made using D47 that I wanted to clarify a bit quicker so I could bottle it and gift for the holidays. I have used bentonite clay in the past, but I honestly haven't been comparing taste all along, just sort of blindly doing stuff.

I added the clay yesterday and took off a mason jar's worth to set aside for early consumption. When I compared the taste today I could very clearly notice the lack of ginger from the batch as compared to what I set aside in the jar. As a result the alcohol is now too far on the forefront in the taste. I know it will age out to some extent but I'm bummed the ginger seems to be stripped out.

Does anyone else have any experience with clay doing this?
 
To get to the original question. YES, bentonite will strip flavor and color. When using it you should try half the recommended dosage and add the rest only if needed. I use bentonite only when time won't do the trick (1 out of 22 batches).

I wouldn't recommend it as a ready to drink faster miracle, since just because it's clear, doesn't mean its done aging properly [/rant]
 
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