Mead with Fruit and Clearing?

[dummkauf]

I have 5 gallons of JAOM in a glass carboy, it was made on 12/16/2010, and has been aging in the carboy ever since(racked a couple times to get it off the sediment that settled out). It is still not cleared completely, and I'm not getting much sediment on the bottom of the carboy since the last time I racked it. I stuck it in the kegerator about 3 weeks ago and it still isn't clearing. The last batch of JAOM I made was a 1 gallon batch which got crystal clear in about 4 months. I have been considering fining it, but I am wondering if there is something with meads that are made with fruit?(in this case oranges).

The reason for my concern, is that the very first mead I ever made, a peach melomel, I aged 1 year, and it never cleared in the carboy. At one point the peach melomel was racked onto some bentonite to help clear it, but that didn't do anything either. Since that was my first mead, I figured after 12 months that it was as clear as it was ever going to get, so I bottled. a few more months in the bottles and they got crystal clear, but the stuff that settled on the bottom wasn't really sediment, it looks thicker, almost like a lava lamp when it gets stirred up. Since I made that mistake with my first batch, I really want to try and avoid it again this time around, so I definitely won't be bottling until it's cleared.

All of the other meads I've made in the mean time have cleared naturally on their own, but it seems like my 5 gallon batches that involve fruit seem to be very stubborn and I'm wondering if the fruit has something to do with it? I have bentonite and sparkloid, and could fin it, but I am wondering if I would get the same results with this JAOM as I did with my peach melomel.

Is there something special that needs to be done with meads that were made with fruit, or is this normal? I would think 11 months would be more than enough to drop crystal clear I've seen some posts about using pectic enzyme in fruit meads, but it sounds like that's done before, or during, fermentation, so I'm not sure if that might help here.

Thoughts?

 

[fatbloke]

There's a million and one reasons why it might still have a haze. From a protein issue with the honey, to pectin with the fruit, ending up with a yeast that's just a pain.......

Bread yeast doesn't flocculate very well and is easily brought back into suspension by movement.

The use of pectic enzyme with batches that contain fruit can be done before or after fermentation, though you use less if it's added to the fruit/juice before the fermentation, it's normally doubled when added after the ferment.

Also it seems that it's better to use it before, as it can also aid in flavour/colour extraction with the fruit as well as sorting out the possibility of a pectin haze.

It will clear naturally, but it can take a hell of a long time. Sometimes de-gassing the mead can help it clear quicker.

I just tend to hit my batches with finings if they've not cleared naturally in 12 months.

Oh, and finally, if you are back sweetening with honey, it's often better to finish a ferment, then just back sweeten to a level that you know you normally like, but do it after the batch has finished it's ferment and after you've stabilised it, as you don't want it to restart fermenting.

Doing it then, means that if the back sweetening honey causes some protein hazing, it can be left to clear naturally with the yeast debris etc and you don't waste time clearing it, only to have it haze when it's sweetened i.e. you only have to clear it the once.

 

[dummkauf]

I guess I should explained the recipe a little better. The recipe was followed as written except for the yeast, I used Red Star Premiere Curve instead of bread yeast.

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It will clear naturally, but it can take a hell of a long time. Sometimes de-gassing the mead can help it clear quicker.

I just tend to hit my batches with finings if they've not cleared naturally in 12 months.

I'm also thinking at this point I should probably consider finning it with something. It's been about 15 months since I made this one and it hasn't gotten any clearer I figured I'd give it a while longer, but I haven't seen any changes at all, any recommendations for finning agents to hopefully clear it?

Note: it's also been sitting in my kegerator for the last 2 months in hopes that would help clear it up....but no luck.

 

[MasterJeem]

i have a jaom that i made drinkable in less than a month. it was hazy, but delicious. i put it in bottles and stuck it in the fridge and it poured out completely clear. i even drank some right out of the carboy after letting it aerate a few minutes in the fridge and it was fine, so my question is, who cares if its hazy? did you taste it?

i'm sure this reply is not going to make me any friends today.

 

[dummkauf]

who cares if its hazy?

Me.

did you taste it?

Yes, taste is fine, however the presentation is also important to me along with the taste, and I have no intention of bottling until it's crystal clear.


Any other suggestions on finning?

 

[AndyinWA]

I am an advocate of pectin enzyme with fruit laden melomels. I have used in secondary after fermentation with good results. Also, cold crashing sediment out of solution works well in conjunction. My 2 cents worth...

 

[MasterJeem]

i was also wondering about the pectin enzyme. from what i've been told it works best when used in primary, but have not heard anything about using it after that.

 

[dummkauf]

I am an advocate of pectin enzyme with fruit laden melomels. I have used in secondary after fermentation with good results. Also, cold crashing sediment out of solution works well in conjunction. My 2 cents worth...

I'll give that a shot, wish I would've known about the pectin enzyme 15 months ago when I made it

 

[dummkauf]

i was also wondering about the pectin enzyme. from what i've been told it works best when used in primary, but have not heard anything about using it after that.

We'll see what happens. I'd read the same thing which is why I hadn't tried it yet.

 

[MasterJeem]

When I made my first batch and few weeks ago I figured why add a bunch of fancy powders when you could just leave it alone and have it be fine. A few conversations with the guy that runs the brew store made me realize that $1.99 gets you enough for many batches to come and helps so much in finishing that it's worth it's weight in gold. Please keep us updated as to how it works out for you.

 

[dummkauf]

When I made my first batch and few weeks ago I figured why add a bunch of fancy powders when you could just leave it alone and have it be fine. A few conversations with the guy that runs the brew store made me realize that $1.99 gets you enough for many batches to come and helps so much in finishing that it's worth it's weight in gold. Please keep us updated as to how it works out for you.

Will do. If it makes you feel any better, I subscribed to that same theory til this batch. My 1st batch of JAOM(1 gallon) got crystal clear all on it's own following the same recipe as this cloudy 5 gallon batch.

 

[paraordnance]

I find that my fruit melomels drop crystal clear much faster than traditionals if I used pectic enzyme before/during fermentation. I hardly use any clearing agents other than time.