Mead won’t stop fermenting

Tywalker · Jul 28, 2024

I am a beginner and I’m making my first batch of strawberry mead. It’s been 3 weeks since I started. It has already been it it’s secondary stage. I thought that it was done due to fermentation slowing down tremendously so I then added a campden tablet and potassium sorbate to stabilize so that I can back sweeten but I now after adding them my mead is still fermenting and I don’t want to back sweeten due to the potential risk of that sugar turning into alcohol.
So my question is should I just wait it out or add more sorbate?

Dan O · Jul 28, 2024

K Meta & K Sorb will NOT stop an active ferment. Best to wait it out. Take gravity readings once a week. When you have 3 consecutive readings, then re-dose with K Sorb. If you plan to add more fruit or backsweeten, wait @ least 24 hrs. after adding the K Sorb.
I hope this helps you.
Happy meading

Raptor99 · Aug 3, 2024

How do you know that it is still fermenting? The only way to be sure is to take SG readings over several days to see if the SG is changing.

Wine and mead will continue to release CO2 for quite a while after fermentation is finished, so seeing bubbles does not necessarily mean that it is still fermenting.

Mead needs to age for quite a while to be really good, so there is no hurry. I would let it bulk age in a carboy with airlock for at least 6 months before I thought about stabilizing, backsweetening, and bottling.

Barzahl · Aug 3, 2024

Raptor99 said:
Mead needs to age for quite a while to be really good, so there is no hurry. I would let it bulk age in a carboy with airlock for at least 6 months before I thought about stabilizing, backsweetening, and bottling.

Depending on the yeast you should rack it off the lees for aging, many strains will start breaking down and produce off flavors if you leave the yeast cake in for months