oxidated mead need advice

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baaboon

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I let airlock run out of water and i've never even racked my mead.

Basically i had to move after starting a batch and i never got a chance to check on it till a year later. I gave it a taste and suprisingly its good.

The starting gravity was aimed to finish at 18%abv and i used that ec 1118 I think its called. It's been a while.

It now has a gravity of 1.004 I was wondering if there is anything i should do to it. Like something i could do to freshen it up. Should i bother bottling it or will the oxidation just make it bad before long. I've got 4 gallons of it so i was really hoping to bottle some up to see how it tastes in a few years. I'm wondering if its better just drinking it right away.

Seeing how its still got a good flavor I cant imagine it's been getting oxygen very long. It may still have positive pressure and keeping air going through the airlock. It's not bubbling at all though. I really dont know. This was my 1st batch of mead and it's a modified jaom.


Thanks
 
Ok, the airlock went dry......

So how do you know it was oxidated ?

While it ferments, it's producing a healthy amount of CO2, which is heavier than air so from initial point, once the ferment commences it pushes any air out the airlock first, then its just bubbling CO2. If it was still bubbling after your move then as it stops producing the CO2, that sits as a protective blanket of gas atop the liquid.

So the chances are that its less damaged than you may believe.

Ergo, if it tastes ok, rack it off the lees, either into an appropriately sized container to clear or if clear, rack carefully into a bottling bucket and bottle from there.......
 
Is it clear? Is it brown? Put in some sulfites to protect it, rack as FB suggests. But, dont let us tell you if its worth drinking, only you know that, if you like it then you did a good job. A friend shared a 14 year old mead with us last year, it was oxidizing, on its way downhill, made in beermaker style, and it was very good and smooth and like a very good sherry. In a few years its probably going to decline to far so he decided to drink it all up. No reason not to stablelize it and bottle it if its crystal clear and you like it. WVMJ
 
It is a a bit brown. I did use a dark colored honey though.

I thouht "clear" meant it didnt have any floaties. Is it to do with the actual color of the mead?


Brown being slightly darker than tequilla
 
It is a a bit brown. I did use a dark colored honey though.

I thouht "clear" meant it didnt have any floaties. Is it to do with the actual color of the mead?


Brown being slightly darker than tequilla
It's colour is likely to reflect the colour of the original honey......

the tequilla analogy doesn't help much as I've seen some thats an average whisky colour and some that's completely clear like gin or vodka.....

but clear is usually defined as being clear enough to read a newspaper through it.....

oxidised is often described as having sherry like hints to it.......it often takes a long time for that.

As Jack says, if you like it, then that's fine. I'd just get it cleared (finings if necessary), stabilise it or at least sulphites and bottle it.......
 
Taste it. If it has a flavour similar to wet cardboard, it's oxidized & there is nothing you can do to fix it. If not, then you should be OK, hit it with sulfites to guard against oxidation & go from there.
Regards, GF.
 
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