Phase separation in a rhodomelomel: "My mead's got stuff in it..."

[invivoSaccharomyces]

So I made this mead, and it is really floccin' good. I call it a rhodomelomel: it's a deep purple rose/blueberry semi-sweet mead.

Unfortunately, its maker is an idiot. I decided I wanted blueberries and rose petals in my mead. So, I made a mead, waited two weeks, then shoved some pasteruized mush made of frozen blueberries and culinary rose petals into a carboy and racked on top of it.

Well, the inevitable phase separations took their course: the blueberries have made a thick layer on the bottom with the trub, and the rose petals are loosely floating on top like pond scum.

Since I don't have a big enough centrifuge, what's the best way to extract the mead from the not-mead? I predict my auto siphon is going to get clogged several times if I try to rack, and those rose petals will have soaked up a bunch of the mead like a sponge. I don't have a whole lot of mead (<2 gallons), so I'd like to keep as much of it as I can.

All suggestions welcome. And I'm not worried about oxidation at this point - rose petals are chock full of antioxidants!

 

[skadalajara]

You can use a sanitized spring paper clip to keep the racking cane above the fruit sediment.
Rose petals are already pretty moist. I doubt they'd soak up that much. You could always put them in a coffee filter and squeeze the juices out of them.

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