Racked too soon...next step?

[DroneKeeper]

I'm making my first mead and its been fermenting since the beginning of January. I racked to secondary after 3 weeks per recipe instructions (and the fact the fermentation seemed to have slowed dramatically) but after deciding to move the secondary carboy to a taller stand in a warmer room fermentation really took off. I'm guessing the basement where I had the primary was just too cool and the bulk of the ferment just hadn't happened yet. Anyways, after 8 weeks fermentation appears to have stopped and SG is 1.010. There is a decent yeast cake at the bottom but the mead hasn't cleared completely (can't read through it.) Should I rack again back to my 6 gallon (just have a 5 and a 6) to help it clear or just leave as is and bottle after a few more months?

 

[lumpher]

Rack it again, then wait till it clears. Shouldn't be long, since it's close to or at fg. When it clears, measure gravity again, and if good, bottle. With all that headspace, don't leave it in the 6 for long.

 

[DroneKeeper]

Rack it again, then wait till it clears. Shouldn't be long, since it's close to or at fg. When it clears, measure gravity again, and if good, bottle. With all that headspace, don't leave it in the 6 for long.

Thanks for the recommendation. A friend of mine recommended I flood the carboy with C02 from a tank prior to racking. Is this a good idea or unnecessary? Would picking up another 5 gallon be advisable rather than using the 6 again?

 

[lumpher]

Flooding with co2 would be a good idea if you can. As far as getting another 5g carboy, that's up to you. Will you use it enough to make it worth it? You can also let it sit for a couple days and take gravity again. If ready to bottle, you can just cold crash for a couple days, then bottle. If it's finished, but still needs clearing and cold crashing isn't doing it, you can clear it with gelatin.

 

[DroneKeeper]

Flooding with co2 would be a good idea if you can. As far as getting another 5g carboy, that's up to you. Will you use it enough to make it worth it? You can also let it sit for a couple days and take gravity again. If ready to bottle, you can just cold crash for a couple days, then bottle. If it's finished, but still needs clearing and cold crashing isn't doing it, you can clear it with gelatin.

I went ahead and used Sparkcolloid and the mead has cleared right up! Nice big yeast cake on the bottom now and crystal clear mead above. Should I siphon right to bottles being careful not to disturb the sediment or am I better off to siphon to something else (carboy/bottling bucket) and then to bottles. I've seen recommendations about racking again before bottling but isn't that just increasing O2 exposure?

 

[Yooper]

I went ahead and used Sparkcolloid and the mead has cleared right up! Nice big yeast cake on the bottom now and crystal clear mead above. Should I siphon right to bottles being careful not to disturb the sediment or am I better off to siphon to something else (carboy/bottling bucket) and then to bottles. I've seen recommendations about racking again before bottling but isn't that just increasing O2 exposure?

You want to get the mead off of the lees. If it's so clear you can read a newspaper through it, you may be ok to bottle, but my preference is to let it sit in a new carboy for 60 days without ANY lees dropping at all before bottling. I hate sediment in my bottles.

Keep it topped up, and/or flood with c02 and you will minimize any risk of oxidation.

 

[DroneKeeper]

You want to get the mead off of the lees. If it's so clear you can read a newspaper through it, you may be ok to bottle, but my preference is to let it sit in a new carboy for 60 days without ANY lees dropping at all before bottling. I hate sediment in my bottles.

Keep it topped up, and/or flood with c02 and you will minimize any risk of oxidation.

It is clear enough to read through presently but I don't have a CO2 tank to be able to flood with. Would you still rack it before bottling or just bottle from the secondary and avoid the lees?

 

[Maylar]

I've done both successfully. If you are confident that you can bottle without disturbing the lees then it's OK to do that. But I typically get a bit greedy when siphoning and will suck a bit of lees up, so I like to rack again and let it clear once more before bottling. A week with a bit of headspace won't ruin a mead.