Sediment after filtering and bottling

[Dean Wyatt]

Last March we started to make our latest batch of mead from our own honey and blackberries. 16 pounds of honey and 20 pounds of blackberries and EC1118 yeast. Followed all of our tried and true procedures and made 5 gallons of mead. Everything went fine and we added 6 cups of honey in April to raise the ABV. Killed the yeast and let sit for 2 months and racked. then sat until August and racked again. By the way it was 13.7% alcohol. In October we racked, and filtered the mead through our Buon Vino Filter, let sit for 2 days for bottle shock and then bottled. The mead was not crystal clear which kind of surprised us but we bottled anyway. Yesterday I was down in my wine room having a look at our haul and I noticed that the bottles all have a sediment in them. I was dismayed as it looks horrible and is very obvious. I think it may be honey haze that has released from solution or what? Anyone have any ideas. I opened one and the taste is great you just had to decant. All feedback welcome.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Yes, this happens. When pouring, simply decant off the sediment.

Perhaps, fine with plain gelatin?

 

[SteveO820]

Yep, it happens in mead and in wines but you can decant off. The sediment is harmless in small amounts, you can drink them without worry. Could make you gassy if you drink a a bunch. It's mainly yeast and proteins falling out of suspension. Interesting that you put them through a filter though. What micron filter did you use? I would think you'd need a 3 micron or less to get a nice, quick, clarity but you should notice right away the clarity difference after filtering.

I use bordeaux bottles as the shoulder design in the bottle was made to help catch this sediment however bottlers do not like filling them as they are harder to fill.

Attached is a photo of my green tea mead. I'm assuming the sediment on the bottom is what yours looks like as well. I don't have a filter and don't want to add fining agents so cold crashing and aging is all I do.

 

[Maylar]

which filter did you use? the coarse filter might not remove honey haze. the #2 does.

 

[Dean Wyatt]

Yes, this happens. When pouring, simply decant off the sediment.

Perhaps, fine with plain gelatin?

Interesting. We use a #3 filter and noticed that it was not as clear as in the past so the proteins etc must have been in a fine suspension.

 

[Dean Wyatt]

Yep, it happens in mead and in wines but you can decant off. The sediment is harmless in small amounts, you can drink them without worry. Could make you gassy if you drink a a bunch. It's mainly yeast and proteins falling out of suspension. Interesting that you put them through a filter though. What micron filter did you use? I would think you'd need a 3 micron or less to get a nice, quick, clarity but you should notice right away the clarity difference after filtering.

I use bordeaux bottles as the shoulder design in the bottle was made to help catch this sediment however bottlers do not like filling them as they are harder to fill.

Attached is a photo of my green tea mead. I'm assuming the sediment on the bottom is what yours looks like as well. I don't have a filter and don't want to add fining agents so cold crashing and aging is all I do.

Thanks for the comments and photo. Our mead is very dark from the heavy Blackberry portion so impossible to get a great picture. The filter pad is a 2 - 3 micron(#2 Buon Vino pad - polishing) and it seems we should have refiltered a week later with the #3 pad called the sterilizer. Our sediment is about 3 times as much. Live and learn. Taste is still great just decant before drinking.

 

[Dean Wyatt]

which filter did you use? the coarse filter might not remove honey haze. the #2 does.

We actually used the #2 and probably should have used the number #3 a week later to clean it up. We were very surprised at how much was held in suspension after leaving it for it for almost 8 months and 3 rackings . Still tastes stupendous. One thing - this is the first time we added a lot of juice so maybe the blackberries need a bit more filtering. It is a spectacular color.