two-thumbs-up
New Member
Hey all --
My first post here, but have used this site as a great reference for years now. I've looked around for the answer to my questions, but didn't find anything satisfactory. I do apologize if I missed it.
I'm made a pretty basic mead with good Minnesota honey, and D-47 yeast. After approximately 3 months, I racked it to the secondary, and added 2 crushed campden tablets, and 2 tsp of potassium sorbate to stabilize it (5 gallons total volume). I've brewed a lot of beer, but this is my first mead, and my first attempt at stabilizing. SG was 1.090 and gravity at rack was 0.997. It's pretty dry, but does some some nice sweetness left. Problem was, when I added campden and sorbate, I was running late, and I don't know (err remember) if these were in solution. I want to say that campden didn't go into solution, but maybe the potassium sorbate did.
About 3 months after racking, the mead is clear, and I want to bottle it to free up some carboy space for cider. It is still approximately the same gravity (0.997).
I'm a bit afraid that I didn't stabilize it properly. Potassium sorbate is very soluble in water, so even if it wasn't perfectly in solution when it was added it should have gone into solution and be fine now? What do you think?
If I didn't stabilize properly, is this dry enough to be of little concern (i.e. little sugar left to explode bottles). I am planning on kegging, force carbonating, and bottling into sparkling wine bottles with crown caps.
That leads to my last newbie question: how many volumes co2 to people typically use for sparkling mead. I want this to be champagne like, so should I use the 5-6 volumes CO2 or less.
The end result is that I want to make this for my wedding toast, but do not want an exploding bottle to injury my soon-to-be-father-in-law. My mother-in-law on the other hand... (kidding)... Any help would be greatly appreciated.
My first post here, but have used this site as a great reference for years now. I've looked around for the answer to my questions, but didn't find anything satisfactory. I do apologize if I missed it.
I'm made a pretty basic mead with good Minnesota honey, and D-47 yeast. After approximately 3 months, I racked it to the secondary, and added 2 crushed campden tablets, and 2 tsp of potassium sorbate to stabilize it (5 gallons total volume). I've brewed a lot of beer, but this is my first mead, and my first attempt at stabilizing. SG was 1.090 and gravity at rack was 0.997. It's pretty dry, but does some some nice sweetness left. Problem was, when I added campden and sorbate, I was running late, and I don't know (err remember) if these were in solution. I want to say that campden didn't go into solution, but maybe the potassium sorbate did.
About 3 months after racking, the mead is clear, and I want to bottle it to free up some carboy space for cider. It is still approximately the same gravity (0.997).
I'm a bit afraid that I didn't stabilize it properly. Potassium sorbate is very soluble in water, so even if it wasn't perfectly in solution when it was added it should have gone into solution and be fine now? What do you think?
If I didn't stabilize properly, is this dry enough to be of little concern (i.e. little sugar left to explode bottles). I am planning on kegging, force carbonating, and bottling into sparkling wine bottles with crown caps.
That leads to my last newbie question: how many volumes co2 to people typically use for sparkling mead. I want this to be champagne like, so should I use the 5-6 volumes CO2 or less.
The end result is that I want to make this for my wedding toast, but do not want an exploding bottle to injury my soon-to-be-father-in-law. My mother-in-law on the other hand... (kidding)... Any help would be greatly appreciated.