Stopping fermentation

[manbrandon28]

my hydrometer reads 1.010 on the light side and my fermentation is going strong, i want to stop this so it doesnt finish to dry i do not care for dry mead that has to be backsweetened. I would like to kill it where it sits? I know to chill it re rack it onto sorbates or whatever else you choose but i akways read about bottle bombs and every body online has ten million different opinions and none of them are the same. Any suggestions, its in a 5 gallon carboy so i cant put it in my fridge for two weeks and its 40 at night and 50 during the day where i live and since im in the mountains the temps go from high to low to snow to sun all the time so outside would be very unstable way to chill.

I was thinking to chill the 5 gallon carboy almost to freezing let it stay that way for a couple days re rack it into another carboy add sorbates and chill again and im assumeing the more clear it gets the less yeast in the must/. What do you guys think about doing that until there is very very little yeast falling to the bottom then bottling.

 

[luda007]

Could you put it in a plastic tub with ice?

 

[manbrandon28]

Could you put it in a plastic tub with ice?

yeah i can i was just more wondering if anybody has done this cold crashing thing and had any luck.Im worried my fermentation might kick back up a soon as the mead gets warm again.

 

[fatbloke]

well generally a "damn good cold crashing too" (week or so) then racking while cold onto sulphites and sorbate generally works.

Then maybe after a day or two, de-gassing before allowing it to come up to room temperature should mean that you can keep it under airlock to monitor it and ensure that fermentation has stopped.

Or maybe you could cold crash, then sulphite/sorbate, then 2 part "quick" finings, followed by racking off the sediment, then de-gas, before bulk aging so you can monitor it for evidence of continued fermentation (whether that's gravity readings or markings on the side of an "S" type airlock etc) ?

It's one of the reasons that it's suggested/recommended that if you want a final gravity/sweetness level at a certain point, then you ferment dry, stabilise, then either clear and back sweeten or back sweeten then clear (I do the later, as I like to sweeten with honey and it's a PITA to have to clear a batch twice when I get some hazing from the sweetening honey.....)