Tasted my 4 month Blueberry Mead

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Flexmedia

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Here’s my recipe I started November 27, 2021:
4 cups honey
2 pounds blueberries
vanilla bean
cinnamon stick
RC 212 yeast
SG 1.040

Today I tried to get a final gravity reading but there was not one. The hydrometer sat on the bottom. What does that mean? My wife tasted it and said it taste ok. I made this before and I back sweetened it and she really liked it. Does this mean it is done fermenting? Looks nice tho!

Thanks!
Art
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You need more liquid in your cylinder to get your hydrometer to float. Right now, it's reading 1.022 or 1.023, which is far from done.
I did have it it filled to the very top but it didn’t make a difference (Unlike you told me on the other one) I poured some out and she tasted it. It just sat on the bottom both times. 🤷‍♂️
 
You need more liquid in your cylinder to get your hydrometer to float. Right now, it's reading 1.022 or 1.023, which is far from done.
Still no rush. I have a lifetime to wait. 😁
 
I did have it it filled to the very top but it didn’t make a difference

meaning the liquid was at the very top of the graduated cylinder and the hydrometer sunk below the liquid? Or the hydrometer is too tall for the cylinder?

From the picture, it looks like the hydrometer fits into the cylinder but you didn’t fill it with enough liquid.
 
meaning the liquid was at the very top of the graduated cylinder and the hydrometer sunk below the liquid? Or the hydrometer is too tall for the cylinder?

From the picture, it looks like the hydrometer fits into the cylinder but you didn’t fill it with enough liquid.
Exactly. Put the Hydrometer into the Cylinder then fill with the liquid. Then look at what your reading is.
If you did this & it's still touching the bottom, I think you might need a deeper cylinder to take readings with.
 
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Exactly. Put the Hydrometer into the Cylinder then fill with the liquid. Then look at what your reading is.
If you did this & it's still touching the bottom, I think you might need a deeper cylinder to take readings with.
I have another one due this weekend I’ll test that way and see if I’m doing it right.
👍
 
You could fill the cylinder up with distilled water and see if the hydrometer floats. It should be close to 1 or 1 if at 4 degrees C. You can use tap water but it will be a little different depends on what might be in it. Might not even matter for the scale of your hydrometer. If it doesn't float at all you need a taller cylinder or a shorter hydrometer.

But from your picture, it appears the distance from the liquid to the 1.000 line is shorter than the distance from the 1.000 line to the top of the cylinder. So I would think you didn't have enough liquid in the cylinder. Once you added enough liquid to reach the 1.000 line it should have floated. I don't think mead goes below that typically. Sometimes maybe though I don't brew mead but once in a great while.
 
You folks are right. Works better by placing the meter in the cylinder then adding the liquid ALL the way to the top. By looking at the middle of the line (can’t spell it, begins with M) I get 12. Looking at the scale you gave me DanO, that gives me 1.012? (Today) My SG was 1.122 on January 15 2022.
This is my Blackberry Orange Mead
2 oranges
25 raisins
18oz Blackberries
4cups honey
rc 212

Does that seem correct?
Thanks!
Art
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You folks are right. Works better by placing the meter in the cylinder then adding the liquid ALL the way to the top. By looking at the middle of the line (can’t spell it, begins with M) I get 12. Looking at the scale you gave me DanO, that gives me 1.012? (Today) My SG was 1.122 on January 15 2022.
This is my Blackberry Orange Mead
2 oranges
25 raisins
18oz Blackberries
4cups honey
rc 212

Does that seem correct?
Thanks!
ArtView attachment 760788
1.008 , as @CKuhns has stated.
 
1.008 , as @CKuhns has stated.
Dan O
let me ask you another question in general. Most of my recipes I’m experimenting with say to rack these meads every 30 days. Why would I do that as apposed to removing the fruit and taking a final GR before I bottle in, say 8-12 months? Like this Pyment experiment I started February 13, 2022. SG 1.122. Anything wrong with racking it in 6-8 months to get the gunk off the bottom and maybe add a clarifyer, take a final gravity reading and bottle in a year? Seems to make more sense than every 30 days but I don’t know much.
Thanks,
Art
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Dan O
let me ask you another question in general. Most of my recipes I’m experimenting with say to rack these meads every 30 days. Why would I do that as apposed to removing the fruit and taking a final GR before I bottle in, say 8-12 months? Like this Pyment experiment I started February 13, 2022. SG 1.122. Anything wrong with racking it in 6-8 months to get the gunk off the bottom and maybe add a clarifyer, take a final gravity reading and bottle in a year? Seems to make more sense than every 30 days but I don’t know much.
Thanks,
ArtView attachment 761340
As @Dr_Jeff stated. Some yeasts give off some pretty nasty flavors if you leave the mead to sit on the lees too long. Sometimes it can take a very long time for those flavors to age out. Better to be safe than sorry & get your mead off of the lees. Sure, you lose a little product when you rack, but, a little less volume of a great tasting mead is better than more volume of a mediocre mead.
 
The reason to rack it is to remove it off of the old yeast, called lees. They can go into a stage called autolysis, where they die and the insides kinda ook out.

@Yooper is the one to get input from.
Ok, sounds like a good explanation to keep racking every 30 days.
Thanks!
 
As @Dr_Jeff stated. Some yeasts give off some pretty nasty flavors if you leave the mead to sit on the lees too long. Sometimes it can take a very long time for those flavors to age out. Better to be safe than sorry & get your mead off of the lees. Sure, you lose a little product when you rack, but, a little less volume of a great tasting mead is better than more volume of a mediocre mead.
Yeah, you’ve seen my gallon carboys not quite full to the top. I usually have a lot of gunk in mine. I made this one peach mead that tasted just like turpentine. (I posted last year) I called it MOLOTOV MEAD and bottled it and called it a year. My sister served it to her neighbors and they said it was the best mead they ever had. Time does make a difference doesn’t it?
 
Yeah, you’ve seen my gallon carboys not quite full to the top. I usually have a lot of gunk in mine. I made this one peach mead that tasted just like turpentine. (I posted last year) I called it MOLOTOV MEAD and bottled it and called it a year. My sister served it to her neighbors and they said it was the best mead they ever had. Time does make a difference doesn’t it?
With mead, yes. Time isn't a cure all, but, if you give it enough time, it will make something that is not very nice & turn it into something pleasant that you didn't expect when you tasted it the first time around.
 
Hello all, and thanks!
help me with my guess of a gravity reading. SG on 2/13/22 was 1.122. Here’s this months. How about 1.139 if I think I know what I’m doing? The blue gauge is sugar…
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With mead, yes. Time isn't a cure all, but, if you give it enough time, it will make something that is not very nice & turn it into something pleasant that you didn't expect when you tasted it the first time around.
Dan O, hoping you will scan my new thread and comment.
Thanks Friend
Art
 
The top picture (assuming that 0 is above the 10) reads to me as 1.038/39, the bottom picture reads as 1.009/10 (the error is caused by the angle and the meniscus is hard to read in pictures.
 
Here’s the White Grape Pyment started 2-13-22 SG 1.122 April 14, 2022 I took a reading of 1.024? Think I’m going in the right direction. It’s a little cloudy but I’ll give it time.
Thanks!
Art
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This Pyment is still cloudy I started in February. I have some campden tablets to use. When should I use some?
Thanks!
 
You're looking for clarity. Campden is the wrong additive.

First thing would be to cold crash it. (Stick it in a refrigerator for a week or so.)

Second would be a pectin enzyme if cold crashing doesn't reach the level of clarity you are hoping for. (Protein haze)

Lastly would be adding a clarifying agent such as spakalloid or bentonite.

Finally you could go for mechanical filtration, pumping the mead through a filter medium.

You are also just a few months post fermentation. I usually bulk age for a minimum of 4-6 months, up to 2-3 years. Bottles hang around for a few years usually...

Patience is part of the process
 
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You're looking for clarity. Campden is the wrong additive.

First thing would be to cold crash it. (Stick it in a refrigerator for a week or so.)

Second would be a pectin enzyme if cold crashing doesn't reach the level of clarity you are hoping for. (Protein haze)

Lastly would be adding a clarifying agent such as spakalloid or bentonite.

Finally you could go for mechanical filtration, pumping the mead through a filter medium.

You are also just a few months post fermentation. I usually bulk age for a minimum of 4-6 months, up to 2-3 years. Bottles hang around for a few years usually...

Patience is part of the process
I think I’ll try the crash method. I have patience. Nobody else around here does. 🙂
 
Crash cleared it up well. Will it stay this way without doing anything else or do I have to add a clarifying agent?
Thanks,
Art
 
If it's finished fermenting the yeast should be inactive and no longer rising up to consume sugars, but I've seen yeast drift up after cold crashing a finished mead. Best to rack off the sediment to avoid anything rising up again.
 
If it's finished fermenting the yeast should be inactive and no longer rising up to consume sugars, but I've seen yeast drift up after cold crashing a finished mead. Best to rack off the sediment to avoid anything rising up again.
Ok!
 
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