Troubleshooting Wedding Mead

[PiratesBeardBrewery]

***Edited*** new question:
Anyone have any idea how long and how many toasted oak chips/sticks to give a good flavor without overpowering the mead? I have some mini 2L oak kegs that I use for small batches of mead and I like the vanilla/toffee/whiskey notes that it imparts on the mead, but obviously I will need to use chips/sticks on this larger batch to get the same effect. Any input on amount of chips/sticks and time would be great.

I would guess that I would want to put the mead on the oak for about a month or two, then pull it off and let it bulk age again for another few months until I bottle it, right?

 

[roadymi]

Somewhere in there I added the Mead Stabilizer and Clarifier pack and transfer to secondary and did my best to degas it, but that was probably about 4 months in (I wasnt able to take a gravity reading at the time). Well I finally got settled now in my new house and broke it out and transferred to a third carboy and took a reading and it seems it got stuck at 1.042, instead of the target 1.010.


Thanks!

You may be stuck.

You may need to make a dry mead and blend.

 

[PiratesBeardBrewery]

There's no way I can repitch yeast after I added the stabilizer and clarifier pack?

 

[roadymi]

The normal purpose of stabilizer is to cease fermentation. You could try making a huge healthy starter and pitching it but the odds are not in your favor.

 

[PiratesBeardBrewery]

Okay thanks, I wasn't sure if the stabilizer would have precipitated out or not after a few months. I'll go the route of making up a batch of dry mead and combining the two, since I was a bit worried about having enough mead anyways...10 gallons should be more than enough.

Anyone have any idea how long and how many toasted oak chips/sticks to give a good flavor without overpowering the mead? I have some mini 2L oak kegs that I use for small batches of mead and I like the vanilla/toffee/whiskey notes that it imparts on the mead, but obviously I will need to use chips/sticks on this larger batch to get the same effect. Any input on amount of chips/sticks and time would be great.

I would guess that I would want to put the mead on the oak for about a month or two, then pull it off and let it bulk age again for another few months until I bottle it, right?

 

[PiratesBeardBrewery]

Any input on this would be great:

Anyone have any idea how long and how many toasted oak chips/sticks to give a good flavor without overpowering the mead? I have some mini 2L oak kegs that I use for small batches of mead and I like the vanilla/toffee/whiskey notes that it imparts on the mead, but obviously I will need to use chips/sticks on this larger batch to get the same effect. Any input on amount of chips/sticks and time would be great.

I would guess that I would want to put the mead on the oak for about a month or two, then pull it off and let it bulk age again for another few months until I bottle it, right?

 

[Arpolis]

Here is some info from jack Keller. Whom I would consider am expert on wine which can easily adapt to mead.

Oaking with chips

For oaking, use White Oak or French Oak chips only. Three ounces of chips will treat a 5-gallon carboy. Place the chips in a cloth bag with a couple of marbles and tie it off with string. Sink this in boiling water for about five minutes. This removes any harsh tannins from the wood and sterilizes it and the marbles. Then remove the bag, allow it to drip drain long enough for it to cool down enough to handle, and then work the bag into the mouth of the carboy of wine after racking but before topping up--the oak will displace some of the wine and raise the surface level up to where it should be. Fit the airlock and move the carboy to the cold place or refrigerator. Taste the wine after six weeks. If the flavor is not what you want, continue aging it until it is. This typically takes 2-3 months for French Oak and 3-4 months for American White Oak.

Do not use any other type of oak unless specifically sold for this purpose (for example, I have seen Spanish Oak and Portugese Oak chips advertised for winemaking use). Rack the wine with the bag of chips still in the carboy. It may be a little work getting the bag out later, but if it went in it will come out.

 

[PiratesBeardBrewery]

Here is some info from jack Keller. Whom I would consider am expert on wine which can easily adapt to mead.

Oaking with chips

For oaking, use White Oak or French Oak chips only. Three ounces of chips will treat a 5-gallon carboy. Place the chips in a cloth bag with a couple of marbles and tie it off with string. Sink this in boiling water for about five minutes. This removes any harsh tannins from the wood and sterilizes it and the marbles. Then remove the bag, allow it to drip drain long enough for it to cool down enough to handle, and then work the bag into the mouth of the carboy of wine after racking but before topping up--the oak will displace some of the wine and raise the surface level up to where it should be. Fit the airlock and move the carboy to the cold place or refrigerator. Taste the wine after six weeks. If the flavor is not what you want, continue aging it until it is. This typically takes 2-3 months for French Oak and 3-4 months for American White Oak.

Do not use any other type of oak unless specifically sold for this purpose (for example, I have seen Spanish Oak and Portugese Oak chips advertised for winemaking use). Rack the wine with the bag of chips still in the carboy. It may be a little work getting the bag out later, but if it went in it will come out.

Perfect, thanks! I'd heard of the marble trick but wasn't sure of how many oak chips to use. That answers all of my questions, thanks!

 

[PiratesBeardBrewery]

I guess another question is the level of toast for the oak: light, medium, or heavy toasted? What different flavors will the different levels impart?

 

[saramc]

I guess another question is the level of toast for the oak: light, medium, or heavy toasted? What different flavors will the different levels impart?

This may help:
http://morebeer.com/content/using_oak_in_beer

Also, I know many people will fill the smaller barrels like you have, 2L, and allow the oak to concentrate in that volume and then blend. Could take some trial and error.