Yeast Lees

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Eslais

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Hey!

Today I went to see how was my secondary fermentation going, and I saw yeast lees for the second time after the first rack (Which was on August 30, SG 1.012, EC-1118, so it's been about 1 week after the rack).

My question is, I read a essay that said that leaving the mead on the yeast cake may produce H2S.

https://www.practicalwinery.com/novdec05/novdec05p26.htm

Is it okay to rack it a second time after only one week? Or do I leave it there anyway?

Thanks :)
 
It's common to rack wine several times if you don't use finings.

You want to try to limit oxidation via minimizing headspace, controlling temperature, and maintaining adequate sulfite level.
 
Thanks for the answer! On the oxidation thing, if my mead is still bubbling every 15 sec approx, I don't need right now yo top up right? Because that means that CO2 is being released, or am I wrong?
 
It could be done fermenting and is just off-gassing.
There's no hard rule about when to rack. Many will do the first rack around 1.010 or 1.005, and then rack when lees accumulate to 1/4 inch (for 5 gal batches).

It's always good to manage headspace when transferring. When racking for a second time I definitely would.
 
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