Fining - How Much Bentonite To Use?

[Frankwm]

On November 11th I racked off my 5 gallons of JOA and ended up with about 3 gallons. The 1st gallon was racked from the clearest part of the 5 gallon carboy and is relatively clear, so I won't mess with that.

The other 2 gallons are also in separate 1 gallon jugs. However, these two jugs show little or no sign of clearing. The instructions on the container of Bentonite say to use ¾ teaspoon per gallon. Having read elsewhere on the forum that adding too much fining agent can strip flavour and complexity from the mead, I am a bit hesitant to just rush in at this stage.

Is ¾ teaspoon per gallon about right? I was thinking of cutting back to ½ or even ¼ teaspoon to be on the safe side.

I would dearly appreciate advice and recommendations in this area. Thanks in advance.

 

[akueck]

How old are these meads? JAO tends to clear pretty well on its own, you might not have to use fining agents if you are able to wait it out.

 

[Medsen Fey]

If you can keep it to 0.5 grams per liter there should be no problem. Somewhere around 1 g/L, you may start stripping. In some wines they have found no stripping, so YMMV.

As Akueck points out, you may be better off just adding patience.

 

[Frankwm]

How old are these meads? JAO tends to clear pretty well on its own, you might not have to use fining agents if you are able to wait it out.

This batch was started on August 28th and racked on November 11th (or 20th, dummy forgot to note the date). Personally, I would be happy to leave it to settle and age for as long as it takes, but unfortunately SWMBO wants it in time for the December festivities.

If you can keep it to 0.5 grams per liter there should be no problem. Somewhere around 1 g/L, you may start stripping. In some wines they have found no stripping, so YMMV.

Sorry to be a pain in the rear, but could you perhaps convert the grams to teaspoon for me. I don't have any means of weighing that small an amount. The Bentonite I have looks to be granular rather than powder.

 

[Medsen Fey]

Sorry to be a pain in the rear, but could you perhaps convert the grams to teaspoon for me. I don't have any means of weighing that small an amount. The Bentonite I have looks to be granular rather than powder.

You can't rush mead. It takes its own time to be ready. The flavor won't be great just because you clear it a bit faster.

A good scale is worth purchasing.

See this thread on conversions.

 

[Golddiggie]

Sorry to be a pain in the rear, but could you perhaps convert the grams to teaspoon for me. I don't have any means of weighing that small an amount. The Bentonite I have looks to be granular rather than powder.

Weight to volume can be a very tricky thing... Since grain/particle size plays a huge role when converting. I've mentioned before, same weight of a different grain/particle size/shape can be very different when it comes to volume. I would reach out to the product manufacturer to find out, from them, how much volume 1 gram will take up...