Just oxidized the hell out of my first batch

[coldvein]

Made a 5 gallon batch with 15lbs of wildflower and nothing else. Things were going fantastic until I went to rack it for the first time.

I used a racking cane and damn thing would not get a siphon started, so I ended up hand pumping all of it to my secondary....grrr. Am I screwed?

 

[skunkboy]

Probably not, it may show signs of aging sooner than later. Let it sit for a while and then taste it again.

 

[curgoth]

I did this with my first dozen or so batches because I didn't get how siphons worked. It's not a huge deal - mead is more resistant to oxidation than many other boozes.

 

[Squatchy]

You'll be fine

 

[Chevette Girl]

Often there's enough CO2 trapped or still enough fermentation going on when you rack out of primary that the mead's pretty well protected against oxygen. And as everyone else has said, it's more resistant to oxidizing than most wines or beers.

Oh, and about siphoning? There are several ways to approach it, but I do suggest you practice with water before your next racking. One hint is to stick the racking cane into the must you're racking from, fill the racking hose with water or sulphite solution, then while holding both ends at the same height, carefully attach one end to the cane, then lower the other end into a sanitized cup or bottle, when you do this with mead or wine you'll be able to see by colour difference when the water/solution is out of the hose, then you pinch it and put the other end into the carboy you're racking to.

I usually swish with sanitizer and sanitize both ends of the hose, attach it to the cane, and then give three good hard pulls on the hose, that's usually enough to get it started without inhaling anything but again and gives me enough time to get the end of the hose over the carboy I'm racking to, but practice that with water too as the number of pulls you need depends on how long your hose is and how hard you can suck <evil grin>

 

[Irigoite]

I had a bad time using the large autosiphon this weekend. I tested the damn thing with water and it worked just fine. The moment I put in the mead my nightmare began. The racking cane is not large enough to get the necessary vacuum but when i finally realized it (many hours later) the job was done by traditional racking procedures. Happy to know oxidation is not a big problem at this point.

 

[Medsen Fey]

You might also treat with KMeta if you haven't done so already. It is good oxidation prevention.

 

[EbonHawk]

I guess I need to oxidize the hell out of something one time just so I'll know what it is. I don't think, in 21 yrs, that I've oxidized anything, and I have some pretty care-free racking techniques. Wait...what am I saying? I don't think I could purposefully try to screw up any of my batches. That would be like shooting one of my own kids in the foot. I just couldn't do it. Forget I said anything.

Remind me what oxidization does to a batch of mead. I know the mechanics of it (and the chemistry) but how would I know if something were oxidized? Is it something that's readily recognizable? I mean, is there any doubt, or are there degrees of oxidization and there would be no way of knowing until some "breaking point" and you'd go, "Damn, that's ruined."

 

[Irigoite]

You might also treat with KMeta if you haven't done so already. It is good oxidation prevention.

I did it Medsen. Thanks to you guys I am learning a lot of many ways to improve my technique.

 

[Irigoite]

I guess I need to oxidize the hell out of something one time just so I'll know what it is. I don't think, in 21 yrs, that I've oxidized anything, and I have some pretty care-free racking techniques. Wait...what am I saying? I don't think I could purposefully try to screw up any of my batches. That would be like shooting one of my own kids in the foot. I just couldn't do it. Forget I said anything.

Remind me what oxidization does to a batch of mead. I know the mechanics of it (and the chemistry) but how would I know if something were oxidized? Is it something that's readily recognizable? I mean, is there any doubt, or are there degrees of oxidization and there would be no way of knowing until some "breaking point" and you'd go, "Damn, that's ruined."

Its not in my place to teach anything here, but if you can forgive my lack of humility... I have read somewhere that reddish wines become brownish when oxidated it may not be a problem in show meads but some melomels may lose a little bit of the appeal.

 

[coldvein]

Thanks for the responses everyone. I feel better now and will see what happens

 

[valverij]

Remind me what oxidization does to a batch of mead. I know the mechanics of it (and the chemistry) but how would I know if something were oxidized? Is it something that's readily recognizable? I mean, is there any doubt, or are there degrees of oxidization and there would be no way of knowing until some "breaking point" and you'd go, "Damn, that's ruined."

I'm not 100% sure (haven't had the issue yet either), but here's the BJCP list of mead faults (at least as far as judging is concerned): http://www.bjcp.org/meadfaults.php

There are a few different off-flavors they recognize as being the result of possible oxidation. Usually, though, I hear of one of these two:

Cardboard Oxidation. Stale, papery, wet cardboard aroma and flavor.
Sherry Post-fermentation oxidation. Sherry, nutty, almond aroma and flavor, possibly with an increased bitterness level.
​

There are also a few others listed on there that can either cause oxidation (acetobacter infections) or have more than one potential cause ("moldy" flavor).