So my question is should I add a second campden tablet? I started a 1 gal pear melomel on 8/16 and added a campden tablet at that point. I'm wanting to rack it sometime in the next few days and was wondering if i need to add another tablet? I'm planning on letting it bulk age until next summer. Or would the alcohol content be high enough to help prevent anything unwanted from growing while I age it? OG was 1.120 and the last gravity I took was 1.010, I'm going to take another gravity today and can add that if necessary.
Campden tablets, when should I add?
- Thread starter kendeebot
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You're going to want to add another crushed campden tablet (per gallon) plus sorbate before you bottle. Its not about keeping other bad things from growing in your mead; anything over 10 or 11 percent alcohol will retard just about anything that you might encounter... except for the occasional exceptional yeast. That 1.010 SG has plenty of sugar for a hardy yeast colony to munch on and build up some CO2. The combination of metabisulfate and sorbate will keep the yeast from doing its thing.
If you can, use potassium metabisulfate (campden tab) and potassium sorbate, as the sodium varieties can leave a slightly metallic taste.
What I have done and had good luck with is putting the carboy (1 gallon jug, actually) in the fridge for a week to put the yeast to sleep and let them fall to the bottom, then rack carefully onto the metabisulfate and sorbate in a clean carboy, let it sit for at least a couple of days and, if its ready, bottle and put them puppies away for a minimum of half a year.
Good luck to ya,
Joe
