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Can you all help me get it right?

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Alright next time I will not move it! That makes it one step simpler. What type of yeast do you use?

And also, when should I add the cinnamon and clove? Should I age it with them in it for the full year? Or just for a little bit at the end?


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You can add them now. Easy on the clove. A little goes a long way. One clove and two cinnamon sticks is good for one gallon. Keep them in there for about six weeks.


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Well, if you're still adding honey you're technically still on primary ferment. When it's all done, you rack into the "real" secondary and leave them behind.


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Okay so I tossed in the two sticks of cinnamon and 1 clove today. It is bubbling like crazy! How far along in the fermentation will it start to bubble slower?


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Should take 3 to 7 days to slow down but every yeast is different.


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As in that long after I pitch the yeast? Or from when I added that extra bit of honey? Cause it is going faster now than it did in the first week


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A ferment can take as little as three days to as long as a month. It depends on nutrients, type of yeast, temperature and a whole lot of other variables not the least of which are the idiosyncrasies of your particular batch of yeast. The important thing to worry about isn't how long it takes, but what's going on. Particularly with the smells. If you smell anything nasty (the most common issue is hydrogen sulfide...rotten egg smell) you need to add nutrient and aerate... Things like that.

I'm sure that within a week it will calm down and start to relax. You will know for sure if it's done when the hydrometer readings don't change for a week.

Them you can rack off the lees and let it age.


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Yeast, honey, anything pleasant.


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It smells so good... How long does the SG have to be constant before I cold crash and move it to a proper secondary? And should I get Camden tablets to rack it onto? Or will it be better without them?


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A week is better. Even then it may just have slowed to the point where day to day you won't notice a difference but it will still make a bomb if you cap it.

If you haven't noticed a change in a week, rack to a secondary and get it off the gross lees. Airlock it and keep an eye on it for a few weeks. It may still have co2 in solution that needs to escape.


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And the campden tablets are a good idea, especially if there's still any sugar left in your mead. While you're at it, you might want to get some potassium sorbate as well, sort of a one-two punch to the yeasties so they don't wake back up.
 
Do the campden tablets or potassium sorbate give any bad flavors or smells to it?


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Most folks advocate using both. Something about geranium odor if you only use one. I haven't used them... but if you're going to bottle it is advisable. I don't know what the actual procedures are...
 
Hmmm maybe I'll just skip this step and not bottle it either... I tasted it and it's delicious so I don't think it'll make it more than like two days once we start on it. We'll probably drink it around Christmas time so I'll just bulk age till then


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Well I just moved it over to the secondary with a FG of 1.014 and it tasted great (if a bit 'hot' though). Two weeks ago it tasted more like the cinnamon than it does now. Will that come back? And the 'hot' taste should go away with age right?


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