so I backsweetened my first batch of mead yesterday and now it is very opaque. how long does it usually take for it to clear back up? do people normally have to add a clearing agent? from past searches, it seems it is fairly normal for it to take some extra clearing time after backsweetening.
clear time after backsweeten
- Thread starter fun4stuff
- Start date
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Hey dude,
A few questions to help us help you:
What kind of mead we talkin here?
Approximate ABV and final gravity?
What kind of honey and how much did you backsweeten? (Kind of related to the question above, that is, from what final gravity did you backsweeten to?)
What was the yeast you used and how old is the mead?
Enquiring minds want to know.
Cheers,
Oskaar
A few questions to help us help you:
What kind of mead we talkin here?
Approximate ABV and final gravity?
What kind of honey and how much did you backsweeten? (Kind of related to the question above, that is, from what final gravity did you backsweeten to?)
What was the yeast you used and how old is the mead?
Enquiring minds want to know.
Cheers,
Oskaar
5 gallons: Cherry Mead
12 lbs clover honey, 6 lbs cherry purree, spring water
lavlin D47
starting SG: 1.090
final SG: 1.00
---Took about 1 month to get to 1.00 and another 2.5 weeks to clear and stay at that SG
---At this point it was too dark in color to see through, but if i used a flashlight, i could read a newspaper through the carboy
current volume: ~4.2 gallons
So at the ~1.5 month mark I stablized with Ksorbate and Ksulfite and backsweetened with about 3 lbs of clover honey to SWMBO's taste. Have not yet taken a final SG. At this point, no light shines though 1 day post-backsweetening!
THANKS OSKAAR
12 lbs clover honey, 6 lbs cherry purree, spring water
lavlin D47
starting SG: 1.090
final SG: 1.00
---Took about 1 month to get to 1.00 and another 2.5 weeks to clear and stay at that SG
---At this point it was too dark in color to see through, but if i used a flashlight, i could read a newspaper through the carboy
current volume: ~4.2 gallons
So at the ~1.5 month mark I stablized with Ksorbate and Ksulfite and backsweetened with about 3 lbs of clover honey to SWMBO's taste. Have not yet taken a final SG. At this point, no light shines though 1 day post-backsweetening!
THANKS OSKAAR
Oskaar said:
Did you do the K Sulfite and K Sorbate at the same time? It's best to do the sulfite first, wait a few days, and then add the sorbate. They both have their effects (sulfite slows the yeast reproduction, sorbate rips its genitals off from what I understand, I may be wrong) but a two stage approach seems to be the common wisdom here. And how much longer after stabilizing did you backsweeten? If you didn't give your chemicals a chance to work, you probably still have some fermentation going, hence the cloudiness.
Hey Fun4,
I concur with Wildaho. I'd give it a week and if you don't start to see some strata then I'd go ahead and fine.
Usually when you work with K Meta and K Sorbate you want to add them in staged quantities and that will be dictated by the pH when you add the K Meta, and then the ppm of the K Meta coupled with the pH will dictate the K Sorbate.
So how much K Meta did you add, and how much K Sorbate?
Hope this helps,
Oskaar
I concur with Wildaho. I'd give it a week and if you don't start to see some strata then I'd go ahead and fine.
Usually when you work with K Meta and K Sorbate you want to add them in staged quantities and that will be dictated by the pH when you add the K Meta, and then the ppm of the K Meta coupled with the pH will dictate the K Sorbate.
So how much K Meta did you add, and how much K Sorbate?
Hope this helps,
Oskaar
I guess the instructions I got from my local homebrew shop were slightly off. Thanks for the clarifications. I added both the Ksulfite and sorbate together and waited a couple days, then backsweetened. i added 1/2 tsp/gallon of sorbate (per manufacturer's instructions) and then 1/8 tsp/gallon sulfite per instructions.
edit:
i don't think it is fermenting.... but i guess to be sure i should take serial SG readings...
edit:
i don't think it is fermenting.... but i guess to be sure i should take serial SG readings...
