Clearing mead

[TarlaR]

Hello everyone, first time posting so please forgive me an give advice to do better in the future if I screw up.

I’m in the process of making two types of meads. One is a 5 gallon batch of traditional sack mead. Round 33lbs of honey total for it, while the other is a lesser version of it with roughly 2lbs of honey in a 1liter batch.

Both are in primary, but I’ve noticed they’re very cloudy. I just started the 1liter batch two or three days ago, and it’s taken off pretty well. I started the 5 gallon batch about a month ago an it’s still slightly bubbling but no where near as much as it did before. Should I go ahead and rack this or wait longer? I did have the SG written on a post it note on the side of it, but sadly my dog enjoyed eating it as a snack one day while I was out.

Along with that I’m wishing to clear the meads cloudiness. There’s maybe 5-10% visibility in the 5 gallon batch at best, and roughly 10% in the liter batch. I heard SuperKleer would work well, though as I’m very inexperienced I had worried about pouring or putting it into the batches. Would this be good an if not what would be better ways to clear the mead?

Thank you,
Tarla

 

[Skropi]

You really have to check whether fermentation has stopped first. One month does seem like a lot of time to be still fermenting, so I have to ask, did you use nutrients?
Don't be in a hurry to clarify it. When fermentation stops, you first need to taste it and decide if you are going to backsweeten it, and/or oak it, after you stabilise it of course. Only after backsweetening and oaking, should you start thinking about clarification. After fermentation halts, that means that you need around two months, give or take, before you even think about finning it.
You can rack off the gross lees early though, before stabilising, but if you didn't get reduction problems, it is not necessary.

 

[EricHartman]

tarla, during the primary fermentation do not concern yourself with clarity. in fact you want your yeast up in suspension doing work not sitting on the bottom of your fermentor so you should stir it around every so often following the feeding protocols. Once your primary is done (specific gravity no longer changing over 2-3 readings) you'll throw it in a fridge for 10-14 days for a "cold crash". this will help with flocculation (getting all of the tiny "big" stuff to stick together and drop to the bottom of your fermentor. Then you will rack off these gross lees and the secondary will begin. Here is when you add oak etc to adjust your flavor, honeywater to backsweeten, and finally worry if you need a fining agent/filtration.

 

[apisgallus]

I have posted another thread about clearing and TOSNA. Wonder if anyone has put together a flow chart troubleshooting guide for this. I think/suspect/hypothesise that brewing 1 gallon single mead and 5 gallons of sack mead have their own paths to troubleshooting, as in what might work for one won't necessarily always work for the other. Experienced mead makes please comment. FYI I am a new mead maker (12 1 gallon batches) and a beekeeper, so I'm used to multiple answers...

 

[pdh]

I have posted another thread about clearing and TOSNA. Wonder if anyone has put together a flow chart troubleshooting guide for this. I think/suspect/hypothesise that brewing 1 gallon single mead and 5 gallons of sack mead have their own paths to troubleshooting, as in what might work for one won't necessarily always work for the other. Experienced mead makes please comment. FYI I am a new mead maker (12 1 gallon batches) and a beekeeper, so I'm used to multiple answers...

Not specifically about clarifying, but:

> I think/suspect/hypothesise that brewing 1 gallon single mead and 5 gallons of sack mead have their own paths

I agree. I've brewed batches as small as 1 quart (in a mason jar) to 5 gallons, and I've seen advice from people who brew larger batches which I know to be incorrect for my 1/4- to 5-gallon batches. Scaling up definitely does not always work the way you might expect it to.

 

[EricHartman]

The best comparison I can make is to cooking. The protocol for the yeast rehydration -> primary fermentation with nutrient/O2 feedings -> cold crash -> stabilization is fairly straight forward; and if followed correctly generally heads off a bunch of troubles. That part is kind of like making spaghetti; fairly easy to perform well and generally leads to decent results. No one will call you a master chef but the results can be enjoyed fairly easily. That's not to say there are not important decisions in this stage... pairing yeast to honey, appropriate alcohol levels, and adding ingredients to the primary can have downstream effects that are noticeable for sure! But solid understand of those above steps are definitely the foundation for success.

The secondary is where most of the magic happens and separates rookies like myself from the highly experienced folk. Oaking, acid adjustments, additional spices/fruits, appropriate residual sugars can really fine tune a mead. Unfortunately the only way to gain experience is to get busy working the mead. The ability to taste something and know what is missing comes from lots of tasting and making adjustments. It can be rather scary as the thought of destroying months of work is always a little nerve racking... but as Squatchy once said to me, "You can add enough fruit to gasoline to make it drinkable." If your experiment goes sideways and you totally strip the beauty with excessive clarifying agent or leave the oak in way too long then put it aside and wait... and if all else fails make a fruit bomb and enjoy!

Aspigallus check out the BJCP mead judge study guide in links of my "blog". It has some very nice baseline information on clarifying, balance, and faults.

 

[apisgallus]

Thanks Eric, I'm trying just to make basic mead not any fancy stuff. I just found it interesting that 7 batches made with raisins as nutrients (don't laugh I was a newbie) should clear fairly quick, yet the 2 batches made with TOSNA (no raisins but basically identical recipes) should not clear.

 

[EricHartman]

Thanks Eric, I'm trying just to make basic mead not any fancy stuff. I just found it interesting that 7 batches made with raisins as nutrients (don't laugh I was a newbie) should clear fairly quick, yet the 2 batches made with TOSNA (no raisins but basically identical recipes) should not clear.

Hehehe raisins as nutrients... I got lucky and landed here first when I decided I wanted to try to ferment honey!

As a guess I'd suggest your under fed yeast with the raisin batches were limited on producing proteins and likely had a reduced total biomass (less yeast cells). When fed better they were able to make full use of their metabolism and led to your lack of clarity. Clarity is certainly one component of a good mead, but generally meads that are poorly fed require quite a bit more aging (or a lot more fruit lol). I suspect well fed yeast will promote a more complex mead though I'm not sure anyone has figured out a good way to really test the two, against one another, at their individual peak awesomeness! Given we are working with a biological work horse, rather than a mechanical one, interesting "rounding errors" (WTF moments) certainly can occur as well.

If you can search your way back on the forums to around 2014 you'll find ppl talking about aging mead for years as a normal part of the process... then around 2016-17 nutrient additions popped up and massive aging times dropped off.

 

[apisgallus]

Thanks,
That was partly my hypothesis, sorry theory....
Better nutrients, better growth more 'stuff' to settle. Its odd though that this is not a more common comment. 'If you start using SNA you might find it takes longer than when using raisins for it to clear"

 

[Maylar]

Thanks,
That was partly my hypothesis, sorry theory....
Better nutrients, better growth more 'stuff' to settle. Its odd though that this is not a more common comment. 'If you start using SNA you might find it takes longer than when using raisins for it to clear"

Here's another theory - perhaps the staggered nutrients simply create a larger quantity of yeast in suspension.

For a traditional mead I use Bentonite in primary. If I get honey haze after back sweetening and aging I'll use some Super Kleer.

 

[EricHartman]

Thanks,
That was partly my hypothesis, sorry theory....
Better nutrients, better growth more 'stuff' to settle. Its odd though that this is not a more common comment. 'If you start using SNA you might find it takes longer than when using raisins for it to clear"

Don't discount the "rounding errors" of a biological system. In the grand scheme of things we do very little work in the actual fermentation process compared to what those yeast are doing. Small changes that favor an alternate pathway of metabolite processing can have fairly drastic results. Most of my meads have settled and cleared quite nicely after a cold crash and I've only ever used SNA (again... lucky to have landed here first). I've only had one mead where I had to use bentonite followed by hot sparkaloid to clear a mead (mind you I'm only 15-20 fermentations deep; very well read, still working on experience).

 

[MightyMosin]

For a traditional mead I use Bentonite in primary. If I get honey haze after back sweetening and aging I'll use some Super Kleer.

I'm close to this process. I use the Bentonite up front as well and have made it as a slurry as the instructions suggest. After reading some of the stuff written here by Squatchy, it is possible that adding it dry may provide less of an impact on flavor vs the slurry; I'll try this in my next 1 gallon batch I make up. Maybe batches done each way to compare?

While the Bentonite does a fine job of dropping yeast and other itty bitty things out of suspension, I find that the raw (sometimes unfiltered) hones have enough pollen or other items that just like hanging around even after the Bentonite.

At this point I'll add oak/vanilla/whatever after I rack off the Bentonite and leave that for however long I need. I back sweeten if needed/desired and then I add Sparkoloid in place of Super Kleer. In as little as 8 hours, the difference is immense with regards to clarity.

I will cold crash it as well at this point. I haven't tried cold crashing before racking off the lees and Bentonite.

 

[Squatchy]

I'm close to this process. I use the Bentonite up front as well and have made it as a slurry as the instructions suggest. After reading some of the stuff written here by Squatchy, it is possible that adding it dry may provide less of an impact on flavor vs the slurry; I'll try this in my next 1 gallon batch I make up. Maybe batches done each way to compare?

While the Bentonite does a fine job of dropping yeast and other itty bitty things out of suspension, I find that the raw (sometimes unfiltered) hones have enough pollen or other items that just like hanging around even after the Bentonite.

At this point I'll add oak/vanilla/whatever after I rack off the Bentonite and leave that for however long I need. I back sweeten if needed/desired and then I add Sparkoloid in place of Super Kleer. In as little as 8 hours, the difference is immense with regards to clarity.

I will cold crash it as well at this point. I haven't tried cold crashing before racking off the lees and Bentonite.

I think the path you are on is perfect. Exactly what I would suggest.

 

[Hesster1977]

About to start a new 5 Gal batch of Dragons Blood Mead with lot's of Tart Cherries in the primary, in a bag.
Regarding Bentonite quote above - "I'm close to this process. I use the Bentonite up front as well and have made it as a slurry as the instructions suggest."
I have been making wine for many years using simple premium Wine Kits, and the very first step in every Kit is to put the packet of Bentonite in very hot Water and stir the hell out of it, and add it into the fermenter.
So reading the forums, I see some using this process of Bentonite up front like the Wine Kits, or later for clearing if necessary. If so, how much to use? I purchased some, and it says "2 Tsp in 1/2 cup H20 for 5 Gallons". I know that is WAY less than what is in the wine kit packets, but is it a good process to use Bentonite up front, and if so, how much is recommended?

 

[apisgallus]

I made a batch of mead using tosna with my own honey and unlike previous (pre-tosna) batches they didn't clear very well. Tried to get a lot of feedback and the basic answer was don't bother with clearing agents as clarity is not an important characteristic of mead. Also reading the methods and other comments adding fining agents seemed too much bother. just my 2C

 

[darigoni]

Wine kits are made to be idiot proof and is the reason why most use EC-1118, as it will eat through just about anything and is almost impossible to stall. I would think the same would go for the bentonite. You can either follow the manufactures directions or use your own experience. It should all settle out anyway, right?

My experience, with mead, is in using Super-Kleer, which worked great.

 

[MightyMosin]

So reading the forums, I see some using this process of Bentonite up front like the Wine Kits, or later for clearing if necessary. If so, how much to use? I purchased some, and it says "2 Tsp in 1/2 cup H20 for 5 Gallons". I know that is WAY less than what is in the wine kit packets, but is it a good process to use Bentonite up front, and if so, how much is recommended?

Bentonite works best and clears the fastest when used up front like in a wine kit. You can make a slurry if you like or just sprinkle it in at the beginning and it will absorb moisture and start to do its job.

It is best up front with fermentation as the CO2 bubbles will carry Bentonite to the top and it will grab stuff along the way. When the CO2 bubble pops, the Bentonite will drop to the bottom and grab more stuff on the way down.

Depending on how "dirty" your honey is, you can use .25 to .5 teaspoon per gallon of Mead. I have some very raw Buckwheat that will not clear on its own without fining agents. That required Bentonite and then Sparkolloid to get it clear and the flavor of the mead was much improved as there was just so much junk in suspension.