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celticgladiator

NewBee
Registered Member
Sep 29, 2012
85
1
0
South Dakota
I made a gallon of JAO variant with pear. I racked it after ferment and was letting it age a few months. I was just going to bottle and tried a sample, it turned to vinegar. how do I prevent it from happening again? it was so tasty when I racked it that I eat to cry now.
 
Vinegar is created by acetobacter, which live just about everywhere. Good sanitation will reduce the chance of infection. Probably as important is to keep oxygen away from your finished mead. Acetobacter need oxygen to turn alcohol into acetic acid (vinegar), so even if they are in your mead they won't be able to spoil it if there is no air. Keep headspace to a minimum and make sure the airlock stays full.
 
I'm just glad it was only a one gallon batch. mistakes are ok as long as I can learn from them and become better in the long run but why did it have to be the best mead I've made so far? lol
 
Damn, now that's a fine idea Darren.

Gonna keep an eye on that as try to get one when they've got them back in stock.......

Well worth it John, bought mine shortly after getting into making meads and they're excellent for flushing the air out of the demijohn and (if you're careful) making sure that headspace is co2.
They seem to be tough to get hold of at the moment though...you could try here but the other site is excellent for the bulbs (ignore what they say about using only the branded ones, I get away with these. There are some threads on JBK that talk about it).
 
Check out your local fish store. I use the Fluval CO2 system (since I manage a pet store, I can get it cheap.) It doesn't have a trigger, doesn't blast air out; I just let the tube sit in the mouth of the carboy for a few minutes to flush out the oxygen.