Jaom almost done, what next?

  • PATRONS: Did you know we've a chat function for you now? Look to the bottom of the screen, you can chat, set up rooms, talk to each other individually or in groups! Click 'Chat' at the right side of the chat window to open the chat up.
  • Love Gotmead and want to see it grow? Then consider supporting the site and becoming a Patron! If you're logged in, click on your username to the right of the menu to see how as little as $30/year can get you access to the patron areas and the patron Facebook group and to support Gotmead!
  • We now have a Patron-exclusive Facebook group! Patrons my join at The Gotmead Patron Group. You MUST answer the questions, providing your Patron membership, when you request to join so I can verify your Patron membership. If the questions aren't answered, the request will be turned down.
If you keep it on a high shelf, it makes racking easier. Without moving it, you place a clean carboy on the floor, and rack straight into it. It keeps the primary as clear as you can.

Regardless of how clear it is when it goes into the secondary, my personal preference is to wait a day or two, then use finings, wait a few days to a week THEN run it through a filter into the final bulk aging or bottling bucket.

BUT...since this is your first mead I highly suggest you drink it! My first mead used my tummy as a bulk aging vessel.

Now I wish I has saved at least one beer bottle full so I could taste it after a year and see if it got better. If you can control yourself, do that.
 
If you keep it on a high shelf, it makes racking easier. Without moving it, you place a clean carboy on the floor, and rack straight into it. It keeps the primary as clear as you can.

Regardless of how clear it is when it goes into the secondary, my personal preference is to wait a day or two, then use finings, wait a few days to a week THEN run it through a filter into the final bulk aging or bottling bucket.

BUT...since this is your first mead I highly suggest you drink it! My first mead used my tummy as a bulk aging vessel.

Now I wish I has saved at least one beer bottle full so I could taste it after a year and see if it got better. If you can control yourself, do that.
Its on a high shelf now, just waiting another few days for it to clear again.
Basically I just use a racking cane and get it as close to the sediment on bottom without actually sucking any up? Then leave the secondary for it to clear and I can bottle it?
 
Its on a high shelf now, just waiting another few days for it to clear again.
Basically I just use a racking cane and get it as close to the sediment on bottom without actually sucking any up? Then leave the secondary for it to clear and I can bottle it?

Sounds like a plan! It helps if you have a helper holding the hose at the bottom carboy so you can concentrate on the inlet. Don't freak if you accidentally suck up a bit of lees... it will settle out. But try to keep it to a minimum.
 
racking

Once the ferment on a JAOM is done (when it clears, but not necessarily waiting for the fruit to drop)- I rack it to a new carboy, top up and leave to let it throw any further deposit. Trying to bottle from a carboy full of yeast, fruit etc..is no fun at all and almost guarantees a cloudy bottle which will contain lees. I don't regard this racking as a deviation from the JAOM recipe since by that stage the fermentation is all done...it is just good wine (and mead)-making practice and ensures a better result.
 
Once the ferment on a JAOM is done (when it clears, but not necessarily waiting for the fruit to drop)- I rack it to a new carboy, top up and leave to let it throw any further deposit. Trying to bottle from a carboy full of yeast, fruit etc..is no fun at all and almost guarantees a cloudy bottle which will contain lees. I don't regard this racking as a deviation from the JAOM recipe since by that stage the fermentation is all done...it is just good wine (and mead)-making practice and ensures a better result.

Meh.

I agree, but with my first batch I was so anxious to get to drinking AND I had waited for the fruit to drop that I wasn't going to be letting it sit any longer.

While most would cringe, I used a 3/8 inch clear food safe hose to rack that first batch. Just snuck it down as far as I thought was safe, then I sucked on the end of that bad boy and started the flow. I got most of it out with no lees.

Then I pinched the end of the hose, and racked the remaining liquid (about a pint) not worrying about lees getting in there into a smaller container and placed it in the fridge to cold crash. The next day, most of the yeast in the remaining pint had fallen to the bottom third and I simply poured out 2/3ish pint into a glass and "sampled" it. Job done.

The use of the "suck on the end" method is probably wrong and I would never do that with beer, but I am willing to bet 99% of us on here have done that a few times. ;)
 
Racked the mead last night, crystal clear now with no sediment! Ready to bottle in the next few days I would imagine?
AanzwZ5.jpg
 
Last edited:
Racked the mead last night, crystal clear now with no sediment! Ready to bottle in the next few days I would imagine?
AanzwZ5.jpg
Sorry to double post, wont let me edit it. How long should I wait to bottle it? I have a corker and some wine bottles ready to go.
 
Have you tasted it yet?


Sent from my galafreyan transdimensional communicator 100 years from now. G

Took a small taster of it just now, tastes fairly good. Definitely taste the oranges, doesn't taste too pithy or bitter but it does taste a little "hot" as in you can definitely tell it is around 14%. Still nice and fruity. I don't really drink wine normally so I'm not very good at the whole what it should taste like thing but my girlfriend said it was nice just a bit strong. Definitely drinkable, I may save a bottle and let it age to calm it down a bit.
 
Cool it down. In another month it will be that much better. By cool it I mean put a sample in the fridge.


Sent from my galafreyan transdimensional communicator 100 years from now.
 
Cool it down. In another month it will be that much better. By cool it I mean put a sample in the fridge.


Sent from my galafreyan transdimensional communicator 100 years from now.

so you mean to bottle it and leave one of the bottles in the fridge?
 
Well no, I think you should let it sit in the secondary for another few weeks but put a sample (300ml?) in a glass and let it get nice and cold. Two things could happen, one, you will like it more cold and two, you might be surprised at how much yeast precipitates after 24-48 hours from that "clear" mead when you cold crash it. :)


Sent from my galafreyan transdimensional communicator 100 years from now. G
 
Last edited: