I've been brewing a very basic mead - just pretty much used water, honey, and yeast - and it smells good, but I've been waiting and racking and waiting and it won't clear. Is there something I could/should do to encourage this? I had this happen once before, and I gave up and bottled, and it cleared but with tons of sediment in the bottle and it drove me nuts. Any advice on getting it to happen BEFORE I bottle??? Thanks!
Mead won't clear
- Thread starter amaine
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Well I'd be thinking of either finings or putting it in the fridge for a couple of days.amaine said:
It maybe that it's just one of those brews that needs a long time to clear. I mean, do you need the brewing jar/fermenter ? If not then why not just stopper the vessel and put it out of the way for a couple of months - it should clear naturally in any case, it might just need a bit longer than you'd hoped.
regards
JtFB
Welcome amanie!
I guess the first question is, "Has it finished fermenting?" How long has it been going? Have you been measuring the specific gravity? If you can provide further details of your recipe and progress, I'm sure folks here can give some definitive guidance.
If you make a mead with yeast, honey, and water only, without any nutrients, sometimes the fermentation can last for months. That being the case, you want to make sure it is done before you bottle. Putting a mead in the fridge for a few days (or a couple of weeks) can help to clear it nicely, and this is probably the simplest step to take. However, if the yeast aren't finished, when it warms back up again, the fermentation may restart. Trust me when I say you don't want that occurring in the bottle as it can produce big messes if the cork pops or flying glass if the bottle explodes.
If the mead has finished fermenting completely, fatbloke is right, just giving time may be the answer. If you can't read through the mead, it will probably give you sediment in the bottles, but it has taken some of my batches over 6 months to clear. Personally I find patience is the most difficult ingredient to add to mead.
Good Meading!
Medsen
I guess the first question is, "Has it finished fermenting?" How long has it been going? Have you been measuring the specific gravity? If you can provide further details of your recipe and progress, I'm sure folks here can give some definitive guidance.
If you make a mead with yeast, honey, and water only, without any nutrients, sometimes the fermentation can last for months. That being the case, you want to make sure it is done before you bottle. Putting a mead in the fridge for a few days (or a couple of weeks) can help to clear it nicely, and this is probably the simplest step to take. However, if the yeast aren't finished, when it warms back up again, the fermentation may restart. Trust me when I say you don't want that occurring in the bottle as it can produce big messes if the cork pops or flying glass if the bottle explodes.
If the mead has finished fermenting completely, fatbloke is right, just giving time may be the answer. If you can't read through the mead, it will probably give you sediment in the bottles, but it has taken some of my batches over 6 months to clear. Personally I find patience is the most difficult ingredient to add to mead.
Good Meading!
Medsen
Ha ha! Spot on there Medsen - it drives me up the f****** wall waiting for the damn stuff. I want to drink it, drink it NOW :laughing4:Medsen Fey said:
regards
fatbloke
My first batch is a few years old...
and still is not clear. It lived in primary at a a steady 63f for like 2 months, then in secondary at 68f for a year... yep, a year. and was still all about muddy water when I tasted it (flavor rocked) and bottled it.
It has been in the bottles for over a year now... and is still muddy water. Don't know about the taste, 5g went like hotcakes and I am down to my last 2 bottles.
--L
and still is not clear. It lived in primary at a a steady 63f for like 2 months, then in secondary at 68f for a year... yep, a year. and was still all about muddy water when I tasted it (flavor rocked) and bottled it.
It has been in the bottles for over a year now... and is still muddy water. Don't know about the taste, 5g went like hotcakes and I am down to my last 2 bottles.
--L
I agree with Launcelot if it tastes ok and your not entering it in any comps then enjoy, I have a Clover that was murky as hell its still not crystal but getting better by the month and it tastes great,
regards Scott......
regards Scott......
While I certainly encourage patience, and more patience, there does come a point where I am willing to take action for the sake of clarity. I just do not want to bottle cloudy mead; it offends my eye no matter how good it may taste. If my mead is over 8-12 months and is not clear then I will either use fining agents or filtration to make it look pretty.
I was going to post the same question....
I have a vanilla/cinnamon orange blossom mead (14 lbs honey, 2 packs Lavlin D-47), etc, multiple rackings, no change in gravity, no sediment at the bottom of the carboy, added finings 1 month ago, the damn batch is over a year old, tastes nice with subtle vanilla/cinn spice, I'm just gonna bottle the stuff b/c I need to use the carboy!
Won't win any competitions b/c of the haze, but I'll sure enjoy it!
Funny thing is that my cysers seem to clear in a few months. I have a couple that are brilliantly clear after 4-6 months.
Life's too short to worry...just drink it!
vahan
I have a vanilla/cinnamon orange blossom mead (14 lbs honey, 2 packs Lavlin D-47), etc, multiple rackings, no change in gravity, no sediment at the bottom of the carboy, added finings 1 month ago, the damn batch is over a year old, tastes nice with subtle vanilla/cinn spice, I'm just gonna bottle the stuff b/c I need to use the carboy!
Won't win any competitions b/c of the haze, but I'll sure enjoy it!
Funny thing is that my cysers seem to clear in a few months. I have a couple that are brilliantly clear after 4-6 months.
Life's too short to worry...just drink it!
vahan
Well I just think of it like cider (erm, that's "hard" cider for you lot in the US - here, cider is cider, apple juice is apple juicevahan said:
), some really nice ones are cloudy as hell - though they'd often be known as "Scrumpy", which is a generic term for "farm cider" i.e. cider often fermented on a small scale (on the farms where the apples were grown) with less worry to the look and more effort put into the taste - I got 4 pints of a nice one this morning.So unless you want the mead to be some sort of status symbol/penis extension, then what the hell! if it tastes good, then do exactly what it was made for and drink the sucker :laughing7:
regards
fatbloke
p.s. Oh and you often get one hell of a hangover with scrumpy, I don't know if the same would be the result with cloudy mead. Just get some Ibuprofen, just in case it is :tard:
Excellent!
The cider/apple juice I use is from a small family farm, very delicious and very scrumpy!
I'm going to name my mead that won't clear Scrumpy Meth!
keep the UK lingo coming! Even though my brother has lived in London for 10 years, and my last name is Spencer, I know far too little UK slang.
cheers,
vahan
The cider/apple juice I use is from a small family farm, very delicious and very scrumpy!
I'm going to name my mead that won't clear Scrumpy Meth!
keep the UK lingo coming! Even though my brother has lived in London for 10 years, and my last name is Spencer, I know far too little UK slang.
cheers,
vahan
Ha! here's a couple of links that cover most eventualitiesvahan said:
Slang
More Slang
Either will cover a multitude of sins
I haven't checked whether either link covers regional variations i.e. London/South East, North East/Newcastle, Liverpool, Birmingham or bits with more "nationalistic" dimensions i.e. english as opposed to welsh, scottish or irish etc, but it should keep you reading for a while (I actually have a book that is specifically "Naval" slang - erm, that'd be "Royal Navy"
. It's surprising how many words and phrases have "come ashore")regards
fatbloke :tard:
p.s. if your brother is still in the UK, then maybe next time you speak, he might be able to explain why, with the last name of "Spencer", you'd probably be called "Frank" (and no it's not rude)!
Thats weird. Ive done plenty of traditional meads and they always end up getting really really clear in no more than 2-3 months. Did you use Irish Moss when boiling the honey? You could always try different finings, or just wait longer. it sounds like your last batches were bottled too early and cleared in the bottles. Give it another month or too and if it isnt clear prepare and isinglass fining and try that, if that doesnt work, then im all out of ideas. Good luck.
Bringing life to an old thread... I have a peach mead that also will NOT clear. It is now 8 months old(2-3 racks since primary). Just yesterday I decided to stabilize and back sweeten it because it was as dry as a popcorn fart. MUCH nicer with the added sweetness! However, I don't want to bother with any further treatments, I believe it is because I just threw the peaches in without a baggie etc, and the pectic acid just couldn't cope, or maybe I added it too late, can't remember. Either way, tomorrow it goes into bottles finally!
I've got a peach mead that hasn't cleared after a couple of years. I'll be busting out the Super Kleer at some point...
Cloudy beer is making a comeback, so just say you're ahead of the trend in mead. Or, say it's fortified mead infused with yeast proteins.
Either way, if it tastes good, drink it.
Either way, if it tastes good, drink it.
I made a peach one two years ago that hadn't cleared after a year even after nearly double the usual amount of pectic enzyme - I ended up using Super-Kleer and it was fine.
I made a peach melomel last year and it cleared in about 4 months or so. I wonder why so many people have different results with the peach clearing from crystal like mine to not at all like some of you others.
Different kinds of peaches or something maybe?
Different kinds of peaches or something maybe?
I made a gallon of ginger peach that showed absolutely no signs of clearing for about 4 months. If I remember correctly, I only used a pound of quartered and pitted white peaches, about an ounce of chopped ginger and 3 lbs of clover honey. I stuck it in the fridge and just left it to do its thing. that was more than half a year ago, if I remember correctly. It's crystal clear now, but tastes a bit like Ivory Liquid.
Joe
Although it's only 4 month old, I'm having the same problem with my ginger/peach (it shows no sign of clearing). It has to be ready to bottle in early April.
If it hasn't cleared by late March, I'm considering Isinglass. I have no experience with Isinglass, when using it in Melos, are there in caveats ?
If it hasn't cleared by late March, I'm considering Isinglass. I have no experience with Isinglass, when using it in Melos, are there in caveats ?
