I'm planning to bottle a little under a 1 gallon's worth of sweet mead tomorrow. I break my batches up into gallon jugs so I can treat each separately and bottle at different times instead of all at once. About a month ago (12/12/15) I added 1 campden tablet and 2/3 tsp K sorbate (both dissolved in about 1/2 cup water) to the jug about 24 hours before I backsweetened it. Prior to that, I let it sit for about a month without any additives in it so it could age naturally. Do you think there is enough sulfite left in the mead to protect it post-bottling for however long I plan to age it or should I add another campden tablet at bottling time tomorrow?
I don't want to overdo it on the sulfites but I want to make sure enough is in there, especially since this has K sorbate in it too (and I don't want geranium taint). I know the SO2 gas dissipates over time, not sure if a month is enough for it to be all gone since this jug was sealed airtight.
This jug has a little bit of sediment that fell out during bulk aging. I could rack it again but I don't want to lose any more mead from that jug; I may not have enough left to fill four bottles after that. If I bottle right after adding the sulfites, I will need to strain the mead through a coffee filter or something to keep the sediment out of there.
I don't want to overdo it on the sulfites but I want to make sure enough is in there, especially since this has K sorbate in it too (and I don't want geranium taint). I know the SO2 gas dissipates over time, not sure if a month is enough for it to be all gone since this jug was sealed airtight.
This jug has a little bit of sediment that fell out during bulk aging. I could rack it again but I don't want to lose any more mead from that jug; I may not have enough left to fill four bottles after that. If I bottle right after adding the sulfites, I will need to strain the mead through a coffee filter or something to keep the sediment out of there.
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