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ndbrewlady

ndbrewlady

NewBee
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Dec 18, 2008
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Burlington, ND
I do not have the ability to fill headspace. So I need to understand:
What does oxygenation taste like or do to a mead?
I have meads that need to age for flavor, I understand that bulk aging is best, but since I cannot fill the headspace should I just bottle them when they have cleared? ???

Thank you.
 
If we're talking about a primary here, headspace is no worry. The fermentation will blanket the surface of the mead with CO2. If this is a secondary (or tertiary), I'd bottle it. Oxydization can have a stale/metallic flavor and it isn't pleasant (I haven't tried oxydized mead, but I have had oxydized beer...not good).

Just my $0.02 :)
 
I usually flush the headspace with inert gas (or CO2) to keep the air out, and I flush it again each time I remove the airlock.

This Thread discusses some other options.

If your mead gets oxidized it will take on a distinctive aroma like a sherry with a bit of a "nutty" character. It is generally considered a big flaw in a table wine. If you like sherry/Madeira style wines, it may be okay. I intentionally oxidize some of my mead to get this character. Smell a bit of sherry if you want to get the aroma.

Medsen

Edit - oxidation will also tend to reduce/flatten the aroma and flavor. It may also lead to excessive acetic acid/ethyl acetate.
 
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Medsen, I have read that everyone does that, I don't have any way to flush my headspace, and until I can start making stuff that people would like to drink, I find it hard to put more money into a project I already have quite a bit of money in and not a lot of luck with good tasting brew.

That is why I was wondering if I should just bottle the stuff that needs to age, I wont be able to backsweeten or anything but I would have any other issues....
 
You can bottle things, but if in 1 year you decide they still don't taste good, you will have spent a lot of time and effort to bottle something you don't like. I suspect you are probably going to want to sweeten some of these batches a bit at some point so I think keeping it in bulk probably makes some sense.

If you don't have a bottle of private preserve to flush with, try some of the other options. Take some of the plain mead and top up your fruit batch. Or get some glass marbles or some such to fill up that space. I'm testing the mineral oil on a batch now. These are not high cost approaches. Keeping it in bulk allows you to keep your options open, and if you have a batch of mead that isn't particularly good, but isn't spoiled, you can use it for topping up other batches.

If you know it is a batch from a recipe you know you are going to like, then bottling early works just fine.

While I know you are feeling a little skeptical about mead making at the moment, now is the time to have patience. It will take your meads (other than JAO) a while (read that months) to mature. I truly believe you will see the difference around Thanksgiving.

Medsen
 
OK, the JAO didn't work either, too cold here for that type of recipe. I am going to try another gallon of that but with a cold ferment yeast and see how that goes.

How much headspace can I have on a non-fermenting batch? I have been trying to keep them right below where the neck flares out.
 
I was thinking about using my bike tire CO2 inflater...haven't tried it, but I can't think why it wouldn't work, and it's cheap, too.
 
wildoates said:
I was thinking about using my bike tire CO2 inflater...haven't tried it, but I can't think why it wouldn't work, and it's cheap, too.
Click to expand...

I just pulled out a box CO2 cartridges. They make a point that that they're 99.95% pure.....like Ivory... Maybe food grade CO2 is filtered?
 
Maybe the food grade cartriges would fit into the bike tire inflator? I just went ahead and added one to my order. Only $10 + gas more than the private preserve. Maybe I can take a cylindar to the bike shop and see if it fits.

Paul
 
wildoates said:
Heck, I don't even know what the definition of "food-grade" is!
Click to expand...

LOL, I'm not so sure what it means either. But I tend to error on the side of caution, even when it doesn’t make any logical sense. The CO2 I buy from the local brew supply place. For my nephew’s paint ball guns, I get it at the paintball gun place...and never the two shall meet.
 
wildoates said:
Really! Carbon dioxide is...CO2, can't be anything else or it wouldn't be carbon dioxide, so...
Click to expand...

Filtered..... unfiltered? Who knows what the differance is. For teh couple cents differance, I'll keep buying the co2 at teh brew shop and be safe.
 
I would guess it has to do with all the other stuff that touches the CO2, most especially compressors. Some amount of oil & whatnot is bound to wind up in the gas, and there are probably different regulations on what kind of oil you can use for "food grade" compressors and "no one cares" ones. You would probably not die from using air gun CO2 for your mead headspace, but it can't hurt to use the food-grade stuff either.
 
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