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Safe bottling practices

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J

Jrn777

NewBee
Registered Member
Dec 16, 2019
3
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First time mead maker here. Following along the basic recipe in Piatzs book. 3 months ago my SG was 1.02 when racking and now after cold crashing and racking again it’s at 1.01 and fermentation ‘seems’ to be done. I’m right about at 14% which is my yeasts alcohol tolerance. Following his recipe, he just bottles. In fact he barely mentions stabilizing mead in his entire book.

My question is, am I ok to bottle this as is or should I get some k-sorb and k-meta? If so, when are the appropriate times when you can be confident you don’t need to add stabilization chemicals? Planning on giving this away for gifts and don’t want any to explode! Thank you!
 
I'm not sure that you can ever be 100% confident that your mead does not need stabilizing. I think the closest you can get is when your SG is 1.000 or less.
 
Ok thank you. Am I able to add k-meta and I-sorb right before bottling then? Or do I need to let it sit a while before I bottle?
 
I usually add k-meta and sorbate on the final racking, as it's going into the bottling bucket. I then let it sit in there for about a week, and then I add another dose of k-meta, because the sulfites "evaporate" out of the mead as it binds with all kinds of free elements in the mead. That final addition of k-meta is done right before bottling.

EDIT: I should also add that I have let it sit on the k-meta and sorbates for longer. I've had the mead sit in the "bottling bucket" for 6 weeks before. Also, sorbate is a once-off addition. The k-meta's goal is to keep free sulfite in the solution, as it binds with all kinds of things that can spoil mead, like oxygen. K-meta protects the mead from among others, oxygen.
 
I stabilize as soon as possible so I am protected during the aging process
 
Hi - My protocol (in general) is to first get the fermentation done - SG at same reading for at least 3 days, and it is typically at 1.000 or lower. I cold crashing after fermentation is complete and before I rack. I then stabilize before (while cold crashing), or during my first racking with K-meta. I then add the K-sorb within 24 hours of the K-meta - not at the same time.
Remember, K-sorb will not halt an active fermentation, but prevent future fermentation (e.g. when you back-sweeten, add fruit to secondary, etc.).

I still keep an air lock on while I'm bulk aging too. This way I don't have any mishaps in the event some fermentation is still in play somehow and building up gas.
 
Thanks for the replies. I’m kind of in a time crunch, was planning on giving away some bottles for Christmas so I’d really like to bottle soon. In the future I can plan this out better but for this batch I’m thinking maybe add k-meta today, k-sorb tonight or tomorrow morning, and then bottle tomorrow afternoon. I have already racked after cold crashing
 
Make sure to add the chems to a small bit of hot water so it will dissolve really well so you don't have floaties on the top of your vessel
 
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