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Unidentified Floating Objects

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M

Monkling

NewBee
Registered Member
Jan 22, 2014
14
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NY
www.monkling.com
After doing weeks of research, I started my first batch of mead on Jan. 8th: 3 lbs. honey, 1 gallon of spring water, Lalvin EC-118 yeast, 1/2 tsp each of yeast nutrient & energizer.

I did not boil the mead but did bring the spring water and honey up to about 100 degrees, the same temperature as the water & yeast so as not to shock the yeast.

Starting S.G. was 1.120 (might be off as I had a bit of trouble reading it). I staggered the nutrient & added 1/4 tsp of energizer & 1/2 tsp of nutrient on 1/10 and another 1/4 tsp of nutrient on 1/15.

I was meticulous about sanitation, using Star San for everything that came into contact with the mead. When I added that last 1/4 tsp of the nutrient, I tested the S.G. and had a reading of 1.022 so fermentation seems to be moving along fine.

Starting yesterday there's a film floating on top of the mead. It doesn't look like mold. This is the best photo I was able to get:

mead.jpg


Is it possible that this is wax? When I warmed up the must, I did see something that I think looked like this, although I don't get why it would wait 2 weeks before showing up.

The must smells fine but is it possible this is some sort of contamination? If it is, would I be able to just rack it into a clean, sanitized jug, add a campden tablet, wait 24 hours and then try to restart it with more yeast or is that just crazy?
 
Can you get a picture of the whole carboy? With this close up it could be anything but it sort of looks like a little krausening leftover.

I always get a film on top of the must once the really active fermentation is done. If it smells good and tastes good then you are fine. Especially since it seems you went to "beer level" sanitation. Get a thief in there and give it a taste.

If not, you're probably only looking at a week or so more of fermentation. Once it slows to a halt over a few days, rack. Don't freak out and rack prematurely giving yourself more work and more chances of infection.
 
Looks normal to me. I always have the film on top. I guess it's the wax or something from the honey. I've noticed it generally tastes sweeter than the clear liquid beneath it. You are doing fine! Leave them yeasties alone!
 
I will leave it alone & most definitely keep the Area 51 sign away.

I had no idea there were different classes of sanitation. I guess 'beer level' is better than 'fanatic level'. I did not break out the sterile gauze. :)

Thanks for your help & reassurance that I didn't screw anything up.
 
Monkling said:
I will leave it alone & most definitely keep the Area 51 sign away.

I had no idea there were different classes of sanitation. I guess 'beer level' is better than 'fanatic level'. I did not break out the sterile gauze. :)

Thanks for your help & reassurance that I didn't screw anything up.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I still keep a crazy sanitation protocol that is unnecessary for mead. It gives me one less excuse when a batch comes out skunky. BUT the good news is that if you follow the advice given on here, you'll rarely get a result that's not drinkable!
 
mannye said:
Can you get a picture of the whole carboy?
Click to expand...
Just for the heck of it:

jug_mead.jpg


I'm thinking my next project to study is photography with a particular emphasis on lighting. Unfortunately, the rewards aren't quite as fun as drinking some home brewed beer or a batch of limoncello...
 
That looks fine! Lots of headspace there but it happens to me too. From "sampling"

yteme5ug.jpg



Sent from my galafreyan transdimensional communicator 100 years from now. G
 
mannye said:
I always get a film on top of the must once the really active fermentation is done.
Click to expand...

That's what threw me off - the fact that the film appeared nearly 2 weeks in. OTOH, that makes sense. The must is thinner so stuff could float more easily.

I'm going to take another S.G. reading tomorrow and if it's close to 1, I'll rack it. I'm going to be bottling some beer so might as well make use of that sanitizer.

Already thinking of my next project. Maybe a honey/maple syrup combo...
 
Like Chevette Girl says, if it smells good and tastes good, it's good. If you're a beer guy you might not be in the habit of tasting before primary is over. I never did anyway. With mead I taste at least once a week during primary. Leaving a thimbleful out of the test sample.


Sent from my galafreyan transdimensional communicator 100 years from now. G
 
mannye said:
If you're a beer guy you might not be in the habit of tasting before primary is over.
Click to expand...
I'm a beer, wine, homemade infusions (Limoncello, etc.) drinking gal. :D

I know, an odd name for a gal but it's been my online name for 20 years now. I didn't pick the name myself. It was sort of given to me.

I only taste the beer when I'm checking the SG on it. I'm brand new to that as well as the mead. Only on the third batch.
 
GntlKnigt1 said:
Ahh... an acerglyn....have one of those going right now myself.....
http://www.gotmead.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9177&page=3

Comes highly recommended by Heather and her friends (see page 2) and has a nice label (see link on page 2).

...and no Area 51 issues either... Grin.
Click to expand...

I had thought to try straight maple syrup but those didn't seem to get very good reviews. The syrup/honey ones seemed to be liked a lot better so I figured that would be safer to try. And I don't think I would even attempt to pronounce Acerglyn!
 
Monkling said:
That's what threw me off - the fact that the film appeared nearly 2 weeks in. OTOH, that makes sense. The must is thinner so stuff could float more easily.

Already thinking of my next project. Maybe a honey/maple syrup combo...
Click to expand...

Possibly around two weeks in is when fermentation was mostly done enough to stop churning things under?

There are a lot of recipes around, I use one 540 ml can (just over two cups) of syrup to 1 kg (2.2 lb) honey per gallon and I use lemon juice because I developed the recipe before I learned that honey has its own acidity and adding more can drop your pH too low, although having taken a pH test strip to the finished product, it was definitely not too much so I suspect maple syrup might be alkaline... I find you need to leave an acerglyn sweet or the maple flavour gets totally lost.
 
I had thought to try straight maple syrup but those didn't seem to get very good reviews.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately I didn't see those reviews until after I made one. I won't even taste it until it's a year old which should give it time to be worth a taste. It's pretty dry at .998 so there is room to backsweeten later with honey, more maple syrup or both.
 
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