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yield and racking

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NewBee
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Feb 29, 2008
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2 more questions...

1. what's a typical yield of a 5 gallon batch after racking to secondary? i think i lost at least 0.5 gallons from the lees (contained cherry purree too).

2. I racked to the secondary glass carboy a week ago. there is already ~1 inch of sediment on the bottom of the carboy. when should i rerack off this sediment?


thanks!
 
Regarding question 1) It all depends on your recipe .... I once made a 6 gallon batch of a Pear Mead which, after racking off the pureed pears and lees gave me a total of not quite 4 gallons. That's why I try to make enough mead so that after all is said and done with regards to racking, I end up with a 'solid' 5 gallons. Most of my meads these days start out with 6 or 6 1/2 gallons, and of course the next time I make a mead with pears, I'll probably do a 10 gallon batch.

Regarding question 2) What type of yeast did you use? With some yeasts, it is beneficial to have the mead stay in contact with the lees.

-GL63
 
GrantLee63 said:
Regarding question 1) It all depends on your recipe .... I once made a 6 gallon batch of a Pear Mead which, after racking off the pureed pears and lees gave me a total of not quite 4 gallons. That's why I try to make enough mead so that after all is said and done with regards to racking, I end up with a 'solid' 5 gallons. Most of my meads these days start out with 6 or 6 1/2 gallons, and of course the next time I make a mead with pears, I'll probably do a 10 gallon batch.

Regarding question 2) What type of yeast did you use? With some yeasts, it is beneficial to have the mead stay in contact with the lees.

-GL63
Click to expand...

D47 ...thanks!
 
D47 is a very good yeast to lees age on - do a search - there is a ton of info on lees aging on this site. I just made a Leap Year Mead (one that was made on 02/29/2008 that I'm not planning on bottling and start to drink until 02/29/2012) and I used D47 for my recipe. My plan is to not rack it off the lees for at least 6 months to a year. Bottom line? There is no hurry to rack your mead, BUT, again, do a search as there are certain batch management techniques that one shoud utilize if you are going to age on the lees.

Good Luck !

- GL63
 
Even with yeast that are not considered good for lees aging, it takes a few week for yeast autolysis to start contributing off flavors. When doing melomels, after I have racked to the secondary, I will usually rack again after about a month. At that point a great deal of clearing has usually occurred with a large deposit of sediment.

Medsen
 
If you do decide to leave it on the lees for an extended period of time, make sure you stir them periodically.

Others can give you better advice than I can regarding how often you should stir and how long you can go before you ultimately need to rack. I just wanted to make sure it was brought up. I can tell you from experience that if you just let it sit there without doing anything, eventually your mead will taste like burnt rubber or worse.
 
UprightJoe said:
If you do decide to leave it on the lees for an extended period of time, make sure you stir them periodically.

Others can give you better advice than I can regarding how often you should stir and how long you can go before you ultimately need to rack. I just wanted to make sure it was brought up. I can tell you from experience that if you just let it sit there without doing anything, eventually your mead will taste like burnt rubber or worse.
Click to expand...

I'll take this one step further and say that the lees need to be stirred regularly and on a schedule.

Common schedules, beginning after alcoholic fermentation, include:
One or two times weekly for 6 months; Once/week for the first 4 weeks, then once/two weeks for the next 6 weeks, and then once/month for a year (or however long you want)

You may also do a stir and rest regimen:
2X/week for 10 weeks, then let rest for 6-12 months or 3x/week for 6 months, then let rest for 3 months

There are several more methods but I think these are the ones I prefer for traditional (sur lie and batonnage) lees aging. This is for lees exposure after racking off the gross lees which should be stirred for the last several days before racking.

Cheers,

Oskaar
 
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