Problem is... I don't have cold crash space for it. So, I must transfer it from the SS conical into a carboy first... Then what? Sparkolloid, then when clear, stabilize, or stabilize, then Sparkolloid 24 hours later?
@@chrisinestes - cold crashing generally simply speeds up the natural clearing/settling process. So if you can.t cold crash, you can simply rack it off the lees into a smaller fermenter and let it sit several days or weeks more if you have the patience to do so. Cloudiness has different possible causes. The main ones are: Suspended yeast/fruit solids Pectin Ground spices Starch Yeast and ground spices usually settle out with time. If you don’t want to use cold crashing or clearing agents, time does the trick. Pectin remains in suspension. A clearing agent usually contains chemicals that will bind to the pectin so it gets heavier and can settle to the bottom. In the case of pectic haze, cold crashing actually is counter-productive as the colder temperature means you’ll need more clearing agent and a longer time for it to settle out. Starch is a tough one. I don’t know how to get rid of it except for filtering. Not usually a problem with meds except for braggots as they can contain starches due to the added grain. Most clearing agents, especially the 2-step kind, contain chemicals that attract both positively charged and negatively charged particles. They bind to them, make them heavier, and thus cause them to settle out. Gelatin has a positive charge so it will attract negatively charged particles. If your brew contains negatively charged particles those will remain in suspension. I think Irish moss has a negative charge and will attract positively charged particles. Be aware that adding fining agents/clearing agents or methods to your brew can cause other components to be removed as well. If you added tannin for example, some of it will be removed by using gelatin for example. Using eggshells or bentonite will also lower the level of tannin. Being a lazy and rather patient brewer, my go-to is usually to rack of the lees once fermentation is done and then let a brew sit under airlock for an extra few weeks. If there is a lot of head room in the new fermenter I rig a tube to the spout of my soda stream machine, stick the other end in the fermenter, and give it one or more jets of carbon dioxide. As carbon dioxide is heavier than oxygen it provides a protective blanket against oxidisation of my brew (I don’t have a kegging setup). Not that I mind a hazy mead. Some meads just won’t clear on their own. As long as it tastes good and doesn’t have any chunks floating around in it I’ll enjoy it as it is. The advantage to living in an area where mead is a virtual unknown is that I can simply tell my friends I am serving them “a tasty drink” or a “new apéritif/cocktail” and they won’t question he clarity at all. It’s not even lying: who cares, after all, if the mixing of those various flavours was done pre or post fermentation? 🤣😇
@@ErickandDerrick - So true! My country certainly is one of those countries where mead isn’t well known. They’re almost entirely focused in beer, wine and non-alcoholics. They produce beer, a very small amount of wine and despite having an awesome reputation for producing some of the greatest apples and pears in Europe the vast quantities of those being destroyed to keep prices up when there are bumper crops, they don’t seem to realise they could turn those into cider. Beekeeping is becoming quite a thing here and there are barely any beekeepers who know about mead. That’s sad. I’m working on changing that in my own, small way.
2 years ago so I may not get a reply but I'm new to making and was wondering if you can back sweeten safely if the mead has reached, say, the 12% threshold of the yeast. Would it continue to ferment after, or does it all stop once the yeast has capped out?
Hey, thx for video, you guys say kegs are better, however you only keg after the mead has aged in the 2nd phase, so after 6-12 months? Then I keg for a few days up to 2 weeks and then the mead is better, if I understand correctly? Because I'm trying to speed up the process but have not yet found the right idea.... keg is actually only a substitute for the bottle, if i understand it correctly
Kegs are easier in the sense that: You can have a carbonated mead without having to go through bottle carbing and (if you’re not careful) bottle bombs You can control the level of carbonation with experience It enables you to stockpile large amounts of mead in an environment that’s free of air (oxygen) and light No bottles to clean up/away after drinking. If your mead is stable and you think it tastes right, keg it or bottle it. I might be wrong as I don’t keg mine, but logic dictates that generally ageing improves any brew up to a certain age dependent on ingredients and ABV. It is however also a matter of taste. If you want to speed up the process, have a brew that doesn’t need ageing (or barely any) there are choices you can make and things you can do. One is to keep the fermentation process as clean and stable as possible through your choice of yeast, your nutrient schedule and fermentation temperature in order to avoid the production of off flavours as much as possible. Another is to keep the ABV of your brews on the lower end of the spectrum: lower ABV brews usually have fewer off flavours because fewer off flavours have had time to develop, your yeast didn’t get a chance to get stressed, etc. A mead with an ABV of 4-6% might be really nice to drink within just a few weeks of fermentation finishing. It won’t keep as long but that’s the whole point… Some brewers will choose to oak a mead to smooth out the flavours. Just a week or two on some oak chips can already make a difference. Be sure to use aged wood, preferably from a reliable source and intended to use for brewing and follow proper sanitation procedures though. Wouldn’t want to infect your brew! As for the kegging process itself: as I know next to nothing about that I’m not going to pretend to and am going to have to refer you to the experts. Anyone?
Your mead is just cloudy cause you didnt release excess co2, you have a lot of carbonic acid there, use a pump or vacuum either manual or in a chamber to release co2, that way you will have the cleanest mead
If I'm going to clarify AND stabilize, which should I do first?
Cold crash, rack, stabilize, in that order. Then rack again and bottle.
Problem is... I don't have cold crash space for it. So, I must transfer it from the SS conical into a carboy first... Then what? Sparkolloid, then when clear, stabilize, or stabilize, then Sparkolloid 24 hours later?
I'm not sure it matters, but I would stabilize first, then clearing stuff. Stabilizers help with clearing, too.
@@chrisinestes you can easily use gelatine. 1g for 1 liter. Make it brilliant.
@@chrisinestes - cold crashing generally simply speeds up the natural clearing/settling process. So if you can.t cold crash, you can simply rack it off the lees into a smaller fermenter and let it sit several days or weeks more if you have the patience to do so.
Cloudiness has different possible causes. The main ones are:
Suspended yeast/fruit solids
Pectin
Ground spices
Starch
Yeast and ground spices usually settle out with time. If you don’t want to use cold crashing or clearing agents, time does the trick.
Pectin remains in suspension. A clearing agent usually contains chemicals that will bind to the pectin so it gets heavier and can settle to the bottom. In the case of pectic haze, cold crashing actually is counter-productive as the colder temperature means you’ll need more clearing agent and a longer time for it to settle out.
Starch is a tough one. I don’t know how to get rid of it except for filtering. Not usually a problem with meds except for braggots as they can contain starches due to the added grain.
Most clearing agents, especially the 2-step kind, contain chemicals that attract both positively charged and negatively charged particles. They bind to them, make them heavier, and thus cause them to settle out. Gelatin has a positive charge so it will attract negatively charged particles. If your brew contains negatively charged particles those will remain in suspension. I think Irish moss has a negative charge and will attract positively charged particles.
Be aware that adding fining agents/clearing agents or methods to your brew can cause other components to be removed as well. If you added tannin for example, some of it will be removed by using gelatin for example. Using eggshells or bentonite will also lower the level of tannin.
Being a lazy and rather patient brewer, my go-to is usually to rack of the lees once fermentation is done and then let a brew sit under airlock for an extra few weeks. If there is a lot of head room in the new fermenter I rig a tube to the spout of my soda stream machine, stick the other end in the fermenter, and give it one or more jets of carbon dioxide. As carbon dioxide is heavier than oxygen it provides a protective blanket against oxidisation of my brew (I don’t have a kegging setup).
Not that I mind a hazy mead. Some meads just won’t clear on their own. As long as it tastes good and doesn’t have any chunks floating around in it I’ll enjoy it as it is. The advantage to living in an area where mead is a virtual unknown is that I can simply tell my friends I am serving them “a tasty drink” or a “new apéritif/cocktail” and they won’t question he clarity at all. It’s not even lying: who cares, after all, if the mixing of those various flavours was done pre or post fermentation? 🤣😇
Great video! I’m sure there are so many beginning brewers out there that start their first batch and when it’s done ask themselves: “Now what?”
Mead is still in the early days of its resurgence! Alot of ppl are new to mead making, so we thought we'd offer some beginner friendly vids! 😊
@@ErickandDerrick - So true! My country certainly is one of those countries where mead isn’t well known. They’re almost entirely focused in beer, wine and non-alcoholics. They produce beer, a very small amount of wine and despite having an awesome reputation for producing some of the greatest apples and pears in Europe the vast quantities of those being destroyed to keep prices up when there are bumper crops, they don’t seem to realise they could turn those into cider. Beekeeping is becoming quite a thing here and there are barely any beekeepers who know about mead. That’s sad. I’m working on changing that in my own, small way.
i fw the vibes 🎉
Brilliant video! Love how you cold crash! Thanks for these :-)
Thankyou brother! 😊😊
2 years ago so I may not get a reply but I'm new to making and was wondering if you can back sweeten safely if the mead has reached, say, the 12% threshold of the yeast. Would it continue to ferment after, or does it all stop once the yeast has capped out?
Hey, thx for video, you guys say kegs are better, however you only keg after the mead has aged in the 2nd phase, so after 6-12 months? Then I keg for a few days up to 2 weeks and then the mead is better, if I understand correctly? Because I'm trying to speed up the process but have not yet found the right idea.... keg is actually only a substitute for the bottle, if i understand it correctly
Kegs are easier in the sense that:
You can have a carbonated mead without having to go through bottle carbing and (if you’re not careful) bottle bombs
You can control the level of carbonation with experience
It enables you to stockpile large amounts of mead in an environment that’s free of air (oxygen) and light
No bottles to clean up/away after drinking.
If your mead is stable and you think it tastes right, keg it or bottle it. I might be wrong as I don’t keg mine, but logic dictates that generally ageing improves any brew up to a certain age dependent on ingredients and ABV. It is however also a matter of taste.
If you want to speed up the process, have a brew that doesn’t need ageing (or barely any) there are choices you can make and things you can do. One is to keep the fermentation process as clean and stable as possible through your choice of yeast, your nutrient schedule and fermentation temperature in order to avoid the production of off flavours as much as possible. Another is to keep the ABV of your brews on the lower end of the spectrum: lower ABV brews usually have fewer off flavours because fewer off flavours have had time to develop, your yeast didn’t get a chance to get stressed, etc. A mead with an ABV of 4-6% might be really nice to drink within just a few weeks of fermentation finishing. It won’t keep as long but that’s the whole point…
Some brewers will choose to oak a mead to smooth out the flavours. Just a week or two on some oak chips can already make a difference. Be sure to use aged wood, preferably from a reliable source and intended to use for brewing and follow proper sanitation procedures though. Wouldn’t want to infect your brew!
As for the kegging process itself: as I know next to nothing about that I’m not going to pretend to and am going to have to refer you to the experts. Anyone?
Cheers to good meads we do all of the above plus we drink ours friends
Thanks for new video. You really seem 10 years younger now.
I don't feel it, lol!
@@ErickandDerrick your eyes are not tired
Your mead is just cloudy cause you didnt release excess co2, you have a lot of carbonic acid there, use a pump or vacuum either manual or in a chamber to release co2, that way you will have the cleanest mead