Muddy mead

i made this mead about six weeks ago, it was all mixed in one bucket then put in 3 demijohns 2 have cleared but the one on the left has not, i tryed adding some yeast nutrient but nothing. is it a bust or is there anything i can do?
no sg measurement before
thanks stu

Mine was the same, I just left it as advised and it eventually cleared after about 12 wks. See the thread "have I a problem with my mead"

Tell us more.

When transferred to DJs?

Has it been racked?

Not a long time for meads. Are they all the same colour as the one on the right in the picture?

Quite why it should be, but adding 1/2 gill of best Vodka to the demijohn can speed up time to drink and clear muddy mead at same time.

My raspberry mead, made last October is just ready!


James

after mixing in a bucket i transferd to demijohns almost imdeadtly 2 are similar colour but just one is cloudy

Simply guessing, but if the must was not homogenised completely and the must was poured into the DJs, the last one would likely have been at a far higher OG.

The one with the surplus is possibly still fermenting, and may be close to the alcohol tolerance of the yeast so the yeast is continuing, but struggling. It may also explain why the other two have already finished.....

Just guessing, mind.

oliver90owner said:

Simply guessing, but if the must was not homogenised completely and the must was poured into the DJs, the last one would likely have been at a far higher OG.

The one with the surplus is possibly still fermenting, and may be close to the alcohol tolerance of the yeast so the yeast is continuing, but struggling. It may also explain why the other two have already finished.....

Just guessing, mind.

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I think RAB's on the money here ... you might want to have a read though this other thread ...

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=31876

it has started to clear! yay, thanks for input guys

meetballuk said:

it has started to clear! yay, thanks for input guys

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Excellent .. Like I said elsewhere - wine making is a lot like beekeeping - patience is something you have to learn ... it's not something that can be hurried.

pargyle said:

Excellent .. Like I said elsewhere - wine making is a lot like beekeeping - patience is something you have to learn ... it's not something that can be hurried.

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Mine has now slowed down and started to clear, so that is nearly four months

hey all i made mead with heather honey and some orange in it in oct, it is now getting very clear but the bottom third the demijohn is pure sludge, do i rack into a new demijohn and leave a third of the jar out, can it be topped up or whats the deal here, do i just loss some in the racking process, all very new to mead making so very unsure.

cheers Darren

biglongdarren said:

hey all i made mead with heather honey and some orange in it in oct, it is now getting very clear but the bottom third the demijohn is pure sludge, do i rack into a new demijohn and leave a third of the jar out, can it be topped up or whats the deal here, do i just loss some in the racking process, all very new to mead making so very unsure.

cheers Darren

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Did you have a lot of fruit pulp in the original must ? If so then the 'sludge' could well be the residue of your oranges in which case I would rack off as much as is viable - leaving any heavy sediment down at the bottom. If you just used the juice of the orange (and actually most of an orange's flavour is in the peel for future reference) then I'd leave it a bit longer as it will probably sediment down further.

You can actually rack off the clear stuff and then gently filter the lees - you can buy special wine filters but as long as you take your time and remove the sediment as you go an ordinary coffee filter in a funnel will do the job - you won't lose a lot of your mead that way.

Check the Specific gravity when you rack it ... and taste it for sweetness/dryness .. you can always top it up with a bit of honey flavoured water but make sure you leave an airlock on the demijohn as it could start to ferment again (it may not have stopped yet anyway and there will still be yeast in the mead which will be happy to chomp on a bit of fresh sugar if the alcohol level has not killed it).

One of the benefits of checking the SG before and after is you can calculate roughly what the ABV (alcohol by volume) is and if you know that then you will be able to be a bit more certain about whether it is going to continue to ferment or whether its reached its limit.

it may not have stopped yet anyway

If it has cleared, fermentation has most certainly stopped. That would not mean it won't restart, of course. If fermented dry, adding more fermentables gives more food for the yeast, unless stabilised with metabisulphite and sorbate. If beyond the alcohol tolerance of the yeast, diluting it may lower the alcohol sufficiently to allow it to restart.

I recently forgot to heat-treat a recent honey addition (for sweetening) and it started off again - even though stabilised previously - grrr! No sweet mead for Christmas but now cleared again, so likely completely dry again.

Making more than a single demijohn has merits. I rack to full containers by using a 'hemi' demi and bottles, as necessary to avoid part-filled containers.

If the bottom third is not clear. You only have about a hemi-demi and a 75cl bottle of clear. Putting the rest in a litre bottle or perhaps a couple 70cl bottles will allow that to settle further. Making 20-25 litre batches gives so much more choice for later rackings and choice of finished wines/meads and allows some to mature for longer.... Like beekeeping, so many options.

RAB

it is still bubbling but at a slow rate and yes i used a full orange and quartered it.here is a photo, i will rack it during tomorrow and check its Specific gravity to see how it is going.

Darren

biglongdarren said:

it is still bubbling but at a slow rate and yes i used a full orange and quartered it.here is a photo, i will rack it during tomorrow and check its Specific gravity to see how it is going.

Darren

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Yes ... rack it and filter it ... get rid of some of that sludge ... when I use whole fruit as basis for anything (or even an addition to another fermentation) I tend to start it off in a bucket with all the fruit and then when the initial fermentation dies down I strain off the solids and reduce the amount of 'sludge' before it gets into the demijohn ... the flavour of the fruit will be retained but too many fruit solids left in there when the fermentation starts to die down can result in a slightly 'musty' smell and flavour. With citrus fruits I tend to use just the rind and the juice as the pith can leave a bitter flavour behind. I have an old stainless steel hand juicer which does a great job and leaves hardly any juice behind and I have a microplane for the rind.

It's not dead yet ... stick with it ... wine and mead making (as I said) is very much like beekeeping - you learn a lot from your mistakes, they can usually be rectified and the key is not to make the same ones twice !

thank you very much,
Darren