Adding honey to secondary

[BroStefan]

I just racked my 2nd batch - I straight mead I'm hoping will end up semi sweet - to secondary in a carboy after a three week primary. I've got a more headspace then I'd like. Due to the shape of the carboy I'd need ~ 1.5 pints to fill it.

Must started at SG 1.105 and is currently at SG 1.000.

What happens if I mix up honey and water to the appropriate SG and add it at this point? Surely there is enough viable yeast to ferment it out.

Could I just keep adding honey until the yeast stalls out from excess ABV and I get the level of sweetness I'd like?

 

[noblesquirrel]

That shouldn't be a problem. Other options are to flush the head space of the carboy with CO2 if you can.

 

[BroStefan]

I've often wondered about the CO2 flushing option. Would over time loss effectiveness as air migrates in?

 

[noblesquirrel]

I've often wondered about the CO2 flushing option. Would over time loss effectiveness as air migrates in?

It depends. If you're using an airlock, air ingress shouldn't be an issue. That's the purpose of the airlock. If you just have something loose on top, then air ingress would be an issue.

 

[mwhitnell]

Depends, you are around 14% abv, a lot of yeast stalls at this abv, if you used a yeast that tolerates 18%abv (such as Ec-1118, and others), you could raise the sg to 1.030 and get abv to 18%, maybe. I am in favor of flushing with CO2, and air lock as nobelsquirrel mentions.

 

[Yooper]

I've often wondered about the CO2 flushing option. Would over time loss effectiveness as air migrates in?

In short, yes. Air does indeed go through airlocks, through the water and the bung (especially if the bung is silicone), and in cracks of the airlock itself. See this page on a study on closures and oxygen ingress: http://www.mocon.com/pdf/optech/Closures - Oxygen Passage Study.pdf

Luckily, mead is more resistant to oxidation than wine or cider and it should be ok for a while but I would still choose to have no headspace. You can flush with c02 a couple of times if needed and that should have a protective effect.

 

[bernardsmith]

In short, yes. Air does indeed go through airlocks, through the water and the bung (especially if the bung is silicone), and in cracks of the airlock itself. See this page on a study on closures and oxygen ingress: http://www.mocon.com/pdf/optech/Closures - Oxygen Passage Study.pdf

Luckily, mead is more resistant to oxidation than wine or cider and it should be ok for a while but I would still choose to have no headspace. You can flush with c02 a couple of times if needed and that should have a protective effect.

I wonder how long CO2 remains "trapped" in the headroom? Few wines are bottled sparkling or even petillant, and most (many?) wine makers who don't use kits don't actively degas their wine.*** Half the weight of the sugar that was fermented is converted to CO2 and if the wine is fermented in glass carboys with an airlock then 100 percent of that CO2 has been expelled (even Yooper who bangs in a bung when the wine is at 1.010 will have about 2 oz of CO2 that outgas through the airlock.

*** kit manufacturers presumably want folk to bottle their wines as soon as possible so that they will have empty carboys with the empties the possibility of starting another kit, so they encourage active degassing after a month or six weeks by whipping or applying a vacuum to pull the CO2 out, but given enough time wines degas by themselves.

 

[mwhitnell]

Yeah I read this oxygen transfer report,,,basically it is worthless...no where does the report address partial pressures of the air, that is 21% O2 concentrations...as far as transfer of O2 from the air to the inside of a carboy that is purged with CO2, it would be negligible, it sound like the researcher is employed by a PET manufacturer. Go ahead and do your purge.