Mead clarification

[007]

Made 6 gallons, racked to secondary container to finish sedimentation and clear. I had more sediment and didn't clear like the first batch. House was warm 83F and had air lock. What did I miss?

 

[Dan O]

Was the batch a traditional (honey, water, yeast)? Or did it have fruit?
How long has it been in secondary?
Do you have the means to cold crash?
I've had traditionals take anywhere from 3 days to 2 months to drop everything out of suspension.

 

[007]

Traditional raw honey, water. Sat in secondary for two months. Lot of sediment, just didn't clear.

 

[Johnny2]

Is it a dry mead? Not back sweetened with honey.

 

[MightyMosin]

I have some Buckwheat honey that just would not clear in a mead. Six months of sitting around and stuff would not drop out. In that specific instance, Bentonite and Sparkolloid were used to get it clear.

You can try and wait it out and cold crash it if you have the space for it or go with some fining agents. Kieselsol and Chitosan are a great combo that work quickly.

 

[007]

No back sweetening. Made the same batch last year with no problems. The honey was a little darker than last years. This is the second batch we have made, new at this.

 

[Barzahl]

Have you taken a gravity reading? If not it's possible it's still fermenting. Sometimes as mead gets towards the end fermentation creeps along very slowly, if your temperatures are different from last year that might be causing it, what yeast did you use?

 

[Johnny2]

That's a possibility, but it's also possible that he has a stubborn mead. I've noticed that sometimes when I let a mead or other brew go fully clear, and I do a bad rack, making it cloudy again, it can remain cloudy for a long time. If you already used a fining agent, I recommend to use different now. If you live in states, sparkolloid could be your best choice. If you don't want to use a fining agent, a wine gravity filter might be a good invest or even something which has a pump, like buon vino, if cost is not an issue.

 

[Yooper]

If it's done fermenting, and has lees after 60 days, rack it and then try to put it someplace cold, 40-50F would be great. The cold will usually clear the stubbornest mead.

 

[007]

Gravity is good, done fermenting, had a lot of sediment. Just thought after two months it would as clear as first batch. Lot of sediment again, not cloudy. Staying away from chemicals.

 

[Johnny2]

it can take 4 months (or even longer) to clear by flocculation and gravity alone. With beer yeasts it should be faster.

Most fining agents are not inorganic chemicals. They are derived from nature. For example Sparkolloid, which consist of diatomaceous earth (fossilized remains of diatoms, a type of hard-shelled microalgae.) and alginate (polysaccharide refined from brown seaweeds). Or Bentonite (absorbent swelling clay formed by decomposition of volcanic ash or tuff).

If you don't want to use chemical stabilizers and preservatives, you can still use many fining agents as they are organic and don't come from a lab.

 

[MightyMosin]

Bentonite and Sparkolloid are two great ones, but you want to use one of the two, rack and then use the other if you don't get the result that you were hoping for.

Sparkolloid, IMO, gets more of the typical stuff out if you were to use only one of them.