JAOM help

[Hastein]

I started a JAOM 2 weeks ago today and it has already slowed down to about 1 bubble through the airlock every 20-30 seconds. I though it would be quite active for at least a month? Is something wrong?

The murkiness is going away and there is sediment on the bottom and also some suspended. All of the fruit is still floating. This is my first mead and I wasn't expecting it to get so crazy at first and I lost some foam in the fist day of fermentation. Could that have possibly messed it up?

Thanks

 

[Yooper]

I started a JAOM 2 weeks ago today and it has already slowed down to about 1 bubble through the airlock every 20-30 seconds. I though it would be quite active for at least a month? Is something wrong?

The murkiness is going away and there is sediment on the bottom and also some suspended. All of the fruit is still floating. This is my first mead and I wasn't expecting it to get so crazy at first and I lost some foam in the fist day of fermentation. Could that have possibly messed it up?

Thanks

That seems about right. The majority of fermentation should be over in a week or so, and it'll finish up more slowly. If it's starting to clear, that's a sign that active fermentation is about over.

 

[Bearmaul]

Sounds about right to me. Once the fruit drops to the bottom, that's a good indicator that you're ready to rack off the lees and bottle.

 

[Hastein]

OK, I was getting a little worried. I know JAOM is supposed to be near impossible to mess up. lol I guess I will just sit back and wait for it to clear up. Thanks!!

 

[fatbloke]

OK, I was getting a little worried. I know JAOM is supposed to be near impossible to mess up. lol I guess I will just sit back and wait for it to clear up. Thanks!!

Invariably, it will clear before the fruit drops. Even Joe says in the original recipe that it can be racked/bottled then, but.......

The main reason to leave it till the fruit drops, is that sediment settles on the fruit too. Bread yeast that has dropped out is still a PITA. It will come back into suspension if you look at it wrongly......

My method, is to move the fermenter a day or two before you intend to rack/bottle. Then very carefully, you bottle or whatever, the cleared part of the brew, making sure that you don't pick up any sediment.

Then the rest of the liquid, even a little bit of sediment, can be siphoned off the fruit/lees, into a 2 litre plastic pop/soda bottle (one that has the 4 molded feet at the base) that has had the top cut off. You rack into that, then cover with a cling wrap cover and put it in the fridge for a day or so, then as carefully as with the main fermenter, you rack the rest of the cleared liquid off the last bit of lees/sediment that will have settled into the feet of the bottle.

Bingo!....... minimised racking loses.

Best to do this in the evening, because if you get more than an exact number of bottles, you wouldn't want to waste any after all your efforts, so what else to do, but