How to Make Mead - part7: Transferring to glass carboy

www.stormthecastle.com - extra step of aeration and transferring to a glass carboy.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Mead
• Brewing
• Honey
• Wine
• How
• to
• Making

[Osous6stringbass]

i like all of these videos a lot, very well done. i have some questions tho. what is the purpose of second fermentation and how is it done? also, is using canned fruit ok (for fruit mead) as long as it has no preservatives added?

[epicfantasy]

@Osous6stringbass secondary ferment is cleaner and slower. you simply siphon off of all the sediment into a new container with airlock. Canned fruit can be used but fresh fruit is better.

[Canuck51]

For those of us who are used to using a hydrometer, what are the start and finishing Specific Gravities that we should be expecting ? The same S.G.'s as for wine kits ?

[epicfantasy]

@Canuck51 I do have some hydrometer specs on my website. Can't recall offhand. But it is different than regular wine becaues of the the density of honey. The final and ending specs aren't necessarily important except as a relative drop. I believe a good drop from start to finish is .01 on the hydrometer.

[KaiserBrandon340]

when the mead is in the carboy, how can you tell when it's ready to be bottled? (note: I have a hydrometer to use just incase it is useful for this)

[epicfantasy]

@KaiserBrandon340 Can be tricky to measure and the best thing to do is just wait it out. But a rule of thumb is when you get a .01 drop in the specific gravity by the hydrometer.

[UnperfectStorm16]

Question,

Are there any local stores that you could buy the glass carboy containers or the plastic container that you used to mix the Mead in the first three steps? Like target, home depot, shop rite, k-mart, or any of the like?

[Osous6stringbass]

@epicfantasy how long would you wait before you transfer?

[epicfantasy]

It is not required to transfer to a glass carboy at all. It is, imho, better though. Plastic over the long term can affect the taste and smell. You know that smell that plastic has? If the plastic pail is pretty new then you should be ok. The more use that pail has seen the more effect it will have on your mead. Big thing though is that at some point you should transfer to a new container to get it away from all the dead yeast that will accumulate - this can ruin the flavor and taste

[xuxucommamao]

I am going to travel for 'bout 2 weeks, and I plan to make the mead and leave it fermenting in the plastic jug (man, I wish I had an Oak Barrel!!) while I'm gone. I can do it without any regrets, right?