First batch of Mead, re-rack after aging in bottle?

[lordprocrastinator]

Hello everyone, I’m new here. I’ve been lurking for some time but need help, so I thought I’d pipe up.

My first ever batch of Mead (NB Semisweet kit), is just over a year old, and has been aging in bottles for about 6 months now (bottled after 6 months from brew, 4 mos in primary, 2 mos in secondary).

Still, I think I bottled too soon. It is starting to mellow out, but still has a pretty yeasty smell and taste. I am seeing good amount of sediment in each bottle now. When I tried one last night, I had to filter it through a coffee filter into a clear bottle.

Question 1: Should I open all the bottles, and re-rack/rebottle? How would I manage that without aerating too much when pouring it out? (or do I care)? I think it will age better in another few months or more, and would be nice to get that sediment out.

Question 2: I just moved my second batch to the Secondary. I think it stalled out. There was barely any sludge at the bottom. In retrospect, I think my first batch (above) was very slow fermenting, so this one seems even worse (probably temp was low over the winter).

I’ve re-pitched. and going to add some more nutrients. The question is should I re-aerate? I am scared of aerating, after all the “don’t aerate” instructions. I will move it to a warmer place (from my bathroom). The beers do fine there. The racking to secondary swirled it around a bit, but so far no activity after 12 hours or so.

General Question for future reference. I have had the primary in both batches in a bucket. I can’t look inside. I wonder if a Carboy is better. Should I be seeing as much of a foam head as I do in Beer fermentation? or is mead really slow and less active in general?

Thank you so much. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

LP.

[rookie_l_a]

What was your O G? Very high at all and you’re talking a LONG term project.
I’m not sure if rebottling would be a good idea. Wait another 6 months and see what it’s like then.
I have a mead going right now with O G of 1.136 and it’s been burping along for 12 days now. The shortest time between burps was around three seconds, on the second day and is still going at around every ten seconds as of this morning. There was a thin (1/4 inch) head the first day, but that fell pretty quickly.

[nighthawk]

My experience has been with very little krausen on meads.

I also have not worried about transferring them. I left a mead in the primary for 18 months. Then kegged it. Sat there for about 2 months before I bottled it. Only because I was lazy.

A 2-3 week tertiary should be fine to get anything the carried over from the primary to fall back out.

I would not try to transfer bottled meads. Just pour them carefully like one would with a bottled conditioned beer.

[lordprocrastinator]

Thank you guys,

I know I should have measured the OG, Alas, I did not. Now I am learning my lesson. I tried to measure the new batch yesterday, and it showed up as below 1. That seems ridiculously low. I wonder if my meter is off…

I will pass on the re-bottling, I just thought it would be nicer to have clear bottles of tasty mead where I don’t have to worry about the swirling stuff at the bottom.

My primary was 6 months. it’s either stalled or done, though it has not even begun to clear in the time it was sitting in the primary bucket. I guess I will see how it goes, now that it’s in the carboy. I don’t recall it ever burping at any remotely observable intervals. It may have bubbled through the airlock once or twice when I was in the room…

Amazingly tasted very different from my first batch, I remember my first batch was so yeasty smelling, it was hard to drink it back at 6 months. This batch seemed very dry, but was not smelly.

[nighthawk]

You can do some math to find the OG. or us a brewing calculator.

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=115791

Depending on the OG and the alcohol tolarence of the yeast, it is possible to get less then 1.00 for a FG. Honey is 100% fermentable. So unless your yeast die from alcohol poisoning you can get a super low SG.

[lordprocrastinator]

Thank you NH

Having estimated the OG of the NB semisweet kit at 1.041, I think my bottled batch is at 5.38%ABV (SG 1.000), my recent batch in secondary is at 6.17%ABV (0.994).

Perhaps the second batch is, simply done? I am going to remeasure to be sure. three days after re-pitching, no activity at 70-72F. But it didn’t taste as yeasty as my first batch did after 6 months.