# need to re-rack?



## Ben Brewcat (Oct 27, 2004)

Well, that depends on a couple things. One is preference; some folks like a little autolysis (decaying yeast) flavor, some don't. Live yeast does protect mead to some extent, but a small layer or secondary yeast provides that in abundance without all the complicating other debris in a primary yeastcake pile. A year is a little long to sit on primary lees IMO, but a lot of folks do it and make great meads. Another consideration is headspace. If there's a significant airspace in the vessels, you may wish to consider racking to a vessel more appropriate to the volume of the mead, or at least topping up to reduce airspace.

Racking serves a few purposes: removing mead from lees, driving off dissolved gasses like CO2 and sulfur compounds, and adding small amounts of oxygen in the process. These can be helpful, harmful or neutral depending on who you ask. For myself, I tend to rack once only near the end of primary ferment but when the yeast are still a bit active. That way the primary yeastcake is left behind (along with protein gunk and other junk), but the live yeast will scavenge the oxygen introduced so it doesn't oxidize the mead. This racking also degasses the mead a bit and lets me put it in a five-gallon (or whatever-sized) carboy, from the sixer I used to accomodate the primary's foaming.

If you're confident your racking technique is pretty sanitary and not splashy (aeration adds oxygen, one of the two mortal enemies of mead in excess), you can certainly rack. If you use sulfite, sulfite lightly (around 20 ppm) to inhibit contamination and protect form oxidation. OTOH, if your storage regimen is adequate you can leave it alone and let the yeast autolyze some. Adequate storage meads airlocks monitored with sanitizer in them (they can evaporate out surprisingly quickly, with disastrous results), and the carboy reasonably topped up to eliminate headspace.

Some winemakers rack every month for a year or more, so strongly do they believe in the restorative power of racking! For me that's just mead down the drain (there's a small loss with every racking). 

That'll teach you to ask a yes-or-no question! Monday at the office...


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## nursebee (Sep 29, 2003)

Say what Ben?

6 months Michael?

You can let them sit. If you only have 3 batches going you ought to buy more demijohns...

Bottle when clear and done fermenting. This can vary in time.


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## MichaelW (Jun 1, 2005)

Interesting.

I guess techically these are in secondaries. I racked them once the primary ferment slowed down, then they continued bubbling for a while in the secondaries. They have all stopped bubbling by now, as far as I can tell, and have no headspace. I don't think any are clear.



> If you only have 3 batches going you ought to buy more demijohns...


Yes, I thought this was quite alot at first, but we are getting close to knocking out our first "wine kit" batch before any of it makes it to the peak of 6 months. Its still good though, but doesn't seem to have much alcohol. Its one of those quicky kits.


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## Ben Brewcat (Oct 27, 2004)

Then I'd say the maximum time to let them sit is, oh, six years







. They're fine until you need the carboy space or are ready to enjoy them. Keep water in the airlocks and you're all set.

Nursebee, which part did I obfuscate, or do I just confuse in general? <Note: Bjornbee, don't reply to that if you're lurking  >


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## MichaelW (Jun 1, 2005)

Great!,

I would soon "need" the carboy space, but other reasons abound.

too little time...
not enough wine.


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## Propolis30 (Aug 25, 2005)

I am also making an apple mead and after 3 months in the primary it had at least an inch of dead yeast/sediment. I racked it off into a clean carboy and now it seems to have stopped fermenting. I din't take a reading yet but tasted of some and it is still plenty sweet. Sugestions?


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## MichaelW (Jun 1, 2005)

look closely for bubbles, I rechecked my apple mead yesterday and some tiny bubbles were still appearing at the top. 
-not an expert here.


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## Ben Brewcat (Oct 27, 2004)

Well the agitation of racking will dislodge CO2 from solution, so the yeast have to resaturate it with their output brfore offgassing would resume. Very normal. If it's still going it'll restart bubbling soon, or perhaps it was just close enough.


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## Propolis30 (Aug 25, 2005)

Maybe so. I don't see any bubbles yet but the airlock is still at full height so it must still have pressure. If it had fallen and stayed I would be more worried.


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## Propolis30 (Aug 25, 2005)

Ok now the airlock has fallen and has stayed. It's still extremely sweet. Any advice? I'm in no rush. I was thinking about just waiting until the weather gets warmer and seeing if it picks back up.


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## Ben Brewcat (Oct 27, 2004)

Waiting's rarely a problem, but a gravity reading (plus the initial gravity, either from a reading or we can pretty accurately calculate it with the recipe) and the yeast strain'll let you know for sure where it is, where it can go and where you can take it if you want.


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## Propolis30 (Aug 25, 2005)

Ok. I don't have a current reading but the initial was 12.5% I believe. I used Red Star Cote des Blancs yeast. 

I can tell from tasting it's nowhere near finshed though.

Wonder why it died off when I racked over?


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## Ben Brewcat (Oct 27, 2004)

Yeah, it should dry out with that starting PA. Do you have a thermometer on the carboy? Lacking that, what temp is the area the carboy's in? If it's under a window or near an outside wall, it's probably too cool. After the vigor of initial ferment (which warms the mead, sometimes quite a bit) fades, a slightly cool environment can stop yeast from working. Lean a thermometer against the carboy for a couple days and note the temps, especially at night/early morning. The temp _of the mead_ (which can be pretty different than the ambient air) shouldn't be cooler than about 66 I'd say for that yeast. 

If that flags a problem, bring the carboy into the bathroom or a warmer area.


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## Propolis30 (Aug 25, 2005)

Yeah that may be the problem. We use the energy star thermostat and it's prgramed to set back to 60 in the winter time while we are away at work. then at 5:00p.m it's set to heat up to 70 to have the house warm by the time we get home. 

I may just have wait till it warms up out outside to continue. I don't have any rooms in the house that are any warmer than the rest.


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## Ben Brewcat (Oct 27, 2004)

I do the same thing! 10 gallons of cream ale is bubbling in a box with a lava lamp so it'll finish in time to be kegged for the New Years Party. Groovy all the way.


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## Propolis30 (Aug 25, 2005)

Any danger of the fumes somehow igniting in the box from the lamp? 

I had thought of just attaching a heating pad to it all winter but gosh what would it end up costing to have a heating pad running for 3 months. Plus there is probably a safety issue there.

I'll probably just wait till mother nature helps me out.


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## Ben Brewcat (Oct 27, 2004)

I don't know of any flammable fumes from fermentation, and certainly the almost-pure CO2 environment would prevent combustion. Time and Mother Nature have your back  .


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## Propolis30 (Aug 25, 2005)

My bad. Maybe I'm thinking of the fumes from distilling alcohol.


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## AndrewSchwab (Dec 9, 2005)

You can buy a heater type element that raps around the carboy to warm things up.


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## Propolis30 (Aug 25, 2005)

Thanks Andrew. I just ordered one for $17. Maybe this will be an easy fix.


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## Ben Brewcat (Oct 27, 2004)

Be aware that these are typically not regulated, so be sure to have a carboy thermometer on. That way if it gets too hot you can "shim" some cloth inside 1/3 of the belt (or however much works) so you don't cook your mead.


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## Propolis30 (Aug 25, 2005)

Thanks. I ordered a couple of those as well.

What would be an ideal temperature to keep it at while fermenting? 70?


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## Ben Brewcat (Oct 27, 2004)

'Pends on the yeast strain, but 70 is a good bet.


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## Propolis30 (Aug 25, 2005)

Thanks guys! I got the heater and stick on thermometer Friday night. It was at 61 degrees. Installed it and plugged it in and it made it up to 70 by Saturday night. I put another pack of yeast in and it took off just boiling. Checked the temp. before work this morning and it was down to 68. Still fermenting heavy though.


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## Propolis30 (Aug 25, 2005)

The carboy heater is doing good to keep up. I checked this morning and it was down to 64 and fermentation had slowed down.


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## Propolis30 (Aug 25, 2005)

I give up until the weather warms up. Cold spell came through and even with the carboy heater on the temperature dropped to 58 and fermentation once again stopped.


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