Tried a one gallon batch of mead with pressure fermenting/ spunding valve. Worked well but now that it is carbonated from the pressure, how do i stabilize and clarify? Release pressure, insert additives, and put back on pressure? Rack to new keg with all that in it? Id hate to lose the natural carbonation that it has already produced during fermentation. Any insight from those that have done this before would be great. Thanks.
I make mead. Never had it carbonated. Never seen it carbonated. Interesting idea, though, if we can have carbonated wine, then why not mead.
Sorry not much help. I’m going to try a batch- fermented at atmospheric pressure and re fermented in the bottle.
If it’s finished, bottle it. No additives necessary. So what if it’s a little hazy. It can clear in the bottles with age later. If you NEED to backsweeten or chemicals, then you’re going to lose some of the carbonation. But you don’t NEED to add anything.
If it’s NOT finished, don’t bottle it!
Are you wanting to backsweeten? If not, I agree with @dmtaylor: there’s no need to add anything. Just package it when the FG is stable.
If you do, the only thing I can think of would be to either:
- bleed the head pressure, open the fermenter (it sounds like you fermented in a keg?), add the additives, close, then repressurize with exogenous CO2; or
- add the additives to an empty sanitized keg, purge with CO2, close the receiving keg with a spunding valve, pressure transfer from the fermenter.
But I’ve never actually done either of these … I package my mead dry and still in 375 ml wine bottles.
I do this routinely with beer, and there’s no reason you can’t with mead. Get a second keg and a jumper line that goes between kegs. Add your stabilizers or dry hops or clarifiers or whatever to the second keg, close it, purge and pressurize with co2, then attach your jumper line from keg out to keg out. Push it from keg1 to keg2 with co2 and control the flow with the bleed valve on keg2 or the spunding valve.