Help: Murk/Fuzz at bottom of Mead bottles.

[kirk]

I have 2 bottles of mead that both have something at the bottom of the bottles.
Difficult to describe but a brown deposit that is not a typical sediment. Looks more like a brown cotton wool, just not that dense. Fuzz is probably the best description.

I have 3 DJ's of other meads I have made and none of these have anything in them, just clear. Some raspberry mead is in bottles and that also is clear and they are all stored together, so same conditions.

Anyone have any idea?

Also any idea what I could do.

Thought that I had passed each bottle through a filter (Boots type one, pads made by someone else), just not 100% if I did actually do so, or if I intended to do so. Think I did and what came through was clear, no cloudyness. In which case it has reformed.

Haven't tasted either so no idea if they are off, didn't want to open them.

[fatbloke]

I'd have thought that it's unlikely that they're "off".

I've found that with my meads, they can often seem clear as a bell, but can still drop sediment over time. You need to taste really, because if the sedimentary stuff isn't adding any flavours (particularly "off" flavours) then the only real reason for removal is for aesthetic reasons i.e. it looks nicer (and no-one else would probably drink the glass with the sediment in it except yourself).

Even the boots/harris filter pads have "grades", and filtration is only really useful as a final polish procedure (trying to remove any appreciable amount of sediment with filters just clogs them up).

I'd suggest that you just move them back into a container so you can let the sediment drop, then carefully rack the clear part. Then cold crash the bit with the sediment in a tall, slim container of some sort, then re-rack the rest of the cleared part away and run the rest through a paper coffee filter. Some sediment might get through but the lions share would be retained by the coffee filter. Care still needs to be taken when assembling the kit used as you'd want it to go through the filter and into a container with the minimal amount of splashing, aggitation etc. So something like the coffee filter in a funnel with a piece of plastic pipe on the bottom of the funnel so the pipe reaches the bottom of the container the funnel is sitting on. That way the liquid should move down with a minimum of possible aeration.

No, none of that is normally suggested with "normal" wines, but this isn't a "normal" wine, and meads don't tend to oxidise like normal wines do/can. Plus what with the cost of honey etc, and lots of people making meads in gallon batches, I like to try and reduce any racking loses to a minimum.......

[Cellar_Rat]

temperature haze?

[kirk]

Thanks, I will see what I can "rescue", the annoying aspect is just 2 bottles of this so I cannot rack off 3/4 and throw the rest, it would leave a half bottle.
And the time has been a couple of years for this to drop.

This is not a temperature haze CR, BUT having said that you have reminded me that I think I did have one with that, and I now wonder if it was that one I passed through a filter and not the one with the stuff at the bottom. I know I filtered a mead and now suspect it was not the one I thought.

Better go buy a pack of filter pads, just to make sure I have enough no matter what I end up doing.

[fatbloke]

depends on what filtering facility you have. I've got an old boots one that also uses harris pads, a mini-jet and an enolmatic with the filter housing. I still try and get it as clear as possible before filtering as I only have a 1 micron element for the enolmatic, and the mini-jet sprays the product out between the gaps of the plates and filter pads if theres too much sediment still in it i.e. it will clog from the first pad etc. I don't really use the boots filter any more as it can take for ever, as it's gravity only.......

Oh and the sediment description sounds like the haze I got the first time I back sweetened with honey. I left it for about a year in the hope it would drop out naturally, but it didn't. In the end I used Kwikclear and that moved it in about 2 days. I think it was a protein haze.

[kirk]

The Boots one with Harris pads is the one I have. Always been happy with it.

Tend to rack a DJ a couple of times, and after that I will use the filter. Often I will filter it twice in the general course, a pad isn't that expensive afterall. When they were bottled they were all clear.

Main aspect is that it is not a normal sediment, the term "fuzz" describes it best.

I have 2 left as I gave 3 or 4 others away, just hope they were drunk before they decided to do the same.

Most annoying is that the easiest way to pass a bottle back through the filter would seem to be to attach a funnel to the filter via a bit of pipe. Just cannot get a funnel with a small enough end bit.

[fatbloke]

Well it is a bit weird with meads, how they still can sometimes drop more sediment, even after racking clear and having a filter polish. It's one of the reasons that I bulk age them i.e. rack etc, then filter, back into a DJ. I haven't had any that come out "fuzzy", but a number that have proceded to drop a dusting of something out. I don't like to use "sterile" grade filter elements on meads, wines and the like, as you often see how much pigmentation comes out with them, especially anything with some red colour, whether they're actual "proper" reds or not.......