r/mead • u/BeautifulTwig • 1d ago

Help! Can I wait longer to bottle after stabilizing?

Hi All! I've got 3 meads in bulk aging right now. I'm close to stabilizing and then bottling. Is it okay if I bottle my meads a week or 2 after stabilizing? Normally I would bottle 24-48 hours after stabilizing but I want to give the yeast cake more time to settle after stirring in my stabilizers so that I have a clearer product at the end. Just want to know if waiting that long is a bad idea and would harm my mead in any way.

Thanks!

TL;DR Would 2 weeks be harmfully long between stabilizing and bottling?

3 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

7

u/_unregistered 1d ago

No problem at all.

5

u/Symon113 1d ago

Recommend racking to another container leaving the lees behind. Stabilizing then aging for several months before tasting to see if you need changes in sweetness/tannin/acid. Rack again let sit awhile to clear then bottle. But that’s my usual practice

2

u/Abstract__Nonsense 1d ago

They’ve been bulk aging, albeit we don’t know how long. Nothing about stabilizing itself should require them to then wait additional time to taste before bottling.

1

u/Symon113 1d ago

I just find that if I wait. It doesn’t require as much changes as it might right out of fermentation. If this one’s been sitting for an extended period already then should be good to go.

1

u/ProfessorSputin 1d ago

2 weeks is totally fine! For the future, I usually would rack off of the lees before backsweetening. It makes it a lot easier to bottle since you end up with wayyy less sediment in the vessel when you’re actually bottling.

1

u/HumorImpressive9506 Master 1d ago

Im not sure whats being asked here. So your mead is finished fermenting, is being bulk aged and you you are about to stabilize (but not backsweeten?).

Yes, then it is perfectly fine to wait a while before bottling.

-2

u/TomDuhamel Intermediate 1d ago

Typically, you would stabilise and backsweeten early into the ageing process, not close to bottling.

-2

u/Unsual_Education 1d ago

THAT'S not what he asked how is your comment helpful to him currently in the question he's asking?

3

u/Unsual_Education 1d ago edited 1d ago

Lol downvoted for calling out an ass being an ass and not being helpful to someone that was asking for a little help.