apples, apricots & mead, OH MY!

[Tavi]

I just started wine making last January using kits. This summer I stepped it up with a mead, an apricot wine and an apple wine (I loveliving in fruit country!). And now I have questions:
The mead is really a metheglyn, since I was terrified of getting a drink that was alcohol and sweet and no other flavor. It has been in a carboy in my basement for 3 months now, and is still a little foggy. Can I still do something to clarify it? What should I do? Before or after stabilizing?
The apricot wine has been in the basement for almost 2 months and is even foggier than the methyglyn. Ditto on clarifying it?
Finally, I racked the apple wine into a carboy for the first time two days ago. I love wines that have been aged with oak and saw something recommending oak with apple wine. Can I still do this? Any tips on adding the oak?
Thanks for your attention!

 

[Goodfella]

Were the cloudy wines properly degassed?
You can still add a clarifier... HOWEVER, time will still clear these wines.


I like to LIGHTLY oak my apple wines, and yes, you can still do that. Try the oak spirals they are great. Use a small peice that takes a while to flavor it. Too many people use a big peice and think "I will just remove it sooner". I would suggest going small. You can always add more, But you cannot take away from....


Hope this helps....




Joel Marchello

 

[vcasey]

Ditto on the going small with the oak and you can always add more. BYW, meads take very well to oak and I would use a med. toast at about a quarter of what is recommended and just let it sit. Really don't plan on bottling that one until next year. Also you can clear your wines and meads with superKleer but these are young, especially that mead and I would give them a bit longer to degas and clear by themselves.
My advise would be to cover them up and make some more. You may also be interested in the book "The Complete Meadmaker" Has a few recipes and lots of great information and advice.
Welcome to the forum.

 

[Bert]

First.. Welcome to the forum...Second...This is good advice from Goodfella and vcasey.....Take your time with the meads, they will be great...they are not quick drinkers....have fun and enjoy..

 

[Tavi]

Thanks! I can see that I'm going to need another carboy to continue my endeavors.
The metheglyn is...interesting. After looking at a couple dozen recipes I added a little of this and that, and the result is a littleheavy onherbal/flowery side (note to self: be careful with jasmine tea and sweet woodruff).
I did degas before tucking them away in the basement. I use a stirrer clamped into my drill and then usea vacu-vin (I think that's what it's called)to pull a vacuum.
I'm a little worried about the apricot wine. After the last racking I learned that my apricot trees are manchurian apricots- which are less sweet and more tart than the ones you buy at the store. While I added sugar to the desired SG, I adjusted the acid per the recipe (I did check pH- it seemed OK- but forgot to write it down). At racking, it was very tart. Anything I can do about that?

 

[Kemo]

Some yeasts are better at clearing than others, my preference with meads are D47 and 1118. Also depending on how much wine you have you can use commercial clearing agents like sparkloid, bentonite, or citozen and keilsol. Not sure on the spelling of the last two, but bentonite is cheap and has always worked for me. Good luck