Secondary Fermentation (mead)

The_viking309

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Howdy all, so I jist transferred my mead to my secondary fermentation jug. It's the same size as my primary. I was told that I should use campden tablets to help reduce the amount of oxygen in it so it doesn't make the mead taste bad. Is this true or am I fine?
 
Howdy all, so I jist transferred my mead to my secondary fermentation jug. It's the same size as my primary. I was told that I should use campden tablets to help reduce the amount of oxygen in it so it doesn't make the mead taste bad. Is this true or am I fine?
https://www.youtobrew.com/mead-making-101

This seems to be the best starting point for mead makers. But, I've never made mead myself
 
Howdy all, so I jist transferred my mead to my secondary fermentation jug. It's the same size as my primary. I was told that I should use campden tablets to help reduce the amount of oxygen in it so it doesn't make the mead taste bad. Is this true or am I fine?
it will work, but you would be better off using sodium metabisulfite
 
What's the difference between the potassium metabisulfite and the sodium metabisulfite? They both say campden tablets.
 
Howdy all, so I jist transferred my mead to my secondary fermentation jug. It's the same size as my primary. I was told that I should use campden tablets to help reduce the amount of oxygen in it so it doesn't make the mead taste bad. Is this true or am I fine?

I know nothing about mead but we just had this question in regard to cider - not that we came up with a definitive answer :)

The consensus around cider seemed to be that the idea of adding MBS/Campden is, in part, to stop yeast so adding it to a secondary fermenter would seem counter intuitive.

The other aspect - the bit that drew some debate - is that personally I would not put MBS anywhere near a finished beer or cider. Without the science to understand and measure there's every chance of overdosing and ruining the product. I know people don't want to hear that so my suggestion would be try overdosing water and see what happens, there's a real nasty sulphurous/eggy/farty flavour imparted and you have a dumper on your hands. It takes less than you would think as well.

Tread carefully adding MBS to finished products.
 
I've made a few meads over the years, including 18 and 16 year old meads that held up great and didn't use campden tablets.
 
Campden tablets work great (they are potassium metabisulfite or sodium metabisulfite with binding agents) as an antioxidant and preservative- but they’re not magic. If you have too much headspace, rack to a smaller vessel instead of trying to save it by adding antioxidants. K-meta (sulfites) dissipate so need to be readded at intervals, but won’t ‘erase’ oxidation. It will help prevent it if added during racking.
 

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