During de-gassing, do you remove top goo?
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um. That looks more like a beer Krausen. What kind of mead are you making?
4.5G of white grape juice (1080) from 50Lb of fresh grapes mixed with 1G water/honey. OG 1.1ish. yeast 2 x 71B.
If it were my batch, I would skim that off carefully with a sanitized spoon.
Did you pasteurize the juice and any way?
Did you pasteurize the juice and any way?
Nope.
What’s in the mesh bag?
Smashed grapes. Skins still have sugar on them so mind as well feed yeast with it.
If you didn't treat the skins with Campden or pasteurize your juice in any way, you're at risk of having a wild yeast or an infection of some kind. Not that all wild yeasts are bad, it's just that this may not turn out how you would expect with 71B.
No need to skim. And, I suppose you know those skins will release tannins. I’d take a sample and taste so that it doesn’t go past the level you want.
There is that, but I think my initial pitch overpowered natural yeast and infection is not happening when I'm sitting at 1010 after 4 days.
I thought white grapes produces almost none , but I'll check it out. Thanks.
Edit: I've also did light skimming daily .... if I don't remove it now, I'll have to remove it at sometime in the future. Maybe my logic is off, but that goo could produced off-taste also.
Seeds stems and skins of grapes contain tannins and alcohol must be present to extract them. I only know this in certainty because I did a little search before making a blush apple cider.
The cap you’re referring to as goo is yeast and proteins it will drop And become lees on its own as fermentation slows. The less you mess with a fermentation the fewer opportunities there are for contamination and oxidation. When I’m degassing mead in the early stages I swirl the fermentor while it stays closed.
