Flowers of Mead?

[DrewschBag]

I apologize for not having the proper information about my situation (OG and PH) but I noticed my problem moments before I had to leave for work and now I'm sitting at work paranoid about my mead.

I noticed a few small white spots on the surface of my Raspberry Melomel (AZIPA's recipe) and I'm trying to identify the situation.

I've been making beer and wine for a few years and never had an infection, but this is only my 3rd mead. I was reading about Mycoderma and I'm curious if this affects meads?

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

Isn't that a precursor to vinegar/acetobacter infection? So I guess the true test would be to taste it and see if there are any vinegar taste characters (still fermenting mead can smell vinegary but its just CO2 burn).

With no pics or anything, I'd say you're probably fine. You've been brewing for years without any infections, so your sanitation is probably good. It is likely just yeast/ honey proteins suspended on the surface.

 

[DrewschBag]

Thanks for posting back. I'm going to drive home over lunch and pull a sample. If I have time I'll try to get a pic also.

 

[DrewschBag]

No vinegar taste! I'll be keeping a close eye on it though. If it is just honey protein should it dissipate on its own or should I rack again now?

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

Whenever I get floaty stuff, I just leave it until I would otherwise rack. Then I just rack underneath it. Some people rack more liberally but with each racking, you're losing final product.

 

[DrewschBag]

Would adding Camden hurt anything? I'm probably overly paranoid here, but with the price of raspberries and honey I'm nervous about losing the whole thing.

 

[DrewschBag]

Pictures, which probably don't help much.

 

[fatbloke]

Looks more like yeast or protein type stuff to me........

if there's no sign of flavour or smell issues I'd also let it run.

if its finished its ferment then adding campden tablets or any other form of sulphites you might have won't hurt in the correct dosage.......

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

Yeah, looks like yeast and CO2 chilling on the surface. I have a young Lambic mead that is just starting to show a pellicle and it looks more like this. Granted it's not (hopefully and shouldnt be) Acetobacter or Mycoderma.

I have a bunch of other infection photos on my Lambic Mead blog post here.
http://hivemindmead.blogspot.com/2013/05/lambic-mead.html

• @Camden Tabs, Like fatbloke said, as long as you are at your final gravity than there's nothing wrong with it at all. Basically you add them when it's done so you don't shock the yeast while thye are working (that would be counter productive).

 

[DrewschBag]

Thanks guys. I'm at 1.000 so Camden should be ok to use, but I think I'll just hold off for now.

 

[Arpolis]

I want to give a +1 to Marshmallowblue and FB. Your mead looks ok. Let it sit and when you get a good layer of lees you can rack onto a little dissolved Camden in a new clean carboy if you like and that will be fine. But kick back and enjoy the lazy part of brewing and wait it out without stress.

 

[DrewschBag]

Still normal?

 

[Arpolis]

Nope! Now that it has those circular colonies it looks funky. I have never had yeast congregate like that in my mead so that looks like something else. Rack it now from under the stuff. In your new carboy prior to racking mix up 2 crushed Camden tablets per gallon with a little water and put that in first so you are racking into it giving you a good mix. Then let it sit another couple weeks with minimal contact and see how it looks.

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

Yeah that could be some kind of infection. Before racking, make sure to use different equipment. If it turns out to be an infection you don't want it spreading form batch to batch.

When racking my infected meads, I use a spare piece of siphon tube and separate vessels so there is no cross contamination with my regular meads/ beers.

I would also try to get a pic from the bung down (with the bung off) so you can get a clearer shot. Then take it over to the Pellicle Photo thread, and the guys there will definitely be able to tell you, as well as maybe even what type of infection it is.

Worst case scenario would be to Let It Ride and join the Sour Mead club.... We have Pellicles.