I don't think acid is the problem. In fact it is not really recommended
that you try to adjust acidity before mead is finished because of the
natural buffers in honey. This is different from other wines.

From my readings, it is my understanding that slow fermentation in meads is
generally caused by lack of nutrients. Many (but not all) honey's are very
deficient in nitrogen. It is generally thought that slow fermentation is
not a particularly good thing for honey and it would be better to speed it
up. It is really helpful to know the type of honey being used to know how
much nutrient to add.

Ray

"J Dixon" > wrote in message
...
> Greg, I think you made a mistake on the filter size for the removal of
> yeast. You want to go below .5 microns (1/2 0f 1 micron) to remove yeast.
> Typically you could use a .45 micron absolute filter to get this done, but
> may will use the .2 micron absolute in the line right before the wine goes
> in the bottle.
> I will tell you that as a home winemaker I have used a standard .45
> micron cartridge filter in line with my bottle filler to remove the yeast
> and not have to use sulphites.(about $35. each) I certainly wouldn't
> recommend this for commercial practice, but I have only had a couple
bottles
> of "sparklers" and haven't ever had one blow up on me. Not truly sterile,
> but has been good enough for me for several hundred gallons of off dry
> wines. HTH
> John Dixon
>
>
> "Greg Cook" > wrote in message
> s.com...
> > On 6/6/04 10:54 PM, in article
> > et, "stilettorain"
> > > wrote:
> >
> > > I was chatting with a guy at a local wine/beer making supply shop the
> other
> > > day, and I mentioned to him that a mead I started 13 months ago, is
> still
> > > fermenting. He said that if I wanted to stop the fermentation, that
all
> I
> > > needed to do was filter it. Not wanted to appear too uninformed, I
just
> > > smiled and agreed with him. But of course, I have very little idea
what
> > > he's talking about. I recall from a brewery tour, that some beer
> brewers
> > > filter their beer to 3 microns to remove active yeast, but is that
> possible
> > > at home for wine?
> > > Do any of you all filter wine to end fermentation?
> > > Thanks
> > > Nate
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> > You would need to filter with a very small (3 microns you mentioned is
> > right) pore size to remove the yeast. The equipment to get sterile
> > filtration would be impractical and too expensive for a home winemaker.
> Many
> > home winemakers use filters mainly to remove particulates and make a
> clearer
> > wine. They do not filter out all the yeast.
> >
> > Now, as to your mead . . I too have had meads ferment for a very long
> time.
> > A couple were going on two years and still bubbling ever so slowly. This
> is
> > a problem with mead that I believe has to do with acid levels.
> Unfortunately
> > I never tested the acid on my slow batches.
> >
> > If your alcohol level is high enough and you are happy with the
sweetness
> > level, you can chill your wine in a fridge to stop the fermentation,
then
> > carefully rack it cold and add potassium sorbate and potassium
> metabisulfite
> > to stabilize it and prevent renewed fermentation. This can be a bit
tricky
> > to do. For my batches, my alcohol levels were too low, so I added some
> > everclear to bring the alcohol up and then stabilized it. That seems to
> have
> > worked well for me.
> >
> >
> > --
> > Greg Cook
> > http://homepage.mac.com/gregcook/Wine
> > http://homepage.mac.com/gregcook/aws
> >
> > (remove spamblocker from my email)
> >
>
>