Recipe 2: Sack mead (continued 2) - Racking

My sack mead was up for racking today. It has been bubbling nicely for almost a month now and I was curious to see how far it had come. I did set my hopes to high based on my experience with recipe 1.

Anyway pH was measured to somewhere between 3 and 4 with pH strips, so that was spot on

I measured the density to 1.012 which was great. This seems to end up with complete fermentation (target 1.010).

Going back to a previous entry the ethanol content can be estimated by:
Low estimate: ABV: (1.120-1.012) / 0.0075 = 14.4%
High estimate: ABV: (1.120-1.012) / 0.0065 = 16.6%

Now the high estimate seems to be just rubbish since the yeast should have a maximum of 16% which must be under the best conditions - and not initial try of an amateur :o)

Since the low estimate is for low ABV beverages (beer etc) and that the conversion should go up due prolonged fermetation phase (no sugar "wasted on" the lag phase and aerobic phase), I guess the ABV is about 15%.

I also read that fermentation can becomes inconsistent due to the lack of potassium. Since pH was a bit low (remember that I added a bit too much citric acid initially I figured that i would try to add a bit of "pot ash" as it is called in Denmark, or Potassium Carbonate (K2CO3)

I added 3 grams or 21mmol  (= 42mmol (1,6g) of potassium in 19.5L = 84ppm K+) and checked pH again. I started fizzing heavily for a while due to relase of CO2. With strips there was no visual difference so the must is buffered. I think I should stop fiddling with it so I put the lid back on and attached a clean airlock. I did not bother with generating CO2 since the release from the must due to the carbonate addition should be adequate.