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I'm making my first batch of mead, and just racked it over for the first time about 2 weeks ago. It's clearing just fine, but it's pretty carbonated.

I'm not sure what to do about the carbonation. I'm trying to make a still mead, and bottle it into wine bottles. There can't be any carbonation.

Will letting it sit for longer remove the carbonation, or do I need to add something? I'm not in a rush to bottle it, I just don't want to ruin the batch.

I didn't get a hydrometer until after I started, but it's sitting at 0.996SG when I read it today. I used champagne yeast, if that matters.

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If you let it rest for long enough before it is bottled, it will lose the carbonation on its own. It may take several weeks, I'm not exactly sure how long this would take. However I think many people would simply sanitize a spoon and stir it up to accelerate the process. Or do both.

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  • How do you know it's finished, and won't produce more co2 in the bottle?
    – Cereal
    Oct 27, 2019 at 18:54
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    When "it's sitting at 0.996SG". Yeah, that's done.
    – dmtaylor
    Oct 27, 2019 at 19:14
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    Usually 3 days in a row with a stable gravity confirms that it is done.
    – Philippe
    Oct 28, 2019 at 17:08
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You could use a wine degasser like this.

I use something very similar for meads and wines before I go to that final racking for clarity. You will introduce a little oxygen, but if there is enough CO2 evolving out of the product while degassing it seems to have minimal impact. At least that's my experience with it.

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  • Exactly, you attach it to your drill, it is much faster, instead of mixing with a spoon by hand.
    – Philippe
    Oct 31, 2019 at 18:25

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