This is the first time I recall this happening.  Tomorrow I have to do some slinging.  Now in general that's not a bad thing.  I'm happy to sling anytime.  But here's my situation.

On Tuesday I'm making a new mead.  When I do a batch of mead I use a temperature control system to keep everything in a certain range.  This works by pumping cold water through a stainless steel coil inside the fermenter.  The water is kept cold with big blocks of ice I make in my freezer.  But my freezer is currently filled with ice balls for slinging.  So tomorrow I have to do some slinging to clear out the freezer.

I'm happy to sling, but this still feels a little strange.  Anyone else ever have a time when slinging was something that needed to happen?

Huh, that sounds like quite the set up. Temperature control? I ain't got none of that. It's just honey, water, yeast and raisins thrown into a carboy and given a month/month-and-a-half until I feel like giving it a rack... then I tend to add stuff in secondary. Then I might run it through cheesecloth when I bottle... but that's about it.

Given that I am not gifted in the engineering side of things, I think this is a good thing. I would probably end up destroying it!

Have you noticed any differences with your setup compared to the 'Baseline'?

And uh... Have fun slinging! I'm Totally staying on topic here.

TheJackinati wrote on Dec 16^th, 2019 at 2:38am:

No problem at all.  I'll talk mead anytime.

A few years ago I got a 1/2 barrel conical fermenter.  The model I got came with temperature control options.  There's a heating pad as well as the chilling coil, but I've never had the need to use that part.  I'm always trying to make improvements to my process, so it's hard to narrow down exactly what temperature control has done.  I know that all the people who regularly get mead from me keep saying that the batches get better every time.

If your fermentation temp gets too high, it can cause off flavors.  I had this happen with one batch a couple summers ago.  The temp got up over 90° F (don't have an exact measurement) and the batch tasted like it was soured and mixed with rubbing alcohol.  There could have been other issues with that batch outside the fermentation temp though.  This will also be more of a problem with larger batches.  A large batch has more fermentation activity, and that creates more heat.

All that said, the way you're doing it works just fine.  I've made a number of good meads the exact same way.