16 replies to this topic

[DgNt]

So, I made my first mead (1.100). Had boiled the water to sterilize and after a few hours added it to a 6.5 gallon carboy; the next morning it was sitting at 100º. Since the recommended rehydration water temp was 104-107º I figured I'd be ok, pitching and letting it cool in the fermentation fridge to 68º or so during the day. It's been 24 hrs with little very little activity. I have a three piece airlock on the carboy so judging flow isn't great but I did notice a single bubble so there is some positive pressure in their (all my bubblers are in use as I've got a lot going right now). I'll wait a little longer, how long before I panic? Not likely I'll get my hands on more wine yeast till the weekend. (though I have some 05 and Nottingham that I'm sure would just love that sugary goodness.I'm not too worried yet but feel a heck of a lot better knowing things are rolling in the primary. I figure if it was inhospitable to the yeast, most other nasties haven't had much of a chance to do anything yet either... The temp was only 100º so that shouldn't have hurt the yeast. This is my first mead and first time pitching a wine yeast.Thanks.

[DgNt]

Can't get to the LHBS before they close to get more yeast (unless I throw some SA05 or Nottingham in there). Honey, water, acid blend, nutrient and tannin were added to the water.

[DgNt]

I think you are fine to wait until you can go to the store. US-05 won't do much for a mead, with an OG of 1.100. Since the must was so hot and you (presumably) sanitized everything well, it will sit just fine for several days without issue. If you don't have activity by tomorrow night, you should pitch new yeast. I always pitch 10 grams of dry yeast (2 packets of Lalvin).

That's what I'm thinking (hoping)... if it was hot enough to stop the yeast from even trying, not much else in here is probably happy either. Sanitized all that contacted the must with Starsan, I still hate having it sit there. By tomorrow at this time there will be another 10g of Lalvin D-47 in there... hopefully much more hungry. I guess the first pitching will just have to serve as additional nutrient for the second pitching.

[DgNt]

Still dead, SWMBO kindly picked up some more yeast. This evening I'll give 'er a good shake to get a little more O2 in there and will pitch the new guys.

[DgNt]

Houston, we have ignition.... not going fast but going.

[DgNt]

Perfect. I am betting it was just too hot and the yeast were stressed. Even though the rehydration temp is 100*F, that is for a much smaller volume that cools much quicker. Five gallons of 100*F must will take a lot longer to get to ideal yeast temps.

Yep, I knew what I did wrong.... on my 13th batch of brewing (technically, the mead was #12 but the one before it was my first double batch) I knew better than to rush. I just hate uninoculated wort/must. Perhaps I'll have to name it Witches Brew, or Bad Luck Mead, hum, or as my dad used to say, "Your Treading in Hot Water" Mead.Off to brew with the club now... gonna be a fun but long day.

[DgNt]

Ok, So the mead is teaching me new lessons. After 2 wks in primary I was going to rack to a secondary carboy and add some yeast energizer per the recipe I am using. I am usually pretty good siphoning but this time could not get it started twice. As I siphoned, there was a lot of bubbles/foam entering the line as the priming solution drained. I quickly got frustrated and didn't want to rush things so aborted the mission. When I pulled out the racking cane the bottom had gooey undissolved honey on it. So, I added the yeast energizer and vigorously swirled the carboy to hopefully mix and suspend some of the honey that was sitting on the bottom -not sure how effective that was. I noticed when I swirled that a lot of dissolved CO2 came out of solution. I believe that the bubbles was CO2 coming out of solution as the pressure dropped in the siphon tube due to the lower viscosity of the thick honey goo on the bottom. I don't trust my OG either, I thought it was a little low (1.100) for 15lbs of honey in approx 4.5 gallons of water - may have to use a calculator to estimate. My friend's started at 1.107 with 15lbs topped off to 5 gallons. I'm not sure what my exact starting volume was as this is a new carboy and I don't have it measured.. I can calculate that once I rack to get the original volume.I'm pretty sure I know how I screwed up (not fully dissolving the honey) and hopefully this will work out. Interesting having CO2 outgas in the line... It would have been cool if it weren't so frustrating. I'm thinking I'll try racking in another week or two and will be prepared to "stir" the mead first should I still find a thick honey layer on the bottom.Oh well, nothing that isn't salvageable but sure is frustrating. The mead was supposed to be a quick "set it and forget it" operation! At least my cider looks good and will be kegged as soon as I get my new tap hardware and a few hours free time.

[DgNt]

Of course your OG was wrong, but I am not calculating your OG the correctly with what you gave: 15lbs + 4.5 gallons = 1.092 at 5.78 gallons not 1.100 So perhaps you used less water?

Yeah, I went and checked a couple calculators.. I must've sampled the perfect average. Funny my OG seems pretty correct with such a mess on the bottom. Should probably take the airlock off and give her another good shaking just to be safe. Lesson learned!I rushed this whole thing.. was tired and should have waited a few more days till I had energy to start the mead. I know better.I took geology as my college science and enjoyed it. I still enjoy roadcuts and trying to recreate the sequence of events that created the rock.

[ChicagoWaterGuy]

I am preparing to make my first mead. I would recommend that anyone in the same situation listen to the Jamil Show about mead on the Brewing Network. The discusion is led by Ken Schramm who wrote the book on meadmaking. He talks about techniques that are not in the book such as staggered yeast nutrients. I feel very prepared after listening.I spoke to a meadmaker at a local meadery. He recommended to me making mead at home that I not add acid blend until after fermentation. He said too low ph will stop yeast in their tracks.

[DgNt]

I'll keep that in mind for next time. After agitating and adding nutrient, it is again actively fermenting so for now the ph is tolerable, if not ideal. I'll take a look this weekend and if still lots of undissolved honey, I'll give it a more vigorous shaking and/or hit it with a wine degasser if I can find one to borrow.

[ChicagoWaterGuy]

I also suggest anyone also ask questions in this forum to benefit for our collective knowledge.

Absolutely!

[DgNt]

Today I racked to secondary. Gravity was 1.054 (could have been a little high if there is some stratification of the mead as I took it immediately after starting the siphon), I added some more "Super Ferment" and lightly shook to mix and get a little more CO2 out of solution. Hopefully the yeast keeps on cranking on this. The flavor is good but much too sweet... hopefully another 25pts will get knocked off before the yeast putters out completely. I intend to rack once more onto some vanilla and oak -adding champagne yeast at that time to finish the job?

[DgNt]

Looking for some advice, my mead is still going (as evidenced by CO2 coming out of solution when I swirl the carboy -maybe once or twice a week). Not sure what the gravity is but don't want to check too often due to sampling losses and risk of infection. I'll likely rack one more time (onto some vanilla and oak) and hope to then bottle. My question is, should I keep doing what I'm doing and then when no additional CO2 seems to be being produced take a measure to confirm it's done and rack onto the flavorings prior to bottling? I'm not in a rush but if it's done I would like to get it out of my production line and in bottles.This weekend I took it out of my fermentation freezer (was sitting at 70º or so in there) and it's now in the house in the low-mid-70s) as I was cooling it off a few degrees and didn't want to do anything to stop the yeast before they are done. I figure the wine yeast will be happy at those temps and it may help the mead finish.Thanks!

[DgNt]

I racked this on Friday, gravity is only down to 1.046. Think I will pitch some champagne yeast before long. I don't think the wine yeast has completely given up but it is very slow and not sure it'll chew through the rest of the sugar on its own.

[DgNt]

About two weeks ago it seems the yeast has woken up and there has been steady airlock activity. Every day or so I'm swirling it to degass and help it keep moving along. Seems to be doing well and I'm not so worried about being stuck. It's been sitting at room temp (approx 73-75º) since I took it out of the freezer. Once the activity stops I'll rack, take a gravity measurement and let it settle for a few weeks before bottling. At this point patience seems to be the cure for impatience.

[MtnBrewer]

Too late now but I would have recommended not taking it off the yeast until fermentation was complete. That's asking for a stuck fermentation. Once fermentation stops, you should rack it to secondary (actually tertiary now) and let it sit for a year or so. I definitely would not bottle it this young. It ages better in bulk and also you're much more prone to bottle bombs. If you do bottle it young, I would hit it with some sorbate and k-meta to kill the yeast.

[DgNt]

Too late now but I would have recommended not taking it off the yeast until fermentation was complete. That's asking for a stuck fermentation. Once fermentation stops, you should rack it to secondary (actually tertiary now) and let it sit for a year or so. I definitely would not bottle it this young. It ages better in bulk and also you're much more prone to bottle bombs. If you do bottle it young, I would hit it with some sorbate and k-meta to kill the yeast.

I just got back from vacation, I racked it off of the vanilla and oak back on the 29th of June. Gravity was 1.036; another 10pts and it will be in an acceptable range for me. It had good flavor but still very sweet... but not so sweet that it was undrinkable as it was at the last racking.It's been sitting in my freezer again at 67º I'll continue to pull it out to swirl to degas and keep it going and will probably let it sit there a few months before I touch it again. Certainly learned a lot with this one but so far haven't ruined it (no infection). If it dries out a bit more and keeps the general flavor profile it's going to be a nice sweet mead SWMBO will even be able to enjoy. Fortunately, I have plenty of beer and cider so there is no reason to rush this one.