Did impatience get the better of me?
#1
Posted 19 January 2011 - 04:16 AM
#2
Posted 19 January 2011 - 03:22 PM
#3
Posted 19 January 2011 - 07:37 PM
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.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).
#4
Posted 20 January 2011 - 02:58 PM
#5
Posted 21 January 2011 - 02:48 PM
#6
Posted 22 January 2011 - 05:46 AM
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.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.
#7
Posted 30 January 2011 - 05:21 AM
#8
Posted 30 January 2011 - 01:30 PM
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.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?
#9
Posted 31 January 2011 - 02:13 PM
#10
Posted 31 January 2011 - 03:51 PM
#11
Posted 01 February 2011 - 06:30 AM
Absolutely!I also suggest anyone also ask questions in this forum to benefit for our collective knowledge.
#12
Posted 23 February 2011 - 08:59 AM
#13
Posted 21 March 2011 - 03:33 AM
#14
Posted 04 April 2011 - 09:16 AM
#15
Posted 17 May 2011 - 03:52 PM
#16
Posted 22 June 2011 - 12:14 PM
#17
Posted 04 July 2011 - 10:52 AM
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.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.
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