Fermentation issues?

[Docsab]

Hi all,

Very excited to tap into the expertise on this forum. I am a beekeeper that decided to try my hand at meadmaking.
For my first recipe, I decided to make a very simple 1 gallon recipe.

2lbs honey in 1 gal water. Activated Lavlin 7B yeast according to packet and added to batch. Added pinch of DAP and Formaid K and stirred vigorously into my primary fermentor.
Needed to add a bit more water (I am wondering if this was the issue) and had my second gallon of distilled water in the garage which was a bit cold.
Added approximately a third gallon and temp of entire mix was 58 F (I looked up temp range of Lavlin was 59-86 F
SG= 1.050
So that was 4 days ago and I have seen very little activity in the bubbler- maybe a small bubble every couple of minutes. I used to homebrew beer and am used to seeing very vigorous bubbling.

Wonder how I should handle this situation going forward? Thanks for the help.

 

[4give]

Hi, and welcome!
How did you activate the yeast? Did you rehydrate with something like go-ferm?
I now forget why since I'm thinking about it, but I heard distilled water is not the best route to go, but I doubt that's a problem here.
Why did you need to add more water? Did it seem to be fermenting well before adding water?
Was the SG 1.050 after adding the water, or your original starting gravity?
"Pinches" of adjuncts likely isn't a good approach, but you can try adding some more nutrients. Honey by itself does not have much YAN.
The lower temps can certainly cause slower fermentation.
What does it smell like? Honey? Sulfur? Cooked corn?
If I were to guess in summary, the yeast weren't rehydrated well, then a bit of a shock, and not enough nutrients.

I'm a fellow beek too. Maybe you just jumped into beekeeping without much study or mentorship - many do. If you researched it much, you probably spent hours on it based on your region, seasons, resources, what gear will likely work for you, or not, etc. Pros/Cons of various methods. If you didn't do much research, I'm going to guess you've had quite a few expensive lessons that maybe could've been avoided, or it took quite some time to figure things out - certain bee behaviors, pest/disease challenges, techniques that work and don't, and so many "what to do when..." scenarios. Beekeeping is hard if you have any number of hives. Even if you have just 2, you still need to understand a bit about bees and beekeeping.

Fortunately, making mead is easier than beekeeping. It's still recommended that if you really want to make good mead often, without many faults and failures, it's better to take some time to study up. EricHartman put together a good post for reference materials:
https://www.gotmead.com/community/ubs/mead-making-journey.1/

Keep us updated, and feel free to ask more questions.

 

[Docsab]

Thank you for your reply,
I activated the yeast by mixing it with 2 oz water at 98 F. It foamed and after 10 minutes, I added it to the Honey/Water mix. I added the extra water at the same time as the recipe advised adding water before sealing the fermenter to reduce headspace(primary fermenter is 2 gal). The SG was measured after adding the extra water. I have well water at the house but decided to use distilled as I didn't want to add any flavors or unwanted minerals but I am open to better suggestions.
The recipe called for adding additional 1/2 tsp of the adjuncts per 5 gallons after 2 days so I figured a pinch for one gallon, but I realize I should be more exact in the future.
Smell is honey/water. No overtones of sulfur or corn. I am thinking maybe adding more yeast as perhaps the temp was not ideal with the addition of the cold water?

I started beekeeping last year. Did a lot of research first also as it interested me- my background is in biology. Also had a local mentor to help me. Got through the first year with 2 healthy hives but its been a cold winter here in Southeastern PA and not sure if the bees will make it through this first winter- that's the real test of how well you took care of them!

Thanks for the link and the info. Maybe I will try adding some fresh yeast as long as there is no bad smell. Let me know of any other ideas you may have

 

[MightyMosin]

Needed to add a bit more water (I am wondering if this was the issue) and had my second gallon of distilled water in the garage which was a bit cold.

Distilled water is basically throwing a grenade into your yeast colony. Use just about any other water source... just not distilled water.

 

[Docsab]

Thanks MightyMosin. Didn't know that. Distilled water missing some mineral the other waters possess?

 

[4give]

OK. I went back to my older notes. Scott's labs will tell you distilled water can be used to rehydrate yeast BUT only when using go-ferm.
Distilled water lacks both free oxygen and minerals.
The mineral part is important because of osmosis and reverse osmosis. Essentially, distilled water creates an osmotic imbalance with the yeast cells as there are more minerals inside the yeast cell walls than outside.

 

[Docsab]

Ok, then that might cause the yeast cells to overhydrate and cause osmotic lysis, killing the yeast. So I am definitely going to add another packet of yeast after hydrating with our well water.
Even though I used distilled water in the must, I am thinking the honey and nutrients I added at least will balance the osmotic pressure so when I add the new yeast, they should be alright. The idea for distilled water came from Ken Schramm's "The Complete Meadmaker" but he never actually said to activate the yeast with it, only use it for the must.