Just a few questions about mead-making

[St_mouette]

Hello

I recently become interested in the fabrication of mead, and I have a few questions :

Do I need to sterilize my aromatic ingredients ( I add them during the second fermentation)?

Do you have another method to get the density of the must ? Because it’s inconvenient to sterilize my densimeter every day.

What’s the best between a dry and a liquid yeast ?

How do you restart a stuck fermentation ? You just need to put more yeasts with a little bit of nutrient ?

How long does it takes to reach the end of the first fermentation ?

I tried to make my first attempt without yeast nutrient but i don’t manage to reach the end of the fermentation and there were some acide taste. I don’t think this is due to bacterial contamination, but I read online this may be due to the stress of the yeasts ( they may have released SO2 and SH2) caused by nutrient defeciency. What do you think ?


Sorry for the bad english, it’s not my best skill

Thank you in advance for the responses.

 

[Maylar]

Hello

I recently become interested in the fabrication of mead, and I have a few questions :

Do I need to sterilize my aromatic ingredients ( I add them during the second fermentation)?
Usually no. But it depends on what you are using.

Do you have another method to get the density of the must ? Because it’s inconvenient to sterilize my densimeter every day.
A brewer's hydrometer is the tool of choice. Or, a refractometer which uses a very small sample.

What’s the best between a dry and a liquid yeast ?
That's a very broad subject. But most of us use dry yeast for a number of reasons.

How do you restart a stuck fermentation ? You just need to put more yeasts with a little bit of nutrient ?
There's a bit more involved than that: Restarting stuck fermentation

https://scottlab.com/restart-stuck-fermentation-traditional

How long does it takes to reach the end of the first fermentation ?
Many factors affect that; yeast, temperature, starting gravity. But typically 3-4 weeks.

I tried to make my first attempt without yeast nutrient but i don’t manage to reach the end of the fermentation and there were some acide taste. I don’t think this is due to bacterial contamination, but I read online this may be due to the stress of the yeasts ( they may have released SO2 and SH2) caused by nutrient deficiency. What do you think ?
Most finished meads are a bit tart because all the sugar has been fermented out. SO2 and H2S are very different from that.

Sorry for the bad english, it’s not my best skill

Thank you in advance for the responses.

Welcome.

 

[darigoni]

Great reply Dave! I thought about replying, but my answer would have been “read more, about mead, before starting”.