Adding yeast after fermentation
- Thread starter CWarmouth
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It depends on what your current abv is and how much sweetness is left. If your abv is in excess of 16% already, even pitching something like EC1118 might not be enough to push it more. In that case, the best is to blend with other meads or dilute with water to reduce the sweetness and abv. Oaking can also reduce perceived sweetness.
If your abv is low enough (I'd say at least 14% or below), you can try refermenting with champagne yeast yes. But don't just toss it in, that won't work. Properly rehydrate it and look up how to do an acclimated starter.
If your abv is low enough (I'd say at least 14% or below), you can try refermenting with champagne yeast yes. But don't just toss it in, that won't work. Properly rehydrate it and look up how to do an acclimated starter.
Better than that if you go to the Scotts Laboratories handbook 2016 in there there is a section on how to restart a stuck fermentation. It's a very specific protocol. And it's actually the best that I've ever come across. I haven't used it ever because I've never had a stuck fermentation. But I do believe this is exactly what I would do if I did have that issue to contend with
That procedure is impossible to follow as written, since the first ingredient in the protocol doesn't exist. It's also geared for a 1000 gallon batch.
A much better reference is Bray Denard's "Stuck Fermentation Nuclear Option" -
https://www.denardbrewing.com/blog/post/Sfno/
All the ingredients are readily available to the home mead maker, and it's scaled for a 5-6 gallon batch of mead.
If the scaling is off adjust for it yourself. I do this for everything because I rarely get the best method or recipe possible in exactly the size I'm making. Now instead of doubling it or halving it I'd have to divide by 100 or so for the scott handbook method. The calculator does the work here so it doesn't affect me either way at all.
The first ingredient is reskue, which is the scott labs brand name for their yeast hulls. If you can't find their specific brand buy another brand of yeast hulls. In the site you posted you also need yeast hulls so they're the same. Actually, the site you posted needs a stir plate which is far more difficult and expensive for a new mazer to get his hands on. I also don't like that it was assumed that the ferment did not stop because of lack of nutrients. The scott handbook tells you to add some nutrients just in case and is pretty specific how much to add and in which cases.
Everything considered both approaches are pretty similar. If I were LOR I would have listed a few more yeasts just in case someone doesn't find UVAferm. If LOR swears UVAferm is the best he can list them in order best to worst.
Btw, listing some details about this batch would have helped us possibly give better advice. If your must is high in alcohol we could suggest things differently. On the other hand if fermentation has barely started we could give different advice since something might be really off and even trying to restart the ferment would potentially fail without resolving the problem first
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