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D47 and Looooooooooong lag time

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My SG has dropped .002 over the last week. I finally got ph papers and found my
must at about 2. I added 15 grams of potassium bi-carbonate and 1 teaspoon of
Fermaid-K. After gently stirring it all in and watching the foaming I now measure
ph 3.8. Hopefully it will get moving now. At 1.064 there is still a lot of sugar left.

Would I have had lower initial acidity if i used more honey in the beginning? I
understand the acid blend didn't help.

This is my first 5 gallon batch. I've made the same recipe by the gallon before using
a full teaspoon of acid blend in the must and had no problems. I realize that the
gallon had five times the pitching rate. Did this eliminate the acid problem?

All the Best,
Doug
 
All is well!

I popped the top to add some energizer and found what I was lloking for. Fermentation had begun in earnest. There wasn't the float of foam on the top (like I'm used to seeing with beer) but there was a definate change in smell and color. The top was (slightly) foamy and it had a pleasant 'hard cider' aroma.

I added a 1/4 tsp of nutrient (just in case), closed the top and proceeded to aerate. (My method is to vigorously shake the fermenter (as long as it is less than half full). That released ALOT of trapped CO2. I guess I will have to aerate at least once a day (through out the primary fermentation at least.)

I plan to pass the finished cyser through my wine filter after the clearing.

Once I bottle it, how long should I wait before serving it? Or can I serve it right away (after clearing?)

Ok, one more question. I wanted to make a sparkling cider using this same method. I was planning on priming the pint beer bottles I have with corn sugar to induce carbonation. With the alcohol level so high (12+%) will there be enough yeast left alive to carbonate the cider?

Thanks again!
 
Hi skrapiron and welcome to GotMead? !!

I think your best bet to get specific answers is to start a Brewlog on this recipe. That way we won't confuse your recipe with Dwhite's when we respond. It's hard to keep straight who has done what!

Cheers! :cheers:

Wade
 
This is moving along and very well. Getting 12 burps per minute which is a big improvement. Smells good. Anyone care to comment on how this will turn out? I still have good expectations.

All the Best,
Doug White
 
SG is down to 1.030. It has a medicinal taste almost like cough syrup. Smells ...... acceptable.
I'll probably add some acid blend to this at bottling. It's not as tart as I'd like it however dropping
another .035 in gravity may change that.

Oskaar, thanks for the acidity tip.

I'm going to let this work down some more before racking.

All the Best,
D. White
 
On this topic, I have a question about temperatures. Where i ferment the temperature the room is 72 to 74 basically all year around. Is this the ideal temperature? I didn't find much on people cooling/raising the temperatures. If it is in this range, I shouldn't have any problems?

And grats on bubbling! it's always scary to me when you wait a day and there's no bubbling!
 
The best temperature for fermentation is dependent on the strain of yeast that you are using. Every commercial yeast has a range of temperatures recommended by the manufacturer -- for example Lallemand's D47 recommended range is 15 to 20C (59 to 68F). In general to minimize the generation of fusels and other off-flavor producing compounds, it is best to keep the fermentation in the lower half of the recommended range.
 
Patience the force is for a uhm... meadmaker ....

Damn, I had this whole Yoda vibe going too...

--L
 
This hit SG 1.000 a couple of weeks ago so I racked it to secondary. It's clearing very nicely but I'm going to have about 1/16 inch of yeast on the bottom when it's clear. How long can I leave this on the lees without any problems? I realize I should have let it sit longer in the primary.

All the Best,
D. White
 
D47 is a yeast known for being well suited for aging on the lees. As long as you do some batonage... But that also depends on what effect you are looking for. I know Oskaar has a few posts on the topic.
 
Give it one more very slow stir and don't let it splash, just let it move the yeast into suspension again. Give it one day to settle then rack.

Once racked stir 2x/week for 2 months, then 1x every other week for 6 months. Rack sample and bottle.

Hope that helps,

Oskaar
 
I finallly got this off the lees and into a tertiary fermentor. I added 2-1/2 teaspoons of Potassium sorbate as I intend to back-sweeten this. Now, however this mead has darkened over the past three weeks. THere was not a lot of suspended yeast left at last racking so I wonder if I'm experiencing oxidation in this batch? It's darkened quite a bit. I racked carefully however I have some airspace in the top of the carboy. Could this darkening be from the sorbate?

This has a LOT of fusel alcohol in it. My gut tells me to dump the whole thing and start over, correctly this time.

All the Best,
Doug White
 
If you have the space to store it, try letting it age longer. The first mead I did with D47 was fermented at about 75F and tasted like paint thinner going into the secondary. After one year it tasted hot and not too pleasant. After nearly 18 months, it is hot but decent. Either my standards are dropping or the mead is slowwwllllly getting better (it's a 50/50 bet which). Plan on aging it a loooooooooong time and it might yet surprise you - and a little backsweetening can also help to cover the fusels.
 
This has now been sitting for about 8 months. The medicinal flavor has diminished greatly. This is still very acidic measuring about PH 2.0. I'm planning on letting this set for a while yet.

When I do go to bottle it what would be a good ph range or shoot for? I'm planning on back-sweetening this also.

All the Best,
Dwhite
 
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