Did I carbonate this?

[Soyala_Amaya]

http://www.gotmead.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18406

That's the thread I originally have been running on a lemon/ginger mead. For those that don't want the full notes, basic recipe runs at:
24 lbs wildflower honey
5 gallons water
10 grams KIV 1116
1.25 teaspoon fermaid k
5 lbs lemons-frozen then juiced, then juice frozen again into ice cubes
2 lbs ginger-frozen, peeled and shaved, cut into 1 inch cubes

SG 1.100 Brix 23.6 1/3 break-1.065 ½ break 1.030

Aerated and staggered the fermaid for 7 days, then racked onto the fruit. Racked off the ginger 6 days later, and topped it off with some dethawed must. Right now after a month have an SG of 1.032. It's been slow and gassy from the start, have done some trouble shooting for a possibly stalled fermentation, but my airlock has been going nuts! Did I accidentally carbonate this when I topped it off? It is releasing a TON of gas for so few drops in SG!

Any thoughts?

 

[wayneb]

Well it won't truly self-carbonate (more than a slight bit) until you've got it in a sealed container (tightly sealed, not just airlocked), but it does appear from your description that you have re-started your fermentation.

K1-V can certainly be coaxed back into high gear if given a late dose of fermentable sugars, and I'm guessing that you did that, and simultaneously raised the pH a bit, when you added your topping-up must. Did that topping-up must have any of the lemon juice in it, or was it just a honey/water mixture?

 

[Soyala_Amaya]

It was a pure honey water mix, I will fill my primary up as full as it will go, scoop off a gallon and put it in the freezer for later, then refill to the level I want before pitching when making melomels, to get rid of head room when I remove the fruit. It does usually start fermentation back up for a couple of days, no big deal, but this lemon/ginger is just acting so oddly!

It's right now actively bubbly the airlock about once every four seconds, with 'champagne' bubbles foaming nicely up the sides...and dropping about 10 points a week. When I measured the SG on 8-6-11 it was the 1.032 I posted. Yesterday, 8-11-11 it was 1.020.

I tested the ph again (with strips, testing the strips against vinegar to make sure they're still accurate) and it's still in a healthy 3.4-3.6 range. The amount of must I used to top this off was minimal, maybe a quarter of a gallon? I had a LOT left, the ginger didn't soak up much mead at all and using frozen lemon juice didn't take up any room (I used the rest of the must for a cherry melomel I have going right now too from the same honey)

This is just the single most active visually fermentation without actually doing anything I've ever seen and I'm highly confused.

 

[Chevette Girl]

Sometimes they do that. I had a strawberry wine that was clear but still showing small bubbles rising from the bottom, slight foam on the surface. For 4 years. Slowly blurping airlock and everything. It was bone dry and quite clear already at 6 months, I don't know what the heck it could have been turning into bubbles at that point, I had decided to just let it go to see how long it would take to finish itself. I finally got tired of waiting and hit it with stabilizers and it stopped bubbling, but I watched it for another 6 months just to make sure before I bottled it. Yeasties are weird beasts sometimes.

 

[MrMooCow]

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