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didn't add enough honey...

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megan2014

megan2014

NewBee
Registered Member
Nov 14, 2012
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Yes, my problem is that embarrassing. Somewhere in my conversion process the weight conversion for water snuck in. I ended up adding just over a pound and a half of honey rather than three (now would be the time to laugh). My question is, can I simply add more honey? Its only been in primary ferment for a few days, less that a week. Fixable?
 
You certainly can. It is done intentionally at times and called step feeding. It will mess up your calculations on ABV and when the mead is finished, or rather it would mess up mine. But, no harm done.
 
Totally, as long as the yeast are still in full swing, go right ahead. The only time I've had problems is adding it after racking and letting it sit around for a while before adding.

Stir it well, aerate your yeasties.

You didn't post your exact recipe like the VERY VERY IMPORTANT HINT above, so I have no idea if you've used nutrients or not or what your SG was.
 
Chevette Girl said:
Totally, as long as the yeast are still in full swing, go right ahead. The only time I've had problems is adding it after racking and letting it sit around for a while before adding.

Stir it well, aerate your yeasties.

You didn't post your exact recipe like the VERY VERY IMPORTANT HINT above, so I have no idea if you've used nutrients or not or what your SG was.
Click to expand...

Two batches, first:
24oz honey
1 pack yeast
filled rest of 1 gallon with filtered water

Second:
Same as first, with the addition of ~25 raisins and 1 sliced orange

Planning on adding another 24 oz of honey to each one gallon batch, aerating til my arms fall off and crossing my fingers...

Both appear to be fermenting just fine,
 
So, were these bread yeast or wine yeast packets?

Ok, the first one is what we call a "show mead" with nothing but yeast, honey and water. Unless you used bread yeast, expect it to keep fermenting very slowly for a long time because there really aren't enough nutrients in honey to make a very healthy colony of yeast.

The other one sounds similar to a Joe's Ancient Orange if you used bread yeast, if you didn't, it may come out really bitter from the orange pith if a wine yeast takes it dry.
 
Chevette Girl said:
So, were these bread yeast or wine yeast packets?

Ok, the first one is what we call a "show mead" with nothing but yeast, honey and water. Unless you used bread yeast, expect it to keep fermenting very slowly for a long time because there really aren't enough nutrients in honey to make a very healthy colony of yeast.

The other one sounds similar to a Joe's Ancient Orange if you used bread yeast, if you didn't, it may come out really bitter from the orange pith if a wine yeast takes it dry.
Click to expand...

They were both made with fleschmans bread yeast (I've since gotten hold of wine yeast) these were both experimental first batches, i wanted to see exactly what the difference was with the addition of nutrients. I will probably end up blending the end batches, just wanted to see. They both seem to be fermenting well, though the one with raisins and orange seems to be a bit more vigorous
 
Chevette Girl said:
Well, when you do get your hands on a hydrometer, we'll all be interested in your results! :)
Click to expand...

I bought one this weekend! I had planned to take a reading in ~a month when I rack onto secondary, should I take one now as I add the rest of the honey? Also pickedup a racking cane, hose, and wine thief.
 
Honestly, it's rare that you'll ever regret knowing your SG. Even just to compare how the two batches are doing relative to each other, before and after adding more honey.

I'd suggest starting a brewlog in the Mead Log section :)

Without an initial SG you'll have to go by the Mead Calculator's estimation of what your SG would have been if you'd added all the honey up front in order to figure out your final alcohol percentage, but it's certainly not the end of the world.
 
Its all for personal consumption so specific Abv is far from necessary...just drink til the world gets happy =p. I probably will start a brew log,
 
Yeah, but it is another data point in figuring things out for future batches. Very high alcohol contents tend to need a lot longer to mellow out from being rocket fuel, and you'll also find different yeasts have different alcohol tolerances. You may find you really like it strong and sweet or you may find you like it better if you start out aiming low, then stabilize and backsweeten it so it's still sweet but not as strong...
 
Ill definately keep a log then... I tried to start as basic as possible so I'd have a baseline to make those changes...kinds screwed that with the botched honey weight conversion though
 
Meh, as long as you get the total amount in, no real harm done. But keep records on EVERYTHING, and be specific... you won't regret that.
 
Chevette Girl said:
Meh, as long as you get the total amount in, no real harm done. But keep records on EVERYTHING, and be specific... you won't regret that.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've been making my own bath and body products foe a good while now, so I'm well aware of the value of records(after a few "dang how much shea was in that lotion" type incidents)
 
megan2014 said:
Yeah, I've been making my own bath and body products foe a good while now, so I'm well aware of the value of records(after a few "dang how much shea was in that lotion" type incidents)
Click to expand...

That's cool... if I had room for another hobby in my life I'd be interested in that too :p

But yeah, looking back over my logs and asking myself why on earth it was THAT HARD to write down what bloody type of yeast I used... at least it was a pretty easy guess, early on I only really ever had access to K1V-1116 and EC-1118 which all in all have relatively similar characteristics (for alcohol tolerance, temperature ranges, nutrient needs, ability to leave on lees, etc).
 
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