Must slowing down to a crawl.

[Shard]

Hey guys, and thanks for reading this.

I should start by admitting that I got a little bit lazy on this must, and just kind winged it. I had such great success with some of my other meads that i figured I could do no wrong, oops?

Anyway, I made up a large batch of mead, 25 litres of of mead, with a starting SG of 1.110 and a target SG of, well as low as it can go. So, I started by adding 1 Teaspoon of DAP, 2 Teaspoons of yeast nutrient (brand unknown, its a very fine cream colored powder that was repackaged as nutrient. Pitched a Package of EC-1118 from lalvin. It started fermenting really nicely but got stuck at 1.090. I added another teaspoon of DAP and Nutrient. This didnt kick start it so 2 or 3 days later I added anouther packet of EC-1118. It went off agian but its really slowing down agian, this time at 1.076 (my 1/3 break is at 1.074 by my calcs)

Now there is also an issue that its not terribly warm where I have it I'd say about 20 C, but ill get a more accurate reading soon

 

[EricS]

Temperature should be fine. Are you rehydrating your yeast before pitching or just dumping the packet into your fermenter?

If you are not rehydrating you should, you can lose a lot of yeast cells by just dumping the pack into the fermenter. EC-1118 should be going to town on this, it is what people normally use when they get a stuck fermentation.

 

[fatbloke]

Have you checked the pH ?

If it gets too low it can slow or even stall.......

3.6 is good 3.3 is getting low 3.0 is close to stalling and below 3.0 will likely stall.......

It's one of the reasons to not add any acid up front. Meads, particularly traditionals, can swing about quite a lot.

If you test and find it (the pH) low, then add some potassium carbonate to bring it up some and also aerate the hell out of it.....

 

[Shard]

Thanks, Ill check on the PH as soon as i can, well see how many homebrew stores i need to hit to find good ph strips... and no, i re hydrate my yeast every time. Also confirmed with a thermometer, exactly 20 C

 

[Mikeymu]

I am adding calcium carbonate to a must (which also started at 1.110 but using k1v-1116) in small amounts - 1/2 teaspoon and diluted in a splodge of water - to keep the ph around 3.4-6. Is that OK?

Also do you keep on adding throughout the process or stop adjusting ph once the gravity is below a certain reading?

 

[Medsen Fey]

Can you provide the complete recipe details?

Sent from my THINGAMAJIG with WHATCHAMACALLIT

 

[fatbloke]

I am adding calcium carbonate to a must (which also started at 1.110 but using k1v-1116) in small amounts - 1/2 teaspoon and diluted in a splodge of water - to keep the ph around 3.4-6. Is that OK?

Also do you keep on adding throughout the process or stop adjusting ph once the gravity is below a certain reading?

There's many things that can be used to correct pH swings, that seem more prevalent with traditionals. I try to avoild calcium based ones though as the can give a chalky/dusty note when used a bit much.

I only use potassium carbonate based ones, and only to correct a swing that goes too low i.e. 3.0 to 3.1 sort of area to de-stress the yeast. Once its back in a more normal range/area I let it get on itself.

It would seem this is more likely to occur in the first half of the ferment so I just correct "if" it happens and don't meddle unless.......

 

[fatbloke]

Can you provide the complete recipe details?

Well spotted Medsen.......how stupid of me not to have noticed the lack.....