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My ferment is going too fast!?

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icedmetal

icedmetal

NewBee
Registered Member
Nov 16, 2009
794
1
0
Everett WA
4.5 gallons 100% blueberry juice from concentrate, ascorbic acid added.
1.5 gallons silverbow clover honey (thanks Costco!)
12.5g GoFerm
10g Lalvin D47
PH 3.6
OG 1.127

Batch size ~6gallons. Accidental; too much honey (calculator or user error, not sure which yet), and added more juice and about four cups of water to bring the gravity down to 1.127. Thankfully I have a 6 gallon carboy...

Pitch time: 5/15/10 5pm
5/16/10 7pm: SG 1.123. 72degrees, PH 3.5. added 1.25tsp Fermaid K and .5tsp DAP
5/17/10 8pm: SG 1.091! 74degrees, PH 3.4. added 1.25tsp Fermaid K and .5tsp DAP, .5tsp Potassium carbonate. Adjusted PH 3.5.

Well, we completely crushed our previous record of 22 points in a day by having this one drop 32 points! Given the high starting gravity though, this has me worried. For one thing, I'm on track to have already hit the 1/3 break by this evening's check-up, and I'm not finished with my nutrient additions. So now I'm not sure if I should continue my usual addition (1.25tsp Fermaid K + .5tsp DAP 4x, for a total of 5tsp Fermaid K and 2tsp DAP) or if I should throw in all the rest of the nutrients this evening? That'd be double the usual, to 2.5tsp Fermaid K and 1tsp DAP.

Another thing: the must temperature yesterday evening was 74 degrees, which I think is a little too high for comfort when using D47. I've kicked the AC unit into high gear which should cool the meadery by a couple more degrees, hopefully fixing that... but the temperature was at least 3 degrees hotter in the bucket than ambient room temp.

So, given all this information, how to proceed? I'm thinking I ought to add the remainder of my nutrient additions this evening, then try and stay out of the way while monitoring temperature. Or should I just use my usual schedule of every 24 hours, knowing full well the final addition will be made past the 1/3 break? Also, I've read that high gravity meads sometimes go gangbusters and then become stuck. Does this batch sound problematic?

Thoughts?

Thanks!
-SIRES
 
Definitely cool that yeast down, I tried to use D47 above 70F once and it gave me serious greif with sulphur odours.

As for speed, cooling it will slow it a bit (not much I'd expect once it's got off to this kind of start).

I had one do something like 90 or 95 points in a day (pitched the yeast, woke up the next day, aerated and gave nutrient, then took a reading in the afternoon and it was finished. Man was I surprised!) so crazy things do sometimes happen with ferments.

As for your question - add your nutrients by your gravity readings and sugar breaks, not by the planned time periods between nutrient additions. From what I know the yeast will make their own schedule that we must follow, so I'd go by what they are doing rather than what you'd expected them to do.:)
 
I'm not sure what to expect using D47 with blueberry juice at that temp. With traditionals, that temp is too high, but with berries, as with red grapes, higher fermentation temps may be okay. I'm just not sure how well D47 will do in that situation.

If it winds up smelling like serious paint thinner, the temp with D47 may be to blame. The disadvantage of warmer, faster fermentation are that you run the risk of it sticking (though at 74 F that risk is minimal), and the rapid release of CO2 will scrub off a lot of the blueberry aroma. I'm not saying it won't still be good, just that cooler ferments usually give a fruitier aroma.

Also, don't fret too much over the pH. D47 is pretty tolerant of low pH.
 
So far we've not detected any smells or flavors we'd describe as bad... No sulphur or paint thinner smells or anything along that line. The taste was about in line with what you'd expect from a 2-day old fermentation; some yeast notes, light berry flavors, very sweet.

As for your question - add your nutrients by your gravity readings and sugar breaks, not by the planned time periods between nutrient additions. From what I know the yeast will make their own schedule that we must follow, so I'd go by what they are doing rather than what you'd expected them to do.
Click to expand...

I take this to mean I should add the remainder of the nutrients tonight as that'll be about the 1/3 break and would mark my final nutrient addition. So I'll do 1tsp DAP and 2.5tsp Fermaid K this evening.

Ferments like this I'm sure glad I've got an oversize bucket for primary. The foam got to over three inches thick while stirring last night.

Thanks Medsen and AToE for the pointers!

-SIRES
 
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