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J

JohnS

NewBee
Registered Member
Nov 11, 2011
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planet earth
Ingredients:
12 lb alfalfa

2 oz high acidity hops (can’t remember the names of them)
3 oz low acidity hops
1 lb special B
5 lbs of American Pale Ale
2 packs of D 47
2.5 tsp nutrient
2.5 tsp energizer

Boiled the mash at 160 F for 60 minutes
Then first adding the bitter hops in first at 5 minute intervals @ ½ oz per addition, finishing up with the fragrant hops (5 minutes at a time, 1/2 oz per). After that I added the honey and stirred it for 15 or 20 minutes or so.

Made the starter, and then pitched the starter at about 66.5 F.

OG at about 1.137. That’s some high gravity in my opinion.

That was 48 hours ago. This airlock is going crazy. Its like a bubble bath in there. The thermometer in the primary reads at 79. WTF?

I read the instructions on the yeast and its says that it should be at 60 or 62 to 68 and now it says 79 on the pail. Room temperature is at about 69 or 70 F. Will this temperature affect the final product in anyway?

BTW, this recipe was something I just thought up. I wanted to see how it will turn out.
So I just would like to know if anyone has any comments on what they think this batch will turn out like. And I would also like to know if there will be and adverse affect from the high temp?
 
Last edited:
D47 + high ferment temp = fusel alcohol

It will take longer to age out the harsh alcohol flavor. What you are making will taste/smell like jet fuel for a while after fermentation is complete. You will need to age it longer, sometimes much longer to get it to be drinkable.

Ambient air temp is not a good indicator of temp in your bucket. Air doesn't do a good job of cooling water.

I would suggest putting your fermentor into a bucket of water, if you can get a big enough bucket add ice or frozen water bottles. I use a tub designed for storage. They are very cheap this time of year. It holds 2 3 gallon carboys or 1 6g and 1 3g. I also picked up a case of 1 liter water bottles and froze the lot of them. I put 4 in the water bath and rotate them from the water bath to the freezer (morning, lunch, dinner).

Btw, what you are making would be considered a braggot or bracket
 
Duracell said:
Ambient air temp is not a good indicator of temp in your bucket. Air doesn't do a good job of cooling water.
Click to expand...

Also, another byproduct of fermentation is heat... we usually don't notice so much in a smaller batch (6 gal or less) but I have noticed a difference with a vigorous gallon of JAO in the first couple of hours.
 
I put it in the basement last night.......this morning it was down to 68 F. I just hope it will not affect the flavor too much. I will have to pay more attention to the temperature.
 
Now I think I might have a problem with this batch.

Here goes:

The bubbler or airlock stopped bubbling about 7 days ago. I started this batch last month on the 15th and everything is well with the yeast, so I thought I would rack yesterday, until I took a hydro reading and it read 1.030. OG on this thing was 1.132 and I was expecting a reading of closer to 1.00 which leads me to think that it is stuck or stalled. I don't think it is stuck since it was bubbling slightly after I moved the bottom rim slightly thinking it would wake up the yeast slightly so it would complete job. Upon opening the fermentation pail I did notice a slight sulfur smell. That was yesterday.

Today I took another reading today and it was the same as yesterday, 1.030.

This leads me to belove one of two things are going on in there. Maybe the yeast has run its course and has finished the job, or the PH is too low to continue. I still don't have PH strips but I will get some tomorrow (its too late to get them now).

So, should I add something to increase the PH, aerate, or just rack to a carboy? I personally think there might be a PH problem there, but I would know until tomorrow when I get the PH strips.
 
You used a yeast with a 14% conversion potential and put it in a must with a potential of almost 17%. When I check your potential alcohol conversion, I get you at 13.5%. Your yeast is done, it has nothing to do with ph. Rack it into a new carboy and enjoy your sweet mead.
 
+1 for JohnS response

You may notice outgassing for several months. This is one of the reasons the hydrometer reading is so important. I know you have been watching the SG, just reiterating that outgassing is not a sure sign of fermentation :)

After several months of aging you should notice the mead no longer releases gas when stirred gently. Vacuum degassing is an alternative way to speed up the degassing, but I'm not sure what the advantages are TBH
 
Loadnabox said:
Vacuum degassing is an alternative way to speed up the degassing, but I'm not sure what the advantages are TBH
Click to expand...

For straight degassing, and if there is fruit involved, it helps settle it more as the CO2 is nucleated on the bit of fruit, and once the buoyancy is removed, the fruit tend to compact more. I find the vacuum pump useful for degassing while racking, and also racking into a vessel that doesnt need to be purged with CO2. I also use it to vacuum bottle through a plate filter.
 
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