Questions about first brew and Spgr.

[dmar]

Hey all, new here and slightly concerned about my first brew.

Primary recipe:
1 Gallon batch
3LB clover honey
1/4 cup chopped raisins
1 vanilla bean cut in half
chamomile tea in lieu of just water to neckline of jug
Red star premier classique wine yeast

This brew sat for a day with no activity. day 2-3 I had minimal bubbling in my jug & airlock but still saw some activity which then seemed to die off with no visible fermentation days 4-5. I decided to pitch a starter (bad idea?) to see if I could get some activity & now have minimal bubbling in the jug & airlock again. I also just received my hydrometer and took a reading that came to 1.130.

First off, I don't understand how i have such a high reading. I'm only using 3LB of honey. Does this mean there's way too much sugar & need to be diluted to get a vigorous fermentation?
Am I worrying too much and just need to stop looking for activity every chance I get and just take another reading in a week?

Thanks so much for the help!!

 

[MightyMosin]

3 Lb of honey in a 1 gallon batch should have gotten you ~1.108 OG
At .83 gallon, you would have the OG that you listed. You can add more water to drop the gravity.

How much yeast was used and did you rehydrate or just pitch it in?
Did you use any nutrients to go with the yeast? Your yeast may be starving.

 

[dmar]

3 Lb of honey in a 1 gallon batch should have gotten you ~1.108 OG
At .83 gallon, you would have the OG that you listed. You can add more water to drop the gravity.

How much yeast was used and did you rehydrate or just pitch it in?
Did you use any nutrients to go with the yeast? Your yeast may be starving.

Would adding water to drop the gravity make it more likely to more vigorously ferment & is this neccessary?
I used half a packet of yeast, rehydrated for 20m according to packet directions, no nutrients. Can nutrients be added at this point or is it too late?

 

[4give]

Welcome dmar! Adding water will lower the SG and make it a bit easier on the yeast. That doesn't sound like the main issue. As MightyMosin pointed out, your yeast likely needs some nutrients as well. You may want to look for EricHartman's post on this forum on mead resources. Rehydrating with something like go-ferm, and using nutrients like Fermaid O are a cornerstone for helping us get through clean fermentations.
My advice for your current batch would be to see if you can lower the SG a bit, and get it some nutrients. Check the SG every other day. If it's not moving, then you may try repitching the rest of that package of yeast after rehydrating.
I've made a few vanilla chamomile batches that turned out pretty good. I cut the vanilla bean lengthwise on one side so the must has full access to inside of the bean.

 

[MightyMosin]

Would adding water to drop the gravity make it more likely to more vigorously ferment & is this neccessary?

Some yeast can have an issue getting going in higher gravity settings; It's probably not necessary at this point, but when pitching yeast into a must you often will add a small amount of the must to the yeast that is started to acclimate it to the pH.
I mostly mentioned adding water to state that you can bring down the OG if desired.

I used half a packet of yeast, rehydrated for 20m according to packet directions, no nutrients. Can nutrients be added at this point or is it too late?

You can still add nutrients. For the 1.13 OG that you started with, you are looking at ~1.4 grams of Fermaid-O added at 4 different times.
You would typically add at 24, 48, 72 hours post yeast pitch. Your last nutrient addition would go when you get to 1/3 sugar break (1.085 SG in your case) or 7 days after yeast pitch whichever is first. This will be ~5.4 grams of nutrients in total.

 

[dmar]

Awesome, thanks a bunch!!