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Simple Sima fermentation problems

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beerme315

beerme315

NewBee
Registered Member
Jul 15, 2014
14
0
1
WNC
Hey guys first time poster, long time reader here.

I made a simple Sima last night, pitched the yeast US-05 and no fermentation started.

I made a little under three gallons with a starting gravity of 1.030.

I juiced and zested 5 lemons and simple added them to my water honey mixture. Got home today and was surprised to see no airlock activity, just rechecked gravity and it has not changed. I added half a teaspoon of LD Carlson Yeast Nutrient which is just food grade urea and diammonium phosphate, in hopes that with a good shake and that addition it would start up.

It seems that all the yeast just settled to the bottom. My only thoughts are that it is either to acidic or that i got a bad batch of yeast.

Any thoughts or help?
 
Update:

After adding the yeast nutrient and shaking, fermentation finally started. It chugged along a couple days and it has stopped.

Haven't checked the gravity but, i think next time I am going to try and ferment without adding the lemons to the primary. Then add them to the secondary.

I took a couple bottles to a party over the weekend while it was still fermenting and they were meet with great acclaim.. most people had never tried a mead before so it was a learning lesson.
 
It doesn't have to be a complicated process but current best practice is rehydrating dry yeast in water (maybe add some go-ferm to get the yeast up and running) before pitching. The zest may have made the environment too acidic for the yeast to thrive - I agree that adding to secondary is good call.
 
Yea, I have to invest in some, my local homebrew store only sold that specific yeast nutrient. Honestly I know rehydrating is best practice but my previous experience with this yeast in beer is excellent, it takes off strong and it's pretty quick. I guess two extremely different environments.

I plan on doing the same recipe, except the way I discribed earlier.

I'm just working on getting a small kegging set up so I can back sweeten then force carb
 
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