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Stuck ferment

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brendanlee

NewBee
Registered Member
Jul 5, 2017
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I’m pretty new to making mead, I’ve only done a few batches at home and two with a friend at work, and have run into a problem with the batch I have now. I pulled a recipe online that called for hibiscus and hops, as well as 3.75# of honey per gallon which gave me a SG of 1.16. I pitched a pack of EC-1118 and it started bubbling away about a day later. It’s been in the cabinet for 3 weeks now and I checked it today, totally still. No bubbles on top, none rising through the liquid, and the airlock was still. Pulled a sample out to check gravity and it read 1.05. Could it have run it’s course in that short a time?

Thanks!
Brendan
 

darigoni

Got Mead? Patron
GotMead Patron
Jun 4, 2016
945
63
28
Brookline, NH
Yes, a fermentation could definitely finish in 3 weeks.

Are you confident in your hydrometer readings? I'm wondering if the first reading might have been 1.116 (or 1.260) and the final reading is actually 1.005?

Ec-1118 is pretty hard to stall. If your starting gravity was really 1.160 then you would have a potential ABV of 20%. If everything went as planned, 1118 would have reached its tolerance at around 18%, leaving you with a final gravity of around 1.014.

Of course sometimes yeast don't reading the writing on the package :)

Maybe if you gave us some more details of your recipe and the process you followed, we can give you some feedback.
 

brendanlee

NewBee
Registered Member
Jul 5, 2017
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30
Thanks for the quick answer!
Batch Size 6g
OG 1.146
FG 1.036
Honey 25lbs
Boil 30min
7 HBU .5 Ounce Magnum 30 Minutes
2.5 HBU .5 Ounce Goldings 15 Minutes
2.5 HBU .5 Ounce Goldings 5 Minutes
7 Ounces Hibiscus

That was the recipe I used, scaled down to a 1 gallon batch as a test. The gravities listed are from the post where I found the recipe, not my own. I can’t be sure of my old reading, I was tired and rushing to get it measured before leaving for vacation the next morning. My current reading however is accurate.
ca85ee1d67347d65fc39c33c43533931.jpg


The airlock that I put on it in its new carboy does seem like its building a small amount of pressure, all the water displaces to one side instead of being balanced as it is when I put it on.
16a79e1e73f337631f5cbaabc8303d33.jpg

Thank you for the help!
 

darigoni

Got Mead? Patron
GotMead Patron
Jun 4, 2016
945
63
28
Brookline, NH
How much yeast did you use? Did you dump the yeast in or did you use some sort of hydration procedure?

Fermentation temperature?

Did you use any nutrients? If so, did you stagger them?

As you went on vacation, I'm going to assume that you didn't do any daily degassing/stirring?
 

brendanlee

NewBee
Registered Member
Jul 5, 2017
3
0
0
30
I used one pack(5g) of yeast, rehydrated according to the package, then stirred it in. I did use nutrients, one teaspoon when i added the yeast, as well as energizer at the same time. I didn’t add any others, I hadn’t even looked at it until today. As for fermentation temperature it was in the kitchen with an ambient temperature of 72, close to the heater. I’ve never stirred or degassed any of the batches I’ve done, I tend to just let them do their thing once i know they are fermenting.
 
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