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Too much Honey?

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T

tvanwink

NewBee
Registered Member
Apr 13, 2015
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I made a few gallon batches of mead this weekend. All are fermenting great except for 1. The one that is having issues I used 5 pounds of honey for one gallon.. Is too much honey a bad thing? The Yeast strain was lalvin D47.
 
Hi tvanwink, Too much sugar in the must can prevent the yeast from transporting the nutrients it needs across cell walls.. Five pounds of sugar /gallon will produce a gravity of about 1.200 and that will result in a potential ABV of about 26 %... That is a wee bit high IMO... not sure that any normal yeast can tolerate that amount of sugar or that amount of alcohol...
 
Ok I understand the potential abv. The thought I had with using 5 pounds of honey was that it would ferment to 14ish percent then the leftover non-fermented honey would add even more honey flavor. I'm guessing that thinking is total not true though? Could I just add a lot of yeast nutrients to try to coax the fermentation along?
 
When you add too much honey you place too much osmotic pressure on the yeast. Imagine scuba diving 400 ft. Even if you add more yeast they still won't do well in that much pressure. You can still end up with the same amount of sugar in your batch at the end of the day. Just add some latter once the yeast has ate up enough that you won't crush them when you add more.
 
Thanks everyone for imparting your knowledge. I will dilute and re-pitch the yeast. Now I have a way better understanding of how the alcohol is made during the fermentation.
 
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