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Weird ferment. What is going on?

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wretchedgirl

NewBee
Registered Member
Jul 13, 2012
11
0
0
Auckland, new zealand
so on sunday the 3rd may I made 2x 23L batches of mead.


- 9kgs of Steve's NZ Manuka Bush Honey (high pollen content, straight from the hive. stuff still had bees in it)
- 5kgs Creamed NZ bush honey (Bees R Us)
- around 33L of NZ spring water
- 2x Vinters Harvest CY17 dessert wine yeast (one for each fermenter)
- 5 tsp yeast nurient per fermenter, made by my LHBS.
- OG 1.950

honey was added with water until liquid enough to pour into fermenters. waited 4 hours for both fermenters to cool and dry pitched my yeast at 20C. I then spooned in 5 tsp of the nutrient and stirred the f**k out of it.

both were left over night wrapped in blankets as i didnt have any heat pads.

Monday, fermenter one got a heat pad and went ballistic. crazy airlock activity! Tuesday, F1 had slowed down a bitand I I got a heat pad for fermenter two. Two has a healthy ferment going on. steady and active.
Fermenter one on the other hand, is all but dead. it's Thursday night here in NZ as I post this.
I tasted F1 today. No signs of infection, tastes quite alcoholic and nice already, which surprised me. still had fizz which shows me it is still fermenting. Took a hydro reading and it's now sitting at 1.33.

what the heck is going on? its been on a heat pad, wrapped in blankets. I'm considering shaking it and seeing if that livens things up a little. this is not my first batch, just my first using this type of yeast.
 
What's with the heat pads? You said you cooled it to 20C. So what is the ambient temperature?

Just because the activity isn't as violent doesn't mean it is not fermenting. That's a big gravity drop over a few days so lots of time to see where it goes. Gives roughly 9% abv (assuming you mean 1.095 and 1.033) so your yeast shouldn't have reached their alcohol tolerance yet.
EDIT: Actually, check the ABV tolerance of that yeast, as a "dessert wine" yeast it may be designed to leave a lower tolerance. Never heard of it myself..
 
clone63 said:
What's with the heat pads? You said you cooled it to 20C. So what is the ambient temperature?

Just because the activity isn't as violent doesn't mean it is not fermenting. That's a big gravity drop over a few days so lots of time to see where it goes. Gives roughly 9% abv (assuming you mean 1.095 and 1.033) so your yeast shouldn't have reached their alcohol tolerance yet.
EDIT: Actually, check the ABV tolerance of that yeast, as a "dessert wine" yeast it may be designed to leave a lower tolerance. Never heard of it myself..
Click to expand...


CY17 has a tollerance of 15%. And yes my grav readings were off. I did mean 1.095 and 1.030 hahaha. Would be messed up if it were 120%! Thank you for your reply. I have given it a good shake and will see if it starts bubbling again. Will take another reading in a few weeks.
 
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