What to do?

[WYMead]

I am really a NewBee. First batch was mixed up 4-19-17. Basic recipe, 15 lbs local honey, 10 g 71B yeast, 8 g Fermaid O, 4 gallons distilled water. Everything sanitized with Star San by directions. 6.5 gallon fermenter bucket. O.G. was 1.14. Airlock was active next evening, maybe once a minute. The best it ever got was one bubble every 24 seconds. Now it is one bubble every 30 or so seconds. Room temperature is 68 degrees.

Should I worry about the number for bubbles, or just forget it for a while?

 

[caduseus]

1) have you read the newbee guide?
2) hydrometer readings are more important than bubbles
3) have you done twice daily stirrings?

 

[Dadux]

Welcome to the forums, WYMead

Number of bubbles can be because of many things, measure the SG with yout hydrometer as accurately as posible and post it here. Take some mead into a tall glass or jar, or you can just carefully clean the hydrometer and put it inside the carboy (be sure you can retrieve it later, though!). After take it out and wash it carefully again. As long as it is clean, its ok to put in into the carboy. If you use a glass/ar clean it and the hydrometer, and after you measure the SG, return the must to the carboy (yes, it is okay as long as nothing dirty touches it. Like fingers. Mead and fingers dont do well).

Also read the newbee guide of this site, its really helpful, you did some things good, others not so good. Learn about rehidrating the yeast, nutrients, etc (most of it in the newbee guide). You can also use the search tool from this site to search for things you dont know. most are already explained. If you dont understand anything dont hesitate to ask. For the next time try to keep the SG at 1.12 max, you can add more honey later if you want (i say this because you wont find it in the newbee guide, not because its the most important thing)

Edit: caduseus beat me to it! Also yes, its benefitial to stir or shake the carboy to release extra CO2 once or twice a day until the ferment is over.

 

[WYMead]

I didn't know about the necessity of daily stirrings. I didn't see that in the stuff I read before starting. The yeast was rehydrated in 4 oz of distilled water before pitching and the Fermaid O was hydrated as well.

 

[Squatchy]

I didn't know about the necessity of daily stirrings. I didn't see that in the stuff I read before starting. The yeast was rehydrated in 4 oz of distilled water before pitching and the Fermaid O was hydrated as well.

There's your problem right there. You killed your yeast in the distilled water. I don't have time to twell you why right now but you imploded the yeast cells when you used distilled water.

Your best bet would be using tap water and Goferm. If you don't want to use goferm. Then just use regular tap water at 104 degrees. Once the yeast has sat in the tap water for 20 minutes, add about 1/4 of that amount of volume of must to the yeast slurry. Your adding a little bit of must so the yeast have something to start eating. And you are also lowering the temp of the slurry with the cooler must. Do this every 10 minutes or so (add a little must). when you do this you are slowly lowering the temps of the yeast slurry until it is eventually the same temp as the must. Once they are close to the same temps you can add it into the must.

 

[Stasis]

Any reference to why degassing during the ferment is beneficial? I know it's beneficial to aerate and that maybe there's some benefit to degas if your ph is very low.. although I can't imagine constantly degassing rather than buffering the ph. I imagine the amount of co2 in your must should become saturated maybe half an hour after degassing and I can't imagine the benefit of degassing. Perhaps there are other chemicals you want to release such as sulphur?

People hydrate fermaid O so that they pitch a liquid rather than powder in their carboy. liquids tend to create less reactions and eruptions than powder so you minimize your chance of making a mess. However, if you're also going to be degassing and aerating you could add fermaid O to the must and shake the carboy and get the fermaid mixed in this way. When you hydrate there is no need to wait 20 minutes and hydrate at a particular temp like you would your yeast, just add some water or some extracted must and you're good to go

 

[Dadux]

Any reference to why degassing during the ferment is beneficial? I know it's beneficial to aerate and that maybe there's some benefit to degas if your ph is very low.. although I can't imagine constantly degassing rather than buffering the ph. I imagine the amount of co2 in your must should become saturated maybe half an hour after degassing and I can't imagine the benefit of degassing. Perhaps there are other chemicals you want to release such as sulphur?

People hydrate fermaid O so that they pitch a liquid rather than powder in their carboy. liquids tend to create less reactions and eruptions than powder so you minimize your chance of making a mess. However, if you're also going to be degassing and aerating you could add fermaid O to the must and shake the carboy and get the fermaid mixed in this way. When you hydrate there is no need to wait 20 minutes and hydrate at a particular temp like you would your yeast, just add some water or some extracted must and you're good to go

You are right. pH is one of the issues and i dont have references but maybe the excess of co2 is not good for other reasons for the yeast.
Apart from that, it gets sulphur released, and maybe other compounds, and gets all the yeast in suspension. Other than that i dont know but there may be more. I cant provide references at the moment.