I have a sweet mead I have whipped up the other week and it has been sitting in down stairs in my wine cellar now for roughly two weeks with no activity. Any advice, cause I am at a loss.
When to say utto oh?
- Thread starter Celticmeadry
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Recipe, process, yeast, temp., Starting Gravity, Sanitation techniques, the more info the better.
Cheers,
Wrathwilde
Recipe, process, yeast, temp., Starting Gravity, Sanitation techniques, the more info the better.
Cheers,
Wrathwilde
Standard Sweet mead recipe for 1 gall batch,
2lbs honey
1 Tbs Acid Blend
1 Tsp Yeast Nutrient
1 Tsp Grape Tannin
Yeast: Cote de Blanc (Red star)
Everything went through Sanitation, Glass bottle twice
heat spring water and honey to 180 degree filtering proteins off the top as it arose. Gave the typical Ice bath to bring temp down to 85-90 degrees before bottling, Had yeast waking in a little of the batch, poured in when ready capped w/ bubbler and stuck in cellar...... nothing roughly two weeks later.
2lbs honey
1 Tbs Acid Blend
1 Tsp Yeast Nutrient
1 Tsp Grape Tannin
Yeast: Cote de Blanc (Red star)
Everything went through Sanitation, Glass bottle twice
heat spring water and honey to 180 degree filtering proteins off the top as it arose. Gave the typical Ice bath to bring temp down to 85-90 degrees before bottling, Had yeast waking in a little of the batch, poured in when ready capped w/ bubbler and stuck in cellar...... nothing roughly two weeks later.
Well, this looks like another old recipe.
From what you've indicated, it sounds like you heated the must, but didn't stir to oxygenate after heating.
To simplify, it sounds like your method was heat & skim, chill, pitch yeast, airlock immediately.
Primary fermentation requires oxygen. You should stir or otherwise oxygenate the must prior to yeast inoculation.
I don't often use Red Star yeasts, and you didn't indicate your rehydration method. There might have been a problem there too. It is possible that your yeast was not viable from the start.
Acid blend... there has been a wealth of discussion on why that isn't necessary and is potentially harmful to your fermentation.
I'm assuming that it was a 1 gallon batch. You'll be making a very dry mead.
To fix this, you may want to rack it back into a primary bucket, oxygenate and re-pitch your yeast.
David
From what you've indicated, it sounds like you heated the must, but didn't stir to oxygenate after heating.
To simplify, it sounds like your method was heat & skim, chill, pitch yeast, airlock immediately.
Primary fermentation requires oxygen. You should stir or otherwise oxygenate the must prior to yeast inoculation.
I don't often use Red Star yeasts, and you didn't indicate your rehydration method. There might have been a problem there too. It is possible that your yeast was not viable from the start.
Acid blend... there has been a wealth of discussion on why that isn't necessary and is potentially harmful to your fermentation.
I'm assuming that it was a 1 gallon batch. You'll be making a very dry mead.
To fix this, you may want to rack it back into a primary bucket, oxygenate and re-pitch your yeast.
David
Although oxygenating is recommended I do not think that there would be so little in saturation that it would keep the fermentation from starting at all. Conk out early yes but to never take off like that would point me in another direction (Unless you boil the wart for an extended period). Have you done this recipe before?? One Tablespoon of acid blend seems rather excessive. Are you sure you do not have a pH problem?? I use very little added acid (never to primary) and would never think of putting 5 Tbl to a 5 gallon batch.
If you have pH litmus tests I would do that first and see what you get. Next try the oxygen suggestion because it is easy to do and you should have done that to start with. If you do not have a way to test pH then after trying the O2 I would add enough water to make 2 gallons and enough honey to get you the SG you want and repitch. This will lower the pH and give you another gallon of mead
As long as you are sure the ambient temprature is in an aceptable range and the yeast did not get temp shock I would look at pH.
Matt
If you have pH litmus tests I would do that first and see what you get. Next try the oxygen suggestion because it is easy to do and you should have done that to start with. If you do not have a way to test pH then after trying the O2 I would add enough water to make 2 gallons and enough honey to get you the SG you want and repitch. This will lower the pH and give you another gallon of mead
As long as you are sure the ambient temprature is in an aceptable range and the yeast did not get temp shock I would look at pH.
Matt
