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Ok, what you asked is how long does it take to know when it's done. For me, if I take three weekly readings, and nothing changes, I'm good. That's two weeks, start to finish. If there's ANY change, or ANY doubt, wait a couple more weeks. Things can go slow. As said, don't rely on the airlock. That is not what it's for. Use your hydrometer. And always correct for temperature.

Now...


Having said that about determining when fermentation is done, that has NOTHING to do with clearing. I, too, have had meads I thought were clear develop sediment in the bottle. Very disappointing. All I can say there is it takes as much time as it takes. When it looks like a freaking crystal lighthouse lens, it's ready to bottle!
 
I know the bubbles don't tell me when it's done. I was referring to telling whether it's slowing down due to nutritional deficiency. The boiled yeast was suggested somewhere as an alternative to commercial nutrients.

I knew what you meant Mazer about stable SG readings. If you're checking SG weekly, once you get the same reading twice (so the same for a whole week), you wait another week to be sure. However long it takes to get to that point is largely out of my hands and requires a gift I haven't really been granted (I've been told that patience is a gift. I'm skeptical. ;))

I'm currently waiting for my tax return, and have a huge cart waiting at Adventures in Homebrewing. The 1 gallon beer kit I'm ordering comes with a hydrometer and I have the fermtech wine thief on there as well. I've also got another bung and airlock to go in the apple juice jug I got. This will probably be like 2 weeks before I have items in hand.

Is there a way to tell, in the meantime, if I need to try to supplement the nutrients?

Thank you for your patience with me. I am reading and absorbing as much info as I can. There seems to be a lot of conflicting information and is largely dependant on specific factors, so I ask.
 
So am I right in assuming g you have no DAP or Fermaid products?

If you want to stay true to a historical method you don't need to use any nutrients. However, I can tell you from experience that the end product is gonna need some time to be drinkable and a lot of time to be pleasant.

If you have nothing else then I would definitely boil up some bread yeast and add that. The fruit will also add some nutrition.
The most obvious signs of stressed yeast are sulfurous smells and a paint thinner or solvent type of taste. It is best practice to get your nutrient soirce in before this happens.
 
Correct. I will pick up some bread yeast when I go to the store. Will pouring boiling water over it kill it sufficiently?

I don't smell anything in the airlock at all, except the rum I have in it. I just took that out and replaced it with water so I can keep a nose on it, so to speak.

All but one bottle of this batch will bottle age at least until Christmas, so hopefully any mistakes I made will be gone by then. I'll drink the other bottle. I don't have a very sophisticated palate. I thought I smelled pear once opening a bottle of reisling. That's about the extent for me, so it'll probably be fine for me.
 
daisyd681 said:
Correct. I will pick up some bread yeast when I go to the store. Will pouring boiling water over it kill it sufficiently?

I don't smell anything in the airlock at all, except the rum I have in it. I just took that out and replaced it with water so I can keep a nose on it, so to speak.

All but one bottle of this batch will bottle age at least until Christmas, so hopefully any mistakes I made will be gone by then. I'll drink the other bottle. I don't have a very sophisticated palate. I thought I smelled pear once opening a bottle of reisling. That's about the extent for me, so it'll probably be fine for me.
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It'll probably do it, but to be safe I always boil it for a full 5 minutes. No harm no foul.
 
I don't have a lot of head space in my carboy. I was thinking a few tbs of boiling water. I could then cover that and nuke it so it doesn't evaporate off.

I may or may not have been feeling really fiddly about this project and diverted that energy into making carboy coozies. ;p I figure they'll help keep the light out and I can wet them in the summer to keep the temp down.
 
So... I got my hydrometer and had a chance to weigh my local honey. Hopefully you all can help me make sense of all this data.

First, my mead is currently coming in at a SG of 1.051 after nearly 3 weeks of fermentation. It tastes awesome and has good kick, so if it's done here I'll be happy. It's totally drinkable.

Now for my honey. I made a cyser must, so I weighed out 2 lbs of honey. 2 lbs of my local honey is 1.5 pints. The jar that said 2 lbs was a quart. I added that to my mead plus a jar that said 1 lb. I have no idea of the volume of that jar, I'm estimating around a pint. So I added 3 pints of honey to my mead must. The calculator says that's an OG of 1.162. That makes my current ABV 14.49%. That seems about right for the warmth in my veins from just a swallow of it. The CDB yeast rates to 14%, so that also tracks.

On my cyser, my juice comes in at 1.059 and I added 1.5 pints of honey to that. The calculator says that comes out to like 1.130, but I got 1.140, so maybe the estimate on the mead OG is still low.

Are all of my guesses here on track? Did I fudge it somewhere? I'm getting excited for the batch to be done. I don't think I'll have to screw around with back sweetening, which is awesome. Now it just needs to clear.
 
Replying to myself because I forgot to say that, based on the gravity of my cyser must and the calculator estimates, I'm going to use volume instead of weight. It's closer to what I actually got than the weight estimates.
 
Need volumes of must and pounds of honey in order to help. Honey adds about 38-39 gravity points per pound per gallon. So take 38,multiply by the pounds of honey added, then divide by total volume of your must in gallons (after the addition). That'll tell you how many points it should have increased due to the honey addition.

Also don't forget to mix thoroughly or your reading will be off. Spin the hydrometer to get rid of any clinging air bubbles, this can also result in a heavier reading than it should. And always correct your reading for temperature. Lots of calculators online do this for you.
 
That's the problem. I added a jar to my must that said 2 lbs, but it was a chock full 2 quart jar. I didn't weigh it, I took the jar at its word. I also didn't have a hydrometer at the time, so no initial gravity reading. My local wildflower honey appears to be sweeter than the calculator average. My 2 lbs of honey added about 10 more points to the cyser must than the calculator guessed it would (that's using volume of honey instead of weight. When I go by weight, it adds about 20 more points than the calculator at that amount).

I guess I won't really know unless I do another exactly the same way, since I didn't weigh it out the first time. I'm just wondering if anyone has run into such a difference in actual gravity versus the calculator estimate. Does elevation make a difference? I'm at 7,000 feet, and it effects things in ways I don't expect...
 
A quart mason jar holds right around 3 pounds of honey. So you can estimate 117 points added, divided by your volume in gallons for each quart of honey. Hopefully that helps? Otherwise you're right, we're down to uneducated guesses!
 
In a 23l batch with 10kg of honey i am consistently 7-10 pints higher than the calculator.
But it does provide a good ballpark figure.
 
My math says that, with this honey, it should be about 2.66 lbs per quart. I have no idea of the volume of the 1 lb jar, but it seems reasonable to assume that it was at least 1lb. That gives me an OG of 1.131, meaning that I would only be at 10.74% after 3 weeks. If I do it by volume I get an OG of 1.148 and a current ABV of 12.82%. If I add the 10 points that the calculator was off on my other must I get 14.02%. Since the mead seems to be slowing down dramatically at this point with still such a high gravity, I'm leaning towards the last number. I guess what this really means is that I have to drink this batch myself and save the next one for stocking stuffers, since I can't say what the alcohol content is... :p
 
At least I'm not the only one! I know it wasn't my measuring. I may be new to hydrometers, but I use scientific measuring equipment in several of my other hobbies, so I know what I'm doing for the most part.
 
daisyd681 said:
I guess what this really means is that I have to drink this batch myself and save the next one for stocking stuffers, since I can't say what the alcohol content is... :p
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I really don't understand the facination with an exact ABV%. It's kinda interesting if your pushing limits in one way or another. But for the most part if it tastes good and your in the ballpark then the only difference is the volume required to get your buzz.
 
For myself I don't really care. I think it's important for bottles I give away. People should be able to know how much alcohol is in their drink.
 
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