Help with my mead

[theschick]

Back in May I started making the Carmel apple mead, found on this site. I added a bit too much honey, and had a starting gravity of 1.144. Now after 5 weeks, I'm only down to 1.042 - where it has been for the last couple of weeks.

I believe this puts me at around 13.4 ABV, and still way too sweet.

I have an acclimated starter going, per the sticky on this site. I went out and bought some PH test strips. The strips don't change color, making me think its >4.5. I tested some of the strips in my starter, and they are reading it correctly.

Temp of the mead stays around 72-73 degrees.

Now the questions. Even with the acclimated starter, is 13.4% too high to add it?

I've only seen posts where meads' PH is too low, not reading high like mine.

Can anyone help me out? I have a bit of $ invested in it, and I'm hoping to have a great mead by Sept 2011.

 

[MedsenFey]

Unfortunately starting at very high gravity as you did can often lead to a fermentation that sticks early.

High pH is not a problem for yeast. Extremely low pH inhibits them. The big problem with high pH is that it makes it easier for spoilage organism to find a home, but that is a secondary issue for now.

Which yeast are you planning to restart with? For an alcohol level this high, I'd suggest UvaFerm 43. EC-1118 would be a second choice, but it is not as good for such a high alcohol and high remaining gravity.

I would treat the must with yeast hulls, 1 gram per gallon to bind yeast toxins, and improve your odds of successful restart.

Restarting with very high alcohol levels and high residual sugar can be very difficult. Even when it works, you may not see a strong bubbling fermentation, but instead may see a very slow drop in gravity over a few weeks, so don't be shocked if it looks like nothing is happening.

Endeavor to persevere!

Medsen

 

[theschick]

I have my acclimating starter going with the EC-1118. I'll see if my LHBS has yeast hulls. I do have some yeast energizer, which I think has some yeast hulls in it (maybe worst case scenario).

I have 14 months left to get this at a point where it will be good.

 

[Brandon O]

Tough situation. I've added water to meads that were too sweet and had them start fermenting again but they end up just tasting like watered down mead in the final product.

Your best bet may be just to serve it mixed with soda water for a sparkling mead. Cutting sweet meads at serving is typically what I do in this situation.

 

[theschick]

would it be feasible to make another batch, and blend the two together down the road? Hopefully make the second batch run pretty dry, so the combination of the two would be semi-sweet to sweet?

 

[Yooper]

would it be feasible to make another batch, and blend the two together down the road? Hopefully make the second batch run pretty dry, so the combination of the two would be semi-sweet to sweet?

Yes, that's probably what I would do. I don't have a sweet tooth at all, so any mead over about 1.010 is too sweet for me. I'd definitely make the same recipe with a much lower OG and ferment it dry and blend.

 

[MedsenFey]

As yet another alternative, you can start a second batch, and gradually blend in some of the stuck batch during fermentation to help ferment more of the sugar.

If you make an equal sized batch with a gravity that is bone dry (0.990), when blended with you stuck batch, you're going to have a gravity of around 1.016 which may be too sweet.

 

[goodbyebluesky82]

Back in May I started making the Carmel apple mead, found on this site. I added a bit too much honey, and had a starting gravity of 1.144. Now after 5 weeks, I'm only down to 1.042 - where it has been for the last couple of weeks.

I believe this puts me at around 13.4 ABV, and still way too sweet.

I have an acclimated starter going, per the sticky on this site. I went out and bought some PH test strips. The strips don't change color, making me think its >4.5. I tested some of the strips in my starter, and they are reading it correctly.

Temp of the mead stays around 72-73 degrees.

Now the questions. Even with the acclimated starter, is 13.4% too high to add it?

I've only seen posts where meads' PH is too low, not reading high like mine.

Can anyone help me out? I have a bit of $ invested in it, and I'm hoping to have a great mead by Sept 2011.

Exactly how much honey was 'too much' honey?? I just started a mead with 3 lbs honey and 46 oz. juice for a 1 gallon batch. Now a bit worried it might stick. I was already using L 1118 though.

 

[theschick]

I'm no mead expert, but at 6lbs of honey per gallon, that's pretty heavy (not to mention the sugars already in the juice). What was your original gravity? At the very least, I think you should add some sort of nutrient (honey has none).

 

[funkapottomous]

Yes, that's probably what I would do. I don't have a sweet tooth at all, so any mead over about 1.010 is too sweet for me. I'd definitely make the same recipe with a much lower OG and ferment it dry and blend.

would you just ferment out the second mead or would you do like the poster below you and feed the first to the second over time?