kev211
Well-Known Member
Alright guys. New Mead brewer here. Ive got probably 200+ beers under my belt at this point in time, so Im familiar with fermentation, but mead is a totally different beast. To this date Ive got +/- 3 one-gallon mead batches complete with varying degrees of success. So now that we've got qualifications out of the way...
Sunday I brewed (?), stirred, mixed, whatever its called my first 5 gallon batch of mead. Intending on it being a dry mead. I mixed 12.5lbs of clover honey with 2.5 gallons of 120 degree spring water and then topped off with 2.5 gallons of water and transferred all 6 gallons to my fermenter. Ran about 1 minute of O2 through my stone and pitched 2 packs of WLP715 yeast when it reached 80 degrees most recipes I read said to pitch yeast at 80, which seemed a bit warm from my brewing background but I did it anyways. I havent added any campden tablets (I read different theories on them, so I opted not to) and havent added any Fermaid-K, I was going to at 1/3 sugar break and 2/3 sugar break (5grams each time). Problem is, its going on 44 hours now and I have very little active fermentation, like maybe 1 bubble every 5 seconds. I know that new yeast on honey is supposed to be super vigorous, and this is not... I know active fermentation isnt going on cuz I have a tilt in there and its dropped 1 point from 1.084 to 1.083.
Any thoughts on this? Is 715 a slow starter (I know I probably should have made a starter, but I was impatient)? Did I zap the yeast with the 80 degree temp? Should I add yeast energizer or Fermaid-K now? Any help would be appreciated.
Cheers!
Sunday I brewed (?), stirred, mixed, whatever its called my first 5 gallon batch of mead. Intending on it being a dry mead. I mixed 12.5lbs of clover honey with 2.5 gallons of 120 degree spring water and then topped off with 2.5 gallons of water and transferred all 6 gallons to my fermenter. Ran about 1 minute of O2 through my stone and pitched 2 packs of WLP715 yeast when it reached 80 degrees most recipes I read said to pitch yeast at 80, which seemed a bit warm from my brewing background but I did it anyways. I havent added any campden tablets (I read different theories on them, so I opted not to) and havent added any Fermaid-K, I was going to at 1/3 sugar break and 2/3 sugar break (5grams each time). Problem is, its going on 44 hours now and I have very little active fermentation, like maybe 1 bubble every 5 seconds. I know that new yeast on honey is supposed to be super vigorous, and this is not... I know active fermentation isnt going on cuz I have a tilt in there and its dropped 1 point from 1.084 to 1.083.
Any thoughts on this? Is 715 a slow starter (I know I probably should have made a starter, but I was impatient)? Did I zap the yeast with the 80 degree temp? Should I add yeast energizer or Fermaid-K now? Any help would be appreciated.
Cheers!