Hi all, I've very eagerly followed the thread on lactomel, which gave me a lot of inspiration. So what I did is the following:
- 3/4 of full fat milk right from the farm
- 1/4 of honey
- 1g/liter mead yeast
- servomyces yeast nutrition at 24/48h
- Some flavors like vanilla, lavender and blueberries (in different batches each)
Now, at this point we're 12 days in. I racked the mead to get rid of the curds and the yeast has (almost) stopped, which I assume from the airlock not bubbling and the mead getting clearer in opacity (though not completely see-through yet), as you can see in the pic included. However, I'm currently stuck at a gravity of about 1.050, which was not my intention. I wanted to make a dry lactomel.
I deduced from reading all the threads in the Lactomel group effort thread that it's probably the lactose that is unfermentable. I gave some extra yeast nutrition 2 days ago, though it has been consistently warm (± 25°C) for the last 3-4 days. The package of this yeast says it can take up to 30°, so I assume it should still be fine.
Now the real question is: should I use lactase tablets to break down the lactose and make it (partly) fermentable, should I add some more yeast or both? I have one small test batch without added aromatics, so I can get "crazy" on that one.
Also, for future experiments, do you think I should dilute it with water and add some more honey to get to the right OG?
Hope you can share some advice
Thanks in advance!
- 3/4 of full fat milk right from the farm
- 1/4 of honey
- 1g/liter mead yeast
- servomyces yeast nutrition at 24/48h
- Some flavors like vanilla, lavender and blueberries (in different batches each)
Now, at this point we're 12 days in. I racked the mead to get rid of the curds and the yeast has (almost) stopped, which I assume from the airlock not bubbling and the mead getting clearer in opacity (though not completely see-through yet), as you can see in the pic included. However, I'm currently stuck at a gravity of about 1.050, which was not my intention. I wanted to make a dry lactomel.
I deduced from reading all the threads in the Lactomel group effort thread that it's probably the lactose that is unfermentable. I gave some extra yeast nutrition 2 days ago, though it has been consistently warm (± 25°C) for the last 3-4 days. The package of this yeast says it can take up to 30°, so I assume it should still be fine.
Now the real question is: should I use lactase tablets to break down the lactose and make it (partly) fermentable, should I add some more yeast or both? I have one small test batch without added aromatics, so I can get "crazy" on that one.
Also, for future experiments, do you think I should dilute it with water and add some more honey to get to the right OG?
Hope you can share some advice
Thanks in advance!