1 percent

[balesclan]

I am a first time mead brewer. My must never really bubbled like I thought it would, just some light condensation in the airlock. I let it ferment for 22 days and I never really saw it "Bubble" in the airlock. When I checked the alcohol level and it read only 1%. I went ahead and racked it in the carboy and put it in a cool, dark, dry place. I dont know if I should let it sit for another month and check the alcohol again or just start over.

Thank you,

balesclan

 

[fatbloke]

I am a first time mead brewer. My must never really bubbled like I thought it would, just some light condensation in the airlock. I let it ferment for 22 days and I never really saw it "Bubble" in the airlock. When I checked the alcohol level and it read only 1%. I went ahead and racked it in the carboy and put it in a cool, dark, dry place. I dont know if I should let it sit for another month and check the alcohol again or just start over.

Thank you,

balesclan

Those predictive alcohol percentage markings on some hydrometers are pretty rubbish as a rule.

It's easier to follow if you use either the gravity scale readings or brix scale readings (most hydrometers have one or the other - generally here, it's gravity readings that I see used).

With airlocks, stoppers, bungs, etc you can sometimes get poorly fitting seals so you don't see the expected bubbling at the airlock (more often found with buckets and bucket seals, but not exclusively).

Did you take a gravity reading at the start ? Have you taken one recently ?

Only because it makes it pretty hard to try and diagnose a problem if you don't post as much, in depth, detail about a brew as you can.

Have you taken a little taste ? Is it still very sweet or does it taste rather weird (which wouldn't be unusual).

How much honey ? How much water ? what other ingredients i.e. yeast nutrients and stuff like that ? What was the yeast used ? etc etc....

 

[balesclan]

To Fatbloke

Thanks,

Let me get my recipe together and reply back to you tonight. I will give more detail.

 

[balesclan]

Mead Recipe

Leeners Brand recipe:

6 lbs honey
2 teaspoons acid blend
2 tablespoons yeast nutrient
1 teaspoon grape tannin
3 campden tablets
1 packet cote de blanc wine yeast


Ok. Now I used 1 gallon bottled spring water and mixed it with the 6lbs of honey and heated it in a stock pot to 175-180* for ten minutes. stiring occasionally and skimed the impurities off the top. I did not boil the mixture. I then cooled the mixture in my sink until it was blow 85*. I then put two gallons of bottled spring water in my fermate pale allowing the water to spash around to pick up oxygen. I then stirred in the pasturized honey/water mix an stirred in all the remaining ingredients except the campden tablets and the yeast. I then pitched the yeast from the packet on top of the must and closed the lid to my pale attaching the airlock. The brew kit I bought had everything in it including the hole drilled into the top of the fermation pale. It ame with a rubber o ring to fit in the hole on the pale lid so the airlock was secure. I allowed it to sit in my dinning room covered with a cardboard box so no light could get in. The house temp was between 70*- 73*F so I dont think it was too cold. As I said before the mixture never did really bubble like I thought it wouldbut I let it sit just the same. So now I did the first racking in my carboy and it has been siting in the same spot covered with another cardboard box so no light will get in. I did notice tonight that there are still tiny microscopic bubbles running up toward the neck of the carboy so something is still happening I think. I made the miskate of not taking my first reading with the hydrometer. The only time I tasted the mix was when I siphoned the mix into the carboy. It didnt taste bad but I couldnt really taste it that well.

 

[kudapucat]

OK.
1. generally if acid is required, we add it after the ferment not before.
2. When did you add the cambden tablets?
3. take a hydrometer reading and try to read specific gravity. The scale goes from 0.990 to 1.160 most often.

You started with:
6 lb (2.72kg) honey
1 Gal (3.79 l) water.

water SG = 1.0
honey SG = 1.4

so
3.79 * 1.0 = 3.79 kg of water
2.72/1.4 = 1.94 litres of honey

total weight = 2.72 + 3.79 = 6.51 kg
total volume = 1.94 + 3.79 = 5.73 litres

SG = kg/litre = 6.51/5.73 = 1.136

So your initial SG I estimate at 1.136 (this depends on the quality of your honey)
As such it aught to be a semi-sweet -> sweet brew, based on the tolerance of your yeast.

If your reading is not below 1.050, I expect it's not done. If it is, measure it again in a week and see if it changes.
If your reading is higher than 1.050, it's not done, if it's higher than 1.100 then I expect it's stuck.
Take a measurement and get back to us.

Sorry about the metric, but to do this in SAE requires much more calculator work, and much more likelihood of error.

 

[balesclan]

Thanks,

I will check the SG and get back to you.

 

[Golddiggie]

From what I read in the post, it looks like a 3.5 gallon batch. 1 gallon of water, plus 6# honey in the pot (which was heated too high since it was above 110F). Then two more gallons of water were put into the fermenting vessel, where the heated honey/water mix was poured in.

Using the Got Mead calculation too, I get an OG of 1.061. Which means it's going to go to bone dry (at about 8.3% ABV).

BTW, for future reference, ZERO need to pasteurize the honey/must. That's a carry-over from the old days and has been proven to be not needed. If anything, you'll cook off the more delicate flavors and aromas in the honey. Also at 180F you would only need to hold that temperature for a fraction of a minute. A full ten minutes is extreme over-kill (the bee's were screaming)...

 

[kudapucat]

Oh.
I missed the next two gallons.
Yes drier than a Nun's proverbial.