First time mead maker - ferm is slowing down fast?

[Toxxyc]

So my impatient ass tasted it last night with a drop in a tall shot glass:

It's clearing! I tasted it, and the taste is actually damn good! VERY sweet, and it packs a kick like a damn mule. I read up on the yeast and saw that it has an alcohol tolerance of 11%~12% ABV, but I swear this is higher. I tastes like a good fortified white wine, and makes you all warm inside when it goes down. Success, I think, which is excellent since I honestly thought I would have to toss the bottle. Definitely will be making mead again in the future - it's much simpler than making beer, since there's no carbonation and those kinds of things, but it does take a bit longer. This one of mine took a month, which is the absolute minimum time it should take, and I strongly suspect it'll get better with age.

 

[Stasis]

I know that you're excited about your first batch and all so sorry if we don't comment much on this thread. The thing is it's difficult to comment when we only have your description. So when you say it's sweet we don;t know how sweet. when you say you think it has a high alcohol percent we don't have any idea how high it might be.
All I can say is glad you liked it.
Not to make you feel bad, just take it as encouragement or as a challenge. If you think this was good I can promise you that with the right protocol and patience you can make something that tastes maybe.... 5 times better. Think liquid orgasms in a wine glass :O

 

[Squatchy]

You mention the bare minimum is a month. If your actual fermentation took that long you are doing something wrong. Also when you speak about how you think it is higher in alcohol and it makes you all warm inside. I would think it has some/ maybe a lot of fusels in it.
If you would like some help. Tell us your protocol so we can comment on it. Also, as Stasis said. Gravity readings would help.

 

[Toxxyc]

Yeah this batch is weird. I took no readings and have no notes or anything. Temperatures were wildly fluctuating during fermentation and overall it is a mess. However, I am still pleased with this result. I will make another small batch, but this time I will feed, aerate, keep temps controlled, wait like I should, etc.etc. I want to make better mead and better mead only!

 

[Kevin L Northwest Brewer]

Yeah this batch is weird. I took no readings and have no notes or anything. Temperatures were wildly fluctuating during fermentation and overall it is a mess. However, I am still pleased with this result. I will make another small batch, but this time I will feed, aerate, keep temps controlled, wait like I should, etc.etc. I want to make better mead and better mead only!

Good morning. I have been following some of your conversations and I would like to ask you a question if I may. When it comes to adding honey at 2/3 fermentation or 1/3 left how does the honey get added? For some reason I can't just see pouring new raw honey into the batch. What is the process do you dilute it with some of the must first and then at it how is it

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[Stasis]

So Kevin.. No need to quote someone if you're not referring to it. even then I'm not sure this is the best thread in which to post that question since it still doesn't seem to have anything to do with the topic of the thread
Why do you want to add honey at the 2/3 sugar break? You would only do that if the starting gravity is too high and you're afraid of giving your yeast osmotic shock from too much sugars in your must. Even then we rarely add honey at a specific sugar break since I think it's more common to wait for some gravity points to get chewed up before we add them back in with honey.
Now if you're referring to feeding your yeast at the 2/3 sugar break that would be us referring to adding nutrients and it's a totally different thing than adding honey. You add nutrients in the form of Fermaid O, Fermaid K, Tronozymol, Fermax or Dap. That list is from best in my opinion (Fermaid O) to worst (Dap). But even then we no longer add nutrients at the 2/3 sugar break unless something went horribly wrong. We usually feed nutrients until the 1/3 sugar break.

If you want to add honey to an already fermenting must you can dilute it to make pouring easier, or warm the honey up, or both. Or you could just scoop it into your carboy/bucket and let it settle to the bottom. The yeast usually find and eat the sugars even if you don't dissolve the honey. except when it's really solid and crystallyzed or the abv is getting high and your yeast are not in their best shape to eat the solid honey, or if you're going for a very high abv mead and the honey you add would form a thick layer at the bottom of your carboy

 

[Kevin L Northwest Brewer]

So Kevin.. No need to quote someone if you're not referring to it. even then I'm not sure this is the best thread in which to post that question since it still doesn't seem to have anything to do with the topic of the thread
Why do you want to add honey at the 2/3 sugar break? You would only do that if the starting gravity is too high and you're afraid of giving your yeast osmotic shock from too much sugars in your must. Even then we rarely add honey at a specific sugar break since I think it's more common to wait for some gravity points to get chewed up before we add them back in with honey.
Now if you're referring to feeding your yeast at the 2/3 sugar break that would be us referring to adding nutrients and it's a totally different thing than adding honey. You add nutrients in the form of Fermaid O, Fermaid K, Tronozymol, Fermax or Dap. That list is from best in my opinion (Fermaid O) to worst (Dap). But even then we no longer add nutrients at the 2/3 sugar break unless something went horribly wrong. We usually feed nutrients until the 1/3 sugar break.

If you want to add honey to an already fermenting must you can dilute it to make pouring easier, or warm the honey up, or both. Or you could just scoop it into your carboy/bucket and let it settle to the bottom. The yeast usually find and eat the sugars even if you don't dissolve the honey. except when it's really solid and crystallyzed or the abv is getting high and your yeast are not in their best shape to eat the solid honey, or if you're going for a very high abv mead and the honey you add would form a thick layer at the bottom of your carboy

Thanks for the reply and I made the mistake I was referring to the 1/3 sugar break I am very low-tech and am having problems navigating these forms I really appreciate all the input I have received and sorry if I but it in on a conversation on warranted. But I do thank you so much for your explanation on how to add honey 2 a already fermenting must notes have been taken thanks again

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[Toxxyc]

You mention the bare minimum is a month. If your actual fermentation took that long you are doing something wrong. Also when you speak about how you think it is higher in alcohol and it makes you all warm inside. I would think it has some/ maybe a lot of fusels in it.
If you would like some help. Tell us your protocol so we can comment on it. Also, as Stasis said. Gravity readings would help.

OK, back to this post (now that I'm at a PC again).

I had no protocol, but that's different now. Since I started a month or so ago, I've packed on the gear and will not be making the same mistakes again. That being said, my mead is most probably chock-full of fusels - not good. Can anything be done with it or is it safer to just simply toss it away? I bottled the mead into an old whisky bottle (Glenlivet bottle, one with a cork), sealed it and now I can let it sit. I tasted a few times over the weekend and, well, while it's not terrible, since you mentioned the fusels I don't want to put my mouth to it anymore.

Next time I'll be doing it this way:

1. Do it in larger batches. They're easier to control than tiny, tiny batches like I did this one in.
2. Do the maths beforehand - properly. Use the damn calculator that's there for me to use.
3. Take measurements and readings. That includes SG, temps, etc. etc.
4. Follow correct protocol regarding aerating, degassing and feeding the yeast.
5. Keep the temperatures down and stable. I strongly suspect that I have a crap mead now simply because the must was allowed to fluctuate between ~22°C and ~32°C.
6. Be patient. Give it time to do it's thing.
7. Follow a simple recipe. JOAM or BOMM look like good ones to start with - which is what I'll definitely do.

 

[Toxxyc]

OK I'm closing down this thread with a last post:

Mead is bottled in an old (but cleaned and sanitized) whisky bottle with a cork top. It's sitting in the pantry and there it will stay. If some gases come off, the cork will move out a bit so the bottle won't explode, but I doubt it will anyway. I'm leaving the bottle there and hopefully I will forget about it and re-discover it in a year or 5 to find it has aged to something you can actually enjoy.

I'll post new threads with new meads, if I can find more affordable honey over here. Currently I'm finding 1kg (around 2.2lbs) tubs all over, but they're quite expensive for playing around with :/

 

[Toxxyc]

It soured. Poured it down the drain.

 

[Toxxyc]

I actually found another bottle that I made in this batch that I just bottled in a glass bottle, capped it, stuck it in the pantry. It's been sitting there for a while now, so I figured "how back can it be" after all this time.

Answer - VERY bad. There was a little bit of yeast in the bottle that fell out of suspension and made this fluffy gunk on the bottom of the bottle. I opened, gave it a smell and man, it reeked. I know your tongue is boss though so I took a sip...and promptly spat it out. It's obvious this stuff has rotten and soured and everything in between. I just poured the bottle down the drain and I'm REALLY glad I'm done with this batch. So, so much has been learned in the interim and I've come so far in only 3 batches, it's not even funny. All thanks to you guys, so thanks, everyone!

 

[EricHartman]

So, so much has been learned in the interim and I've come so far in only 3 batches, it's not even funny. All thanks to you guys, so thanks, everyone!

I've not been at mead making very long; less than a year so far. However, I routinely thank google for pointing me at gotmead when I first searched "how do I make mead"! Even with landing on good info it was surprising how far & fast one advances on the protocol side. The secondary/fine tuning/ingredient behavior has most of my "attention" now. A daunting task but thankfully the masters at gotmead pretty much carry everything in their head!

 

[Squatchy]

I'm sorry you had a shitty batch. I do however wish more people could read your experience. I say all the time that you can't turn chicken shit into chicken soup. Unfortunately, too many belive the notion that you can age everything and over time it will become a great mead. That's so far from the truth!!!

 

[Toxxyc]

I've not been at mead making very long; less than a year so far. However, I routinely thank google for pointing me at gotmead when I first searched "how do I make mead"! Even with landing on good info it was surprising how far & fast one advances on the protocol side. The secondary/fine tuning/ingredient behavior has most of my "attention" now. A daunting task but thankfully the masters at gotmead pretty much carry everything in their head!

You know, I did the same. I've made three batches of mead. This one here, the first batch, was also made after a quick Google. I saw what was needed, popped into my local home brew shop close to the office and told them what I'm planning. They had no idea how to make mead (and admitted it) and gave me "the best they had". Which was completely wrong. I got no stabilizing agents, no fining agents, the wrong yeast and they guided me in totally the wrong way (as can be seen from the batch). The mead I made was completely incorrectly made, I had no idea on the ABV, didn't feed the yeast AT ALL, fermented too hot, etc. etc. I find the wrong info A LOT, and find the good info is hard to find. Hell, this week alone I was watching videos on YouTube from some popular homebrewers and actually found two videos where people gave the incorrect information regarding the making of wine. Regarding the making of mead, it's incredible how many people still believe that 4 or 5 raisins in a massive batch will provide "nutrients for the yeast". It's that kind of information that's damaging to the mead industry if you ask me, because if I had stopped after my first batch I would always have believed that mead tastes like off honey and burns like jet fuel.

But I persisted. I moved through the podcasts on the GotMead site. I did more and more research. I posted here and asked the stupid questions. Since the first batch is almost ALWAYS started before questions are asked, I decided to ask before doing the second. So I did. I asked a ton of questions and after about 18 months I had a pretty damn good mead in the bottle.

But I didn't stop there. I did more research. Went with better yeast in my third (and latest) batch. I got myself a fermentation chamber so I could keep the fermentation temperature constant and accurate. I step-fed like I was supposed to and stirred up the yeast at regular intervals. I didn't heat the honey and used RO water with a good composition of minerals. I rehydrated my yeast properly. Introduced it into the must at the perfect temperature. I PLANNED this batch and I STUCK to the plan. As a result, my last batch is good. It's great. It's pretty damn fantastic, and it's not even close to ready.

I'm actually planning a video to explain what I did and how I did it, specially considering I need to stabilize, backsweeten and fine sometime soon. Maybe that video will help some newbie down the line.

I'm sorry you had a shitty batch. I do however wish more people could read your experience. I say all the time that you can't turn chicken shit into chicken soup. Unfortunately, too many belive the notion that you can age everything and over time it will become a great mead. That's so far from the truth!!!

Yeah don't be sorry. That batch was doomed from the start, and I know it. As mentioned above I think I should do a video explaining my method and what I did, what I did wrong and what it resulted in. I can also compare it to my latest batch, so maybe it'll help other newbies.

 

[mikesmead]

I'm a brand new member. In fact this is my first post. I just got into mead making with my stepson, and we quickly found you fine folks. Just want to say we are learning a lot from reading through the forum, and are now on our second batch. I look forward to being a member here for a long time!

 

[EricHartman]

Its a fun, if somewhat expensive, hobby mike! Glad to have you on the forum... there are lots of helpful people so don't hesitate to ask questions as you run into them!