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Is my mead fermenting too slowly?

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J

Jiminylive

NewBee
Registered Member
Mar 24, 2020
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Hello,
I'm trying out my first ever batch of mead (only brewed ale kits before).
I have followed this recipe for a updated version of a JOAM

https://gotmead.com/blog/making-mea...de-to-making-mead-chapter-6-the-basic-recipe/

It took a day or so before the airlock started to bubble, but I was expecting that. I gave it a stir twice a day for the first 3 days and then added the second 5g of Fermaid K, did another say of two stirs and now I'm giving it a stir every day (on day 7 now).
I'm brewing in a 30L bucket and every time I take the lid off I can hear the fizzing sound so I can assume it's still doing its business, I'll stir it and after a couple of minutes the airlock with start up, giving a gloop sound every 4-5 second and that will go on for about 5 hours or so, but will then settle right down to hardly going off at all until I next give it a stir.
After reading up a little more I might not have been aerating the must as vigorously as I should have been. There hasn't been any froth to write home about on the surface, but like I said, there is definitely a constant fizz sound coming from it. On my last stir I checked the bottom of the bucket and did find some trub/Lees.

My question is, should I be worried that I'm not getting the best from my yeast (I used Cooper's) and is there anything I can try to help it along, or am I just being a helicopter parent to this thing and should just chill and let it do its thing?
 
Have your checked the gravity to see what kind of progress you are making? It may be just fine. Yeast typically take longer than 7 days to finish a mead.

Lower temperature can keep things slower, but that is usually a good thing. What temp are you maintaining?
If you stirred it during the first 3 days, you aerated it enough so that isn't an issue.

Medsen
 
OG was 1.100 and current gravity is 1.070 so quite a way to go. The temperature has been around the 64-68 mark.

Chris
 
That is a little slow.
1. If you are using This Coopers Yeast the temp may be keeping it slow as you are under 68F. It may still work fine, but it may take quite a bit longer. You can warm things up if you get desperate or uncontrollably impatient.
2. Can you check the pH? If it is lower than 3.3 it could be impacting your yeast.
3. Do you have any nutrient other than Fermaid K? This recipe is a little on the low side for nutrient, though there are a bunch of raisins in there. Ale yeast often are used to having more around than wine yeast, so you may want to add another 10g of Fermaid K immediately while it can still be assimilated by the yeast. This may nudge the pH up, so if you add the nutrient, check the pH after you have the nutrient in.

Endeavor to persevere!
Medsen
 
Last edited:
Yeah that's the yeast I've used. I don't have a heat mat, but could always whack the central heating on!
Not able to get any litmus paper or anything at the mo due to the lock down.
I have more fermaid K so I can add that as you suggest.
Would I be worth pitching some more yeast into it too?
 
Adding more yeast won't speed it up at this point.

I'd add the nutrients, and continue to stir/shake the yeast to keep them up in the suspension at least 1-2 times daily.
If the gravity starts to stall, I'd raise the temperature - lots of ways to do it - sitting near a window with sunlight can be enough.
 
I took a new gravity reading yesterday and it has dropped to 1.020 :) so I'm looking at around 10.5% right? When I opened up the lid of the bucket to take the reading it was still fizzing away. As I prefer sweeter meads, would you recommend cold crashing it in a fridge fridge for a week soon, then racking it into a second bucket with some potassium sorbate in and letting it age in there until its cleared and ready to bottle, or leave it to keep doing what it's doing and see how much further it goes up in ABV? (or a better suggestion!)
 
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