just started mead making

[Shiroe]

hey so i just started mead making, I started my first batch yesterday and i put it into a bucket with an airlock over it when the batch was first put in I saw that the airlock was bubbling but an hour later it stopped and hasn't bubbled since i made sure the top to the bucket was properly sealed, is this going to result in a bad batch or is it something that can be fixed i added lalvin 71b for the yeast, and goferm for added nutrients the batch size is one gallon, as im not a big drinker i wanted something more sweet than alcoholic I was shown on a mead calculator to put in 1lb of honey, so could it be fermenting and the yeast has already gone through the sugar or is it something else

 

[darigoni]

1 lb of honey, in one gallon of water, is about 5% alcohol. The yeast will eat through that fairly quickly and it will not be sweet, at all.

You didn't say how long it took for it to start bubbling? Temperature? The initial bubbling could just be from a pressure/temperature change.

Do you have a hydrometer? If not, how will you know that it's finished fermenting?

It sounds like you need to do some more reading about how to make mead. If you want something sweet, that is low alcohol, you'll need to let the batch finish fermenting, stabilize (to stop any future fermentation) and then add some honey to your desired sweetness.

 

[Shiroe]

To answer your question the starting gravity was at 1.050 I heated up half a gallon of water to 104° then added 1lb of honey and mixed throughly then let it sit till it was at room temperature then added the other half gallon of water after I stirred the mead and put the air proof lid on after 5 minutes I noticed bubbling coming from the airlock after 24 hours the bubbling had stopped and hasn’t reoccured even after the second day mixing I understand that the mead wasn’t going to taste sweet at first so I was planning on adding more honey to make it taste sweeter I just wasn’t sure how long the bubbling was supposed to be for

 

[darigoni]

At what point did you add the yeast? Did you add it dry or use the hydration procedure?

It "usually" takes 4-6 hours before fermentation starts and, depending on conditions, can take anywhere from 1 day to a couple of weeks for it to be complete. I seriously doubt that the bubbling "after 5 minutes" was fermentation.

You'll need to do another gravity measurement to see if it is finished, which in your case should probably be less than 1.000.

Did you use a full gallon of water or did you use enough water to bring the level up to one gallon? It can make a big difference in your starting gravity.

Adding 1 lb of honey to a gallon of water, will give you around 1.0833 gallons (approx 1 gallon water + 16 oz of honey), which should give you a starting gravity of 1.032.
Adding water to 1 lb of honey, so that you have a total batch size of one gallon, should give you a starting gravity of 1.035.

The sweetness of honey will vary, but if you had a starting gravity of 1.050, then it looks like you used around 1.4 pounds of honey and will end up with an alcohol content of 6.9%.

 

[Shiroe]

I used the hydration method for the yeast. I had used a full gallon of water I don’t mind if the alcohol level is a little higher than 5%, and all I know is after the lid was secure no longer than 5 minutes passed before I noticed the airlock was bubbling it wasn’t much but it would bubble every 10 seconds or so