I brewed a batch of mead about six months ago with way too much honey and not enough yeast. The OG was 1.143 and two packages of champagne yeast were added. It fermented out to 1.090 and stalled. I added six packages of champagne yeast in an attempt to restart fermentation and was able to bring it down to 1.070 before it stalled again. My idea is to brew a new batch of mead, over pitch and use it as a starter by splitting the original batch of stalled mead into two carboys and racking the new mead on top of it after it really starts to ferment hard. My question is how long to let my second batch of mead ferment before blending the two in order to minimize the shock of hitting the partly fermented (stalled) batch which obviously has alcohol and an altered ph level. One week? Two? Three? Because of the over pitch of the second batch (six packages of champagne yeast) I’m worried about it fermenting right through the new batch of mead which had an OG of 1.103 and not having enough strength to pick up the original batch and ferment it out completely. I’m one week into fermentation now and it’s bubbling hard. I’m thinking about blending the two today. I just hope that it’s not too early and the shock of hitting the original batch will knock out my yeast.
Stuck fermentation
- Thread starter BriBriSprings
- Start date
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- stuck fermentation
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How large of volumes are you dealing with? Are you adding any nitrogen supplements like DAP, Fermaid-O, etc? I'd add it in a stepwise fashion over the next 3 days; stir thoroughly while blending. Make sure the Champagne yeast can tolerate sufficient ABV and that is not the reason it "stalled". I don't have a calculator handy but I think most yeasts should tolerate a 0.07 SG drop.
I blended the two today and both carboys are bubbling nicely. Adding more yeast nutrient is a great idea. I’ll let you know what happens. I’d like to age it on cherries if I can get it to ferment out. Fingers crossed!
