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calicojack

calicojack

NewBee
Registered Member
Oct 29, 2010
273
1
0
Montgomery, AL
so i did my first two batches today. used warm water throughout. it's been about two hours and i'm not seeing ANY bubbles in the airlocks.

is this normal? or do i need to scratch and start over?
 
Hey, welcome to GotMead!

Cool your jets there calico! It's only been two hours, and sometimes the lag time for the yeast to start showing visible activity is 24-48 hours. Just be patient. If you're already impatient waiting for it to start, I doubt you'll be able to let the mead age for very long. :p If after 48 hours, there is still no activity, then, you might have a problem. If so, you'll need to post your full recipe and process so that the members here can diagnose what could be the problem. :)
 
Also be aware that a ferment can be going without any bubbles appearing in the airlock. The only reliable measure of fermentation is readings taken with a hydrometer.
 
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something DEFINATELY went wrong

so i came home from my meeting just now. apparently the yeast has kicked in. my gallon jug is now full and flowing INTO my airlock. how do i get it down? pour some of it out? pictures up in a min!

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Actually, I'd say that it is going TOO right! ;D

Seriously, the best way to limit this kind of Mead Eruption Accident (MEA) is to transfer the must to a larger container for primary fermentation, and rack the mead over to your carboy only when the fermentation has settled down. You'll see if you read over many of the senior members' postings that we often ferment in a relatively open-topped container (like a food grade bucket) with only a towel that has been rinsed in sanitizer and then wrung out as a cover. During the early part of primary fermentation especially, the yeast are producing so much CO2 that stuff like what you're seeing can often happen in a narrow necked container.

You could alternately pour off some of the must into another gallon jug, and allow primary fermentation to happen in two half-full jugs. That will also provide enough headspace to keep the cap from pushing out of your airlocks, like it is doing in your single jug.

You could also just pour out about a third of the must and let the rest ferment in the gallon, but you won't be left with much mead once that is done so that wouldn't be my first choice of how to handle the problem.

BTW - clean the airlock thoroughly and re-sanitize it before you use it again.
 
First off, I don't want to discourage you from posting, but you shouldn't really start a new thread for every problem with a single batch. If you post all your concerns in a single thread, it'll help people see all the details. I believe this is the third thread you've started for this batch. Try to keep posting in a single thread, otherwise, it's just confusing.

That said, yes, you should pour some liquid off into a sanitized container, and maybe remove some of that powdered cinnamon you have. It's the likely culprit. It has likely formed a literal cake that is seriously impeading the CO2 from leaving solution, thus the pressure is forcing the cap of cinnamon up and out of the airlock. This was why I recommended using whole cinnamon sticks in one of the other threads you have on this batch (again, this would make more sense to others reading if it was all in one thread...)

Edit: wayneb has some better points about this, I just can't seem to post quickly/thoroughly enough. But that's part of what makes this site so great! Plenty of peer review :p
 
Sorry for the multiple posts. If you or a mod can merge the topics please do so.

I'm going to use wayne's suggestion of transfering to a food grade bucket, as I have a lot of those sitting at the house atm.

Question on that. How long do I want to wait before transfering it back to the jug?
 
When fermentation is pretty much over, there is much less CO2 being produced. It's this bubbling that is causing your foam. So foam will be less of a problem. I go by my hydometer readings. Also, less CO2 production could leave your mead in contact with the air. So I move to a carboy that I have shot CO2 into to displace the air. Then there is usually a little CO2 that will come out of solution and keep air out until you can get it airlocked. So I would go with the bucket also.

Good Luck

Paul
 
if we can. delete this thread and the other something went wrong thread. i've condensed questions and answers into my brew log (mostly for my personal reference)

eta:
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Last edited:
Moderator Comment - Threads Have Been Merged

Calicojack, instead of deleting the two threads that you've started, I've merged both the "things went wrong" themes into one thread. There's plenty of good information in here applicable to other new meadmakers, so I didn't think that deleting the threads outright was needed. Besides, I like your pics! ;)
 
wayneb said:
Calicojack, instead of deleting the two threads that you've started, I've merged both the "things went wrong" themes into one thread. There's plenty of good information in here applicable to other new meadmakers, so I didn't think that deleting the threads outright was needed. Besides, I like your pics! ;)
Click to expand...

right on. thanks for that.

a new question:
the cinnamon is definitely impeding the air release. what's the best way to skim off the floating layer of goo? or do i just need to scratch and start over?
 
so today i finally got around to sterilizing my 2 gallon bucket, airlock, stopper, spoon, and whipper doober.

i skimmed the cinnamon cap off. it was like goo. After that I transferred the remaining liquid to the new bucket, whipped the mess out of it, and capped it.

As I posted above I had covered it with a sterilized towel on monday (so 5 days ago). This batch has been fermenting in one way or another since sunday (total of 6 days).

When I put the top/airlock on the top of the bucket, nothing is happening in the air lock. also when i press down on parts of the cap the air lock fluctuates.

sooooo here's a quick video. thoughts?
eta: apparently you can't embed video on this board. see below.

In case that doesn't work here's the link to the video on youtube
 
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