First, ingredients:
1.44K Chestnut Honey
2.3L spring water
1L Pressed apple juice
1 Tsp Yeast Nutrient
3mg Thiamine (Vitamin B1)
2 Tablespoons Malted Yeast Extract
3 tea bags
200g Black Currants
Muntons/Gervin G4 (Alcohol tolerance 21%)
Starting SG 1.09
The above recipe initially made for a quick and smooth fermentation, SG dropped about 80 points in less than two weeks. I racked to the secondary and decided I wanted something stronger than the 11/12% that I think this worked out at (the mead calculator was working at that time). I decided to add 0.5 kilos of honey to the secondary (heated with a little spring water and left to cool), expecting fermentation to flare up. It didn't. I left it for a few days and took another SG reading which came out at 1.04. There seemed to be fermentation because there was around 1 bubble every 45 seconds, but not what I'd expect from half a kilo of honey.
Yesterday I decided to re-pitch with K1-V116 because its an all rounder and quite tolerant. It's also much cheaper than the G4. I re-hydrated in some honey water, left for 30 mins until it was fizzing and foaming away and added to the stuck ferment. It's now been 24 hours and the must is as (in)active as it was prior to the re-pitch. I even added another tsp of nutrient and another 2mg of B1 but this did not help. Sorry for the long post - any ideas?
1.44K Chestnut Honey
2.3L spring water
1L Pressed apple juice
1 Tsp Yeast Nutrient
3mg Thiamine (Vitamin B1)
2 Tablespoons Malted Yeast Extract
3 tea bags
200g Black Currants
Muntons/Gervin G4 (Alcohol tolerance 21%)
Starting SG 1.09
The above recipe initially made for a quick and smooth fermentation, SG dropped about 80 points in less than two weeks. I racked to the secondary and decided I wanted something stronger than the 11/12% that I think this worked out at (the mead calculator was working at that time). I decided to add 0.5 kilos of honey to the secondary (heated with a little spring water and left to cool), expecting fermentation to flare up. It didn't. I left it for a few days and took another SG reading which came out at 1.04. There seemed to be fermentation because there was around 1 bubble every 45 seconds, but not what I'd expect from half a kilo of honey.
Yesterday I decided to re-pitch with K1-V116 because its an all rounder and quite tolerant. It's also much cheaper than the G4. I re-hydrated in some honey water, left for 30 mins until it was fizzing and foaming away and added to the stuck ferment. It's now been 24 hours and the must is as (in)active as it was prior to the re-pitch. I even added another tsp of nutrient and another 2mg of B1 but this did not help. Sorry for the long post - any ideas?