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Only a Little Bubbling and NOTHING, what did this newbee do wrong?

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Chuckie

NewBee
Registered Member
May 20, 2014
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Costa Rica
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First...I'm new, in Costa Rica and this is my FIRST batch...YAH!

Second...it ain't going so well...aaawwwhhhh

My recipe is below and because I'm in CR, I am having a hard time
finding supplies or even the right yeast.

I couldn't find Wine Yeast so I substituted with the yeast below.

I couldn't find an airlock...so I substituted with a tiny transparent tube
coming through the lid, sealed with clear silicone and the tiny tube going
into a glass of water.

After I put the "must" into the clear bucket, I slid it under the table
into a dark place.

The next day...I could see some foam, (not much) and NO bubbles
coming from the tube.

I left it and on the 2nd day...still NO Bubbles.

I think I didn't put enough yeast??? and since the packs of yeast
here in CR are NOT the same as the Packs of Yeast in the US...
I couldn't add a pack of yeast.

However, I found a recipe that said 1 Tsp per gallon of water.

Long story short...what do I need to do, to get this "Must" fermenting?



********************
Honey Mead Recipe

2 Gallons of Water
6 cups of Honey
2 Tsp Yeast (Fleishmann savory dough yeast)
1 Orange cut into 1/8 slices (including peel)
50 Raisins

Clean and Sterilize everything

Boil 1 gal of water

*warm bottles of honey in warm water
Add honey to water and simmer for 15 min - scoop off foam for clearity

Pour the mead mixture from the pot into a 5 gal bucket on top of 1 gallon of
room temperature filtered water.

Vigorously Stir for 5 minutes to aerate liquid.

*Activate Yeast in 1/2 cup warm water 10 min before adding to "MUST"
("must" should be 80 degrees or cooler)

Then put lid on bucket, with air-lock, put into a cool dark place.
 

Bob1016

NewBee
Registered Member
Jun 24, 2012
662
3
0
Coral Springs, FL
First things first . . .
WELCOME TO GOTMEAD!!!

Ok, when you added the yeast to the warm water, did it bubble? Form a film of brown fluff on top? Sink to the bottom and stay there?
How hot was the water you put the yeast in? If it was over ~106F (~41C) you might have killed it.
I've never heard of "savory" yeast, but that brand of bread yeast does have a normal yeast that is used in recipes from the "old days of the internet" by many with good success.
Maybe someone can send you a "care package" of yeasts and nutrients.


Sent from my Motorola DynaTAC 8000X using Tapatalk
 

Chuckie

NewBee
Registered Member
May 20, 2014
4
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58
Costa Rica
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Q>> Ok, when you added the yeast to the warm water, did it bubble? Form a film of brown fluff on top?
A>> Yes...I did activate it by adding the 2 tsp of yeast to a 1/2 cup of warm water...it started forming the brown fluff on top and then I added it to the bucket of MUST.


Q>>How hot was the water you put the yeast in? If it was over ~106F (~41C) you might have killed it.
A>>The water was not very hot...I could put my finger in it and not get burned...so it was not hot...just WARM.


Q>>I've never heard of "savory" yeast, but that brand of bread yeast does have a normal yeast that is used in recipes from the "old days of the internet" by many with good success.
A>>I've never heard of "savory" yeast either...the package of course was in Spanish and said "Levadura seca masa salada" the bottom of the bag had it's own translation that said "savory dough"

However if you put "Levadura seca masa salada" into https://translate.google.com it comes out to "dry yeast salt dough"

I wondered...if I hadn't put enough yeast in my MUST?

Thanks for your help.
 

Chuckie

NewBee
Registered Member
May 20, 2014
4
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58
Costa Rica
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Hello ! Wellcome !



It´s common that this system is leaking between the tube and the bucket´s lid.

I thought about that, but it's VERY doubtful...when I made the hole in the lid, I made
it very small and had to force the tube through...then put the silicone around the the tube on
the top and the bottom.

So...I don't think it is leaking...but good question.

Thanks for the help.
 

Chevette Girl

All around BAD EXAMPLE
Moderator
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Apr 27, 2010
8,443
53
48
Ottawa, ON
Good call on your blow-off tube as an airlock substitute! But usually when something like this happens, it is an air leak causing things not to bubble... I have one bucket with a bad seal, the airlock never bubbles on that one but as long as things are fizzing in there, I'm not too worried about it.

If you swirl your must around, can you see or hear it fizz? If so, then the fermentation IS working. We always suggest you check a hydrometer rather than trusting your airlock/blowoff tube bubbling to tell you whether fermentation's going on. If you can't get your hands on a hydrometer, then you'll need to observe the must: is it fizzing, is it still, if you agitate it a little does it get really foamy... then if it's completely still and no amount of shaking causes fizzing, give it a taste... if it's still as sweet as when you mixed it, then it has stopped... if it's all dry or sour, then it may have already completed the fermentation.

And you probably didn't add too little yeast, we usually use 1 tsp per gallon in a very similar recipe to that one (check out Joe's Ancient Orange Mead). Don't forget, yeast isn't a finite ingredient like salt or sugar, the first thing yeast does before it starts making alcohol is to start breeding until it reaches critical mass, doubling its cell count every hour or two, so it may take a day or two to get there before it really starts eating the sugars and creating alcohol. We call this the "lag phase", sometimes this appears very vigorous and sometimes it's barely perceptible.

A little more reading around here will show you that we don't recommend heating your honey, it doesn't really add anything to the flavour, if anything it takes away some of the more delicate flavours. Not the end of the world and it won't ruin your mead, but for next time, simmering it is a step you can skip :) And skimming off the foam is mostly pointless, any foam from impurities in the honey is going to fizz up during fermentation and then sink to the bottom after fermentation's done.
 

Chuckie

NewBee
Registered Member
May 20, 2014
4
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0
58
Costa Rica
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Thanks Chevette for that great reply.

So glad to know I can skip heating up and simmering the honey. I really don't want to lose any flavour.

NO way to get a hydrometer here...that I know of. I am trying to get one from Amazon however...long wait.

Lag time??? OK>>>maybe this is it. This MUST has only been sitting for not quite 48 hours. Tonight (May 20, 2014) at midnight will be 48 hours.

OK>..just got back from checking on my MUST...it seams that YES air was getting out, however, not from the TUBE.


Since I'm in Costa Rica...I don't have a TRUE fermentation bucket...(whatever that is)...I found approx a 4 gallon transparent bucket with a spigot
on the bottom that people here would use to put juice or whatever in the bucket. However, after help from this forum...

I've discovered the lid is not making a good seal. There is NOT a rubber seal inside the lid and although I can press the lid down on the rim of the bucket,
after checking...the lid has play in it.

So...I've tried to seal the bucket by adding plastic wrap around the bucket's rim and then pushing the lid on for a tighter fit.

I then blew into the hose and although I can blow a little air into the bucket...it does come to a stop...where as before...it could continue blowing on the
hose and air was escaping from around the rim.

Now that it is sealed...(hopefully)...I'll report back later to see if we get TINY LITTLE BUBBLES.

By the way...Chevette, when I did remove the lid...I could hear FIZZING. Yeah! So I guess the yeast is doing it's job.

Thanks for all the help.
 
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