Batch progress report: No problems, smooth sailing.

philodice · Mar 22, 2017

I just checked my hydrometer and things are looking good. Thoughts?

1 and 1/3 gallon spring water
3lbs raw crockett honey from the Az desert. Awesome.
4 prunes, 30 raisins for fruit flavor.
Lavin d47 pitched in warm water for 20 minutes while I shook everything up. I stirred, beat, shook, and agitated the must until I couldn't stand it any more, then added the yeast.
Starting gravity 1.075
It was foaming like mad only hours later.

I stirred it several times a day, step fed it with fermax and a few grains of DAP every other day. Then I backed off to swirling it around twice a day, or maybe three or four times. Ok, whenever I thought about it and was near the jar. I pulled out all the floating dried fruits a few days ago.

Today it is fizzy, looks like cloudy unfiltered apple juice and smells awesome, if a little gassy. It is very actively putting off a healthy fermentation smell. Between stirs it has a pile of lees about 1/2 to 1 inch thick.
The SG is 1.025

I'm pretty happy about where this is going. When will it be ready for the next step? I don't want to rush things. Is it fermenting too quickly? This is my fastest batch yet. IS it a sign that I'm doing something right, or is my confidence too soon?

caduseus · Mar 22, 2017

philodice said:
I just checked my hydrometer and things are looking good. Thoughts?

1 and 1/3 gallon spring water
3lbs raw crockett honey from the Az desert. Awesome.
4 prunes, 30 raisins for fruit flavor.
Lavin d47 pitched in warm water for 20 minutes while I shook everything up. I stirred, beat, shook, and agitated the must until I couldn't stand it any more, then added the yeast.
Starting gravity 1.075
It was foaming like mad only hours later.

I stirred it several times a day, step fed it with fermax and a few grains of DAP every other day. Then I backed off to swirling it around twice a day, or maybe three or four times. Ok, whenever I thought about it and was near the jar. I pulled out all the floating dried fruits a few days ago.

Today it is fizzy, looks like cloudy unfiltered apple juice and smells awesome, if a little gassy. It is very actively putting off a healthy fermentation smell. Between stirs it has a pile of lees about 1/2 to 1 inch thick.
The SG is 1.025

I'm pretty happy about where this is going. When will it be ready for the next step? I don't want to rush things. Is it fermenting too quickly? This is my fastest batch yet. IS it a sign that I'm doing something right, or is my confidence too soon?

1) Did you follow TOSNA or TiOSNA? BY the way try not to use DAP in the future and use either TOSNA or TiOSNA
2) Temp where the must is?
3) Any aeration with or oxygen with a stone?
4) Did you add bentonite upfront?
5) DId you use Go-ferm when you hydrated?

philodice · Mar 22, 2017

I don't have fermaid o or fermaid k, or bentonite. I have fermax. I used that when I hydrated, did not aerate exactly. I let it pour from one jar to another over and over again with a 4 foot drop, that made it very foamy and is the only thing I can think of that I did differently. I added a pinch of DAP on day 4 and 7 but not much. I did forget to measure it exactly.
75 degrees. My house is warm because my husband hates being cold and this is Phoenix Az.

caduseus said:
1) Did you follow TOSNA or TiOSNA? BY the way try not to use DAP in the future and use either TOSNA or TiOSNA
2) Temp where the must is?
3) Any aeration with or oxygen with a stone?
4) Did you add bentonite upfront?
5) DId you use Go-ferm when you hydrated?

Dadux · Mar 22, 2017

philodice said:
I just checked my hydrometer and things are looking good. Thoughts?

1 and 1/3 gallon spring water
3lbs raw crockett honey from the Az desert. Awesome.
4 prunes, 30 raisins for fruit flavor.
Lavin d47 pitched in warm water for 20 minutes while I shook everything up. I stirred, beat, shook, and agitated the must until I couldn't stand it any more, then added the yeast.
Starting gravity 1.075
It was foaming like mad only hours later.

I stirred it several times a day, step fed it with fermax and a few grains of DAP every other day. Then I backed off to swirling it around twice a day, or maybe three or four times. Ok, whenever I thought about it and was near the jar. I pulled out all the floating dried fruits a few days ago.

Today it is fizzy, looks like cloudy unfiltered apple juice and smells awesome, if a little gassy. It is very actively putting off a healthy fermentation smell. Between stirs it has a pile of lees about 1/2 to 1 inch thick.
The SG is 1.025

I'm pretty happy about where this is going. When will it be ready for the next step? I don't want to rush things. Is it fermenting too quickly? This is my fastest batch yet. IS it a sign that I'm doing something right, or is my confidence too soon?

Dont add dap at day 4 and 7. You are probably ok but ifnyou are gonna add it the first days is better but you are ok with fermax. How much fermax did you use?
You dont need to use bentonite altough its said it helps. But i never use it in fermentation.
To aereate just shake or whatever. Stir or shake to aereate the first 3 days then just degass. What you did eas probably.enough though.

And its hard to know if its going fast if you dont tell us when you started the batch ;D
Tell us the days when you started it and when you took the readings, but its not going fast. More like slow.
Fast or slow does not usually by itself mean better or worse. What temp did you ferment at?
It doesnt sound bad. You can taste it and tell us altough. But its early so dont expect it to taste great yet. If there are any clear off flavours you will detect them though. Sulphur taste or lota of fusels...

Squatchy · Mar 22, 2017

Your temps are way to high for that yeast. Your making fussel alcohol and it will take a long time to age that out. Can you do something to get your temps in the low 60's?

philodice · Mar 22, 2017

Whoops, this started on 03/11/17. And it is in the coolest place in the house. Is there a brew refridgerator I should be using?

Trenchie · Mar 22, 2017

It may not only be the temps ... different yeasts operate at different temps. the newbee guide has some info on that ... big green bar above, newbee guide tab, chapter nine.

Dadux · Mar 22, 2017

Trenchie said:
It may not only be the temps ... different yeasts operate at different temps. the newbee guide has some info on that ... big green bar above, newbee guide tab, chapter nine.

There are a few strains that are better at high temps. Gove them a try. An example is french saisson from mangrove jack

dingurth · Mar 22, 2017

Dadux said:
There are a few strains that are better at high temps. Gove them a try. An example is french saisson from mangrove jack

I've heard K1V-1116 does well at higher temps from other brewers in AZ and FL.

caduseus · Mar 22, 2017

dingurth said:
I've heard K1V-1116 does well at higher temps from other brewers in AZ and FL.

Yes and EC-1118 is also better for higher temps.

But no yeast does "exceptionally well" at temps above 75

Squatchy · Mar 22, 2017

I have what I call winter yeast and summer yeast. D47 is probably the fussiest yeast I know of for temps, and has a very slim window. Along with many other things to consider when choosing a yeast. Temps would be the first one. You might pick a great yeast. But if your temps are outside of it's range you are not doing yourself any good at all by violating it's temp requirement.

philodice · Mar 22, 2017

Too late to put it in a bucket of ice, I'm guessing?

caduseus · Mar 22, 2017

philodice said:
Too late to put it in a bucket of ice, I'm guessing?

The first few days is the most critical for keeping the temp low.
EC-1118 and K1V-1116- both by Lalvin are best choices for warmer temps.

Go to LHBS and buy either one. The downside is that over the course of the fermentaion these two "killer-yeast" will kill off what you pitched.
At this point, unless you have access to a cellar/basement or have an IMMEDIATE way to refrigerate below 70F but above 60F your mead will end up either not fermenting at all OR fermenting with so many fusels that it will take a year or longer to age out.

Go ahead and pitch one of those two yeast ASAP! NO make that yesterday! LOL

philodice · Mar 23, 2017

I put it in a trash bag with ice packs and zipped a wool coat around the carboy. Temp dropped to 61 last night. I'll alternate ice packs until fermentation is done.

-The story so far:
Pitched on 04/12/17
1 and 1/3 gallon spring water
3lbs raw crockett honey from the Az desert. Awesome.
4 prunes, 30 raisins for fruit flavor.
Lavin d47 pitched in warm water for 20 minutes while I shook everything up. I stirred, beat, shook, and agitated the must until I couldn't stand it any more, then added the yeast.
Starting gravity 1.075
Temperature around 75 degrees.
It was foaming like mad only hours later.

I stirred it several times a day, step fed it with fermax and a few grains of DAP every other day. Then I backed off to swirling it around twice a day.
04/17/17 I pulled out all the floating dried fruits and filtered out floating bits.

04/21/17 Today it is fizzy, looks like cloudy unfiltered apple juice and smells awesome, if a little gassy. It is very actively putting off a healthy fermentation smell. Between stirs it has a pile of lees about ¼ inch thick.
The Specific Gravity is 1.025

04/21/17 Feeling rather overconfident and proud, I posted my results on GotMead forums and was promptly told to take better care of my yeast. I’m a bad mother, so I was told to get K1V-1116 which is more likely to put up with the heat. Blatantly ignoring this advice, I racked it off the slightly off smelling lavine d-47, degassed, and made a cooling chamber for my mead out of ice packs and a wool coat.

04/22/17 Temperature is 61 degrees. Do I still need to pitch more/different yeast? Will this work? Is it too late for this one gallon batch? It’s too young to die!-

caduseus · Mar 23, 2017

philodice said:
I put it in a trash bag with ice packs and zipped a wool coat around the carboy. Temp dropped to 61 last night. I'll alternate ice packs until fermentation is done.

-The story so far:
Pitched on 04/12/17
1 and 1/3 gallon spring water
3lbs raw crockett honey from the Az desert. Awesome.
4 prunes, 30 raisins for fruit flavor.
Lavin d47 pitched in warm water for 20 minutes while I shook everything up. I stirred, beat, shook, and agitated the must until I couldn't stand it any more, then added the yeast.
Starting gravity 1.075
Temperature around 75 degrees.
It was foaming like mad only hours later.

I stirred it several times a day, step fed it with fermax and a few grains of DAP every other day. Then I backed off to swirling it around twice a day.
04/17/17 I pulled out all the floating dried fruits and filtered out floating bits.

04/21/17 Today it is fizzy, looks like cloudy unfiltered apple juice and smells awesome, if a little gassy. It is very actively putting off a healthy fermentation smell. Between stirs it has a pile of lees about ¼ inch thick.
The Specific Gravity is 1.025

04/21/17 Feeling rather overconfident and proud, I posted my results on GotMead forums and was promptly told to take better care of my yeast. I’m a bad mother, so I was told to get K1V-1116 which is more likely to put up with the heat. Blatantly ignoring this advice, I racked it off the slightly off smelling lavine d-47, degassed, and made a cooling chamber for my mead out of ice packs and a wool coat.

04/22/17 Temperature is 61 degrees. Do I still need to pitch more/different yeast? Will this work? Is it too late for this one gallon batch? It’s too young to die!-

Fermax: is that organic or inorganic nitrogen?
Dont use DAP. Use more Fermax if it has at least SOME organic nitrogen.
2017 or 2016?

philodice · Mar 23, 2017

Oops. I posted all the dates in April. It is still March.

Squatchy · Mar 23, 2017

As was stated earlier. The fussels were made early on. Please don't toss it. Mead is very resilient. The off flavors will take some time but hopefully in the end it will be ok. Just make sure to cold crash it when the fermentation stops. And then rack it as soon as the lees drop out. And eventually it will drop out more. Because of this, don't allow much build up of lees. Keep racking it, or use a finning agent to clear and then rack. The point is don't let the yeast pile up on the bottom of your vessel.

Here is a link that will give you all the info you could want on yeast. http://www.scottlab.com/pdf/ScottlabsHandbook2016.pdf

philodice · Mar 25, 2017

Thanks for the advice. I just started mazing in November 2016. Now I am terribly sad. It turns out my first very tasty and drinkable mead at 3 months was beginner's luck and the fact that I made it in the cold months. All other batches since then smelled fine at first, and now all three of them smell and taste like gasoline. So the good news is they are all one gallon each. I'll watch the lees and rack them and wait the fussels out. I haven't failed at making mead, I've just failed at making awesome mead quickly.
I've moved all of my mead into a cooling chamber. I know that at this point cooling it for long term storage won't make much difference, but the 4 one gallon jars and a few frozen water bottles are being used as thermal mass to keep my latest try at the correct temperature.
I just pitched a 3 gallon carboy with just 7.5lbs honey, spring water, and yeast. It looked lonely. The "brew cooler" carboy jacket is huge, and I didn't want too much empty air in there causing temperature instability. The cooler is a bit tricky, I think I had too much ice so I took some out. It got down to 55 degrees overnight. I was aiming for 62-65 degrees.

Squatchy said:
As was stated earlier. The fussels were made early on. Please don't toss it. Mead is very resilient. The off flavors will take some time but hopefully in the end it will be ok. Just make sure to cold crash it when the fermentation stops. And then rack it as soon as the lees drop out. And eventually it will drop out more. Because of this, don't allow much build up of lees. Keep racking it, or use a finning agent to clear and then rack. The point is don't let the yeast pile up on the bottom of your vessel.

Here is a link that will give you all the info you could want on yeast. http://www.scottlab.com/pdf/ScottlabsHandbook2016.pdf

Squatchy · Mar 25, 2017

philodice said:
Thanks for the advice. I just started mazing in November 2016. Now I am terribly sad. It turns out my first very tasty and drinkable mead at 3 months was beginner's luck and the fact that I made it in the cold months. All other batches since then smelled fine at first, and now all three of them smell and taste like gasoline. So the good news is they are all one gallon each. I'll watch the lees and rack them and wait the fussels out. I haven't failed at making mead, I've just failed at making awesome mead quickly.
I've moved all of my mead into a cooling chamber. I know that at this point cooling it for long term storage won't make much difference, but the 4 one gallon jars and a few frozen water bottles are being used as thermal mass to keep my latest try at the correct temperature.
I just pitched a 3 gallon carboy with just 7.5lbs honey, spring water, and yeast. It looked lonely. The "brew cooler" carboy jacket is huge, and I didn't want too much empty air in there causing temperature instability. The cooler is a bit tricky, I think I had too much ice so I took some out. It got down to 55 degrees overnight. I was aiming for 62-65 degrees.

These are things you should learn of to make the best mead possible in the shortest time.

So you'll need to buy some and learn how to feed your yeast. You will also need to learn how to re-hydrate your yeast. You can find the rehydrating part in this handbook. http://www.scottlab.com/pdf/ScottlabsHandbook2016.pdf

There is info in here about nutrients as well.

And here http://www.meadmaderight.com/info.html

I just found this I posted on another thread. This will help

Hi James and welcome to the forum.

So here are some things you need to understand and employ to make good mead

The bible is here http://www.scottlab.com/pdf/ScottlabsHandbook2016.pdf

You over time will find yeast you like and will hear about the main ones on here. You can read about them in the handbook

I will list the things you need to know

Sanitation

Rehydration (with Go-ferm if you can get it)
Attemperation of yeast slurry to must,,,,,,, this is on page 7

Oxygenation

Temp control
Pitch Staggered Nutrient Additions.,,,, Proper amounts of Fermaid O and timing,,, http://www.meadmakr.com/batch-buildr/ http://www.meadmaderight.com/info.html

Degassing/ aeration/

Rouse the yeast daily

philodice · Mar 25, 2017

Actually, I'm good with rehydration, yeast, science...I'm not just dropping dry yeast in there. I've done a lot of reading and my degree is in biology. The only thing I didn't think I could control was the temperature. My house is too hot. Then I got a brainwave and thought....Cooler! I should be good now.

Batch progress report: No problems, smooth sailing.

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