WELCOME TO GOTMEAD!
(I've been wanting to do that for some time. Sorry patrons for taking away that pleasure from you )
Hi Big Dawg,
So the foam at the top, or krausen, is normal. You do not need to remove the krausen from your fermenting mead. Actually my impression is that this is a bad idea as you will be removing some nutrients and yeasts when skimming that krausen (but I could be mistaken). The only scenario where I can imagine this *might* be a good idea is if you are doing an open bucket fermentation and you are worried it got contaminated from the air. This is why I hear people covering their bucket with a sanitized towel.
the level of foam varies from batch to batch depending on ingredients and rate of fermentation... and probably many more factors. I wouldn't worry too much about it. Even though I always had this foam/krausen I've heard of people who don't get it.
The 1/4 tsp of energizer per day will be repeated for how long? That is called step feeding the nutrients and is usually done for the first couple of days, so careful you do not overdo it. stirring the mead for aeration does not need to be 6 times a day as I heard 3 times is sufficient. However, surely there is no harm in doing this more than 3 times and I have done this as much as 6 times myself on certain batches. Check out aeration up to the 1/3 sugar break from the search tools on these forums. If you have no way of determining your 1/3 sugar break I think (given the lack of info I have of your recipe) that aeration for 3-5 days should be sufficient.
I think you cannot start a new thread just yet.. If I remember well I had a couple of days between registering and having my account initiated to member. But that was some months ago and I wasn't too sure what was happening either.
Don't worry though you seem to be on the right track. You are doing well, I am just ensuring you know how to continue from here on. My only question is whether or not you have a hydrometer. If you don;t have one this will be your best investment
Btw I am only mentioning the specific terms so as to make you familiar with them and help you search the forums yourself. By far the greatest pleasure you will get will be from learning from the vast amounts of info on this site through the search facility (once you get as hooked as we are at least)
Happy brewing
(I've been wanting to do that for some time. Sorry patrons for taking away that pleasure from you )
Hi Big Dawg,
So the foam at the top, or krausen, is normal. You do not need to remove the krausen from your fermenting mead. Actually my impression is that this is a bad idea as you will be removing some nutrients and yeasts when skimming that krausen (but I could be mistaken). The only scenario where I can imagine this *might* be a good idea is if you are doing an open bucket fermentation and you are worried it got contaminated from the air. This is why I hear people covering their bucket with a sanitized towel.
the level of foam varies from batch to batch depending on ingredients and rate of fermentation... and probably many more factors. I wouldn't worry too much about it. Even though I always had this foam/krausen I've heard of people who don't get it.
The 1/4 tsp of energizer per day will be repeated for how long? That is called step feeding the nutrients and is usually done for the first couple of days, so careful you do not overdo it. stirring the mead for aeration does not need to be 6 times a day as I heard 3 times is sufficient. However, surely there is no harm in doing this more than 3 times and I have done this as much as 6 times myself on certain batches. Check out aeration up to the 1/3 sugar break from the search tools on these forums. If you have no way of determining your 1/3 sugar break I think (given the lack of info I have of your recipe) that aeration for 3-5 days should be sufficient.
I think you cannot start a new thread just yet.. If I remember well I had a couple of days between registering and having my account initiated to member. But that was some months ago and I wasn't too sure what was happening either.
Don't worry though you seem to be on the right track. You are doing well, I am just ensuring you know how to continue from here on. My only question is whether or not you have a hydrometer. If you don;t have one this will be your best investment
Btw I am only mentioning the specific terms so as to make you familiar with them and help you search the forums yourself. By far the greatest pleasure you will get will be from learning from the vast amounts of info on this site through the search facility (once you get as hooked as we are at least)
Happy brewing
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