Ok so this is the process I used to mix everything I used three gallon of water and nine pounds of honey that almost four gallon total(almost) I warm up all the honey in a pot on the stove with one gallon water I did not boil it after the mix was warmed up and all one uniform liquid I poured it in a five gallon food bucket and then poured the other two gallons of water in the bucket to cool down the must and then I cut in half all the oranges and tossed those in the bucket as well as the raz's then I used three tsp of yeast nutrient and also the smack pack then I cover it with the lid and airlock for two weeks and three days then I skimmed the fruit out and racked it into the three gallon carboy so yes there was aliitle must left over I tasted the I tossed it and used and bung and airlock for the carboy and it has been sitting now for four days and there is a ton of lees or sediment on the bottom so I assuming that I put to much of the smack pack in because on the pack it says pitch into a six gallon batch of must and the guy at my LBS said toss it all in and I feel that I should not have done that because now there is too much yeast still dormant in the mead and that where the sediment is coming from I do not have a gravity measurements as I am strapped for cash for the time being I did taste it and it not that bad ..... I was going to rack it again and put a stick of cinnimon in there to clear it up and rack it again and again till its clear with no sediment and I can see threw it and backsweeten and bottle ? I hope that is enough info because that all I did lol the name of the products I posted before I hope you masters of the art can guide my Jedi ways
See while I can appreciate the money thing, for safety more than anything else, a hydrometer is almost a required essential.
The sediment isnt about how much yeast you pitched, yeast is a living organism and with some types of brew it will develop a large colony which dies off as it regenerates, producing (potentially) a lot of sediment. I suspect that more by luck, your brew was one that the yeasties enjoyed.
With a lot of yeasts you could just leave it there and let it clear with time, but there are a few that are known to impart off flavours, hence its normally recommended that unless the yeast is known to be good if left, to rack the brew off the sediment periodically.
I've never had success with that yeast and while some have had good results its known as being a bit of a PITA. The sediment and bubbles suggest that it must have worked but without the numbers there's no way of telling how well.
I'm thinking that till you can get a hydrometer to know where its at, just rack it off the sediment, but think on ways of either topping it up or displacing the brew once racked or if you have some way of blanketing the brew with CO2.......
The point being that you want to remove the sediment but you don't want to be left with a lot of air space over the top of the brew as that can encourage oxidation damage.
Cheap vodka will increase the alcohol level, and help stop the yeast fermenting further if there is room for it to restart, and helps with increased preservative effect with reduced need for sulphites or sorbate to stabilise it, but the downside is that it reduces body/viscosity some.
Water just dilutes the alcohol, the body and flavour.
To displace, sanitised glass marbles are a favourite but caution is needed in a glass fermenter and it can be surprising just how many are needed.
Gas blanketing is dependant on having usable acces to the gas.....
Personally, I'm thinking maybe just some more fruit (raspberries and the segmented out flesh from oranges) and some cheap vodka.....
That's about the best I can suggest........oh and if you have the fridge space, cold crashing it can help with clearing out any further sediment a bit quicker.
And yes, the advice would be different if you had access to a hydrometer etc, but WTF, we all have to make compromises driven by the money eh !
