I started a five gallon carboy about two weeks ago. Its a honey, orange, and raisin recipe i wanted to try. It was bubbling slowly and now its not bubbling at all. When I swirl it around in the carboy, a few bubble come through the airlock but thats about it. Also, I noticed that there is a lot of sediment at the bottom of the carboy. The seal on my bung is good so i dont think thats the problem. I dont want to toss this batch. Can anyone help?
First attempt at making 5 gallons
- Thread starter Elvish_Ranch_Dressing
- Start date
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Hi Elvish_Ranch_Dressing - and welcome. As Darigoni suggests, not enough critical information. What was the starting gravity? What is the gravity today? Your recipe called for raisins (AKA oxidized grapes). Was this for some flavor? Or was this perhaps (he said with some irony in his voice) the nutrient source? If the latter, raisins are to nutrients as - oh, I don't know, ice cream is to protein. I note that you were "swirling" this, so this is clearly not a JAOM recipe because that recipe very specifically tells you not to touch the carboy and if you are "following" a recipe there may be very good reasons for the creator of a recipe to include every comment they make... Of course, 99.999% of recipes found online may not have good reason for anything they include or fail to include... As it happens the author of the JAOM recipe is a really good mead maker and this novelty recipe - despite all its counter intuitive elements works but works only if you follow the recipe and the protocol quite precisely (or if you KNOW what you are doing you can change it as long as you understand WHY the element was included)
If you are in fact making an "orange mead" and not this JAOM, then oranges are very acidic and it is possible that the pH can drop so low that the fermentation stalls. (IMO, while I view the purpose of water in fruit wine making as cleaning fluid, when it comes to orange wines here I make an exception and argue that orange juice needs to be diluted to make a drinkable orange wine). An orange mead I would think would require a similar approach but without knowledge of your recipe all this may be irrelevant (You may have used a single orange cut into eighths).
If you are in fact making an "orange mead" and not this JAOM, then oranges are very acidic and it is possible that the pH can drop so low that the fermentation stalls. (IMO, while I view the purpose of water in fruit wine making as cleaning fluid, when it comes to orange wines here I make an exception and argue that orange juice needs to be diluted to make a drinkable orange wine). An orange mead I would think would require a similar approach but without knowledge of your recipe all this may be irrelevant (You may have used a single orange cut into eighths).
Well, to be honest I dont have a hydrometer so I cant tell you the gravity. Thats how new to this I am. As far as the recipe, It called for an orange sliced up into 6 pieces and about 3 pounds of honey and a small box of raisins per gallon of spring water. I multiplied that recipe by 5 and put it into a 5 gallon carboy. I have no idea what JAOM is. So I will give you all the details I can. I heated about a half gallon of water to just below boiling and tried to dissolve the honey about 5 pounds at a time. I added the orange slices and the raisins to the carboy and I poured the honey water mixture along with four and a half gallons of spring water into the carboy. I let it sit with a lid on it until it cooled to around 98 degrees and then added a packet of yeast to it and then covered it and shook the ever livin out of it. I put a bung and a bubbler on it and put it in my closet where it still sits today.
From what I understood, the oranges and the raisins were supposed to be food for the yeast while it fermented the honey. I think thats about as specific as I can get though. Other than sanitizing everything There isnt anymore detail I can provide off the top of my head.
From what I understood, the oranges and the raisins were supposed to be food for the yeast while it fermented the honey. I think thats about as specific as I can get though. Other than sanitizing everything There isnt anymore detail I can provide off the top of my head.
I can see how lack of info would be a problem. Let me elaborate a little. I wanted to make a simple mead that didnt require very much. The recipe that I found called for an orange sliced into 6 pieces, three pounds of honey, and a small box of raisins per gallon of spring water. I multiplied this recipe by 5 for 5 gallons. I heated a half gallon of spring water to just below boiling and dissolved the honey 5 pounds at a time and then combined the spring water, oranges, and raisins into the carboy. I waited till it was about 98 degrees and then added a packet of yeast and shook the ever livin out of it. I put a bung and an airlock and then sat it in my closet where it sits today.
I understood that the fruit was food for the yeast while it fermented the honey and not for flavor. Also I dont have a way to measure the gravity. Im assuming that requires a special tool of some kind.
Also the temp in my house sits between 72 and 75 so the temp in that closet should be about the same.
It's too bad you didn't investigate more before you got started. There is so much bad info on the web. It's filled with misinformation. Your fruit is not food for the yeast in any stretch of the word. So your yeast are starving and need so YAN
D
Devin Petry-Johnson
Guest
Guest
I believe it is yeast-accessible nitrogen. It’s nutritients that yeast need to build cell walls (I think) and do general yeast stuff to make your delicious mead. There are yeast nutrient products you can buy, and Fermaid O is the best. I think yeast also eat dead yeast, also known as yeast hulls. I would think that I’d there is still honey, aka sugar, aka food in your batch you should be able to start up fermentation again if you pitch more yeast with appropriate nutrients. But I think you might need to rack into a new container to get your must off that sediment, but i’m Not sure on that.
I highly recommend listening to the mead podcast on this site. Squatchy did several episodes starting around 9/5:17 that give a TON of info on what’s happening in the mead.
I highly recommend listening to the mead podcast on this site. Squatchy did several episodes starting around 9/5:17 that give a TON of info on what’s happening in the mead.
D
Devin Petry-Johnson
Guest
Guest
As a NewBee myself, I would say this is salvageable. Don’t toss it out. Try pitching more yeast with some nutrients this time. As long as the batch hasn’t gotten to 9% ABV yet, the yeast will be able to incorporate the nutrients and will begin fermenting again. You really won’t know without a hydrometer. It’s possible to get the current ABV if you get one but it’s better to measure from the start. The temperature is too high, so put it somewhere cooler if you can.
At the end of all this you might have to let it age for a year, but it will be drinkable. It’s just hard to do the work and wait.
At the end of all this you might have to let it age for a year, but it will be drinkable. It’s just hard to do the work and wait.
