First-timer - two questions about yeast

[akueck]

9 days is well within the normal range of fermentation times. You'll have to measure the SG to be sure, of course.

As long as the inside and outside of the spigot are also sanitized (a spray bottle is handy for this), you should be ok to return the sample. Or you can choose to use it as a quality control check and pour it directly into a glass instead.

 

[Hagroth]

9 days is well within the normal range of fermentation times. You'll have to measure the SG to be sure, of course.

As long as the inside and outside of the spigot are also sanitized (a spray bottle is handy for this), you should be ok to return the sample. Or you can choose to use it as a quality control check and pour it directly into a glass instead.

Great my spray bottle finally comes in handy The latter does sound like a better idea, I'd need to taste it sooner or later anyway

Done, it tastes really sweet and pretty good, and it's quite transparent, has a slight yellow tinge to it and a little sparkling. A bit of white foam when first pouring it but that's probably normal. But I'm unsure about my readings, so I'd need some help here.

My hydrometer's scale looks like this: http://www.allafrance.com/products/images/IMG_CATALOGUE/200-100-1_FRG.jpg (It's called "Wine hydrometer" from the brand "Alla France".)

First of all, water was at about 0 when I measured it, which would mean 0 translates to 1... Then what would "120" mean for example? 1.120? And "40" would mean 1.040? 0 through -10 (the black area) is highlighted with "WEIN FLASHENABFULLUNG", which means that's when it's ready to bottle, according to the instructions that's below 6 Oechsle.

If I was correct in the above paragraph, these are my results:

Batch 1 (more honey):
OG = reading 115 = 1.115; SG = reading 110 = 1.110
% Alcohol = ((1.05 x (OG – TG)) / TG) / 0.79 = ((1.05 * (1.115 - 1.110)) / 1.110 ) / 0.79 = 0,6%

Batch 2 (less honey):
OG = reading 102 = 1.102; SG = reading 93 = 1.093
((1.05 * (1.102 - 1.093)) / 1.093 ) / 0.79 = 0.2458 = 1,1%

In that case, my mead is far from done, as my yeast's tolerance is 11%. Should I apply more nutrient?

 

[akueck]

Yup, sounds not done yet. More nutrient would be an appropriate step, as well as some aeration.

 

[Hagroth]

Yup, sounds not done yet. More nutrient would be an appropriate step, as well as some aeration.

Ok, I'll give that a shot. I'll pour in one teaspoon of nutrient, open the lid and stir it for five minutes before sealing it again.

 

[Hagroth]

Before I do that, I have another question. What do you think of the current speed? The sweeter batch went from 1.115 to 1.110 while the drier one went from 1.102 to 1.093 in 9 days. I have no evidence that the fermentation has actually slowed down since this is my only reading. The dry batch went down 0.009, about 0.010 in gravity in 9 days, so I'd need like 90 days all in all to finish this off, wouldn't I? That's pretty slow, isn't it?

 

[Chevette Girl]

This does seem a bit on the slow side for a traditional but I've seen show meads go this slow... You probably want to do a really good aeration on both batches (daily), and if you haven't gotten nutrients and energizer into these batches, I'd highly recommend it, you're still within the first third of your fermentation.

 

[Hagroth]

This does seem a bit on the slow side for a traditional but I've seen show meads go this slow... You probably want to do a really good aeration on both batches (daily), and if you haven't gotten nutrients and energizer into these batches, I'd highly recommend it, you're still within the first third of your fermentation.

Yes, I've now added one teaspoon of "Wyeast Beer Nutrient Blend" to each batch, stirred them good for a couple of minutes each and sealed them up again. The nutrients dissolved with a hissing sound and white foam was produced to a smaller extent, maybe 3 cm above the surface before stirring. Would adding one teaspoon to each batch tomorrow as well and then letting them be for like 9 days be all right? The reason being I'm going travelling again unfortunately (but I can make sure someone shakes them up a bit daily if that'd be a good idea). In fact, maybe I should add even more? I mean, this guy says: "Fermaid K is instructed to use 1 tsp per 5 gallons but in a high gravity must you may use up to 4 times as much nutrients." (http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f30/problematic-mead-339201/) The instructions for my nutrient says I should use 0,5 teaspoon per 5 gallons, but that's apparently for beer since it's aimed at beer, judging by its title. My mead batches obviously have pretty high gravities right now (1.110 and 1.093). So I reckon 2 teaspoons per 3 gallons over the course of 2 days shouldn't be unreasonably much, what do you think?

Take a look at this by the way: "If you only used 1tsp of nutrient to the must you need to add more. Normal dosage is 1tablespoon per gallon of must. Higher OG batches can need even more nutrients." (http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f30/problematic-mead-339201/) That'd be 9 teaspoons in total for each batch!

 

[Chevette Girl]

I usually go with 1 tsp of yeast nutrients per gallon so your idea's not a bad plan. These don't really qualify as a particularly high gravity for a wine (~1.110 is around average) but definitely would be high grav for a beer. I would definitely pop the lids and splash the must around as much as you can as often as you can before you take off again though, even if you have to pour some of your must into a sanitized container and whip the crap out of it with a sanitized blender or sanitized whisk, your yeasties probably still need a good dose of oxygen.

Edit: oh, and aerating it before dropping powders into must will help prevent mead explosions, that foaming you noticed can sometimes get out of hand!

 

[Hagroth]

I usually go with 1 tsp of yeast nutrients per gallon so your idea's not a bad plan. These don't really qualify as a particularly high gravity for a wine (~1.110 is around average) but definitely would be high grav for a beer. I would definitely pop the lids and splash the must around as much as you can as often as you can before you take off again though, even if you have to pour some of your must into a sanitized container and whip the crap out of it with a sanitized blender or sanitized whisk, your yeasties probably still need a good dose of oxygen.

Edit: oh, and aerating it before dropping powders into must will help prevent mead explosions, that foaming you noticed can sometimes get out of hand!

Is that 1 tsp per gallon every time or in total? About the blender thing, can't you just santize a blender and operate it directly in the fermenting bucket? Or are you talking about a situation where you simply can't access it with a blender, like in a glass bottle?

Thanks, will consider that next time!

 

[Chevette Girl]

Is that 1 tsp per gallon every time or in total? About the blender thing, can't you just santize a blender and operate it directly in the fermenting bucket? Or are you talking about a situation where you simply can't access it with a blender, like in a glass bottle?

Thanks, will consider that next time!

If you've got a hand blender, that would do the trick in a bucket as long as you're not also using a fruit bag like I usually am, I didn't re-read the whole thread to remember whether you were using a bucket or carboy. A wire whisk would work too, that's what I often use, it won't get caught on my fruit bags

And if I'm only using nutrients, yeah, 1 tsp per gallon in total because that's what the packet recommends, but I often break that up into several feedings and I'll cut the total amount in half if I'm using energizer as well.

 

[Soyala_Amaya]

...using a fruit bag like I usually am...

That's why I like to weight my fruit bags with sanitized fish safe glass beads. A pound or two works pretty well and makes managing the cap much easier too!

 

[Hagroth]

So I've been gone for five days now and apparently something's happening in one bucket. The formerly slow dry batch is "blurping" every 20 seconds while the formerly active one (that blurped every 20 seconds a week ago) has reduced its pace to but once every several minutes! I take it the blurping isn't the most reliable way of determining activity, but do you reckon I should make sure someone takes the lid off and shakes it for a bit or something? What would you do in my position? There's no way of measuring the gravity until I get home again I'm afraid.

 

[Chevette Girl]

You're right about airlock activity not being a good guide. If they're both chugging along, I wouldn't worry. The one that was going faster before may well be slowing down as it's finishing, and the other one's worked its way back up to a good pace a few days behind the other batch, finishing up the last little bits of whatever sugars were left... I don't see your gravities listed here so I can't tell you if it was actually dry or not, but even if it had gotten to 1.000, I've had some wines get as low as 0.990 and others have reported lower than that.

With any luck they'll both be around the same place by the time you return!

(now stop fretting like a new parent and go have some fun/get some work done, depending on the nature of why you are gone!)

 

[Hagroth]

You're right about airlock activity not being a good guide. If they're both chugging along, I wouldn't worry. The one that was going faster before may well be slowing down as it's finishing, and the other one's worked its way back up to a good pace a few days behind the other batch, finishing up the last little bits of whatever sugars were left... I don't see your gravities listed here so I can't tell you if it was actually dry or not, but even if it had gotten to 1.000, I've had some wines get as low as 0.990 and others have reported lower than that.

With any luck they'll both be around the same place by the time you return!

(now stop fretting like a new parent and go have some fun/get some work done, depending on the nature of why you are gone!)

Well, I call it "dry" simply because it's drier than the other one

lol, will do! I think I'll just let them be until I get home and get the opportunity to do a gravity measurement again. Thanks!

 

[Hagroth]

Update:

2012-07-28
I checked the gravities again:

"Sweet":
OG = 115 = 1.115; SG = 97 = 1.097
% Alcohol = ((1.05 x (OG – TG)) / TG) / 0.79 = ((1.05 * (1.115 - 1.097)) / 1.097 ) / 0.79 = 2,2%

"Dry":
OG = 102 = 1.102; SG = 72 = 1.072
((1.05 * (1.102 - 1.072)) / 1.072 ) / 0.79 = 3,7%

July 16th the sweeter batch went from 1.115 to 1.110 while the drier one went from 1.102 to 1.093 in 9 days. Now, in 13 days, they've gone from 1.110 to 1.097 and 1.093 to 1.072 respectively.

 

[Hagroth]

Update:

2012-08-10
I checked the gravities once again:

"Sweet":
OG = 115 = 1.115; SG = 90 = 1.09
% Alcohol = ((1.05 x (OG – TG)) / TG) / 0.79 = ((1.05 * (1.115 - 1.09)) / 1.09 ) / 0.79 = 3%

"Dry":
OG = 102 = 1.102; SG = 60 = 1.06
((1.05 * (1.102 - 1.06)) / 1.06 ) / 0.79 = 5,2%

July 16th the sweeter batch went from 1.115 to 1.110 while the drier one went from 1.102 to 1.093 in 9 days. During the following 13 days, they went from 1.110 to 1.097 and 1.093 to 1.072 respectively. The next 13 days they went from 1.097 to 1.09 and 1.072 to 1.06.

So they aren't accelerating, that's for sure. Do you think I should still just let them be or is there anything I should do? Thanks!

 

[infoleather]

Strange as it sounds, a package of dry yeast is as much, if not more, than a smack package viable yeast cells.

 

[Hagroth]

Strange as it sounds, a package of dry yeast is as much, if not more, than a smack package viable yeast cells.

Right, so your point is smack packages aren't really worth it? The reason I got a smack package is because I'm a complete beginner at all things considering brewing and it's the only yeast that was labelled "mead yeast". Since I was a beginner, that seemed the safest option.

 

[kudapucat]

"mead yeast" is a common misnomer.
Many experts have had trouble getting "mead yeasts" to ferment.
Fact is mead's still young, and small market share. The research money is just not there.
Use a recommended wine, beer or bread yeast, depending on what you're brewing.

 

[Hagroth]

"mead yeast" is a common misnomer.
Many experts have had trouble getting "mead yeasts" to ferment.
Fact is mead's still young, and small market share. The research money is just not there.
Use a recommended wine, beer or bread yeast, depending on what you're brewing.

Ok, thanks. But what would you recommend me to do about this ridiculously slow fermenting process? I haven't measured it since August 10th but I figure I'll do it later today.