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yeasty smell bleh!

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crakmunkey

crakmunkey

NewBee
Registered Member
Oct 31, 2008
15
0
0
39
Berkeley, CA
Howdy ya'll.

So my mead has been fermenting for about 9 days now. It took 24 hours to really get going and then it suddenly died the 3rd day so i added in some more nutrients to try and help out. It hasn't bubbled since. This is my first no-heat mead (my 3rd time brewing mead all together). Here's my process:

Honey: 1 gallon Sage from Millers
Yeast: Lavlin 71B-1122 (2 - 5g packets)
Pre-Procedure:
1. Sanitized everything with iosaphor (about 1.5 tbls for bucket). Let soak for about 30 min. Did everything else in sink after thoroughly cleaning it. About 1tbls for sink. Added spatula to help with cleaning bucket of honey.
2. Cleaned kitchen too.

Procedure:
1. Pour 2.5 gallon distilled water into plastic fermenter.
2. Added 2 tsp EACH of DAP and yeast nutrient from Oak Barrel in Berkeley.
3. Poured honey and spatulaed out the rest into fermenter. Had to add the rest of the water into fermenter (total of3.5 gallon water, 1 gallon honey)
4. Mixed thoroughly with spoon to try and oxygenate.
5. Pitched yeast after stiring it with 105F water for 5 min.
6. Mixed. Covered.

Gravity: ~1110. Grabbed from bottom of bucket.
Temperature: 71 degrees F.

any ideas why it smells so yeasty? I'm racking it to my 2nd fermenter tonight.

thanks
 
akueck

akueck

Certified Mead Mentor
Certified Mead Mentor
Jun 26, 2006
4,958
11
0
Ithaca, NY
I dunno, yeasty is sort of expected. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Do you know the current SG?

Yay for Oak Barrel, I really like that place. ;D
 
cam07ds

cam07ds

Mazer Cup International Staff
Registered Member
Sep 2, 2008
229
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63
Parker, CO
Hello and welcome to Gotmead.....

My first run with 71B had some strange smells also they are not all a bad thing.

I'm not the expert here but we need to try to get more information about your recipie and process. There is a wealth of information in the Newbee guide which will help out a lot.

To me it appears that you have added to much DAP and nutrient. I use 3 grams DAP and 7gr FermaidK initially for for a 5 gal batch. 2 tsp seems like to much to me. And its still a little to soon to be racking. 71B lets off some yeasty smells that are not all bad just a sign of fermentation.

Also Distilled water is really not a good choice. From my reading and help by others here Distilled water has nothing in it either O2 or minerals which makes it a "desert" for the yeast which needs lots of O2 in the beginning phases of the ferment.


Also do you know what your current PH and SG are right now? My guess is your yeasties are stressed and need some help. Have you tried to aerate the must?

Try to give a little more information and the others will weigh in with help.

Good luck and welcome again.
Steve
 
crakmunkey

crakmunkey

NewBee
Registered Member
Oct 31, 2008
15
0
0
39
Berkeley, CA
sorry I forgot to proof read my post! My FG was about 550. Also, it was more of a yeasty flavor. I gave some to my girlfriend and she just flinched after tasting some. When I racked it I put in another tsp of DAP, and it started to bubble again once every minute or 2.

Oddly enough my last batch I put in a whole package of DAP and yeast nutrient and the fermentation was fast and thorough. Flavor wasn't affected I feel. I also used distilled water, what kind do you use? Also I racked in 7 days on that one as well to try and remove it from any dead yeast.

I'm hoping to throw in some strawberries soon but not until there's more alcohol to kill of any creatures!
 
akueck

akueck

Certified Mead Mentor
Certified Mead Mentor
Jun 26, 2006
4,958
11
0
Ithaca, NY
FG of 550? Do you mean 1.055? That is pretty high and your fermentation doesn't sound like it is done yet. Generally you don't want to rack until after it's finished, you will leave some yeast behind and might stress out the remaining yeast. Don't worry about dead yeast after a week, it takes months for them to start eating each other. You can start thinking about racking once you reach final gravity (this mead should come out near dry or 1.000).

The yeasty flavor comes from the yeast (haha); after a week or two there are going to be billions of them in there and you'll taste it. You will still taste yeast until well after the mead has cleared (clear mead still can have millions of yeasties floating around, you just can't see them). Don't worry about it now, your mead is still so young that flavors are going to be a little odd.

I very often use tap water. We are lucky to have some really great tap water here in the Bay Area--take advantage of it! It is really good for beer as well. Sometimes I will use bottled "spring water" instead.
 
crakmunkey

crakmunkey

NewBee
Registered Member
Oct 31, 2008
15
0
0
39
Berkeley, CA
I may just be acting paranoid because my first mead was a failure that smelled and tasted like yeast until the bitter end, and it had nasty floaties in it. I had left that in the first fermenter for about 4 weeks.

It's bubbling once every 22 seconds or so now. (i was wrong on the once a minute). I may take some out to oxygenate it as well.

Yea i meant 1.055. I dont know what i was thinking haha.
 
akueck

akueck

Certified Mead Mentor
Certified Mead Mentor
Jun 26, 2006
4,958
11
0
Ithaca, NY
Oxygen is not really what you want at this point. You could check the pH to see if that is slowing you down. Otherwise I'd let it ride for a bit.
 
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