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i think i have slow fermentation

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paddy711

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Jan 19, 2011
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This is first time making mead and i have a six and a five gallon carboy fermenting in primary. i pitched the yeast in both of them on Tuesday(six days ago) and they have only dropped from 1.132og now 1.10 and 1.123 to 1.10. this seems slow to me, but maybe i am wrong. oh and i used yeast that should ferment out to 14% so the final gravity should be at 1.025 for the first one and 1.016 for the second one.

I used go ferm to rehydrate my yeast and so far i have used fermaid k and dap about 3-4 hours after pitch and i also added the nutrients after they both started to ferment rapidly(24 hours later) . i was going to use one more nutrient addition at the 1/2 sugar break. i also shook each carboy 3 or 4 times a day for the first three days, i took the gravity readings today and since it is still really young i gave both of them another good shake hoping this will add some o2 to help speed up fermentation.


my questions are

Is my fermentation moving slowly or is it right in track, i have read that sometimes fermentation will be completed as shortly as a week to ten days.

Since its still young should i still be shaking my carboys to degas and add o2.

Does my nutrient addition schedule seem to be ok. i have been doing some reading on this site and it sounds like some people add the nutrients more often than i plan on.



thanks for any input, i really want my first mead to turn out great.
 
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paddy711

NewBee
Registered Member
Jan 19, 2011
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6 gallon carboy recipe:

21 lbs of honey clover/wildflower
water used- spring water from walmart
yeast- 71b 5 grams
go ferm during rehydration, must was 86 degrees at time of pitch.
currently fermenting at 67 degrees
og 1.123
added 4.5g Fermaid-K & 4.5g DAP 3 to 4 hours after pitch.
added 2.8g or Fermaid-K & 2.8g DAP around 30 hours after pitched yeast.
plan on adding 1.8g of each at 1/2 sugar break
shook carboy 3-4 times a day for the first three days
shook carboy today at time of gravity check


5 gallon carboy

17.5 lbs clover honey
water used- spring water
yeast d47 5 grams
go ferm during rehydration, must was 81 degrees at time of pitch
currently fermenting at 67 degrees
og. 1.132
added 4.5g Fermaid-K & 4.5g DAP 2 hours after pitch
added 2.8g or Fermaid-K & 2.8g DAP around 30 hours after pitched yeast.
plan on adding 1.8g of each at 1/2 sugar break
shook carboy 3-4 times a day for the first three days
shook carboy today at time of gravity check


took gravity readings today and both were at 1.10. both are still bubbling away great but are showing signs of slowing down compared to a few days ago.

and i have no way to check the ph i hope this is not a problem

hope this helps
 
Last edited:
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wayneb

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Feb 7, 2007
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Evergreen, CO (west of and above the Denver smog!)
They are a little slow, but not excessively so. Your original gravities were high enough that a slight bit of slowness in the fermentation rate isn't too unusual. Your original gravities are high enough that the respective yeast strains may be feeling a little osmotic stress. If things continue to proceed apace, I'd say just let them finish out as is.

Although if both batches seem to slow down further, you could add about a gram of potassium bicarbonate (or potassium carbonate) per gallon of must and see if that helps speed things up. Most pH based slowness is caused by the pH being a little too low, rather than too high. You seem to be doing everything else according to a good plan, so I'd suspect pH as the most likely culprit in any slowness that you might be observing.
 
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