Fermentation Question

Read through the posted link. The recipe looks pretty good. My question is how do you plan to stop it once it gets going? What is your SG at this point? Cooler fermentation temps will slow it down a bit as you progress and may give you some more time to formulate a plan. My experiences with 71-b were all done with a similar OG as yours and went to 1.004 in 2 weeks max.

Why not just add enough more honey to get you close to your target gravity and let it take it's course?

In my (limited) experience, 71B likes to eat right around 110 points (±2 points) before it is done. So I would venture to guess you will end up just above 1.000 if you let it finish.

I back sweetened my first batch using the following formula (found on r/mead) and it ended up almost exactly where I wanted it:

Desired gravity points x current volume (in gallons) / 37 = pounds of honey needed

Since I wanted to go up about 30 points my calculations were (30x6)/37= about 4.5 lbs of honey. IIRC (no notes) I added just under that because it was all I had left at the time. It put me right at 1.020 after a couple of weeks of letting it sit.

I did not stabilize, but I had been done with fermentation for probably 3 months and it had been racked 3-4 times prior.

I have seen another calculation that is something like:

1# = .008 points @ 5 gallons. So 4.5# would be right about 43 points with that calculation (at my 6 gallon volume).

So somewhere in the middle of those might get you where you want (depending on your target FG). Start on the low end of what you think you will need, and you can add more later if needed....but it is hard as hell to take it out.

Hey Drew,
Since it seems like your must is still fermenting, it might be better to let it ride for now. The reason being is that it's very hard to stop an active fermentation. Sorbate prevents fermentation from starting up, but it doesn't kill the yeast or stop fermentation once it's started.

What I would do is wait until you hit your final gravity and fermentation stops on it's own. This will either be at 1.000 when the yeast run out of sugar, or a little higher if they reach their ABV limit before using up all the sugar. Either way, fermentation will stop and the yeast will go dormant and settle to the bottom.

At this point you can rack, stabilize with K-metabisulfite and sorbate, and backsweeten. I say use whatever honey tastes good to you! There's no rule that says it has to be identical to the honey you used in your must.