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Stalled ferment / must still too sweet — what do I do?

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enigma_0z

NewBee
Registered Member
Apr 17, 2018
18
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So now about a month and a half in, my must is sitting at 1.05 SG down from 1.10. I’m fermenting in less-than-ideal temperature conditions for the D47 I used, and my best guess is that even though D47 supposedly can completely dry out 1.10 SG (to hit 14% / 1.005 SG), since my ferment temp was high for the yeast, it’s decided that it’s quitting time. (air conditioned household temperatures that fluctuate between 68 and 73)

SG hasn’t changed over the past few weeks.

So my question is this: the must tastes too sweet still, and I want to dry it out more. I’ve racked the original 2gal into four 1/4 gal carboys, but if I want to do more fermenting, can I just start up more yeast and pitch it? I have some dry 71B which is far more forgiving in temperature that I could add... would it be smarter to order some liquid yeast so I don’t have to deal with starting it?


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darigoni

Got Mead? Patron
GotMead Patron
Jun 4, 2016
946
65
28
Brookline, NH
You've left out a LOT of details:

1. Did you use any kind of nutrients? If so, what and how (protocol)?

2. Any idea what your ph is?

3. Did you do any degassing/aerating?

4. Did you hydrate your yeast? If so, what was our protocol?

5. When did you rack an why?


You might want to do a quick check of your hydrometer, just to confirm that 1.000 is in fact 1.000. https://www.wikihow.com/Calibrate-a-Hydrometer

At this point I guess I would either use K1-V116 or EC-1118. Both are aggressive yeasts and have a high temperature tolerance.

Look at this post to see how you should add the new yeast to a fermentation that is stuck in the middle, as it's not advisable to just dump the new yeast into a must that already has alcohol in it. You need to add it to the must gradually. Kind of like creating a starter and then incrementally adding your troubled must.

http://www.gotmead.com/forum/showthread.php/27046-Stuck-in-the-middle?highlight=stuck+fermentation
 
E

enigma_0z

NewBee
Registered Member
Apr 17, 2018
18
0
0
1. Did you use any kind of nutrients? If so, what and how (protocol)?

DAP. In the initial must, no protocol follow ng that. Amount as on label (I believe .5tsp per gal)

2. Any idea what your ph is?

No. Don’t have the means to test it. It smells and tastes slightly acidic though.

3. Did you do any degassing/aerating?

Stirred weekly-ish

4. Did you hydrate your yeast? If so, what was our protocol?

No. Straight in the must (yes I know, bad)

5. When did you rack an why?

Today. Because things were stalled and I (stupidly) thought I could ferment 2gal in a 2gal bucket — nearly no headroom and it’s been inconvenient.

I do want to add some fruits and things to them, so at this point I’d like to add whatever yeast to kickstart it and also fruits to three of the four (keep one just straight honey)

...

I’ll check hydrometer calibration and see about some 1118


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D

darigoni

Got Mead? Patron
GotMead Patron
Jun 4, 2016
946
65
28
Brookline, NH
Sounds like a plan.

You need to learn the proper techniques on how to make mead, especially if you plan on making more:

Yeast hydration.

Nutrients. Get rid of the DAP and get some Fermaid K or Fermaid O.

Degassing. Daily.

Buy some PH strips.
 
S

Squatchy

Lifetime GotMead Patron
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Nov 3, 2014
5,542
261
83
Denver
You've kind of screwed yourself.

I would say to forget about restarting it. It's not as easy as it sounds and with your experience, it probably won't work. You did a ton of things wrong.

I would suggest adding Hungarian oak in medium or medium plus toast level. But some tartaric acid and try doing some acid additions.

Learn to make mead before you start your next batch. Here on Gotmeadlive we did a podcast starting on 9/5/17 walking you through the entire process
 
Chevette Girl

Chevette Girl

All around BAD EXAMPLE
Moderator
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Apr 27, 2010
8,447
59
48
Ottawa, ON
Chances are it's not the temperature that caused the yeast to quit. It's more likely something else... When we see your recipe and procedures, maybe we can tell you what.

Liquid yeast is not a good idea for restarting, from what I've read, it actually has a much lower cell count than the packets of dried yeast.

If you want this to go drier, I'd suggest starting another batch and making sure you aerate, degas, and adequately feed it the nutrients it needs with th intention of fermenting it completely dry, and then blend the too dry batch with the too sweet batch. Just be careful, adding a sweet must to a freshly fermented new must can cause renewed fermentation if you don't stabilize everything first.
 
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