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Is our Mead stuck, what does stuck mean???

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wolf_tracker

NewBee
Registered Member
Jan 18, 2007
184
0
0
Want to make 6 gallon of orange blossom mead
for splitting into 2 three gallon batchs.

Any thoughts or comments would be appreciated.

(12/28/06) Started

6 quarts of draper orange blossom honey
4.5 gal deer park water (to bring up to 6 gallons)

1.25 tsp fermaid K
6 tsp yeast nutrient
2 pgs wyeast 4184 sweet mead (smacked yeast 4 hours before use) packages had expanded nicely (imo)

cleaned and sanitized every thing with LD Carlston and star san

No heat method
Poured 2 gal water into 6.5 gallon primary
Mixed in the fermaid k and the yeast nutrient (w/wisk)
Mixed in the 6 quarts honey

Beat the heck out of the must with wisk for about 8 minutes
As we added the rest of the water to make 6 gallons
Temp was about 65 degrees … ie room temp
Honey and water sitting in the same room for several days before starting

Took reading… 1.110 OG if we are reading this correctly

Stored in down stairs room that temp stays about 65-69 degrees

Watched the bubbles … bubbling nicely
When bubbles were down to 3 in two minutes

(1/13/07) Moved to carboy
Took reading 1.070
Bubbles went back up to 3 a minute

(1/28/07) Bubbles are now about 2 every two minutes

Took reading 1.070
Has not changed since 1/13/07

we believe it smells good and tasted good
we are shooting for a sweet mead

have no idea about the alcohol level att

Is this a stuck mead, and if so what do the experts recommend. :confused2:

Thanks in advance for your help
 

Rhianni

NewBee
Registered Member
Nov 13, 2006
292
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Are you sure the SG readings are correct? I ask because you were at 1.070 and 3 bubbles per minute on the airlock and 2 weeks later it didnt change. Thats not a stuck fermentation rate if the bubbles are going like that. Not a speedy one but not stuck.

Regardless though after a month 1.07 is still a lot of honey left.
6 tsp of nutrient seems like a whole lot so you arent short on that.
 

MtnBrewer

Worker Bee
Registered Member
Dec 28, 2006
83
0
6
65
I would not have taken it off the yeast with the gravity still that high. But that's water over the dam at this point. Do you have any way to test pH? If so, and if it's lower than 3.5, add some chalk to raise it up to about 3.8 if you can. Other than that, by all accounts that yeast is finicky and stuck ferments are not uncommon. You could try pitching a packet or two of dry yeast (maybe D47 or 71B), hydrated with Go-Ferm, to see if that will jump start it.
 

Oskaar

Got Mead Partner
Administrator
Dec 26, 2004
7,874
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The OC
If you're going to try and jump start this batch (which is stuck) then 71B or D47 are not the best yeast to use here. Try Uvaferm 43, or K1-V1116. Do a search on re-start and use Oskaar as the author. There have been a flurry of posts on this subject recently.

Here's a link to one of them, and here's a link to another.

Cheers,

Oskaar
 

wolf_tracker

NewBee
Registered Member
Jan 18, 2007
184
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0
:wave:

We are going to try to unstick our orange blossom mead

We cleaned everything real well and sanitized it.

We took 1/2 gallon of the stuck mead and put it into
a 1 gallon glass carboy. We put about 1/4 cup of honey
and water to 3/4 gallon.

We put:
4 teaspoons of go ferm
1 teaspoon of yeast nutrient

into 100 ml of 109 degree water and mixed well
when temp got to 104 piched 2 5gr of k1116 yeast

Will waiting sloshed the heck out of the honey/water
must ... nice and foamy.

At 20 minutes we put in the yeasties ...
swirled it around for about two minutes
and airlocked ...

plan to let it ferment for 24 - 36 hours
them put into the 6 gallon carboy to see what
happens

QUESTION: should I put fremaid K or nutrient into
the 5.5 gallons when I put the 1 gallon back in


I plan to airpump the 5.5 gallon for 45 minutes
before putting the yeasties in.

Then airpump twice a day for 45 minutes for 3
days and then let it go.

Any thoughts/comments ... do you think it might
work?

Is there anything else I should do?

Thanks
:cheers:
Wolf
 

Rhianni

NewBee
Registered Member
Nov 13, 2006
292
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49
I am by no means an expert on unsticking stuck meads but I have a couple comments and concerns. I havent read Oskaars links so take his advice over mine...

You shouldnt have to have added the extra honey to the must you extracted. It already has a good amount in.

you are aerating the 1 gallon part and not the entire batch of mead right?
 

wolf_tracker

NewBee
Registered Member
Jan 18, 2007
184
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0
We rehydrated on Sunday.
We aerated the 1 gallon two times

Let the one gallon bubble away for 36 hours

Then put in 3 teaspoons of fermaid K and 1 teaspoon
of yeast nutrient into the 6 gallon carboy then pitched the yeast and aerated for 1 hour

We have aerated twice a day for 1 hour each time .

To date there is foam in the 6 gallon carboy
but no airlock action.

We plan to aerate til friday evening
then then leave it alone

Hopefully something will happen
 
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