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Fermented dry in a week?

  • Thread starter Devin Petry-Johnson
  • Start date
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Devin Petry-Johnson

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How fast can yeast chew through the gravity points?

Here’s my details:
1 gallon batch (in a 2 gallon bucket, actually a little more than a gallon in order to account for racking losses)
About 1.5 - 1.6 pounds of honey (lemon verbena varietal honey from local source)
5 grams D-47 yeast (rehydrated with GoFerm)
DAP, 1 teaspoon total (1/2 tsp at 12 hours, 1/4 tsp each on the next 2 days)

I’m not 100% confident that I’m using my hydrometer to get accurate readings (maybe must is too hot, too many bubbles) but I wrote down 1.058 as my SG. The mead calculator says it would be around there, but it was probably a little lower if I added extra water.

So I noticed my airlock had no activity and I was afraid I had a stalled ferment. I had everything around 60 degrees and I thought maybe it was too low and I stalled out a week after pitching. So I pulled a sample and it was right around 1.000. Is it possible for the yeast to eat 58 points in a week?

If I correctly understand what I’ve learned since joining here, it’s possible. I pitched plenty of yeast and fed DAP on SNA schedule. But still, I was not expecting such a fast ferment, especially at 60-62 degrees. Am I crazy? Did I totally mess up my SG reading? Maybe there was less honey in there than I thought (I did two simultaneous batches and it’s possible I goofed up the honey amounts).

Anyway, I wanted to run this past the experts to see what’s going on. Any input would be appreciated!
 

bernardsmith

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Not an "expert" but I would say that this is definitely possible. and it is not necessary so fast. You are fermenting 1.5 lbs of honey in a gallon and not 15 lbs of honey.
On another forum there was a discussion about a 5 day cider. That is an apple cider that is refrigerated 5 days after pitching the yeast. That sounded intriguing (given that apple juice is about 1.050) so I have been experimenting with bottling mead in 5-7 days - and it works (or it CAN work). I find that in 5 days there can be some unfermented sugar (a few points) and in 5 days the mead needs to be stored in the fridge to prevent additional fermentation. For the sake of completion I have been using an ale yeast WLP 006
 

Squatchy

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In my opinion, DAP is the worst food you can use. And part of the many reasons I say this is it's like feeding crack to your kids. It causes fermentation to go way to fast. It causes temp spikes and it speeds up everything and then the yeast crash after they come down. If you were going to run a marathon. Would you want a good breakfast before you leave and solid food along the way? Or would you rather eat candy one cookies all day long?

I would suggest going to the podcast section here. And start on 9/5/17. It goes over the most modern science and protocol in a step by step fashion. If you listen to these you will be miles ahead of the pack.
 
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Devin Petry-Johnson

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Not an "expert" but I would say that this is definitely possible. and it is not necessary so fast. You are fermenting 1.5 lbs of honey in a gallon and not 15 lbs of honey.

I guess that makes sense. Small batch, little honey, fast ferment.

In my opinion, DAP is the worst food you can use. And part of the many reasons I say this is it's like feeding crack to your kids. It causes fermentation to go way to fast.

As always, thanks for the input. I will definitely take your advice from the podcast and switch over to Fermaid O. But the kit I got came with DAP so I think I will continue to use it until it runs out. At the rate I'm making batches it will be just a few more months and then I'll make the switch. In the meantime I'm hoping to minimize any DAP craziness by using GoFerm to give the little guys a good breakfast, aerate & degass twice a day, use SNA, and manage fermentation temps. I just wasn't expecting, nor did I necessarily want, such a quick ferment. I will keep the lees in suspension for at least a few weeks while I wait for my other simultaneous batch to finish fermenting.
 
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