Hello all, new to the forums, so first of all saying "HI!"
Anyway, I'm looking to get back into mead-making and was needing some help. I've played around with a few recipes in the past, including existing ones as well as trying to develop my own. The others turned out fine, but there was a particular one I really want to do that I ran into a serious problem:
The goal was both a sweet, but very strong (18-20% ABV target), mead using Heather honey. Because getting Heather honey in St. Louis is very pricey (I haven't been able to find anyone domestic who produces it, so I had to order from Europe. That shipping is painful) I'm only making a 1-gallon batch to get my recipe and process right. When I did my calculations for my target sweetness and alcohol content I came up with 7lbs of honey for a 1gal batch. Which is awesome, because that's the amount the honey I ordered came by. I went with the pasteurization method for this, rather than boiling, got it all going in my carboy, and for the first two weeks everything seemed to be working just fine.
Then after two weeks I racked it into a secondary fermenter.
At which point EVERYTHING stopped. No sign of fermentation whatsoever. I gave it a couple weeks, and after no further sign that the mead was doing anything I tried to pitch some fresh yeast, but no joy. I ended up with very expensive honey water.
Anyway, I've been looking to trying this again, so figured I'd see if anyone had some suggestions for what I can do on the second try so this time it DOESN'T die on me.
Anyway, I'm looking to get back into mead-making and was needing some help. I've played around with a few recipes in the past, including existing ones as well as trying to develop my own. The others turned out fine, but there was a particular one I really want to do that I ran into a serious problem:
The goal was both a sweet, but very strong (18-20% ABV target), mead using Heather honey. Because getting Heather honey in St. Louis is very pricey (I haven't been able to find anyone domestic who produces it, so I had to order from Europe. That shipping is painful) I'm only making a 1-gallon batch to get my recipe and process right. When I did my calculations for my target sweetness and alcohol content I came up with 7lbs of honey for a 1gal batch. Which is awesome, because that's the amount the honey I ordered came by. I went with the pasteurization method for this, rather than boiling, got it all going in my carboy, and for the first two weeks everything seemed to be working just fine.
Then after two weeks I racked it into a secondary fermenter.
At which point EVERYTHING stopped. No sign of fermentation whatsoever. I gave it a couple weeks, and after no further sign that the mead was doing anything I tried to pitch some fresh yeast, but no joy. I ended up with very expensive honey water.
Anyway, I've been looking to trying this again, so figured I'd see if anyone had some suggestions for what I can do on the second try so this time it DOESN'T die on me.