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Crew · 10-07-2011, 01:59 PM

I know that fermentation in beer can take as long as 72 hours to begin.. but I have never had an issue and usually I have crazy bubbling within an hour.

This is my first batch of mead and its been 24 hours with 0 activity as far as I can tell...

My recipe
16lbs of clover honey
5 oranges
5 cloves
5 sticks of cinnamon
2 tbs nutmeg
2 tbs allspice
1 smack pack of wyeast 4184 (designed for sweet mead)
5 tsp yeast nutrient (directions said 1 per gal)

I mixed the honey with about 2 gallons of warm water and then added the other ingredients. I topped everything off to 5 gallons and pitched my yeast and yeast nutrient.

my OG was 1.27 Is this too high? I've heard its supposed to be around 1.1. It's been 24 hours since I started, how do I save the batch.. when I took another reading this morning, it was VERY SLIGHTLY bubbling.. since it wasn't bubbling yesterday, this means it must be fermenting right? There are no weird smells coming from the bucket.

rycov · 10-07-2011, 02:09 PM

RDWHAHB.

it can take 72 hrs (like you said) to begin. also fermentation can happen without the visible signs. give it a few days, if you're still worried take your gravity reading to see if its fermenting or not.

Crew · 10-07-2011, 02:36 PM

I guess my main concern is my OG being so high.. no issues?

Insomniac · 10-07-2011, 02:43 PM

5 Gallon batch... I'm not sure thats your actual gravity, sounds like it maybe wasn't fully mixed and you got a honey heavy sample for your reading. The mead calc puts 16lb of honey in 5 US Gallons at about 1.115.

Crew · 10-07-2011, 03:04 PM

I mixed the hell out of it for 5 minutes.. maybe not enough. will it equal out on it's own, or do I need to mix some more to avoid it settling?

Insomniac · 10-07-2011, 03:33 PM

It should mix itself up over time, though early on in the ferment some extra shaking shouldn't do any harm either.

Tomico · 10-07-2011, 04:38 PM

Meads can take longer to start and I would not be concerned about the OG. Usually we use 15 pounds of honey but we have added a 16oz bottle of pure maple syrup on top of that with excellent results. Some times having too high of an acid content can effect the fermentation but I don't think 5 oranges would be too much. We have used as much as 10 blood oranges in a batch. The biggest ingredient for mead is patience.
I'm American so not real sure what temperature you are dealing with in Fahrenheit. There are yeasts that are tolerant of higher weather temperatures such as a Tokay yeast that can reach as high as 92 degree F., but it would effect the taste buy giving a possibly drier and a more citric flavor. If the local temperature is too high for your specific yeast you may have to use another with a higher tolerance but research the yeast a bit to figure out what flavors you would like to have develop. Another tactic is you could lower the temperature through evaporative cooling in the carboy by wrapping it in a wet towel.
If you still have issues after a couple days you could always pitch more yeast on the off chance that the yeast was killed buy the original temperature in the carboy bieng too hot.
I hope these suggestions help.
Tomico

MedsenFey · 10-07-2011, 08:39 PM

Just aerate your batch today to help the yeast develop the maximum growth, but be careful to do it gently so you don't get a Mead Eruption Accident (MEA).

Crew · 10-07-2011, 11:22 PM

My man cave stays around 72F and the yeast strand is supposed to be fine in that temperature.. it did sit in my car for about 20 minutes when I went into the grocery store to buy the honey.. do you think I killed it then? It wasn't hot when I got back, but it certainly wasn't cool/cold (about 80 degrees and sunny). Normally I use dry yeast, this was my first smack pack.

MedsenFey · 10-08-2011, 12:12 AM

That temp didn't harm the yeast. You have to keep the temp sustained well above 100F to really do the little buggers in. I have many issues with this strain, but it usually starts without too much difficulty. Did you aerate it today?