First time meader story probably happens to everyone..right?
Hello fellow fellow meaders...ers I started my first batch of mead 4 days ago in a bucket. My liquid yeast didn't seem to proof or maybe it did, but not like the yeast I'm used to (for baking) so I got impatient after about 3 hours and pitched it anyways. My mead is a 5 gallon batch with 15lb of commercial walmart type clover honey (i'm cheap and live in rural Alaska shipping is a killer)and sweet mead liquid yeast. After 3 days my bucket seemed to have a little pressure on the lid but no bubbling so I duct taped the edges of the lid trying to eliminate any air leaks and moved it from the top shelve of my pantry/furnace room to the floor besides my very actively fermenting beer. I let it sitt over night and by that point it had NO pressure on the lid (meaning if i pushed down a bit it would force gas out through the air lock) it was comatose. I looked lovingly at my lager in a carboy bubbling away then right next to it to my with anger at my comatose mead. I put a thermometer on the floor and was surprised holy crap its 64F..that has to be hella cold. Seems to be fine for my beer but I guess mead it needs to be warmer. So with my newly duct taped lid I put my bucket back on the top shelve and closed my furnace room door. I know it gets up to 90degrees in there it might be too hot but by this point I was going for broke. So 9 hours later (present) I walked in my pantry/furnace room looking for late night munchies and heard a tapping sound ever 10 seconds I looked around not able to find the cause of the sound. I decided to take one last look at the bucket before going to sleep and wondered...why is the inner piece of my 3 piece air lock at an angel? I tried to push it down lightly but it bobbed back up then guess what a bubble(the tapping sound was the airlock)! After almost 5 days the mead gods answered my call! And visible fermentation had begun, i'm a total brewing noob so it was a big deal to see the airlock activity. This is sort of a long post but i'm just excited to see its working.
k i'm no expert but a slow start is not unusual esp at the temps u r having, i have a cinnamon/ginger mead going strong now but my temps inside house 40-50F
Yep, wine yeasts usually like the temp a bit warmer. Honey is also void of many nutrients. If you haven't already, read through the Mead Making FAQ sticky, paying close attention to both the nutrient and pH sections. I've found that I have to add ~5g of potassium carbonate to my musts to avoid the pH going too low and putting the yeasties to sleep.
I think it was fermenting ok the first 3 days but i think using a plastic bucket was the problem i heard the lids don't hold a air tight seal. So tapeing the edges of the lid and setting it back at a warm place really helped it out. i guess being new seing no air lock activity panicked me. This is the kind of stuff most mead brewing websites fail to mention and one has to learn on their own.
P.S i did add the recommended ammount of yeast nitrient and enegerzer i hope its smooth saling from now on.
keep it simple lol i have a hella hangover from barley pops but plastic is ok as long as it is not damaged (scratches and the like) yum yum i have EC1118 and K1V1116 on the way. woohoo gonna use the ec for grapalicious and the K1V for blueberry.
First time meader story probably happens to everyone..right?
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