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mavrick1903

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Made my first mead. 24# honey, peal of one lemon. Fresh. 5gallon total volume into fermenter. Using the queasy mead yeast.

I've added a container (from LHBS) of calcium carbonate to try to lower the pH. And a bottle of yeast nutrient.

Still no fermentation showing.

Help.
 
Do you really mean 24 pounds in a final volume of 5 gallons?!
That is a SG of 1.192! Nothing will start in that. Try bringing your final volume up to 10 gallons and you can get it started.

By the way, calcium carbonate will raise the ph instead of lowering it as well as buffer ph swings. It is better to add potassium bicarbonate to mead as Potassium is a limiting nutrient.

Queasy mead yeast? Typo?
 
Yeas I agree the honey amount is way too much. That is 2 gallons of honey in only 3 gallons of water at that weight. I would get another 5 gallon carboy, split this batch in half and top up with water on both. Mix it up super well and mix twice daily for anothe 3 days. If yeast does not pick up then go get some lalvin 71b-1112 yeast. Rehydrate and pitch a pack rack into the carboys. That should help.
 
1.154 gravity is still really high. That has a potential 19%ish ABV. I have had no experience with 4632 but I know the sweet mead yeast from Wyeast is really finicky and hard to use. With high ABV meads it is better to start with a lower gravity like 1.100 at most and step feed honey after fermentation starts to get you where you want it.

If you are not going to split this batch the aerate/whip this must twice daily for another 3-4 days. A bent coat hanger chucked into a drill does wonders if you do not have a wine whip. Just a couple minutes of whipping at a time. It sounds like you added enough nutrients and PH balancer to bring the PH up a good bit. In this case if not going with a lower ABV by splitting then if after 4 days pass and still no activity/gravity drop then get some Lalvin K1v-1116 yeast. That is a killer mead yeast that is good for up to 18%ABV.

Make a starter with it by mixing it with a cup of water, 1/2tsp of yeast nutrient and a 1/2 cup of your mead must. After a couple hours it should be foaming up. After that add another 1/4 cup of mead must ever hour for another 3 hours. Then pitch that into the carboy and it should be vigorously fermenting within another 24-48 hours.
 
1.154 gravity is still really high. That has a potential 19%ish ABV. I have had no experience with 4632 but I know the sweet mead yeast from Wyeast is really finicky and hard to use. With high ABV meads it is better to start with a lower gravity like 1.100 at most and step feed honey after fermentation starts to get you where you want it.

If you are not going to split this batch the aerate/whip this must twice daily for another 3-4 days. A bent coat hanger chucked into a drill does wonders if you do not have a wine whip. Just a couple minutes of whipping at a time. It sounds like you added enough nutrients and PH balancer to bring the PH up a good bit. In this case if not going with a lower ABV by splitting then if after 4 days pass and still no activity/gravity drop then get some Lalvin K1v-1116 yeast. That is a killer mead yeast that is good for up to 18%ABV.

Make a starter with it by mixing it with a cup of water, 1/2tsp of yeast nutrient and a 1/2 cup of your mead must. After a couple hours it should be foaming up. After that add another 1/4 cup of mead must ever hour for another 3 hours. Then pitch that into the carboy and it should be vigorously fermenting within another 24-48 hours.
Good advice......

The 4632 strain is the "dry mead" one. Normally not a problem.

It's a liquid yeast, so is more likely still in lag phase. The aeration suggestion should help with that.

Got no idea what's referred to as " a bottle of yeast nutrient". You need to be more specific with detail on that mavrick1903, as the terms "nutrient" and "energiser" are both used, are often interchanged, but mean slightly different products.

I certainly wouldn't start to worry until it's been at least a week to 10 days if it's still not fermenting, and mavrick1903 has been aerating it at least twice a week.

Oh and calcium carbonate raises the pH, not lower it. You want the pH at about the 3.5 pH sort of area, it doesn't matter if it's a bit higher than that, but you don't want it below 3.0 pH as it will stall - being far too acid.
 
Regarding the calcium carbonate mentioned, I'm sure I'm not right. It was the same as baking soda, sodium bicarbonate? LHBS said theirs was more potent. It was suggested to lower the pH which still seems to be over 4 based on pH strips.
 
Using potassium bicarbonate would be a better idea, as calcium can leave a chalky taste and sodium can make it taste salty...potassium, on the other hand can actually be used by your wee yeasties :) all 3 buffer pH in the same manner, though. None are really better in that respect.
 
If your PH is over 4 then it is fine. You may find that after fermentation is over you want to lower the PH with an acid blend and make it more acidic down to the 3.5ish range. But that is just a matter of opinion. I hope to see you bubbling soon.
 
Correct thinking helps......

Increasing the pH is to make it more alkali/base. That is done in a brewing sense with potassium carbonate for reasons already stated above.

When you do that the numbers go up........

Reducing pH is to make it more acidic. So that's routinely done with one or more of the weak organic fruit acids generally in booze making. The numbers go down.

People are often surprised how acidic honey is and when they get a pH reading of maybe something like 4.0 pH from just honey and water they just don't get it.

Google for honey acid and you should get an better explanation that I can provide.

There is very little in honey and water to buffer pH and prevent it swinging around as it tends to, and when/if it drops below 3.0pH it can stall the ferment, hence some like to add a bit of potassium carbonate up front to prevent this.

Initially it would likely raise the pH a bit and while that will drop once the ferment is underway, the ideal is that it should now be able to swing quite so low........
 

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